- 1 year ago
Head Coach of BC football Bill O'Brien joins! What can we expect from BC fb this season? Brady statue thoughts?
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00:00Joining us now, friend of the show, friend of the telethon in the past
00:06when he was with the New England Patriots,
00:08it is the head coach of Boston College, Bill O'Brien.
00:11Bill, good morning.
00:13Welcome back.
00:15Hey, Greg.
00:15Thanks for having me back.
00:17It's a great day to be on with all you guys do for the Jimmy Fund.
00:20It's awesome.
00:22I know.
00:22I feel like it was touch and go that we didn't know whether we were going
00:26to get you back every week because I know you're focused only on football,
00:29but I appreciate you being back again with us this year.
00:33No, I love coming on the show.
00:35I think there was probably a miscommunication or whatever you want to call that,
00:40but, no, I enjoy being on the show and look forward to it.
00:44All right.
00:45Well, I think boldly over the weekend you proclaimed that you want to see
00:5060,000 fans at the season opener.
00:54Is that a possibility over there at Boston College in your mind?
00:58You know, look, my thing is, you know, I used to say this to you guys last year.
01:03I say it over and over again.
01:04I mean, you know, the Patriots open up a week later.
01:08You know, we open up, you know, on the 30th, and it's the only show in town.
01:13And I think we do have a good football team.
01:14We got to go out there and do it.
01:15I always tell you guys that.
01:16But I do think that we're a fun team to watch.
01:19And, you know, it's in a beautiful campus, beautiful stadium,
01:24good tailgating, all that.
01:25So why not?
01:26Let's get 60,000.
01:27They tell me it holds.
01:28I won't say how much.
01:29They always, you know, kind of correct me.
01:32Coach, you know, we only hold this.
01:33I don't care.
01:34Let's try to open it up and put 10,000 more in there.
01:38Well, we could probably get another couple hundred in if you had allowed that
01:44Shime-designed play to be put into game one.
01:49I know.
01:50I forgot.
01:51What was that play?
01:52Was that a double free flip?
01:53What was the play again?
01:54Shime?
01:56That was a nice play action pass down the seam, you know.
01:59Nothing too crazy.
02:00Whoa.
02:01I mean, those are – we have that, Shime.
02:03We've got the play action pass down the seam.
02:05Yeah, Shime.
02:06I mean, innovative.
02:07It has unique motion, okay?
02:09A little creative.
02:10I didn't even get to whiteboard it for Bill.
02:13It's a little more in depth than that.
02:14One shot at this, Shime.
02:16It was a draw play.
02:19Yeah.
02:19The old play action down the seam.
02:22Yeah.
02:22Okay.
02:23Thanks.
02:23Appreciate that.
02:25I think I understand why that never happened.
02:28Thank you, Shime.
02:29I didn't want to give him the Statue of Liberty.
02:31You know, that had been done before.
02:33Cancel.
02:34That's sweet.
02:35Go ahead.
02:36What?
02:36Bill, it does seem like you're going with Dylan over Grayson.
02:39Probably a difficult decision for you to make.
02:41I know you've said that it was a true competition, that these two made each other better.
02:45But what was the final deciding factor?
02:47Yeah, look.
02:48I think in the end, Dylan was a little bit more consistent throwing the football.
02:51I give a lot of credit to Grayson.
02:53He's done a great job.
02:54He's an awesome teammate.
02:55And, you know, he's going to be ready to play.
02:57And he will play.
02:58There will be things that we do to get him into the game in certain packages.
03:02I mean, that's just the way it's going to be.
03:04And, you know, I give him a lot of credit.
03:06Dylan's very talented.
03:07He's done a really good job.
03:09It was a true competition from the minute we started last winter, really, when Dylan arrived here.
03:14So I think Dylan earned it, and now he's got to go out there and, you know, be consistent like he's been in practice.
03:21Bill, when you look at your team, you guys obviously lost some guys on offense and defense.
03:27But I think Donovan, as a rocker on the defensive side of the ball, was, like you said last year, an unbelievable disruptor.
03:34Or what are you going to try to do to, you know, maybe not replace the production that he had, but what's going to be the mindset for some of those newer guys?
03:42And who are guys that we should be watching this season?
03:46Yeah, I would say it's pretty impossible to replace a guy like Donovan.
03:51I mean, he had 17 sacks.
03:52And, you know, he's obviously playing well for the Cowboys right now.
03:56To me, like, the way that you replace that production is in different ways, right?
04:01It's scheme, it's rotation of players.
04:04It's a lot of different things we can do.
04:06I think you'll see a little bit different defense with some of the things that we do this year, you know, because of the people that we have.
04:13But I think you're looking at Q Hutchins, who really came on strong at the end of last year.
04:19Edwin Colingy is a name that maybe you haven't heard in the past has really had a great offseason and a good training camp.
04:26There's a transfer here from Merrimack named Favor Batte that's had a really good training camp.
04:31And then there's some young guys.
04:32There's guys like Jaden Frye, Anya Nwisi, guys that people have never heard of that we think have really good futures.
04:38So Israel Odepupo, like, you know, a lot of mixture of guys to try to make up for that production of one guy.
04:47Billy, excited to have you back this year.
04:49Going to do a quick off-BC question.
04:52I need a grade for the Brady statue.
04:54Oh, you know what?
04:57As I was dialing in this morning, I'm like, please, God, don't ask me about the statue.
05:02Please, God.
05:03That's why I'm here.
05:06I mean, look, I think, obviously, you know, I know you guys would agree he deserves a statue.
05:13I'm not, you know, I know you want me to give a grade.
05:16Look, it's a great honor for him.
05:18I saw it, not in person, but I saw it on TV, and, you know, it's fantastic.
05:23I mean, obviously, what he did for, you know, this whole region, for, you know, for the Patriots organization and all that,
05:29I'm thrilled for him, but I'm not going to grade the statue.
05:34I think without grading it, we got your grade.
05:37Was it weird for you to see him if you caught it in the Raiders jacket walking into that game over the weekend?
05:48That's always a little weird.
05:49You know, I don't, yeah, that's always a little weird that he's a, you know, minority owner with the Raiders.
05:56I mean, you know, look, I think it's awesome for football that he's involved like that.
06:01I think it's awesome for the Raiders.
06:02I mean, this guy has a view of football that, you know, is second to none, you know,
06:07and especially the quarterback position, obviously, but also the whole game.
06:11I mean, I've said over and over again, you know, when I coached him, you know, he didn't want to be a coach.
06:16That wasn't anything that he wanted to be, but he could definitely coach, you know, other positions.
06:21He could have coached the secondary, evaluate the secondary.
06:23I mean, he did that on a weekly basis.
06:25So for the Raiders to have somebody like that with that expertise is, it's pretty cool.
06:31So I don't know how much of an opportunity you've had to watch any Patriots preseason stuff,
06:37but any thoughts on Josh McDaniels so far doing your old job?
06:43I haven't watched it really that much, Greg.
06:46I'll say that, but I, you know, I have a lot of confidence.
06:49You know, I feel very strongly about that coaching staff.
06:53I mean, they've, and they are my friends.
06:56I mean, obviously, you know, but they're great coaches and, you know, those guys will play hard.
07:03They'll play disciplined football.
07:05They'll, like Mike says, they'll try every week to eliminate bad football and take advantage of the other team's bad football.
07:11And look, you know, let's see how it goes.
07:13I mean, it's only his first year.
07:15I mean, you gotta, it takes time.
07:17It really does take time to get your culture instituted, to get your type of players in there.
07:25It takes a while.
07:27You know, when I went to Houston, you know, they were 2-14 the previous year.
07:32We went 9-7 my first year.
07:34And then it took a couple years for us to really get it to where we were a 10-11 win team.
07:39So, you know, it does take time.
07:41But I know that they're going to do a great job.
07:44And did I see over the weekend that Mike Rabel's son is on your staff over there?
07:49Yes.
07:49Yeah, Tyler Rabel.
07:50He's, you know, he played here, graduated from here, wants to be a coach.
07:55And he's, we call him the offensive line consultant.
08:00So he helps with the offensive line and breaks film down.
08:04He does a great job.
08:04He's an awesome guy.
08:05He's a great guy.
08:06And it's great to have him on the staff.
08:08So, well, that's unfortunate because Shime has been calling himself that to others for the last couple of weeks.
08:15So, that's the offensive line consultant.
08:18Yes, yes, yeah.
08:19I thought he was calling himself the passenger consultant.
08:22I mean, he's just talking about team passes.
08:24Now he wants to coach the offensive line.
08:27Now work with me, Billy.
08:28I got a new play.
08:29It's a toss right.
08:32Yeah.
08:32Thanks, Shime.
08:33Yeah, I never, we don't have that in our offense, Shime.
08:36We're not going to be able to do that.
08:37The toss right.
08:38Oh, bummer.
08:38Well, listen, I still got my moonshot.
08:41And that is, I want to get the dropkick somehow to play the alma mater over there before a game.
08:47So, we got to work on that for this season, Bill.
08:50That was my promise, too.
08:51Notre Dame.
08:51November 1st.
08:52All right.
08:53I'll be there for that.
08:55Bill, it is a bummer that you don't have UNC on the schedule this year.
08:58But I did see a lovely photo of you and Belichick at Media Day.
09:02How's he faring?
09:03Does he seem like he's enjoying the ACC so far?
09:05I sensed the sarcasm in the lovely photo part of that.
09:10I loved that.
09:13It was good to see him.
09:14You know, look, he, you know, when it comes to my career and our friendship, you know, it was great to see him.
09:20I really, and I haven't really talked to him about this, so he'll probably get mad at me.
09:25But I'd love to play North Carolina, like, at Gillette someday.
09:29You know, I think that would be great.
09:30North Carolina, Boston College at Gillette.
09:32And, you know, I don't know if he'd go for that.
09:35But I think that'd be good.
09:36I think we, you know, maybe if they let colleges start doing joint practices, maybe we can do a North Carolina, New England.
09:44I mean, a North Carolina, B.C. joint practice.
09:47I think that would be good, too.
09:49Billy, that is so brilliant.
09:51Think of all the attention and coverage for B.C. if that were to happen.
09:54That is the best idea I've heard all day.
09:57Yeah, absolutely.
09:58That'd be awesome.
09:59That'd be great for the fans.
10:00And, you know, again, he'll probably be like, why did you say that on WDI?
10:04But, you know, I don't work for him anymore, so I can say whatever I want.
10:09I can picture Bill looking up to the craft box the way Clemens looked at Duquette when he came back.
10:15What is, in your mind, Bill, in your mind, win-wise, what's a successful season for him, his first season there?
10:23For him?
10:24Yeah.
10:25Look, I don't know.
10:26I never look at it that way, Greg.
10:28I really don't.
10:28I really do not.
10:29It's hard to, you know, I think for him, and, again, not speaking for him directly, but it's really about instituting, like, what we're trying to do here, and I think we're on the right track, about your process.
10:41Like, your, you know, how are you going to, you know, institute your progression to execution to winning?
10:50And I think that's what it's all about.
10:52Like, if you look at what we've done here, you know, we've changed the nutrition program, the strength program.
10:57We have a great player development program right now.
10:59We've got a lot going on that I think is positive.
11:02Now, hopefully, eventually, that translates to wins.
11:05I think he's probably thinking the same thing relative to instituting his program.
11:09I don't think he looks at, like, how many wins will it take to be successful.
11:14I think he's got to get his program going.
11:16Well, Bill O'Brien, appreciate, as always, the time, and I know that this event for you is really important, and not only when you were with the New England Patriots, but as a guy that's from around these parts, what Dana Farber does and Jimmy Fund, I know, is really important.
11:36And so I appreciate you taking the time this morning.
11:40Yeah, thank you, Greg.
11:41And I will say, like, I think I told you guys this last year, you know, my mom, who's 90, I think 91 years old, she's in a memory care facility down on the Cape.
11:51But she had breast cancer twice and was treated at Dana Farber.
11:55And so what the Jimmy Fund does to raise money for cancer research and all the things that they do, it hits close to home for so many of us.
12:03And, you know, I grew up with it, as you guys did.
12:06You know, we all grew up with the Jimmy Fund and the connection with the Red Sox.
12:09And it's just an awesome thing, and it's a great thing that you guys do every year.
12:14Bill O'Brien, we will look forward to talking to you about a game coming up soon.
12:20Yes, sir.
12:21Thank you, guys.
12:21Appreciate it.
12:22All right.
12:23It is day number one of the 23rd annual WEI Nesson Jimmy Fund Radio Telethon.
12:29We are at Fenway Park.
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