Boston College Athletics
Photo by: Meg Kelly
O'Brien and Rhule To Finally Meet In Pinstripe Bowl's Grand Spectacle
December 11, 2024 | Football, #ForBoston Files
These coaches traveled the same roads but never faced one another. That changes when Nebraska and BC meet for the first time.
Boston College and Nebraska don't have much in common by way of their respective football histories. One, BC, is from the Northeast while the other built its reputation by dominating the Plains and Midwest states. One cut its teeth in games against other cold weather programs situated throughout the upper climate's jet stream while the other frequently ventured south with less games in the frigid northern reaches. One built its tradition against power programs from New York and Pennsylvania before competing in rivalries within a two-hour commute while the other staged some of the nation's most storied rivalries with its games against Oklahoma and Texas.
Not even the advent of national college football conferences brought BC and Nebraska within the other's respective spheres of influence, but none of that seemed to matter when head coaches Bill O'Brien and Matt Rhule joined one another on the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl's Zoom press conference for a buddy-cop routine that brought laughter and familiarity to the inaugural game of the high profile matchup.
"We just are very excited to be in this bowl," said O'Brien. "We're excited to have the opportunity to gain some more practice sessions [and] to keep developing this program. We're excited about traveling to New York City. I'm excited about seeing Coach Rhule. I haven't seen him in a long time. Relative to our football team, we're going to show up and play. These guys play hard. They care about Boston College. They care about their teammates. We're looking forward to the game."
O'Brien and Rhule never coached on the same staff but retain links to similar football circles from their circuitous routes to their incumbent and current roles. Both are northeast natives but have ties to the fertile recruiting grounds in Pennsylvania after taking Keystone State coaching positions during the same era. For O'Brien, coaching Penn State in 2012 meant receiving the keys to a program that hadn't hired a new head coach since 1966, but ascending to the role through the New England Patriots put him at the helm of Rhule's alma mater from a three-time Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy in the late-1990s.
Rhule was at Temple right before O'Brien arrived in State College, but the two marginally crossed paths after Rhule left Philadelphia for an assistant offensive line position with the New York Giants after O'Brien's was the offensive coordinator on the New England sideline for the franchise's second Super Bowl loss to head coach Tom Coughlin. He later returned to the Owls as a head coach, but the lone season of their overlap coincided with the one-year gap in the mid-2010s head-to-head battles between Penn State and Temple.
"When I [told my wife] that it was Coach O'Brien and Boston College," said Rhule, "[we remarked about] what a classy team and a classy coach. Our family's connections to Boston College, being the head coach at Temple, coaching at the Giants, where obviously a lot of the Mara family are Boston College people. Ed Foley is on our staff, [and] brother Glenn was the quarterback at Boston College. The ties to Boston College for us are great."
Their career arcs ran parallel to one another but never truly stuck the landing until this year's bowl game. By 2020, Rhule led Temple to consecutive 10-win seasons and the Owls' first win over Penn State since 1941 before reviving a scandal-addled Baylor program over a three-year stint in Waco, and an 11-win campaign with the Bears included a statistical tie with Oklahoma for the Big 12 regular season championship before the Carolina Panthers brought him to the NFL, where O'Brien was coaching the Houston Texans.
He would not, however, face O'Brien for his 24-9 win over the Texans in 2021 after O'Brien was fired despite four AFC South championships over the previous five seasons. Resurfacing in Alabama as the offensive coordinator for Nick Saban, he coached Bryce Young to the Heisman Trophy ahead of Young's No. 1 overall draft pick by Rhule's Panthers.
"I think you have two head coaches on the call that have put a lot of time into this profession," gushed O'Brien. "I don't want to speak for [Rhule], but I will say that [he] is a very accomplished coach. An NFL head coach, a guy that has resurrected programs wherever he's been."
Each now has an opportunity to finally coach against one another. In many ways, it's fitting that O'Brien and Rhule are taking their programs to their traditional background in New York City, a city known for creating Northeast legends. For O'Brien, it's the heart of Boston College country and a location that's home to thousands of former Eagles. It's a baseball stadium that ranks among sports' holiest cathedrals and an opportunity to move BC to eight wins for the first time since 2019.Â
For Rhule, the homecoming to his native city offered proud stories about Roosevelt Island and train rides to Yankee Stadium. Situated far from the Bronx, he openly pined for the moment when his daughters visited New York City while dreaming about their reactions at seeing the place that molded their father ahead of Nebraska's first bowl game since 2016.
"I'm a New York City alum," said Rhule. "We've got six guys on our team from North Jersey or from New York City. This will be really special for us. Some of the best moments of my young life, growing up in the city, were taking the train [and] going to see a Yankee game. Since this game first came to fruition, when you first had the Pinstripe Bowl, I've always wanted this opportunity.
"My sister just moved from Brooklyn to North Jersey a couple of years ago," he added. "She works in the city. My dad was a minister at Times Church in Times Square. He was also a teacher, first at [the Calhoun School] on the Upper West Side, then at Fieldston [in Manhattan]. My mom was sort of like an outreach social worker, [and] she worked down in the Lower East Side. For us, it's a chance to reconnect with friends. I grew up in Park Slope [and] lived over on Roosevelt Island."
"When we beat Pitt, we were looking at where we could possibly go," said O'Brien. "[Athletic director] Blake James did a great job with this, that we wanted to play in this bowl. This is an opportunity to play in New York City, which is a place where we have a lot of alums [and] a lot of support. Then playing in Yankee Stadium, I told the team, is a great opportunity.
"I have not been to Yankee Stadium, ever," he emphasized. "[Senior analyst for football strategy] Doug Marrone grew up in the Bronx. Nobody is more excited for him than me to be able to come and see this stadium where so many legendary players and legendary games have been played. I have a little bit of a baseball family. My youngest son plays baseball at Tufts [and] is a lefty pitcher across the city in Medford. He's excited to be in Yankee Stadium and watch this game. I can't wait. I've never seen [the stadium]. I've driven by it several times but never been in it. Just really looking forward to it."
The 2024 Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl between Boston College and Nebraska kicks off on Saturday, December 28 at 12 p.m. from Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. National television coverage is available through ABC with streaming available through ESPN's family of Internet and mobile device apps.
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Not even the advent of national college football conferences brought BC and Nebraska within the other's respective spheres of influence, but none of that seemed to matter when head coaches Bill O'Brien and Matt Rhule joined one another on the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl's Zoom press conference for a buddy-cop routine that brought laughter and familiarity to the inaugural game of the high profile matchup.
"We just are very excited to be in this bowl," said O'Brien. "We're excited to have the opportunity to gain some more practice sessions [and] to keep developing this program. We're excited about traveling to New York City. I'm excited about seeing Coach Rhule. I haven't seen him in a long time. Relative to our football team, we're going to show up and play. These guys play hard. They care about Boston College. They care about their teammates. We're looking forward to the game."
O'Brien and Rhule never coached on the same staff but retain links to similar football circles from their circuitous routes to their incumbent and current roles. Both are northeast natives but have ties to the fertile recruiting grounds in Pennsylvania after taking Keystone State coaching positions during the same era. For O'Brien, coaching Penn State in 2012 meant receiving the keys to a program that hadn't hired a new head coach since 1966, but ascending to the role through the New England Patriots put him at the helm of Rhule's alma mater from a three-time Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy in the late-1990s.
Rhule was at Temple right before O'Brien arrived in State College, but the two marginally crossed paths after Rhule left Philadelphia for an assistant offensive line position with the New York Giants after O'Brien's was the offensive coordinator on the New England sideline for the franchise's second Super Bowl loss to head coach Tom Coughlin. He later returned to the Owls as a head coach, but the lone season of their overlap coincided with the one-year gap in the mid-2010s head-to-head battles between Penn State and Temple.
"When I [told my wife] that it was Coach O'Brien and Boston College," said Rhule, "[we remarked about] what a classy team and a classy coach. Our family's connections to Boston College, being the head coach at Temple, coaching at the Giants, where obviously a lot of the Mara family are Boston College people. Ed Foley is on our staff, [and] brother Glenn was the quarterback at Boston College. The ties to Boston College for us are great."
Their career arcs ran parallel to one another but never truly stuck the landing until this year's bowl game. By 2020, Rhule led Temple to consecutive 10-win seasons and the Owls' first win over Penn State since 1941 before reviving a scandal-addled Baylor program over a three-year stint in Waco, and an 11-win campaign with the Bears included a statistical tie with Oklahoma for the Big 12 regular season championship before the Carolina Panthers brought him to the NFL, where O'Brien was coaching the Houston Texans.
He would not, however, face O'Brien for his 24-9 win over the Texans in 2021 after O'Brien was fired despite four AFC South championships over the previous five seasons. Resurfacing in Alabama as the offensive coordinator for Nick Saban, he coached Bryce Young to the Heisman Trophy ahead of Young's No. 1 overall draft pick by Rhule's Panthers.
"I think you have two head coaches on the call that have put a lot of time into this profession," gushed O'Brien. "I don't want to speak for [Rhule], but I will say that [he] is a very accomplished coach. An NFL head coach, a guy that has resurrected programs wherever he's been."
Each now has an opportunity to finally coach against one another. In many ways, it's fitting that O'Brien and Rhule are taking their programs to their traditional background in New York City, a city known for creating Northeast legends. For O'Brien, it's the heart of Boston College country and a location that's home to thousands of former Eagles. It's a baseball stadium that ranks among sports' holiest cathedrals and an opportunity to move BC to eight wins for the first time since 2019.Â
For Rhule, the homecoming to his native city offered proud stories about Roosevelt Island and train rides to Yankee Stadium. Situated far from the Bronx, he openly pined for the moment when his daughters visited New York City while dreaming about their reactions at seeing the place that molded their father ahead of Nebraska's first bowl game since 2016.
"I'm a New York City alum," said Rhule. "We've got six guys on our team from North Jersey or from New York City. This will be really special for us. Some of the best moments of my young life, growing up in the city, were taking the train [and] going to see a Yankee game. Since this game first came to fruition, when you first had the Pinstripe Bowl, I've always wanted this opportunity.
"My sister just moved from Brooklyn to North Jersey a couple of years ago," he added. "She works in the city. My dad was a minister at Times Church in Times Square. He was also a teacher, first at [the Calhoun School] on the Upper West Side, then at Fieldston [in Manhattan]. My mom was sort of like an outreach social worker, [and] she worked down in the Lower East Side. For us, it's a chance to reconnect with friends. I grew up in Park Slope [and] lived over on Roosevelt Island."
"When we beat Pitt, we were looking at where we could possibly go," said O'Brien. "[Athletic director] Blake James did a great job with this, that we wanted to play in this bowl. This is an opportunity to play in New York City, which is a place where we have a lot of alums [and] a lot of support. Then playing in Yankee Stadium, I told the team, is a great opportunity.
"I have not been to Yankee Stadium, ever," he emphasized. "[Senior analyst for football strategy] Doug Marrone grew up in the Bronx. Nobody is more excited for him than me to be able to come and see this stadium where so many legendary players and legendary games have been played. I have a little bit of a baseball family. My youngest son plays baseball at Tufts [and] is a lefty pitcher across the city in Medford. He's excited to be in Yankee Stadium and watch this game. I can't wait. I've never seen [the stadium]. I've driven by it several times but never been in it. Just really looking forward to it."
The 2024 Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl between Boston College and Nebraska kicks off on Saturday, December 28 at 12 p.m. from Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. National television coverage is available through ABC with streaming available through ESPN's family of Internet and mobile device apps.
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