Boston College Football Hires New Defensive Line Coach From UMass
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On Monday morning, Boston College football reportedly hired Ben Albert as the program’s new defensive line coach, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Source: Boston College is hiring veteran defensive line coach Ben Albert as the school’s new defensive line coach. Albert was at Boston College from 2013-15 as the defensive line coach. He’s also worked at UMass, Duke, Temple and Rutgers and with the Jacksonville Jaguars. pic.twitter.com/djzRvHZXGA
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 18, 2026
BC head coach Bill O’Brien wasted no time with this selection, as the move came less than 24 hours after former BC defensive line coach Jordan Thomas left the school to coach at Illinois.
Albert was previously the assistant head coach, special teams coach, and defensive line coach at UMass since 2022.
Before that stint, he served as the co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach at Duke from 2016-2021. Prior to that, he was BC’s defensive line coach from 2013-15, which makes this a homecoming for Albert.
Prior to his first three years on the Heights, he worked at Temple, with the Jacksonville Jaguars in the National Football League (NFL), Delaware, Richmond, and Rutgers.
Former BC head coach Steve Addazio was the reason Albert came to Chestnut Hill, Mass., initially, as the two worked together when Addazio was the head coach at Temple. Albert served on the Owls’ staff as the linebackers coach that year (2011).
In 2015, under Adazzio, the Eagles led the country in total defense (254.3 yards per game), third-down conversion defense (.241), and tackles for loss per game (9.6).
BC also ranked among the top five in rushing defense (No. 2; 82.8 yards per game), scoring defense (No. 4; 15.3 points per game), and passing defense (No. 5; 104.7 passing grade by opposing quarterbacks).
The Eagles advanced to two bowl games during Albert’s tenure with Addazio — the AdvoCare V100 Bowl in 2013, and the New Era Pinstripe Bowl in 2014.
Albert was a key mentor to former BC defensive end Harold Landry, a second-round pick by the Tennessee Titans in the 2018 NFL Draft who received All-America accolades and, at the time, established the program’s since-season sack record.
From 1990-94, Albert played defensive tackle for the Minutemen in Amherst, Mass. He graduated from the university in 1995 and received his Masters degree in 1997.
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Graham Dietz is a 2025 graduate of Boston College and subsequently joined Boston College On SI. He previously served as an editor for The Heights, the independent student newspaper, from fall 2021, including as Sports Editor from 2022-23. Graham works for The Boston Globe as a sports correspondent, covering high school football, girls' basketball, and baseball. He was also a beat writer for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League in the summer of 2023.
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