Penn State’s James Franklin Says Bill O’Brien and Boston College Are a ‘Win-Win’

Twenty years ago, James Franklin and Bill O’Brien spent a season together on the Maryland football staff. This season they nearly coached against each other as Big Ten opponents. Instead, they’re college head coaches simultaneously for the first time, and the current Penn State head coach said he’s happy for the former.

In his first season as Boston College’s head coach, O’Brien is 2-1 with an early win over Florida State, a week in the AP Top 25 and a tight loss at No. 7 Missouri. Franklin, watching from afar, had some kind words for O’Brien.

“I’ve known Bill for a long time,” Franklin said. “I’ve known [Craig Fitzgerald], his strength coach, for a long time. We were all at the University of Maryland together. Me and Bill lived in the same neighborhood. His wife and my wife were good friends. … It’s been cool to watch it, and I’m happy for those guys and not surprised.”

O’Brien, who spent two seasons as Penn State’s head coach in 2012-13, nearly returned to Beaver Stadium on other sideline this season. He spent about a month last winter as the offensive coordinator for Ohio State and head coach Ryan Day. Then the Boston College head coaching job opened, and O’Brien called it a natural fit for him.

A native of Dorchester, Mass., O’Brien played at Brown and began his coaching career there before moving to Georgia Tech and Maryland. That’s where Franklin and O’Brien met. They served one year together on Ralph Friedgen’s staff in 2004; O’Brien coached running backs, and Franklin coached wide receivers. O’Brien bracketed his time at Penn State with two tours with the New England Patriots and seven seasons as head coach of the Houston Texans.

Franklin viewed the O’Brien-Boston College partnership as a “win-win” for both parties.

“Obviously I followed his career in the NFL, and now back obviously at BC,” Franklin said. “For a short period of time he was also in our conference at Ohio State and now back at BC. For a lot of those guys from that part of the country, BC is like a dream job. It’s interesting. I talked to a ton of guys. That BC job is a very desirable job. If you know Bill, his background, it makes a ton of sense. So when that hire happened, when that whole thing went down, I thought it was a win-win for both BC and Billy.”

Evidently, Franklin has watched a bit of Boston College, likely during the bye week when O’Brien’s team visited Missouri.

“He’s got a really mobile, dynamic quarterback [in Thomas Castellanos] that has done some nice things last year,” Franklin said. “When he got that piece of the puzzle, you can build from there. Billy has tremendous experience doing that. So it’s been cool to watch it, and happy for those guys and not surprised.”

Franklin’s comments echoed those of O’Brien six years ago at the NFL Scouting Combine.

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Penn State on SI is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on X (or Twitter) @MarkWogenrich.