Despite picking up where Jeff Hafley had left off when he left to become the Packer defensive coordinator, leading Boston College to a bowl game in his first season at the helm, year two did not shape up to be nearly as promising for Bill O’Brien.
After losing star quarterback Tommy Castellanos to the transfer portal (where he eventually ended up landing at Florida State with Mike Norvell), O’Brien and the Eagles struggled to find their footing on either side of the ball, ending the 2025 just 2-10 while O’Brien constantly found himself defending his vision for the future of the program with the media as the season wrapped up.
Since the end of the season, O’Brien has made a number of changes to the staff, including bringing former Auburn assistant GM Kenyatta Watson, a BC alumnus, as the program’s new general manager, and he’s also making a coordinator change.
CBS Sports shares O’Brien is parting ways with defensive coordinator Tim Lewis.
Lewis was one of O’Brien’s initial hires upon landing the job on Chesnut Hill.
The 63-year old coaching veteran brought two decades of experience from the NFL to his role with O’Brien, but that spanned from 1995 through 2015. After a brief stint as a high school defensive coordinator, O’Brien got back into “professional” football with stints in upstart leagues of the XFL, UFL and AAF from 2019-2023.
Before joining the Boston College staff, Lewis had most notably served as the defensive coordinator for the Arlington Renegades of the UFL and had a one-season stint as the head coach of the Birmingham Iron during the revamp of the XFL in 2019 where he led the team to a 5-3 finish.
This year, with the Eagles defense, Lewis led a unit that ranked 123rd out of 136 FBS teams in scoring defense, allowing nearly 33 points per game, 107th nationally in rush defense at 178 yards per game, 125th nationally in pass defense allowing 256 yards per game, and 129th in total defense at 433 yards per game allowed.
Boston College also ranked near the bottom of college football nationally in sacks (1.42 per game), tackles per loss (3.83 per game), turnover margin (121st nationally) this season under Lewis.
At the conclusion of their season, athletic director Blake James announced they would bring O’Brien back for a third season at the helm while increasing their revenue share allotment to the maximum amount to a spot more in line with the financial resources with their counterparts.
O’Brien enters a critical year three for the program with a 9-16 record.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.
