What a wild year it was for New England college football.

Starting this week back in 2024, things got a bit crazy with the hiring of Bill O’Brien, the departure of Bob Chesney to James Madison, the switching from Merrimack to Holy Cross by Dan Curran and the retirement of a legend Tim Murphy over at Harvard.

The New England coaching carousel won’t be as busy this spring, but before we look ahead, let’s take a peak back at what O’Brien and Chesney were able to do in Year 1.

College Football Network (under the same umbrella as PFN) released rankings and grades for 31 first-year FBS college head coaches on Monday morning and both Chesney and O’Brien got plenty of love. Here’s what CFN had to say about both coaches and the successful seasons they had:

Bob Chesney, James Madison
Overall Record: 9-4
Sun Belt Record: 4-4
Grade: B+

“There are several first-year college football head coaches who were on a hiding-to-nothing coming into the 2024 season, and Bob Chesney firmly fits into that category. Firstly, the man he replaced at the James Madison Dukes had established himself as a legend within the program. Secondly, Chesney’s own prior success at the FCS level ensured he carried significant expectations into his first FBS head coach role.

He had to bring success despite returning just 40% of the Dukes’ 2023 production, which included the loss of the Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year (Jordan McCloud) and a CFN Freshman All-American in De’Angelo Ponds, who was the cornerstone of the defense. Despite the attrition, Chesney led the Dukes to a nine-win season and saw very little drop off in production. 2025 could be his year.”

Bill O’Brien, Boston College
Overall Record: 7-6
ACC Record: 4-4
Grade: A-

“I’m not 100% sure that Bill O’Brien gets enough credit for the job he did with the Boston College Eagles in 2024. Perhaps that’s because of a three-game midseason losing streak that included road losses to two distinctly average teams from Virginia. Maybe it’s due to the perception of how he handled the quarterback situation, fueled by preseason expectations of Thomas Castellanos that fell flat in 2024.

That ignores the fact that the seven wins are tied for the most since 2009. It ignores the fact that the four AAC wins are tied for the most (outside of 2020) in that same timeframe. It ignores the fact that under O’Brien, the Eagles averaged four points more on offense and 4.5 points more on defense than in 2023. He has also overseen a 43-place uptick in the 247 Sports recruiting rankings in the last year.”

The full list for all 31 coaches with grades and write ups can be found here.