Boston College Names Matt Applebaum As New Offensive Line Coach
Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley continued to fill out his coaching staff yesterday as the school announced that Towson OL coach Matt Applebaum will be taking the same role with the Eagles
“Matt is a critical hire for us to help continue our strong history of excellent offensive line play,” said Hafley. “He has both college and NFL experience and is familiar with Coach Cignetti’s system we will run here at Boston College. Not only is Matt a great offensive line coach and technician, but he sees the big picture and will grow into a coordinator role. We are so excited to have Matt join our BC football family.”
Applebaum comes to the Heights after two years at Towson as their offensive line coach. He also coached two years at Davidson, one where he was an offensive line coach and another as offensive coordinator. He also spent time at Southeastern Louisiana and Miami doing his graduate assistant work.
A Pennsylvania native, the 35 year old Applebaum played college football at UConn where he was a two year starter. He got some early experience in the NFL where he worked as an offensive assistant with the Washington Redskins and Jacksonville Jaguars. Applebaum will be another coach on the staff with no direct connection with Jeff Hafley.
It's hard to make a snap judgment on this hire. Applebaum is kind of an unknown commodity, so it's tricky to say whether this move is a hit or miss. He hasn't really coached at a Power 5 school, and as noted before doesn't have a connection with the head coach. However, he is coming from a high powered offense at Towson that averaged 30.2 points per game, and there is precedent that shows this could work. Former Boston College offensive line coach Phil Trautwein came to the Eagles after only limited work at Davidson, and he ended up working out fine.
Like all of these hires, judgement on the success or failure of each of these coaches will be due to their work on the field, with the players and on the recruiting trail.
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