This past offseason, the New England Patriots underwent a lot of changes, as they parted ways with a number of players as well as their head coach, Bill Belichick, who served in his role for the previous 24 seasons.
To replace Belichick, New England hired Jerod Mayo, their de facto co-defensive coordinator and former linebacker, as the new head coach.
Mayo promoted DeMarcus Covington to serve as his defensive coordinator, but he had a hard time finding someone to run the offense. Bill O'Brien held the job in 2023 after returning to the NFL from coaching at Alabama.
However, despite being given the opportunity to return for 2024, O'Brien turned down the job and accepted a position with Ohio State and then another with Boston College. This led New England to eventually hire Alex Van Pelt.
On a recent episode of former Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman's podcast "Games with Names," O'Brien explained his decision to leave New England again.
"I was at the Patriots, and it was a rough year, Jules. You know that," O'Brien said. "We could've stayed there. I felt like it was important for Jerod to hire his own people. I came there to work for Bill. When you're a new head coach, in my experience, you want your own guys underneath you.
"Ryan Day called. I went to Ohio State. Ryan Day is a guy that's been a great friend of mine for a long time, awesome guy from New Hampshire, and we've known each other for a long time. I took that job, and this job came open a month into that job. My wife, Colleen, went to B.C. I have two sons. My oldest son, I think you know, was kinda dealt a bad hand in life; born with a brain malformation. He's 22 years old. To move him again to Columbus, Ohio probably wasn't the right thing to do. My youngest son is at Tufts on the baseball team. Go Jumbos. So, it was actually a great opportunity for myself but really my family and the whole thing, and I love the job. I love the people there. I have a passion for the job, so it's been good.
2023 was tough for everyone around the Patriots and obviously led to a massive overhaul in coaching and talent, so it's not a surprise that O'Brien wanted a fresh start.
Boston College seems to be a great situation for him, and O'Brien has them at 3-1 through the first four weeks of their season.
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