BC's O'Brien, Duke's Diaz make quick push to connect with players after taking new jobs

Published Jul. 24, 2024 6:12 p.m. ET

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Bill O'Brien arrived at Boston College with a high-profile resume that included a stint as an NFL head coach, as well as work with some of college football's biggest brand names in Penn State and Alabama.

Manny Diaz was in similar position as the former Miami head coach took over at Duke in December.

Both knew they had to connect quickly with players that could opt to leave in a time of free player movement through the transfer portal, joining Syracuse's Fran Brown as the league's new coaches in their first year leading programs.

“It's definitely important,” Boston College offensive lineman Drew Kendall said Wednesday during the league's preseason football media days. “It's all about connections these days and how you get along with your players. ... If you're not building good connections and the players are not happy, then it's not going to go anywhere.”

For O'Brien and Diaz, this marks a return to head-coaching jobs after stints out of the top chair.

Diaz led the Hurricanes from 2019-21 before being fired for Mario Cristobal. He didn’t linger long in the frustration over losing that job despite posting a 16-9 league record in his tenure, spending two seasons as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for Penn State.

“The year Manny got let go, I kind of reached out to him, and said, ‘Hey, if we’d ever have a (coaching) opportunity ...'" Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said. "And Penn State gobbled him up so quickly, that's how highly he was thought of. After Miami, I'm sure he had 15 job offers.

“People who know Manny, that have worked with Manny, that have seen his teams play, have great respect for him. And I think he's a guy that does things right. He's ethical and smart and hard-working."

He didn't have to wait long to become a head coach, taking over the Blue Devils when Mike Elko turned a quick-rise 2-year run in Durham into the Texas A&M job. And he almost immediately went about holding a chain of one-on-one meetings with players to start building trust.

Duke offensive lineman Justin Pickett said he went in eager to hear Diaz's vision for the Blue Devils, but also described Diaz as listening to what he thought had worked well and what could be better.

For safety Jaylen Stinson, he went from being “a little nervous” going in to feeling reassured that Diaz “was the right coach for the job.”

“It meant a lot to me because at that time, we were all confused,” Stinson said. “We just needed somebody to talk to. And he was there. ... And we talked about everything."

Diaz said he was eager to listen to his players’ observations to learn about Duke as much as share his own ideas.

“As a leader, people always think that you take the podium and it’s waving the finger: ‘We’ll do this, we’ll do that,’” Diaz said. “And what I wanted is: ’I want to hear from you,' because great leaders listen. ... 'So, what’s working? What can we do even better to be better?’”

Still, Duke lost roughly a half-dozen transfers to other power conference programs, including quarterback Riley Leonard, to highlight part of the evolving college world since his Miami days.

“What changed from when I was head coach just a few years ago: your players all have the right to leave in a way that they just wouldn’t have thought about four or five years ago,” Diaz said. “So you have to quickly connect.”

As for O'Brien, he led Penn State in 2012 and 2013 in the wake of the child sexual abuse scandal that ended the tenure of longtime Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno, then spent seven seasons leading the NFL's Houston Texans — a tenure that included four playoff appearances.

O'Brien followed that by spending two seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Alabama, then two seasons in that role in a second stint with the New England Patriots. He had just signed on to lead the offense at Ohio State when Jeff Hafley left Boston College in February to become defensive coordinator for the NFL's Green Bay Packers.

He's the fifth former NFL head coach to take over an ACC program since 2000, the most recent being former Atlanta Falcons coach Bobby Petrino returning for a second stint at Louisville (2014-18). The others were former Cleveland Browns coach Butch Davis at North Carolina (2007-10), former New York Jets coach Al Groh at Virginia (2001-09) and former Dallas Cowboys coach Chan Gailey at Georgia Tech (2002-07).

O'Brien points to that time with the Crimson Tide under Nick Saban as a valuable look at everything that had changed at the college level since his Penn State tenure. And part of his message at BC, defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku said, was asking the players to give him a chance through spring practices before jumping at the first chance to transfer.

“He had a great background, he has a great resume,” Ezeiruaku said. “His whole thing was when he first got to Boston College: ‘Give me until after spring ball, give me some time. Buy in a little bit, see how it is.’ ... We all did that, we all stayed. And then after spring ball, we all stayed again."

BC lost only one transfer to another power conference school after O'Brien's late arrival (receiver Joseph Griffin Jr. to Wisconsin).

“I have experience in connecting with a team,” O’Brien said. “I’ve hired a really good staff. I feel like we have a good connection with these guys. We’ve got to keep that going. We have to continue to earn their trust every day. And really establish our culture and what we want to do.”

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