Boston College to retain Bill O’Brien, increase football financial commitment

Boston College athletic director Blake James wrote a letter to fans confirming coach Bill O’Brien will be back for a third season in Chestnut Hill despite the Eagles’ 2-10 record in 2025. 

James wrote that he still believes O’Brien is the “right man” for the job, and most importantly, provided an update on how Boston College will increase its  financial commitment to the football program to allow O’Brien to build the kind of roster that can compete in the ACC. The letter laid out three ways the school will do that. 

1. Revenue sharing: Boston College will increase its revenue sharing with athletes to the “maximum permissible level” to bring them in line with other Power Four programs in revenue sharing spending after offering a smaller allotment in 2025. 
2. Staffing: James vowed that BC will make “significant investments” in the operations and administrative staff, with the most notable addition being hiring Kenyatta Watson, a former BC player and the assistant GM at Auburn, as its new general manager. 
3. Increased fundraising: James announced Boston College received a $50 million challenge from a donor to match donations to new endowment gifts for athletic scholarships and operational expenses over the next 5-7 years. The school will announce a new fundraising campaign to hit that $50 million match and hopes to exceed it. 

After going 7-6 in his first season, O’Brien’s Eagles took a significant step back in 2025. Their lone win over an FBS opponent came in the season finale against Syracuse, and it was clear they fell behind their ACC counterparts. 

That is why the investment piece is so important. Bringing in Watson, who was highly regarded as a recruiter over his time working at Auburn, Florida State and Georgia Tech, to lead the way as the GM is a big step towards improving the roster, and he likely asked for assurances that he would have the kind of resources in the form of full revenue sharing to maximize what BC can do in terms of bringing more talent onto the roster. 

A number of programs successfully passed the hat recently with donors to get their finances in order to either keep a coach happy or make their job more enticing to a bigger name. Virginia Tech got a massive financial commitment before hiring James Franklin, proving a willingness to do what it takes to contend in the ACC, and now Boston College is trying to do the same to give O’Brien every opportunity to build them into a consistently quality program. 

While this is a long-term commitment, the 2026 season will prove important for O’Brien to show that these newly invested resources are going to a good cause. Another season at the very bottom of the ACC would surely dampen enthusiasm to invest more into the program.