Boston College has âkind of plateaued at seven wins, six wins,â the reporter noted. No one protested the thought. âCan BC win the ACC,â he continued, âand make the playoffs, and win a national championship?â
A what? Here?
The Eagles have had trouble keeping fans in the seats for all four quarters at Alumni Stadium, much less challenging for a spot in the expanded college football playoff. What would make anyone think theyâre about to start dropping elbows on the superheavyweights of the sport?
âBC ââ OâBrien began, and paused as the room broke out into laughter. A national championship. Good one.
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âTomorrow,â a wise guy cracked.
What was OâBrien supposed to say? Boston College hasnât won nine games since 2008. They havenât gone above .500 in the ACC since 2009. Since 2008, they are 3-40 against ranked opponents, and only 12 of those losses finished closer than two scores.
No doubt BC football is accomplishing its baseline goals of pride, hard work, and community service. The Eagles even won a bowl game last year, for the second time since 2007. But this is a college football world that has left programs like it in the dust.
Chestnut Hill, MA – 2/15/2024 Boston College athletics director Blake James (cq) left with the college’s new head football coach Bill O’Brien. (cq) right at a morning press-conference. (Jonathan Wiggs /Globe Staff) Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff
A new era
The NCAAâs amateurism model is eroding. Pay for play is here. The transfer portal and name, image, and likeness collective system have brought free agency. Players could soon be considered employees, should the courts continue to rule in favor of unionization efforts at Dartmouth. NCAA president Charlie Baker recently renewed his call for a new tier of Division 1 that would let the elite schools pay their athletes. As an ACC member, BC would ostensibly be considered one of the elites.
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But that might be in name only. Its NIL collective, Friends of the Heights, wants to do its part, but it wonât be paying top dollar for game-changing players.
âA good QB in the portal costs $1 million, $1.5, $2 million,â Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said in November.
Coincidentally OâBrien, who was Ohio Stateâs offensive coordinator for three weeks after leaving the Patriots, was set to coach one of those quarterbacks. Will Howard, who won a Big 12 championship at Kansas State, left when that school landed a local five-star freshman (Avery Johnson). Howard could have declared for the NFL and was projected as a mid-round pick, but instead chose the Buckeyes from a handful of seven-figure Power Five starting jobs.
OâBrien said he wants to embrace the new era, but âif the first question out of a guyâs mouth is âHow much are you going to pay me?ââ he said, âthat guy might not be the best fit for Boston College.â
BC may be behind its peers, but it isnât poor. ESPN reported BC was boosting its coaching âsalary pool,â which has been among the lowest in the ACC, to the upper half of the conference. Evidence for that is the hire of OâBrien, who reportedly made $5 million a year while coaching the Houston Texans. BC also pilfered Floridaâs strength coach, OâBrien associate Craig Fitzgerald.
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âIf the first question out of a guyâs mouth is âHow much are you going to pay me?,â that guy might not be the best fit for Boston College.ââ
Bill O’Brien
Friends of the Heights is trying to do its part, while combating financial fatigue among donors who already give and old-school attitudes among those who believe a four-year scholarship at a high-academic school is enough compensation.
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âWho says there arenât four- and five-star athletes who want to come to Boston College?â said Scott Mutryn, one of the organizationâs four board members. âBC hasnât given them a reason to come in the last however many years.â
A puncherâs chance
The hope is that they get a few more like Matt Ryan â the quarterback when BC last challenged for the ACC title â and Zay Flowers, both of whom turned modest recruiting buzz into major shine.
In 2019, Flowers was a three-star recruit, just another 5-foot-11, 170-pound speedster from South Florida. There, players of his ilk grow like citrus fruits. He chose BC over Appalachian State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, and Cincinnati. He was ranked No. 1,188 nationally (per 247Sports) and the 135th-best wideout.
He left BC last season ranked No. 1 in career catches (200), receiving yards (3,056) and receiving touchdowns (29). He went No. 22 to Baltimore in the 2023 NFL draft as the third receiver and second ACC player chosen.
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Ryan, who wasnât even mentioned in a February 2003 school press release touting BCâs signing class, was a tall, skinny, triple-option QB with a good arm out of Philadelphia. He was also recruited by Iowa, Georgia Tech, UConn, and Purdue. He developed into a third overall pick (Atlanta, 2008) and NFL MVP (2016).
OâBrien, who once led a scandal-plagued Penn State to a winning record (15-9 in two seasons), has punched above his weight before. On3 national reporter Andy Staples pegged BCâs potential as âdecent-to-goodâ under the coach.
âThe NIL thing is tough,â Staples told the Globe. âTheyâll have to ID who they really want to retain and focus on them. But they may have to accept that if a guy blows up, theyâll lose him [as a transfer]. Theyâll have to be a great evaluation/development program, which is what BC was under Tom Coughlin, Tom OâBrien or [Jeff Jagodzinski]. The difference is now that the guys they do a great job developing may leave after their first good year.â
They can compete in the ACC, Staples says, if OâBrien can get the best out of a quarterback like the âsuper funâ Thomas Castellanos.
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Quarterback Thomas Castellanos was named MVP of the 2023 Fenway Bowl (and awarded a silver bat as a trophy). It was BC’s second bowl win since 2007.John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
James thinks BC has a puncherâs chance.
âWhen you look at the last few years, thereâs been a team every year where Iâm betting everyone didnât say, âHey, theyâre going to be in the championship.â I think weâre there. I think it goes to what made Bill a great candidate, is his understanding of what that needs to look like for us to be successful.â
He can be the X-factor?
âYeah. Yeah,â James said. âAgain, like I said, I think the trump card is our education, incorporating the Jesuit values, and our incredible professional network we have here.â
It is true that toughness and cohesiveness can turn expected losses into surprise wins. Mutryn, whose decision to leave his hometown Cleveland for Chestnut Hill was solidified by the 1993 upset win over No. 1 Notre Dame, is asking donors to believe.
âI think itâs a shame and a disservice to [say] you canât win at BC. You can,â said Mutryn, who also works as a BC radio sideline reporter. âItâs not that long ago that you had successful basketball programs that were in the tournament, vying for Sweet 16s, and a top-25 football program and a national championship hockey team. Thereâs no reason why that canât be the mold.â
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Granted, times have changed. But BC, he believes, can play with the big boys â if the BC community rallies.
âThere are a lot of very, very successful businesses run by people who are BC grads,â Mutryn said. âSure itâs crazy. Iâm probably going to be mocked and ridiculed for this, but I truly believe it can happen.
âYou can pay for the most successful team ⦠but if your culture isnât strong enough to overcome any sort of adversity, it doesnât matter how much you pay. You can have $100 million to hire the best team you can. If thereâs no identity or culture, that teamâs never going to succeed.
âAre we going to raise $100 million? Probably not. But weâre going to raise money. Weâre going to give athletes the chance to capitalize on their name, image and likeness so they can stay at Boston College, get a degree at Boston College, have a great experience at Boston College and pay that forward five, 10 or however many years down the line.â
By then, OâBrien hopes to have rewarded the faithful. How, he canât say.
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âLook, I think that â again, Boston College is a place where you can do a lot of great things,â OâBrien said. âI am not into the prediction â thatâs really not what I do. What I will promise you is we will field a very competitive football team, with a bunch of guys who will play hard and be tough and carry on the tradition [of] these guys who played here and played tough, tough football.
âWill we win the national championship every year? Who knows. Why not? I donât know. Iâm not a predictor. Iâm not a genie. Iâm just telling you that we will show up every Saturday and play to the best of our ability.â
The audience that day in February seemed satisfied. He was selling hard work and hope.
OâBrien and James repeated the mantra several times: Come to BC and play good football, get a great education, and give back to the community.
Great education, good football.
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Is that all there is for BC?
Mutryn acknowledged there is skepticism among even the most generous donors, and that itâs difficult to ask for more money for a program that, by measure of its record, is stuck in neutral.
To them, he says: Wouldnât you rather be a part of it?
Hey, no matter what happened last year, or for the last 15 years, hope springs eternal.
âBut itâs not hope if you have a vision and a plan,â Mutryn said. âYou choose to be a believer or not a believer. Iâd rather believe in something and be wrong, than not believe in something and be right.â
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Matt Porter can be reached at matthew.porter@globe.com. Follow him @mattyports.
Paul Burton is a general assignment reporter for WBZ-TV News.
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/ CBS Boston
Celebrating Black culture and excellence, the annual Roxbury Unity Parade took center stage Sunday in Boston.
Kicking off at Madison Park High School, Roxbury families, elected officials and those running for office marched in solidarity. The parade is meant to honor the past and reflect the rich tapestry of Roxbury’s legacy.
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Celebrating Black culture
“Today we celebrate Black beauty, Black brilliance, Black resilience, Black innovation,” said Rep. Ayanna Pressley.
Found Toy Burton said the parade began in 2017 after a summer of violence.
“Let those who grow up here know that they come from a proud neighborhood,” said Burton. “There’s good happening here every day and that’s why we give away awards to uplift those who uplift Roxbury every day.”
Mayor Wu and Josh Kraft attend parade
Wu and Kraft also took part in the event.
“We are still in a moment where people are really struggling,” said Wu. “The cost of just putting food on the table is still a big, big stress, so we are going to keep fighting, we’re going to fight against the federal administration that’s trying to attack our identities, take us backwards, rejects the beauty of our diverse communities.”
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Kraft said there is a lot of work that needs to be done in the community.
“Celebrating the legacy through a powerful parade the way Toy Burton has created is an easy thing to get behind,” said Kraft. “The number one concern in the city is people don’t feel listened to, they don’t feel connected to the city and the first tangible issue that we hear about is housing. Housing is unaffordable and unattainable, especially for working families.”
Boston music legends and Roxbury natives Michael Bivens and Ron DeVoe from New Edition and Bell Biv DeVoe also made an appearance at the parade and helped present community awards.
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Paul Burton
Paul Burton is a general assignment reporter for WBZ-TV News.
Boston’s recent ranking as the most collision-prone city in the country is alarming, but for too many residents, especially older adults and people with disabilities, the danger is not new (“Report cites Boston as most collision-prone city in nation,” Metro, July 14).
Recent crash data from across Massachusetts show that pedestrians are most at risk in neighborhoods where many residents are older, have lower incomes, or rely on wheelchairs or other mobility aids. In too many of these places, infrastructure has not kept up with the growing demand for safe, accessible ways to get around, whether it’s walking to the bus stop, crossing to the grocery store, or simply navigating a sidewalk safely.
The same dense streets that lead to frequent and often fatal crashes are also where slower speeds can save lives, but only if we invest in real safety improvements. That means lowering speed limits, redesigning intersections, fixing crumbling sidewalks, and prioritizing walkable infrastructure where it’s needed most. It also means listening to residents who have taken it upon themselves to walk their streets, document unsafe conditions, and push for change.
If Boston is serious about improving its safety record, we need bold leadership and streets that work for everyone.