(Image courtesy of Victor Stefanescu / The Heights)

By Alan Segel
NEFJ Correspondent

Chestnut Hill —Let’s be honest. When it comes to collegiate sports in New England in general and Boston in particular, the colleges take the lower tier in the sports pecking order.

Yes, there is the phenomenon that is UConn basketball (men and women) and to some extent Providence College. However, these programs, while successful, have a local media presence and that usually does not transfer to the region as a whole on a day in and day out basis.

Football is king. A successful football program brings with it a special kind of passion and focus. Fans of Alabama and Penn State are not just popular and known in Alabama or Pennsylvania, they are national brands.

You might be asking why did I use these two schools? Well, for a very good reason. The new head football coach atop the Heights, Bill O’Brien, has college roots at those two football powerhouses. He also coached at Brown, Georgia Tech, Maryland and Duke on the collegiate level and with the Houston Texans and New England Patriots in the NFL.

O’Brien knows what a successful college program looks like and he has the vision to see what characteristics Boston College needs to present to in order to succeed.

“On the football field we will play smart, ” says O’Brien. “We will be a tough physical football team and be a team that does the simple things well. We have to win the penalty battle, the turnover battle, and be the team that plays the best on third down. We have to play well in the red area and we have to play great situational football.”

If Boston College wants to satisfy it’s vision to get back to the championship level that they have experienced at different times (1940’s era/Doug Flutie era), they have to recruit well. It is not easy for a school like Boston College with higher academic and off the field standards than many other schools. However, Bill O’Brien is confident the Eagles can achieve his player vision with hard work.

“It is up to us to do a great job of identifying, targeting, and then do a good job of getting them on campus. We have to recruit them on a daily basis, it is a big part of this to ID them and then go after them”

Bill O’Brien’s partner in arms is BC Athletic Director Blake James. James established the process that saw O’Brien come through and become the focal point. His background is from powerhouse Miami where he oversaw the Hurricanes from 2013 to 2021. His programs won NCAA and ACC Championships and he too understands the recruiting vision.

“I think we can be very successful,” he told me. “Now, how we define that type of success is going to vary from year to year. If we are getting the right kids here that really value the Jesuit educational values and recognize the professional network they will create, plus also buy in to everything that Bill is doing with our program, we are going to be successful along the lines of great BC teams.”

Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie created much of the narrative to which Boston College programs are always judged. His success became BC’s success and they became the darlings of the Boston sports scene. I remember that after Flutie’s famous “Hail Mary” on November 23,1984 all of the local Boston TV stations led the 6pm newscasts with what happened on that rainy Friday in Miami. If you want further evidence, they were still the top story at 11 with every station doing a Logan Airport live shot covering BC’ s arrival back home.

Both O’Brien and James think BC can get a fair share of the Boston sports scene, but it will take work.

“We have to do a good job of marketing Boston College,” according to BC’s new head coach. “We have to win; we have to do a good job of putting a good product on the field. It is not going to happen overnight but I think between getting the right guys here to play football, having a great coaching staff that understands the BC Mantra of giving back to the community and then win, we’ll be able to have our own niche in Boston.”

James agrees with O’Brien and understands the Boston sports landscape. He too feels BC can command attention in this very competitive and successful sports market.

“This is a city of champions,” James told me after the introductory press conference. “You look at what the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins have done. We are in a city with some of the best franchises in each of their respective leagues. What we have to do is reflect that same level of excellence.

“I think when the market sees the excellence that we are putting on the field fans will come. Look at our hockey team, which is seeing sellouts night after night because of their excellence. We are going to see that same excellence with the product Bill puts out on that field. I am very confident that is what Bill will do and the people of New England will see that and want to come and see the football team battle game in and game out.”

I witnessed the BC mania during Doug Flutie’s days and so did O’Brien, although he was just a teenager at the time. He is a local guy having been born in Dorchester. He went to Brown and as a young assistant coach with the Bears had a dream. It was a simple dream. He wanted to be the Head Football Coach at Boston College.

Sometimes, dreams do come true.