Boston College Football HC Bill O'Brien 'Honest' With Recruits While Addressing 2025 Struggles

For the time being, there is nothing that will take the Eagles' skipper away from his focus on BC's final 2025 opponent, Syracuse.

Nov 8, 2025; Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA; Boston College Eagles head coach Bill O'Brien looks on during warm-ups before a game at Alumni Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images | Eric Canha-Imagn Images

The difficult reality of college-football recruiting stems from a variety of factors, but, overall, the success of the team is often paramount, or quite near it. Money goes a long way, too.

Being honest with recruits, however, is not something that Boston College football head coach Bill O’Brien has trouble dealing with.

“Yeah, no, I tell [them], I’m very honest with them,” O’Brien said. “[I tell them], ‘Hey, here’s the things that we’re going to try to improve on.’ It doesn’t change the way we feel about them. We feel like there’s a really bright future here. So yeah, no, I’m very upfront. … I’m not really trying to sugarcoat anything. I’m going to tell them what it is and how we … need to move forward to get better.”

The honest truth is that this season has not gone the way O’Brien envisioned it going. Not even close to it, for that matter—if that even needs to be said.

Last week, two former 2026 BC football commits, tight end William Vaughn and quarterback DJ Bordeaux, reopened their recruitment. 

It is probably a safe bet to have expected some of O’Brien’s second recruiting class with the program to drop out following what has been a disaster of a year—the Eagles are 1-10 and 0-7 in Atlantic Coast Conference play—but that is not a major worry for BC’s skipper heading into the future.

According to O’Brien, there is way more that goes into a decision to reopen recruitment than what might surface on the outside.

“I mean, there’s a lot that goes into whatever they call that,” O’Brien said. “It’s a two-way street, right? It could be us, it could be them. I don’t read too much into that. I have respect for every guy we’ve recruited, every guy that’s committed, anybody that’s chosen after committing to go somewhere else. I totally understand that there’s more to it than meets the eye that is not for, you know, public consumption, really, I guess I would say.”

There are still 25 commits in O’Brien’s ‘26 recruiting class and national signing day is not until Feb. 4, 2026. There is technically still a few months once the season is over to convince players they are the right fit for not just the program, but also for the University as the direction of the Eagles’ future becomes clearer.

O’Brien has made his intentions of reevaluating certain aspects of the program, from the coaching staff to his outlook on the transfer portal, abundantly clear as he heads into his second true offseason. 

But his focus on Syracuse—BC’s final 2025 opponent—remains the point of attack as of now.

“Like I said, I’m really focused on Syracuse, right?” O’Brien said. “I mean, I think that’s the big thing. This whole week is about Syracuse, and last week was about Syracuse and trying to do the best job we can to play a really good game. After the Syracuse game, Sunday, Monday, we’ll meet with players. Well do a deep dive on all the things that go into the program and see where we’re at at that point.”

In fact, Syracuse head coach Fran Brown, who is also in his second year, had a very similar answer during Monday’s press conference to a question about his honesty with recruits during what has ultimately been a wayward season for the Orange as well.

“I’m extremely honest with them,” Brown said. “I mean, they can see. We just speak about the game, but I just talk to them about everything. I’m very open, I’m very honest, and they understand where they are, they understand the role that they’ll have coming in, and I understand the role that they want. So that kind of still is on the same page, and they can still see the progression and they can see what we’re doing and what we are.”

If one thing is for sure, it is that the current players inside of the locker room, who go through the same routine everyday from practice to game days, still have a magnitude of confidence in O’Brien as the leader of the program.

“Yeah, 100 percent,” safety KP Price said. “There’s no doubt in my mind, 100 percent [he is the person who should continue leading the program.”

With a game to still be played this year, that is really all that matters to O’Brien.