Over the past couple of days, Ohio State Buckeyes offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien has emerged as a candidate for the Boston College head coaching vacancy with one report going as far as to suggest his hiring at BC was almost a done deal. But one prominent college football insider doesn’t seem to think that’s necessarily the case.
On Monday, Rich Thompson of The Boston Herald reported Bill O’Brien and Boston College were “down to the minor details.” Obviously, this would be a big loss for the Buckeyes after O’Brien just joined the team last month. But in an appearance on “College Football Live” on Tuesday, ESPN insider Pete Thamel painted a very different picture of Boston College’s coaching search.
“We’re sort of in that mid-phase of the search right now,” Thamel said. “A handful of candidates are expected to interview today, among them is obviously Bill O’Brien. He’s been the most prominent public candidate there and certainly, because of his local ties, being with the Patriots for a long time, his wife went to BC, he has sort of emerged as the public favorite.
“But, this will be a full and thorough search that still has one more phase left. A candidate or candidates are expected to come to campus later in the week. So there will be some drama over ‘The Heights’ until we see some smoke from a chimney there.”
But Thamel doesn’t necessarily think that Boston College will simply hire the fan-favorite candidate.
“Two things to remember about every Boston College search — one, it will move deliberately,” Thamel said. “It will not have the portal or any other timelines dictate the search.
“Ultimately, this decision comes down to Father William Leahy, who has been the president of BC for almost 30 years. He is not one who is going to give over to fan sentiment or board sentiment. He is going to do what he thinks is best for BC.”
Obviously, this is a coaching search that Ohio State fans will be watching very closely.
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