Boston, MA
Jeff Hafley explains leaving Boston College for Packers DC job
Jeff Hafley surprised many when he left the head coach position Boston College to become the Green Bay Packers’ defensive coordinator. A longtime NFL assistant, it was an interesting decision to leave a Power Conference head coaching job for a coordinator position.
Ultimately, he said, it came down to the type of people he’d be working with in Green Bay.
Hafley met with reporters Thursday in Green Bay and broke down his decision to join the Packers as Matt LaFleur’s defensive coordinator. He noted his relationship with LaFleur, and the idea of working with him was a big selling point.
“A lot of reporters have tried to hit me up and ask about, ‘Why’d you leave? Why’d you leave a head job?’ It really has more to do with this place than anything else, and one was Matt,” Hafley said. “I’ve known Matt for a while. I worked with his brother – worked with Kyle, worked with Robert, worked with guys that he’s known. So I’ve known of Matt, I’ve respected what he’s done. I’ve watched what he’s done here. I think he’s like 56-27. Great coach, great leader, great person, great family man.
“Those are all really important things for me coming to work for another head coach, leaving a head coaching job. Matt was a big reason.”
Hafley spent four years at Boston College and had a 22-26 record during that time. Before that, he spent even seasons in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers as a defensive backs coach from 2012-18. He then returned to the college ranks at Ohio State as defensive coordinator and DBs coach in 2019 before taking over at Boston College in 2020.
After news broke of his decision, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported the reason for Hafley’s move stemmed from the changing landscape in college football, and the need to focus on other areas such as NIL and roster retention.
On Thursday, Jeff Hafley said the opportunity to not only return to the NFL, but do it with a historic franchise was a big selling point and added to his decision.
“As a guy that grew up loving football, it’s the Green Bay Packers,” Hafley said. “I mean, this is like the mecca of a football world to me and probably to most people who grew up loving football. Just being here driving into Lambeau every day, it still feels surreal. The community, maybe the best fans in all the world, as well. That made a really, really hard decision for me – leaving Boston College, players that I love, staff that I loved, the leadership at the school – it made a really hard decision a lot easier. And ultimately, that’s why I decided to come.
“Now that my head’s finally cleared up a little bit and I see things a heck of a lot more clearly than when I was making that decision, there’s no doubt about it that I made a great one. And I’m excited to be here. I’m excited to be around all you guys, I’m excited to be a part of the staff, some of the new guys that we brought in and I really can’t wait to get going.”
Boston, MA
Red Sox Icon David Ortiz Urges Boston To ‘Make It Rain’ For Free-Agent Slugger
The Boston Red Sox hive mind doesn’t always come to a perfect agreement on what they want the team to do. That is, of course, unless David Ortiz is asking for it.
A three-time World Series champion, Hall of Famer, and one of the most clutch players of all time, Ortiz is unquestionably on the Red Sox’s all-time Mount Rushmore. Even though he retired in 2016, he’s still closely woven into the fabric of the organization.
Ortiz sees what we all do: this Red Sox team is close to being ready to contend for the playoffs, but there’s one key ingredient missing. He made his feelings known about what he hopes the front office does between now and Opening Day to address that issue.
On Saturday, Ortiz relayed a simple message to the Red Sox: spend whatever it takes to get one more big bat.
“There’s still some guys out there that we can still go for, and I think we have a really good front office,” Ortiz said in an appearance on NESN. “To put a good lineup together nowadays is not that difficult. What you got to do is just make it rain, and you can go pick a few guys. Now pitching, on the other hand, is the toughest thing to put together.
“We got pitching. Pitching can always stop good offenses. The playoff is a playoff pitching (staff) we got right now. We line up a couple of thunders in the lineup to help (Rafael Devers) and the rest of them boys — one good bat would do.”
Ortiz and NESN host Tom Caron both strongly hinted at the end of the interview who that big bat could be: former Houston Astros All-Star Alex Bregman. Manager Alex Cora also signaled earlier in the day that Bregman would be a great fit in Boston.
Bregman isn’t quite Ortiz, but he does have one thing on him: the career record for OPS at Fenway Park. He has a wild 1.245 mark in 98 plate appearances in Boston throughout his career.
When David Ortiz asks for something, the Red Sox would usually be wise to follow through. And it seems he wants Bregman. Will that move the needle in the suites at Fenway?
More MLB: Red Sox Predicted To Land Ex-Padres $28 Million Gold Glover In Free Agency Surprise
Boston, MA
Greater Boston enjoys a light snow, travel not significantly impacted – The Boston Globe
The snow showers come from a weakening system approaching from the Great Lakes that tapped into some of the moisture from a strong storm passing south of New England.
The region was spared the worst precipitation of the storm thanks to persistent sub-freezing temperatures earlier this week, which pushed it south toward its current location off the coast of North Carolina, Nocera said. New England’s light snowfall is on the northern fringes of the storm.
Nocera added that this weekend’s “decorative snow” will not significantly impact ground travel.
The Massachusetts Port Authority issued a travel advisory for flight delays at Boston Logan International Airport. According to the flight tracking website Flight Aware, as of around 1:00 p.m. 212 flights were delayed at Boston Logan and another 15 were cancelled.
Margo Griffin, a teaching associate at the University of Cambridge in England, was initially worried about driving through the snow on her way to get coffee in Cambridge, but said the view from the Charles River was worth the trek.
“I thought it might be a problem, but I just decided to go ahead with the plan, and I’m enjoying walking through the snow,” Griffin said.
Other Boston-area residents who spoke to the Globe Saturday morning were happy to wake up to the winter scene on Saturday.
“I am feeling wonderful about the snow. I haven’t seen it in a long time,” said Barbara Delollis, a communications lead at Harvard Business School.
Delollis already made snow day plans.
“We want to go out and have some fun in the snow, and take a lot of pictures and just remember this moment, because we don’t know how much more snowfall we’re going to see in the Boston area anymore with climate change,” Delollis said.
Talia, a Cambridge resident, said that the snow had no effect on her plans to attend synagogue with her two-year-old son Saturday morning.
“It feels nice and seasonal, which is cool because climate change is terrifying,” she said.
Snowstorms can still occur, despite warming temperatures from climate change, Nocera said. Although Saturday’s snowfall cannot guarantee heavy snow this winter, there is a slightly higher chance of snow towards the end of the month as cold temperatures ease.
Materials from previous Globe stories were used in this report.
Boston, MA
Boston College drops Hockey East contest to Merrimack
The second-ranked Boston College men’s hockey team suffered its first home loss of the season, falling to Merrimack by a score of 5-2 in Hockey East action on Friday night at Kelley Rink. The Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second, but the Warriors scored the next five. BC falls to 12-4-1 overall and 6-3-1 in Hockey East, while Merrimack improves to 8-10-1 overall and 4-5-1 in league play. The Eagles opened the scoring midway through the first period when Oskar Jellvik one-timed the rebound off an Aram Minnetian shot that was saved by the Merrimack goaltender. Minnetian’s shot fell right into the path of Jellvik for the quick shot into the open net to put the Eagles in front. BC added to its lead shortly into the second period when Brady Berard scored a short-handed goal. Merrimack responded 32 seconds later with a power-play goal to get on the board, before scoring the game-tying goal less than one minute after that. The Warriors took the lead nearly three minutes later when Merrimack scored its third goal of the period. The Warriors scored twice in the third period to push their lead to three. Jacob Fowler made 23 saves while Nils Wallstrom had 27 stops for Merrimack.
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