'We've Been There Before': Bill O'Brien's Coaching Mindset Fuels BC's Response to Adversity

In the landscape of college sports circa 2025, consistency is not a factor which most athletic programs have control over.

Recruiting in the transfer portal is just as integral as high school recruiting due to NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) and revenue sharing, and players have the option of jumping from program to program depending on which of those programs will wave the most dollars in front of those players’ faces.

Boston College is not necessarily one of those programs.

Take Jeremiah Franklin, for example.

Franklin is a four-year player for the Boston College football program. Hailing from Walkersville, Md., the 6-foot-3, 248-pound tight end made two starts as a true freshman and deemed it upon himself to climb the ranks of the position unit, gaining an increased share of playing time and roles in the offense as time went on.

Franklin experienced a coaching change during the middle of his collegiate career, which formed when former BC head coach Jeff Hafley decided to take a role as the Green Bay Packers’ defensive coordinator in the National Football League. Bill O’Brien, a former NFL head coach himself, stepped into the picture, and Franklin remained unshakable in his unwavering commitment to BC despite this transition.

Franklin is now a cornerstone player on the offense and the No. 1 option in the Eagles' tight end room. He is a leader, first and foremost, who routinely enforces the notion of letting his play do the talking, believing the rest will take care of itself.

When asked about how the Eagles don’t get complacent after dominating their Week One opponent, Fordham, 66-10—Franklin caught five passes for 50 yards in the victory and looked unstoppable in the passing game—he didn’t think twice about his answer.

That’s because he’s been through thick and thin as it pertains to the ups and downs of the college football experience, all with a single program. That is the gift of a program like BC’s. Its development of players from year one until they leave is among the best in the nation, which increases retainment.

“I feel like whenever people see, like, a big number, they’re like ‘Oh, man. They must really be feeling good about themselves,’” Franklin said. “But that’s actually really not the case, because there’s a lot of things that we messed up. … I don’t really think we care too much about the 66 points, because I think what we really care about is being perfect.”

Franklin hit the head on the nail with this answer, and he learned that from the very first second of the O’Brien era in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Being perfect is obviously unattainable, and Franklin admits that. But striving for better every single day is more than an attainable goal with discipline as a unit. That mentality is something O’Brien has instilled in all of his players.

“You could say you’ll never be perfect, but we’re always going to strive for perfection,” Franklin said. “And so that’s our mindset going into every game, like you got to be perfect, know what you’re doing, play fast. You know, head on fire.”

Defensive back Carter Davis, who registered his first career sack this past Saturday against the Rams on a safety blitz, concurred with Franklin’s understanding of O’Brien’s agenda, adding that the veteran leadership and players on the team know what it’s like to experience both success and failure.

Davis, along with Franklin, of course, was on the team when the Eagles went 3-9 during Hafley’s third season at the helm. He was a freshman at the time, but he was just as involved as any player on the roster in the emotions of such a down year for the program—one that possibly, unintentionally, opened up the idea of a coaching change.

In 2024, BC started the season with two straight wins and a 4-1 record through the first five games before going on a losing streak of three games—two road losses to Virginia and Virginia Tech, respectively, and a home loss to Louisville.

“We’ve been there before,” Davis said. “Last year, we was about [4-1], and we went on a little slump. Like we’ve been there. We know how it feels to win, but we also know how it feels to lose. We really do not let last week, [Fordham], like no offense to them, but we got way bigger tests every week now. [We] keep staying hungry, always [having] that chip on your shoulder.”

Knowing how to lose is an underrated skill, because if you learn how to do it properly, it makes responding to losses much easier.

The one play at a time, forget about the last play, one day at a time, one practice at a time, and one percent better every day mentality that O’Brien preaches is bound to have its payoffs in the realm of wins and losses. He already tallied more wins, seven, than losses, six, in his first season at the helm, and returned the majority of BC’s starters from last year who have all inherited this belief.

Wide receiver Reed Harris, who scored a touchdown last week on a perfectly-placed ball from quarterback Dylan Lonergan in the back-right corner of the endzone, agreed with the sentiment of moving onto the next step and keeping the last one in the past as an ideal to strive for and live by.

What a catch pic.twitter.com/mhG09PirgW
— Boston College Football (@BCFootball) September 1, 2025

"We basically just forget about everything we just did,” Harris said. “We gotta focus on what's ahead of us, taking it one day at a time. Practice happens first, and then you just keep going from there, practice, practice, practice."

It is very unlikely for BC to go 12-0 in 2025, as is the case for nearly every college football team in the nation. But it wouldn’t be a surprise to see BC go undefeated following losses—if there are any.