00:00Good morning, Coach Bill O'Brien.
00:04Morning, guys.
00:05Big morning there on the Greg Hill Show.
00:08Jackson just told me.
00:10Congratulations, Courtney.
00:11Thank you, Coach.
00:13That is awesome.
00:14Hey, there's going to be a BC package of, I guess, onesies.
00:19So we'll send it.
00:20It'll be on the way soon.
00:22I can't wait.
00:23No doubt.
00:23What do you think?
00:24What would your guess be at tuition by the time that little bundle of joy is ready to go to college at BC?
00:32What's your guess on that?
00:34Oh, God.
00:36I mean, it's like, I mean, it's close to $100,000 right now.
00:40So I don't know.
00:42It would be a tough guess on my part.
00:47Well, you have, how many kids do you have, Bill?
00:52I have two boys.
00:55Yeah.
00:55It's the greatest thing in the world.
00:57I mean, I can't be happier for these two.
01:01It's unbelievable.
01:03Yeah, no, it's awesome.
01:04It's obviously life-changing.
01:07It's incredible to be a parent.
01:09No doubt about it.
01:10Yeah.
01:10And if you have the right last name, like Wiggins, then your kid can be a D1 football player.
01:16Mine should have been, but he had the wrong last name.
01:19But I'm not bitter about it at all.
01:21Bentley was fine for him.
01:23Whatever.
01:25Whatever.
01:26No doubt.
01:27I had the pleasure of meeting Wiggins' sons last weekend at the Hall of Fame.
01:35Dylan Foxbury.
01:36Awesome guys.
01:37Great to meet them.
01:38Yeah.
01:39What were your thoughts on that?
01:41Not only with Julian Edelman, but with Bill Parcells.
01:45Yeah, I just think those are such cool days.
01:49I mean, you know, having been involved with that team when I was there and just to be able
01:57to be involved in those ceremonies with Julian.
02:00And then I had spoken to Coach Parcells on the phone a few times and things like that,
02:04but I'd never met him.
02:05And so it was cool to meet him and be a part of that.
02:08And it was just an awesome day.
02:10Those days are cool.
02:11You know, when they did it for Tom, that was an awesome reunion last year.
02:16And, you know, last weekend was no different.
02:18Oh, where are you, since you bring it up, where are you on any advantage that Tom Brady might
02:25get by doing his Fox job while being an equity owner in the Raiders?
02:35Yeah, I think that's pretty overblown.
02:37I really do.
02:38I think those production meetings, you know, they're cool.
02:42I mean, they're a necessary deal, I guess.
02:45I mean, I really say I guess on that because I've been in so many of those production meetings
02:51that are just, and the people are awesome, so don't get me wrong.
02:54Like, you know, the announcers and all, but it's just a complete waste of time.
02:58Like, you know, go through the starting lineups and then, you know, there's no scheme talked
03:03in those things, really.
03:04There's no scheme that's really spoken about in those meetings.
03:09I mean, what are you going to go in there and start drawing up your, you know,
03:12your opening plays for the, you know, the Fox announcers?
03:15Like, I mean, that never happens.
03:17It's really just kind of a, you know, it's a session of, hey, catching up.
03:21Maybe you know the people and you're, you know, there's a little bit of a friendship there
03:25and things like that, but there's no scheme talked about.
03:29Billy, I'm just curious because we were talking about the Edelman induction.
03:34You were the quarterback coach, I believe, when he was drafted and then,
03:39or offensive coordinator for a year.
03:41What was, I remember the famous line now that Belichick asked Wes Welker,
03:46do you know who Wally Pipp is?
03:49What was the transformation like with Edelman?
03:53And did he, did you guys know he was going to be a receiver when you drafted him,
03:57even though he was a quarterback at Kent State?
03:59Those are, yeah, those are great questions that we talked a lot about last weekend.
04:05I mean, no, we did not.
04:06Look, we decided to start him out at receiver, but there were guys that thought he could be
04:13a running back.
04:14They thought he could be a safety.
04:17You know, he was just a guy that we knew we wanted in the organization because of the way
04:22that he competed in his playing strength and his leadership at Kent State.
04:28And so when he got there, we put him at slot.
04:30But, you know, he really was different than Wes.
04:32A lot of people do compare him to Wes, but he was different.
04:34He was a little bit bigger.
04:36You could use him on the outside.
04:37But he did initially start off at slot.
04:40He was right behind Wes in, you know, in every, you know, route drill that we did.
04:45And he would try to mimic what Wes did.
04:48And I think that kind of helped him, right, you know, that he could see how it was going
04:52to be done.
04:53And he had that ability to mimic it.
04:56And then over time, you know, he was able to master it.
05:00And we moved him outside and did other things.
05:02In the beginning, Curtis, he was hurt a lot.
05:05So I was there, I was the coordinator, you know, basically for three years there with him.
05:09He was hurt.
05:11And over the course of time, he learned how to stay healthy and turned into what he was,
05:17what he became.
05:18Bill, I think we've talked about Belichick and what's going on at UNC.
05:24Talk a little bit about your situation here where you guys coming off a difficult loss
05:29against a conference opponent, got another conference opponent coming up.
05:33How to make sure that not necessarily you lose the locker room, but you keep guys motivated
05:40and invested?
05:41Because we talk about that with Belichick down at UNC.
05:44How is he going to handle that?
05:45What have you been able to do in this tough stretch to make sure guys still stay locked
05:50in?
05:52So I just, I'm honest with him, Wig.
05:55You know, I just tell him, hey, look, this is what we need to do.
05:57These are the things that we have to improve on.
06:00We have good guys in this locker room.
06:02They show up every day ready to go.
06:04We've had a good couple weeks here, very competitive practices.
06:08I thought yesterday was one of our best practices.
06:11I can only go off of what I see.
06:13You know, and I think, like, you know, when you start sitting there and this is what I
06:18tell these guys, and I'm not trying to get too deep or anything.
06:21I'm just saying this is what life's about.
06:22You know, you get knocked down.
06:24How are you going to handle adversity?
06:25Like, you know, this is how you deal with things.
06:28And if this is an indication of, you know, how you deal with adversity, then let's see if
06:35we can overcome this.
06:36And so, you know, we talk a lot about that.
06:38We talk about correcting mistakes and playing free and, you know, not overthinking things
06:44and just go out and play, you know.
06:45And I think we're home, which I think is great.
06:48We'll have a great home crowd, and we're excited about the game.
06:51Bill, having this home game coming up against Cal, coming off a tough loss like you did,
06:55do you feel like a bye week came at a good time for you guys, or do you wish that you
07:01could have played immediately after?
07:02No, I think the bye week was perfect for us.
07:06You know, we came back, you know, the last two trips have been tough, right?
07:11Late night games, kind of, you know, the schedule's kind of, you know, out of our routine.
07:18So we were able to get back into our routine, and I think it came at a good time, you know,
07:24to help some guys heal up, but also to reconnect and understand what we're all about and have
07:31some scrimmages last week and get back to what we believe in at BC football and, you
07:36know, regroup a little bit.
07:37I think it came at a good time for us.
07:39Is there such thing as a must win, and if so, when it comes to this season, is this one?
07:46I think every, I don't understand that term too much.
07:49I mean, I get it, I do, this is a very important game, but they're all important, right?
07:54I mean, every, we only get 12 opportunities.
07:57This is something that I talk to these guys about all the time.
08:00We're not guaranteed a 13th opportunity, so you only get 12.
08:04So every one of them is a game that you have to go out there and, you know, push your best
08:09foot forward and see how things happen.
08:11But, you know, there's no doubt that this is an important game, but I think every game
08:16is vitally important to this program.
08:19Bill, one of the things that, like, really opened my eyes up on Saturdays, you know,
08:25hearing Jules talk about and hearing you guys talk about, you know, him never getting down.
08:30He might have got frustrated at times, and then you hear Parcells just talking about how
08:35he motivates the guys.
08:36What's, like, the biggest thing that you've learned through your coaching career that you've
08:41been able to kind of instill in your players to get the best out of them?
08:46I think you really got to get to know each guy.
08:49You know, I think that's, you know, when I first took the Houston job, you know, I talked
08:55to Coach Parcells, and he was awesome.
08:58And one of the things that he said to me was, you know, you really got to get to know each
09:04player on a different level.
09:05And I had never really thought about that as much as an assistant coach.
09:09And I did that a lot at Penn State.
09:12But now, you know, when I moved to Houston pro football, I didn't know, you know, exactly
09:16how you would do that.
09:17He gave me some tips as to how to do that.
09:19And throughout my, the last, whatever, 12, 13 years of my career, I've really tried to
09:24do that.
09:24Because the players have to know that you care.
09:27You care about their development.
09:29You care about their success.
09:30And each one of them is a little bit different.
09:34And I think that's the beauty of football.
09:35And so I think that's the key.
09:37So you can then, now you know what makes this guy tick.
09:42And then, in turn, you can go and stand up in front of the team and really, you know,
09:46inspire the team.
09:47I don't know if it's about motivating.
09:48I think these guys are very motivated.
09:50I think it's more about inspiring them to do what you're asking them to do at a high
09:55level.
09:55It must make you proud to see the guy who taught you the entire Alabama offense do
10:01so well in his role currently with the 49ers.
10:08He's having a, hey man, he did a good job.
10:11I'll tell you, the guy who really taught me a lot about the Alabama offense is coming
10:15in this weekend, Bryce Young for the Panthers.
10:17That's the guy.
10:18Like he, I coached him at Alabama and, and he, but, but yeah, Mac, Mac, hey, he's doing
10:24a good job out there to take over for Purdy.
10:26And, you know, I give him a lot of credit.
10:28He's, he's a resilient guy and he's doing a good job out there.
10:31Billy, now that you're in college, would you say that Kyle Shanahan is the best molder
10:37of quarterbacks in the NFL?
10:40Kyle does a good job.
10:41He does a great job.
10:42He's got a great, a really good system.
10:44He's very, very smart.
10:46I think when you watch them on film, they're very disciplined.
10:50And the way that they, they operate, right?
10:53Their, their motions, their shifts, their, the way that they operate the offense, the
10:58way that he teaches the quarterback, the, the, the different things that they do.
11:01I think, I think he does a great job, but I, but I think there's a lot of really, you
11:06know, great quarterback developers, you know, in the NFL.
11:10And I think he, he, you know, in cows, he's had a lot of good quarterbacks and they've
11:14really taken to his system, but yeah, he should get a lot of credit.
11:17And he does a great job.
11:18Did, did Bill Belichick ever mention being on the cover of us magazine on his, on his
11:23bucket list?
11:24Us Weekly.
11:24Us Weekly.
11:25Sorry, whatever it's called.
11:26Put some respect on his name.
11:28Did he ever, did he ever bring that up as a, kind of a life goal?
11:31No, no.
11:32No.
11:33When we were sitting there talking about, you know, goal line or short yardage or third
11:36down or red area, Us Weekly did not come up in the conversation.
11:40Has, has Father Leahy said that he wants you on the cover now?
11:44Or, I mean, that would not be anything that, that I would be asked to do or want to do.
11:54Oh, and good luck.
11:55Like, let's, let's go out and get one here.
11:58That's right.
11:58We got to do this.
11:59I appreciate it, Greg.
12:00And I really appreciate you guys having me on the show.
12:02And again, congratulations, Courtney.
12:04Thank you, Bill.
12:05All right.
12:05That is Bill O'Brien, head coach of Boston College Football on this show every Thursday.
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