Report: Boston College Football Releases DC Tim Lewis Plus a Pair of Position Coaches

The Eagles are looking to revamp some major pieces of their coaching staff this offseason after the firing of their defensive coordinator, offensive line and wide receivers coach.

Boston College Athletics (@bceagles) via Youtube.

According to a report from Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports on Friday morning, the Boston College football program released defensive coordinator Tim Lewis, offensive line coach Matt Applebaum, and wide receiver’s coach Darrell Wyatt.

Bill O’Brien has parted ways with a few members of his Boston College coaching staff, including firing defensive coordinator Tim Lewis, sources tell @CBSSports pic.twitter.com/dZ6kV3sZTE

— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 5, 2025

Lewis, the former Kevin T. Fee Family defensive coordinator of the Eagles, joined the program’s coaching staff in 2024.

Under Lewis’ guidance, former BC defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku finished his career on the Heights as one of the top pass rushers and overall defensive players in program history, earning 2024 ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors by tying the program single-season sack record with 16.5 while generating 80 tackles and 20.5 tackles for loss.

Ezeiruaku—the Dallas Cowboys’ second-round pick in the 2025 National Football League (NFL) Draft—also won the Ted Hendricks Award, given to the nation’s best defensive end, that year.

The future of Lewis’ career took a turn for the worse this past season, however, in which the Eagles went 2-10 and 1-7 in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

BC ranked 127th out of 134 teams in FBS in total defense in 2025, relinquishing 433.2 yards per game, 6.52 yards per play and 49 touchdowns.

The defense as a whole was only able to accumulate 17.0 sacks, just 0.5 more than Ezeiruaku alone a year prior, and just six interceptions, down from 17 in 2024. That also includes 46.0 tackles for loss in 2025, down from 68.0 in 2024.

Lewis’ coaching background consists of serving as an NFL defensive coordinator for a total of seven years, and before arriving in Chestnut Hill, Mass., he spent the previous 25 years coaching at some level of professional football. 

In his most-recent stint prior to BC, the former first-round pick of the Green Bay Packers in the 1983 draft spent five seasons as a head coach in the XFL and the United Football League, including as a defensive backs coach and a defensive coordinator.

The NFL teams Lewis worked for included the Pittsburgh Steelers (defensive coordinator, 2000-03), the New York Giants (defensive coordinator, 2004-06), the Seattle Seahawks (defensive backs coach, 2007), the Carolina Panthers (defensive backs, 2007-08), the San Francisco 49ers (defensive backs, 2015) and the Atlanta Falcons (defensive backs, 2010-14).

Lewis was not the only former coach that O’Brien chose to part ways with, according to Zenitz—O’Brien also let go of offensive line coach Matt Applebaum and wide receiver’s coach Darrell Wyatt.

Applebaum initially served as BC’s offensive line coach from 2020-21 and returned to the program under former head coach Jeff Hafley in 2023. 

In his BC tenure, Applebaum has coached the likes of NFL offensive linemen such as Zion Johnson, Christian Mahogany, Ozzy Trapilo and Drew Kendall—all of whom were drafted out of the program from 2023-25—and additional players, Jack Conley and Alec Lindstrom, who were signed by NFL teams as undrafted free agents.

In 2025, under Applebaum’s guidance, offensive guard Logan Taylor was tabbed an All-ACC Honorable Mention after not allowing a single sack in 364 dropback snaps.

With that being said, the Eagles ranked 127th in the nation in rushing offense in 2025, averaging just 103.2 yards per game at a clip of 3.29 yards per attempt.

BC also gave up 35 sacks to opponents this year—2.92 per game—which was good for 120th in the country, tied with Akron.

Wyatt, meanwhile, was another coach who carried over from the Hafley era and spent the last four seasons coaching BC’s wide receivers.

Wyatt helped turn former BC wide receiver Zay Flowers, who set the program record for receiving touchdowns in a season with 12 in 2022, in addition to racking up 78 receptions for 1,077 yards as a senior, into a first-round NFL draft pick in 2023.

He additionally oversaw the development of Lewis Bond, a redshirt senior in 2025 who broke the program record for most receptions in a season (89) and career receptions (214).

BC’s passing offense, particularly its wideout corps, was arguably the most-impressive position unit on the offense in 2025, which makes Wyatt’s release from his post slightly baffling.

O’Brien will have his hands full this offseason replacing these coaches, on top of filling in the quarterback room, which just lost Dylan Lonergan—who led the Eagles in all passing categories—to the transfer portal on Thursday.