Hafley's First Coaching Change Includes Seamless Transition
February 07, 2022 | Football, #ForBoston Files
John McNulty checked all the boxes for BC's offensive coordinator role.
As a first time head coach, Jeff Hafley's first two seasons included more than a few new events for his coaching career. There was his first practice, his first game and his first win, but joining Boston College included different firsts no coach likely experienced. His first home game with fans came a year after his first game, and his first practices and training camp were lined with new protocols surrounding life in the COVID-19 era. He was a trained football specialist, but his first two years included a return to normal from a world that was anything but regular.
He relied on the people he knew best to help him steward the Eagles through those times, and his coaches, his staff members and his coordinators became his closest confidants. Through it all, their stability helped raise the profile of the program, first for its ability to remain COVID-free during one of the most impossible situations and later for its ability to compete and win football games.
The firsts racked up for Hafley, but this offseason finally included an inevitable first for any head coach when his offensive coordinator, Frank Cignetti, departed the program in January. Left to make his first new hire to his staff, Hafley went through an intensive process before hiring John McNulty, a former coordinator at Rutgers and a longtime position coach in both the NFL and college ranks, as the new offensive coordinator at Boston College.
"I set out and made it a detailed process," Hafley said. "I didn't want to rush into anything. I had a list of guys, like most coaches would, and I went through a pretty detailed process. I took my time and probably talked to seven or eight people multiple times, spent a lot of time on Zoom and watching a lot of football, asking a lot of questions and getting to know people. I didn't want to rush it. A lot of people were kind of on me to get hired, but I wanted to take my time. So I set out with the process and completed it, and at the end of the day, it was an easy decision after spending time with John."
Any coaching change carries an inherent amount of unknowns into a process, but hiring a new offensive coordinator felt especially critical given BC's success and stability over the past two years. Hafley's arrival coincided with a natural attrition and transition induced by a change between coaching staffs, but he invested heavily in the emotional connection to players who chose to remain in Chestnut Hill. Over the next year-plus, he built around them by adding staff members with the same core values and similar resumes, and after that first season, the ecosystem remained intact as a marvelous tribute to the accomplishments of an unprecedented time.
The departure of Cignetti instantly changed all of that this offseason. He left to return home to Pittsburgh and departed with nothing but compliments and accolades from his Boston College colleagues, but the architect of the Eagles' offensive resurgence installed a pro style fit for quarterback Phil Jurkovec, who had arrived with Hafley and Cignetti. Together, they turned around the fortunes of players like Hunter Long and Zay Flowers while simultaneously developing the offensive line into a unit lined with four NFL-caliber players.
Losing anyone from that situation is an automatic void, but Hafley took all of that into account as he moved along in his process. He looked at what the team did well, both on the field and in the meeting room, and sought to build on the accomplishments of the past two years by finding the right person for the room. That didn't necessarily require an outside hire, but after meeting with McNulty, a coach with whom he spent one season during their time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it became obvious that another former Rutgers coach would join the BC coaching crew.
"I think we have some very capable and really good coaches here, who I think will be great coordinators," Hafley said. "We have a lot of specs for who I really want to be here and help us out. There were some guys that I talked to that I hadn't worked with - probably half of them - but it helps when you worked with somebody. You kind of know them as a person and see how they fit, if they are a fit, for BC.Â
John and I spent that year in Tampa together," he explained, "and we were on different sides of the ball. When you're on different sides of the ball, you're not around each other as much as you would think, but we did get to know each other well. So I know all about him as a person and how people feel about him in this profession. They hold him in high regard, both as a football coach in both leagues and even more importantly as a person."
It's how Hafley expects McNulty to fit into a room that's already incredibly tight and cohesive. The rest of the offensive staff returned from each of the past two seasons and includes offensive line coach Matt Applebaum, who had an opportunity to return to the NFL last season. Wide receivers coach Joe Dailey is equally regarded and was a former offensive coordinator at New Mexico in 2019, and running backs coach Rich Gunnell is a BC legend who served as interim head coach for the Birmingham Bowl three years ago.
That core was a big reason why BC enjoyed success in 2020 that thrust the Eagles into the national spotlight during the 2021 preseason. Picked as the a dark horse favorite to upset the ACC Atlantic Division, they scored 96 points in their first two games but lost Jurkovec for the bulk of the season when he injured his wrist against UMass. His return helped BC explode for over 24 points per game in the final three weeks of the season, and a 41-point explosion against Georgia Tech clinched bowl eligibility before the final two games of the schedule.
"When you start to interview people and ask them questions about scheme, [McNulty] got really detailed about all these positions [and] the run game and pass game, which is very rare," Hafley said. "Some guys we talked to were really good in the pass game and had quarterback experience, and some guys were really good in the run game and had line experience. When you talked to John, he's coached tight ends in the National Football League. He's coached guys like Larry Fitzgerald. That's really rare and extremely impressive.
"But now he has a college background," he added. "He [coached in college] earlier, but like me, he went to the NFL and then came back. He knows what the college game is all about. He knows the schemes we're going to play against. He basically played an ACC schedule two years ago when Notre Dame was in the ACC. He's developed players and has those relationships with players, and he's coached at the highest level. That's such a good fit for us and for the direction we want to go."
Â
He relied on the people he knew best to help him steward the Eagles through those times, and his coaches, his staff members and his coordinators became his closest confidants. Through it all, their stability helped raise the profile of the program, first for its ability to remain COVID-free during one of the most impossible situations and later for its ability to compete and win football games.
The firsts racked up for Hafley, but this offseason finally included an inevitable first for any head coach when his offensive coordinator, Frank Cignetti, departed the program in January. Left to make his first new hire to his staff, Hafley went through an intensive process before hiring John McNulty, a former coordinator at Rutgers and a longtime position coach in both the NFL and college ranks, as the new offensive coordinator at Boston College.
"I set out and made it a detailed process," Hafley said. "I didn't want to rush into anything. I had a list of guys, like most coaches would, and I went through a pretty detailed process. I took my time and probably talked to seven or eight people multiple times, spent a lot of time on Zoom and watching a lot of football, asking a lot of questions and getting to know people. I didn't want to rush it. A lot of people were kind of on me to get hired, but I wanted to take my time. So I set out with the process and completed it, and at the end of the day, it was an easy decision after spending time with John."
Any coaching change carries an inherent amount of unknowns into a process, but hiring a new offensive coordinator felt especially critical given BC's success and stability over the past two years. Hafley's arrival coincided with a natural attrition and transition induced by a change between coaching staffs, but he invested heavily in the emotional connection to players who chose to remain in Chestnut Hill. Over the next year-plus, he built around them by adding staff members with the same core values and similar resumes, and after that first season, the ecosystem remained intact as a marvelous tribute to the accomplishments of an unprecedented time.
The departure of Cignetti instantly changed all of that this offseason. He left to return home to Pittsburgh and departed with nothing but compliments and accolades from his Boston College colleagues, but the architect of the Eagles' offensive resurgence installed a pro style fit for quarterback Phil Jurkovec, who had arrived with Hafley and Cignetti. Together, they turned around the fortunes of players like Hunter Long and Zay Flowers while simultaneously developing the offensive line into a unit lined with four NFL-caliber players.
Losing anyone from that situation is an automatic void, but Hafley took all of that into account as he moved along in his process. He looked at what the team did well, both on the field and in the meeting room, and sought to build on the accomplishments of the past two years by finding the right person for the room. That didn't necessarily require an outside hire, but after meeting with McNulty, a coach with whom he spent one season during their time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it became obvious that another former Rutgers coach would join the BC coaching crew.
"I think we have some very capable and really good coaches here, who I think will be great coordinators," Hafley said. "We have a lot of specs for who I really want to be here and help us out. There were some guys that I talked to that I hadn't worked with - probably half of them - but it helps when you worked with somebody. You kind of know them as a person and see how they fit, if they are a fit, for BC.Â
John and I spent that year in Tampa together," he explained, "and we were on different sides of the ball. When you're on different sides of the ball, you're not around each other as much as you would think, but we did get to know each other well. So I know all about him as a person and how people feel about him in this profession. They hold him in high regard, both as a football coach in both leagues and even more importantly as a person."
It's how Hafley expects McNulty to fit into a room that's already incredibly tight and cohesive. The rest of the offensive staff returned from each of the past two seasons and includes offensive line coach Matt Applebaum, who had an opportunity to return to the NFL last season. Wide receivers coach Joe Dailey is equally regarded and was a former offensive coordinator at New Mexico in 2019, and running backs coach Rich Gunnell is a BC legend who served as interim head coach for the Birmingham Bowl three years ago.
That core was a big reason why BC enjoyed success in 2020 that thrust the Eagles into the national spotlight during the 2021 preseason. Picked as the a dark horse favorite to upset the ACC Atlantic Division, they scored 96 points in their first two games but lost Jurkovec for the bulk of the season when he injured his wrist against UMass. His return helped BC explode for over 24 points per game in the final three weeks of the season, and a 41-point explosion against Georgia Tech clinched bowl eligibility before the final two games of the schedule.
"When you start to interview people and ask them questions about scheme, [McNulty] got really detailed about all these positions [and] the run game and pass game, which is very rare," Hafley said. "Some guys we talked to were really good in the pass game and had quarterback experience, and some guys were really good in the run game and had line experience. When you talked to John, he's coached tight ends in the National Football League. He's coached guys like Larry Fitzgerald. That's really rare and extremely impressive.
"But now he has a college background," he added. "He [coached in college] earlier, but like me, he went to the NFL and then came back. He knows what the college game is all about. He knows the schemes we're going to play against. He basically played an ACC schedule two years ago when Notre Dame was in the ACC. He's developed players and has those relationships with players, and he's coached at the highest level. That's such a good fit for us and for the direction we want to go."
Â
Players Mentioned
Women's Basketball: New Hampshire Postgame Press Conference (Nov. 6, 2025)
Thursday, November 06
Football: Head Coach Bill O'Brien Media Availability (November 6, 2025)
Thursday, November 06
Football: Grayson James Media Availability (November 6, 2025)
Thursday, November 06
Football: KP Price Media Availability (November 6, 2025)
Thursday, November 06
