Boston College Offensive Coordinator Candidate List
Joe Dailey, WRs Coach (Interim Offensive Coordinator), Boston College
Dailey currently serves as the wide receivers coach and is likely to be promoted to the offensive coordinator role if no outside candidate is hired. He has significant experience as the offensive coordinator at Liberty. He played quarterback in college and coached quarterbacks at multiple stops during his coaching careers, so he could pull double duty like Cignetti.
Rob Chudzinski, Special Assistant to the Head Coach, Boston College
Rob Chudzinski has extensive NFL experience as an offensive coordinator and even served as the Cleveland Browns head coach for the 2013 season. Chudzinski was the offensive coordinator for quarterbacks like Cam Newton and Andrew Luck. But he’s been a special assistant to Jeff Hafley for the last year. Given his experience, he would be a great candidate to promote to the offensive coordinator position.
Brian Angelichio, TEs Coach, Carolina Panthers
This one might seem a little strange, given that Brian Angelichio is not a name known to most football fans. But he has very strong connections to Jeff Hafley. They’ve been on several staffs together across multiple teams. Hafley and Angelichio met while working for Pitt and coached together at Rutgers, Tampa Bay, and Cleveland. He has been out of the college game for a while, but he’s also been stuck as a tight ends coach since 2007. Therefore, he might leap at the opportunity to move up the ranks.
Brian Hartline, WRs Coach, Ohio State
This one is a bit of a reach, given the quality of jobs the candidate has been linked to. Brian Hartline is widely regarded as one of the best position coaches in the country, not only as a teacher and developer but also as a recruiter. Given the relative logjam on Ohio State’s offensive coaching staff, there’s been talk that Hartline could make the leap to offensive coordinator or even head coach somewhere else. While this may lead some fans to believe BC could be a candidate for his services, frankly, he could get a much more high-profile job as an offensive coordinator. Hartline only worked with Hafley for one season, so their connection might not be that strong. If BC could somehow steal Hartline, even for only one year, that would be a major coup for Phil Jurkovec, Zay Flowers, and the rest of the offense.
Corey Dennis, QBs Coach, Ohio State
Staying in Columbus, the Buckeyes’ quarterbacks coach could also be looking to make a jump up. Corey Dennis grew up in football, as his father played football and was an athletic director. He played at Georgia Tech and has been on staff with Ohio State since 2015, slowly working his way up the totem pole. Dennis has played a significant part in the quarterback development and recruiting success for OSU. But, like with Hartline, there’s a bit of a backup at the top of Ohio State’s coaching staff. So Dennis might need to leave Columbus to advance in the ranks. Again, his connection with Hafley is not that strong, but he’s a popular candidate nationally among position coaches.
Bob Bicknell, WRs Coach, Bengals (2020)
This name might seem familiar to some of our older Boston College fans. Bob is the son of former Eagles head coach Jack and played for BC in the late 1980s. He’s coached almost every position over a 27-year career, spanning college, the NFL, and even the short-lived NFL Europe. Bicknell most recently served as the Cincinnati Bengals’ wide receivers coach but was let go after the 2020 season. Given his name, he might have some pull around BC; he’s also still relatively young (52) for someone who has been around the game for so long. But he has not been an offensive coordinator since the mid-2000s, so it might be a bit of a stretch.
Mike Sullivan, QBs Coach, Pittsburgh Steelers
Mike Sullivan could be looking for a job in the coming weeks. With Ben Roethlisberger expected to retire following this postseason, the Steelers could be turning over most of their positional coaching staff. Sullivan has been around the professional game for a long time; he worked with Jeff Hafley with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers under Greg Schiano. Furthermore, he was Frank Cignetti’s boss with the New York Giants in 2016 and 2017. Sullivan is a former military man and even served as Army football’s director of recruiting for the 2020 season. He would bring much of the same professional attitude and experience that Cignetti provided.
Mick Lombardi, WRs Coach, New England Patriots
I am sure some readers of this site will bristle at the idea of Boston College poaching a coach from the New England Patriots. But Mick Lombardi has a connection with Jeff Hafley, as they worked together with the San Francisco 49ers. He has been the Patriots wide receivers coach for the last two seasons and served as the assistant quarterbacks coach in 2019, working closely with Tom Brady. Like Ohio State, Lombardi currently faces a relatively big logjam on staff unless Josh McDaniels leaves to become a head coach elsewhere. Otherwise, Lombardi might want to strike out on his own and become an offensive coordinator for a college team before possibly returning to the pros.
Ja’Juan Seider, RBs Coach, Penn State
This candidate frankly has no connection to Boston College or Jeff Hafley. But he’s one of the hottest names among positional coaches in college football. Ja’Juan Seider has been coaching running backs at Penn State since 2018, working with an excellent crop of players, including Miles Sanders, Journey Brown, Noah Cain, John Lovette, and Devyn Ford. He also helped produce multiple NFL players at his previous stops with Florida and West Virginia. While BC has pivoted away from the running game the last two seasons (when the quarterback has been healthy), Seider could help bring a more balanced, spread-style of offense to the Heights. He’s a pretty significant dark-horse candidate, but he’s a name to keep an eye on.
