and now for the first time as the head football coach at Boston College it's Bill O'Brien Bill good morning hey guys how you doing Greg thanks for having me always great to have you on the show no fight songs shine I know what a Miss come on with I love that fight song I please play that every time I still remember my chair to it you do you remember your I remember the whole dance have we set up we had the save coaches we had the save Wiggies job pep rally uh with Brockton High School when he was the coach and that didn't work I don't know if you know about that bill or not but Wiggy was do you are you familiar with coaches who are doing a fantastic job and then they are unceremoniously dumped from that from that position have you ever experienced that I'm quite familiar with that scenario quite familiar so have we ever set up and if we haven't we should right now Courtney returning to her roots and cheering uh at a BC game this this season I would have to bring out the knee brace again um but yeah no I mean I'm all for it you're all for it you don't sound all for well I could do the fight song other than that I don't know all right well we'll work we'll work on it we can work on that um Bill we're you know we're here at Fenway and this is 22 years of this event and I know you experienced it when you were with the Patriots and that that players that you were coaching experienced it it is uh an an incredible thing that this community comes together for every year yeah really is I I I just listened to you uh talking about how much you've already raised you know in the first day and a half here whatever you guys have been doing it and and I just think it's incredible it's incredible what the Red Sox do uh having grown up in this area you know very familiar with the Jimmy fun for you know a very very long time you know been a Red Sox fan my whole life and you know just thinking about what they do to as you guys always talk about you know try to eradicate that horrendous uh Disease by by raising money for research and all the different things that go into it we just lost a uh a great man here at Boston College uh I think two weeks ago Jack Connor's um you know passed away to cancer so it it hits close to home to for all of us unbelievable guy one one of the most philanthropic people in this city ever and um it is it's just uh you know it this the money that is given and the effort that is made by the doctors and the research ERS and the nurses uh and the and the stories of those that are fighting it um it is it's it's hard not to think that at some point we'll get there and find a way to to stop what's going on with these patients uh but we can't do it without without the dollars and so um it it uh it makes a real difference when it comes to what everybody is fighting here no no question no question I I I just think that that's too the other thing I think about a lot is very biased here but what Boston is all about you know people come together in times like this you know there's there there's uh you know just great people in this city that donate to that and um to the Jimmy fund and it's it's great to see I mean and and those great people will be happy as long as you're winning I you get you know how it goes you say that you say that every time we I'm telling you we're working very hard to win Greg I promise you we're working very hard we're working very hard to put a winning product on the field to that point bill I did see that you've uh increased intensity when it comes to practice you weren't thrilled with the output with the effort the guys were putting in at practice you guys have a scrimmage today are you happier after increasing that intensity when it comes to the guys I personally love it I love having a guy out there with BC that is going to make sure that they are ready to go yeah I mean I just think there's there's only really one way to do it right I mean you can't uh expect to go to a game and you know having not practiced properly and think that you're going to you know have any shot in any game so we we've definitely gotten better these kids have worked really hard I mean they've put in a lot of work in the springtime the summertime and now this will be our 10th practice today this is a scrimmage where we go into the stadium and you know kind of like a game like scrimmage got coaches in the Press Box and got the ACC officials here and things like that so it's a big day today here at BC and these guys they've worked really hard I'm I'm very happy with where we are you know right now yeah at the start part of training camp Gerard Mayo had the fellas doing some virtual Sprints have have you been doing any any of this virtually Bill never I did not I I did not see that I've been busy myself I didn't I don't even know what we're talking about with virtual I don't know whether to laugh or cry well I mean I you know it's it's kind of like a work life balance work from home kind of thing you know how that goes when I was in school I virtual studying do you virtual kissing we've been talking a lot definitely a lot of virtual kissing we' been talking a lot about Drake May does it surprise you when you look at that first preseason game and he's in there for one series uh when you look at reps in practice with the ones and and how many he is or isn't getting does it surprise you the way they're kind of bringing him along you know I I think that's an interesting you know question Greg I I think that in Pre first of all preseason games I'll just be honest with you they don't really mean a whole lot and the reason why I say that is that you know both sides of the ball in preseason aren't really doing a whole lot like the defense may play cover three the whole game the offense may just be in 11 personnel the whole game simple formation so for that for that reason alone you should probably try to get in my opinion you know a rookie quarterback a bunch of reps because you know you're you you're playing pretty vanilla offense and defense at the same time you know how is the offensive line playing like you want to go in there and and and get the guy crushed because we can't block anybody you know what I mean so I think there's probably a fine line that they're talking about but in the end I always believe the in reps I know they're scrimmaging the Eagles right now so I'm sure that uh you know that Drake's getting a bunch of reps I don't think there's any other way to learn than by actually doing it I don't think you learn by you know standing next to the coach on a sideline I think you actually learn by by going out there and experiencing it and and dealing with pressures and dealing with the different things that go into getting ready for a game Billy just uh speaking for myself there is a huge ground swell of energy back into BC football and there is a feeling like there's someone there that you know maybe you won't be there for 30 years but your your desire is to get it right to get BC football back to you know some days where it's top 25 and competing in the ACC and I just with the way the Patriots are right now I think there's going to be a lot of eyes on BC football that may not have been with the addition of you and and this fall so there's a lot of optimism for you Billy uh in the BC Community well I first of all I really appreciate you guys giving um you know giving BC BC football a voice on on your show because your show is awesome and so I I I really appreciate that I I do I do you guys know you and Courtney know I mean this is a special place and you know we we can be great academically we can be you know great in so many different areas we we can be good in football you know we we can be good in football if we if we recruit the right way and we coach the right way and we develop players the right way there's no doubt we can win in football so we just have to keep chipping away we got a lot of good people here I love the job you know I'm from here I grew up here I have a lot of buddies that played here that take a lot of pride in in Boston College football so I you know I'm I look forward to coming to work every single day I I haven't been able to say that about every single job I've ever had you know I I really enjoy getting in the car and coming to work every single day so um I'm I'm excited for the season I actually think we have a pretty good team you know I think we got a lot of guys on this team that are good football players so you know we got to go do it we have to go prove it but I'm excited for the season Bill like you said you're you're about you know 10 practices in through fall Camp uh and I know that you've been in college football but it seems like it's always evolving what are some of the things that you're noticing just you know especially now that you're back into it maybe some of the the the things that you like some of the obstacles I know the transfer portal is Big you talk about developing players and trying to build a a nucleus and some of your good players jumping the portal you having to get players from other places what are some of the things that you like and maybe dislike about being back in it um since it's been you know a couple years and it's constantly evolved in college football I think the big thing that I like uh wig is is the fact that you can re you you have a lot of time with the players in college football in training camp you know you can really develop a player it's very different than pro football you know pro football you know when when for instance like when there's a day off in pro football they're off they're they're not in the building they're gone and a day off in college football means that you know really you're just not practicing you can have a you know meetings you can have an indoor walk through you you can you can uh do some player develop you can bring in guest speakers you can you know we had Chris Heron here the other day it was amazing you know talking to our team about his story um you know so I think there's a lot of things that are really good about college football relative to the development of players I I think when it comes to the transfer portal you know we have 12 guys on the team right now that are that transfered in here and they're all they're they're good players and they're good kids I don't know if we want to live in the transfer portal at Boston College I think it'll be difficult to do that you know because I think it's hard to transfer in here you know it's not easy to come from you know University of Illinois to Boston College it's not easy to do that so I think we have to do a great job of recruiting you know if there's a guy out there that we think fits in the transfer portal we'll certainly look at it but I I just really enjoy the amount of time you get to be with the players you know I think that's that's in my opinion that's one of the issues with the National Football League right now after in 2011 when the CBA changed the development of players changed you know back when I started when you played Wiggy you remember you know Dante would work with those lineman after practice every single day for years that's how Stephen Neil became Dan Conley that's how those guys became really good players because they were developed day in and day out you just you don't have that as much in the NFL anymore you have it in college well now no now you have guys that are naring you out to the Players Association if you have a late meeting uh not not talking about not talking about anybody particular that's on the phone or anything um but we have R have you have you uh last one for me Bill have you asked Bill bellich to come speak to the fellas you know he's been busy he's been he's got a lot going on um but no I think he'll come by I do think he'll come by you know Bears is here bears nerian and so that's been a huge thing for our program so um you know I haven't talked to bill in a while but but I I think he'll stop by he's you know he goes out to the University of Washington a lot because Steven's out there and you know he's he's got his own stuff he's got a lot going on he's on the Manning cast which I don't think I think all of us can't wait to watch that and then he's on macafee and you know he's he's a busy guy so hopefully he'll stop by and and say a few words to the team but but uh not today we got a big scrimmage today so all right well good luck thanks for taking the time we are looking for I think we're going to talk to all season long on this show so we're looking forward to it Bill Ryan thanks for taking the time this morning thank you guys appreciate it all right that's Bill O'Brien a lot of optimism when it comes to the Eagles and the double and triple Eagles Curtis I love him so much you love him love you love him what a great like just I can't tell you the last time I felt this way about PC football you're excited I mean we went from Jeff Halley leaving on his own volition to bringing in that guy what an upgrade