Bill O’Brien is set to add Bill Belichick’s right-hand man to a crucial position at Boston College. The Eagles are hiring Berj Najarian as the program’s Chief of Staff, as first reported by Pete Thamel.
It is a very big move for the first-year head coach in Chestnut Hill. Especially in the NIL era.
Najarian spent the last 34 years with the New England Patriots as one of the most powerful figures in sports that very few people have ever heard of. His role as the director of football/head coach administration played a crucial role in the greatest dynasty in NFL history.
Everybody knows Berj runs the show down there. You had to go to Berj for everything. You’d walk in the front door and the first guy you’d see is Berj. He was in charge the whole time I was there.
— Former Patriots wide receiver and three-time Super Bowl champion Tory Brown, via the Boston Globe
A 2012 article about Najarian in the New York Times gave a lot of good insight into his mysterious role and how he helped to orchestrate a lot of the behind-the-scenes wins while in New England. Other than that, there is very little information about his day-to-day operations, even though he was an integral part of the organization.
Boston College is in good hands!
Now, with Belichick failing to get a new job for 2024, Najarian is staying local to help build a similar strategy for success on the collegiate level. College football is no longer an amateur sport so the teams that are going to find the most success are those who take an NFL-like approach from the top-down. Name, Image and Likeness coupled with the transfer portal created free agency, and fund allocation is key. That is in addition to the standard recruiting methods and talent evaluation.
If Boston College is going to break through from mediocrity for a return to the 10/11-win seasons of 2006 and 2007, Najarian’s role atop the program will be crucial. He will be tasked with all of the roster and NIL management while Bill O’Brien focuses on the Xs and Os with the guys he already has in the program.
To have someone that built the Patriots alongside Belichick eager to do the same thing with the Eagles alongside O’Brien is a huge win in itself. Boston College has a legitimate chance to compete in the ACC for the first time in more than 15 years if Najarian can bring the same approach to the D1 level!