Familiarity matters in coaching. It is easier to coach with people you know than those you don’t. It is partly why Boston College Head Coach Bill O’Brien has decided to hire longtime defensive coordinator and friend Ted Roof as the Eagles new defensive coordinator.

Roof and O’Brien go back to their time on George O’Leary’s staff at Georgia Tech from 1998-2001. They went their separate ways after that but reunited in 2005 when Roof was the head coach at Duke. He hired O’Brien to be his offensive coordinator. After coaching together for two seasons, O’Brien left for the Patriots in 2007. The two reunited again when O’Brien took the Penn State job in 2012. Roof was O’Brien’s defensive coordinator for one year before leaving for Georgia Tech.

Roof has a lengthy resume that includes stops at UCF, Vanderbilt, Clemson and Oklahoma. He isn’t just O’Brien’s “buddy.” He is a coach with a proven track record of success as a defensive coordinator who can get the most out of his players.

Schematically, Roof will run a defense that will attack but be versatile. He is not just going to sit. He will bring pressure, he will disguise and he will get all 11 players involved in the scheme. He is not going to rely strictly on his front and edge guys to get pressure. He will bring it from all over the yard.

Thanks to the portal and players graduating, Roof will have a lot of new players to work with so in a way, he will be starting anew with them. He is coming in at the right time. The players will and Roof can grow together and get to know each other.

New England and Massachusetts specifically will not be new to Roof. He was the outside linebackers coach and defensive coordinator at UMass for three seasons between 1994-96. That was a long time ago but at least he is familiar with the region and it will not take him long to get used to living and coaching here.

Many Boston College fans and alumni expressed their displeasure with Roof’s hiring on social media yesterday but they should give him a chance before poo-pooing his hire. Roof can coach and he is a good recruiter. He relates to players and he will run a scheme where he dances maximize their talents. Before you dismiss him as O’Brien’s buddy, let’s what he does with the Eagles defense first.

Experience and loyalty from your coaching staff matter when you are looking to turn a program around. You need coaches who will buy in. Roof will buy in. He knows what O’Brien expects from his coaches and the two will work together as one, which is what matters the most.