College football analyst claims Bill O'Brien did "great job" at Boston College

Bill O'Brien didn't last long as Ohio State's offensive coordinator. A month in, he left to take over Boston College, moving closer to home and leaving the other job for Chip Kelly to fill. It worked out well for both parties, as former Alabama quarterback and current ESPN analyst Greg McElroy believes.

McElroy graded O'Brien's first year in charge of Boston College quite favorably. (Start at 46:52)

"Bill O'Brien's Year 1 grade is an A-minus," McElroy said Tuesday on his podcast, "Always College Football." "I think he did a great job stepping in for kind of a somewhat difficult situation, upgrading their talent, stabilizing the situation and pulling off some big wins in a little bit of a roller-coaster-type season."

O'Brien's Eagles finished 7-6, losing against Nebraska in the Pinstripe Bowl. Boston College was 3-1 at one point, having opened its schedule by downing then-No. 10 Florida State on the road. O'Brien's squad also had nonconference wins against Michigan State and Western Kentucky.

Following three consecutive setbacks, O'Brien made a change at quarterback, inserting Grayson James and sitting Thomas Castellanos. The latter left the team as a result of the decision and later transferred to Florida State. Meanwhile, the Eagles finished the regular season by winning three of four.

"It was a difficult decision to make, but it appears based on how things went down the stretch, it appears it was the right decision by Bill O'Brien," McElroy said.

Why Bill O'Brien made sense as a hire for Boston College

Bill O'Brien brought both a wealth of experience and a pride for the region when he left the Buckeyes for Boston College.

"He'd been a head coach in college football, had been a head coach in the NFL, had worked for Nick Saban," McElroy said. "He checked a lot of boxes. For Boston College, this was a slam dunk and it was a no-brainer. And it was pretty impressive, I think, in Year 1 to see what they were already able to go and get."

O'Brien had been an assistant under Bill Belichick with the New England Patriots before taking over for both Penn State and the Houston Texans. He was later an assistant under Saban at Alabama and again in New England.

"O'Brien is here for both the opportunity and the tug of home," ESPN's Pete Thamel wrote before the season began. "He's from nearby Andover, Massachusetts. His wife, Colleen, is a BC grad, and he has family scattered around the area. But him taking the job is also a bet that BC can win, as he's ready to take an old-school philosophy and merge it with a new era."

No Boston College team has finished with more than seven wins in a season since 2009. Frank Spaziani's crew went 8-5 that year. The last time the Eagles had double-digit victories in a go-round was 2007. They climbed as high as No. 2 in the Associated Press poll and finished No. 10. That also marked the most recent instance in which Boston College was ranked to close out a season.

Bill O'Brien is up for the challenge of molding the program, which has had five other head coaches since the turn of the century.