Ohio State co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Bill O’Brien’s stint with the Buckeyes will be a short one, as it was reported on Friday that Boston College is expected to hire O’Brien to fill the school’s open head coaching job following the departure of former head coach Jeff Hafley.
O’Brien was hired by Ohio State on Jan. 19, and was expected to call plays for Ohio State after head coach Ryan Day had done so since taking the program over in 2019. O’Brien brought over 30 years of coaching experience, including runs as head coach at Penn State (2012-13) and with the NFL’s Houston Texans (2014-20), and most recently serving as offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots.
But following Hafley’s announcement on Jan. 31 that he was stepping down as head coach at Boston College to become defensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers, O’Brien emerged as a candidate for the job. Beyond the pull of becoming a head coach, another factor for O’Brien is that his family – including his son, Jack, who has a neurological disorder called lissencephaly – resides in the area, and that much of O’Brien’s coaching experience as come on the East Coast and in the Midwest.
Though O’Brien was ultimately at Ohio State for just over two weeks, he was able to make an impact on those in the program in his short time with the Buckeyes.
“He seems just very relatable — someone that I can get along with really well,” quarterback Will Howard said of O’Brien. “Very smart. I mean, he’s been around for how long doing this and has done some really, really good things at some really big-time places.”
With O’Brien departing for Chestnut Hill, Mass., Ohio State will look to hire another veteran offensive play caller to take those responsibilities off Day’s plate, even if Day is expected to remain involved in the offensive game planning. The Buckeyes had also targeted former Kentucky offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who has since taken the same position with the Tampa Bay Bucaneers, but could look at Toledo head coach Jason Candle or former Florida head coach Dan Mullen, while current UCLA head coach Chip Kelly – with whom Day has previously worked under – has also been floated for the role. On Wednesday, Day said the program hoped to retain O’Brien but had plans in place should he depart.
“It isn’t just one of those situations where you just take out one guy and put another guy in there and it’s like, ‘OK, move on.’ It doesn’t work that way,” Day said. “We did talk to different people for that position, and we’ll have contingency plans in place. Hopefully, we don’t have to go down that road. But if we do, then we’ll adapt.”
