Where does Bill O’Brien rank among ACC head coaches?
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Bill O’Brien is entering his third year as head coach of Boston College and his first two could not have been more different.
O’Brien was hired in 2024 and went 7-5 in his first season with a trip to the Pinstripe Bowl, which was a 20-15 loss to Nebraska. O’Brien and the Eagles finished 2-10 in 2025.
O’Brien has been around college football and the NFL for a long time. He spent six full years with the Houston Texans before being fired in 2020 following an 0-4 start. He then bounced around as offensive coordinator at Alabama, Ohio State, and with the New England Patriots.
O’Brien has now settled into his new home at Boston College looking to improve upon what was a disastrous 2025 campaign.
The itch for college football has arrived in full force. This means countless previews, predictions, and rankings about anything and everything. This includes a ranking of ACC head coaches made by Austin Curtright of USA Today.
The question is, where does Bill O’Brien rank? The publication ranked O’Brien 16th out of 17 coaches:
“O’Brien went 7-6 in his first season at Boston College, but failed to build momentum with a terrible 2-10 finish in 2025. After a successful start to his tenure with the Houston Texans, winning four AFC South titles from 2014-2019, he was fired after an 0-4 start in 2020. O’Brien then spent multiple seasons as the offensive coordinator at Alabama and then the New England Patriots in 2023 and Ohio State in 2024, winning a national title with the program. O’Brien went 15-9 in two seasons as Penn State’s head coach from 2012-13 before bouncing for the NFL, but his college head coaching career largely hasn’t been all that impressive.” — Austin Curtright, USA Today
The position on the list has to do with a short tenure paired with a two-win season. O’Brien has a chance to improve his standing next year if the Eagles can win a few more games this fall.
Check out the full list below:
- Mario Cristobal, Miami
- Dabo Swinney, Clemson
- James Franklin, Virginia Tech
- Rhett Lashlee, SMU
- Jeff Brohm, Louisville
- Brent Key, Georgia Tech
- Manny Diaz, Duke
- Jake Dickert, Wake Forest
- Pat Narduzzi, Pitt
- Tony Elliott, Virginia
- Dave Doeren, NC State
- Fran Brown, Syracuse
- Mike Norvell, Florida State
- Tosh Lupoi, Cal
- Tavita Pritchard, Stanford
- Bill O’Brien, Boston College
- Bill Belichick, North Carolina
Do you agree with these rankings?
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