Bill O’Brien had personal and professional reasons for making Boston College his destination football job.

Eagles’ Athletic Director Blake James officially welcomed O’Brien, his wife, Colleen, and son, Jack, into the BC community during a gathering inside the Barber Room at the Yawkey Center on Thursday. O’Brien was introduced as BC’s 37th head football coach.

“This is a program that will do things the right way and can win and I can’t wait to get to work every day,” said O’Brien. “I can’t wait to be around these guys, our coaching staff to try and get thing going in the right direction.”

O’Brien, 54, said his phone “blew up a little bit” when word leaked out that BC coach Jeff Hafley was leaving the Heights after four seasons to become the defensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers.

O’Brien had just resigned his position as offensive coordinator with the New England Patriots to become Ryan Day’s OC at Ohio State. O’Brien was in Columbus, Ohio, house hunting with his wife when the BC job opened up.

Day, a former Eagles’ quarterbacks coach, temporarily rescinded the job offer so O’Brien could pursue the vacancy at BC. Day subsequently hired UCLA head coach Chip Kelly to fill the position. In an added twist to the story, Hafley was Day’s defensive coordinator and secondary coach at OSU before taking the BC job.

“The process started the next day and it was pretty quick, but the process was very thorough and it was a three-stage process,” said O’Brien. “It was a very competitive process and I’m proud they hired me.

“Ryan Day was very good about this whole thing. Jeff Hafley did a really good job here and we have to build on that and we also need to build on what was done in the past here.”

O’Brien’s connections to the region and the institution made BC a “no brainer” even though he had built a coaching portfolio that would have opened doors at highest levels of the NFL and FBS.

O’Brien grew up in Andover and played football at St. John’s Prep in Danvers for legendary coach Jim O’Leary before moving on to Brown University. Colleen O’Brien is a BC alum (’92) and their adult sons reside in the area. Current St. John’s coach and former BC quarterback Brian St. Pierre was part of a group of former BC players, coaches, boosters, family members and media that packed the auditorium.

“I think that is very important that me and my family are from here,” said O’Brien. “I just think this is a great fit for my family and I. Colleen went to school here and Michael goes to Tufts. It is a nice fit and I look forward to getting started, really getting started.”

Hiring O’Brien created an immediate buzz around the BC football program, an accomplishment in and of itself in a pro sports town like Boston. James deserves an enormous amount of credit for attracting the best available candidate and getting the deal done late in the hiring process. James had been through this process twice as the AD at Miami and he was able to land the guy he wanted with the backing of BC President Fr. William P. Leahy.

“We talked to college guys, NFL guys, head coaches, coordinators and assistant coaches and it was important for us to find the right person,” said James. “I remember after hanging up from my first conversation with Bill thinking if it gets better than this, we are going to have a great coach. Bill was very impressive from the start.

“I had the opportunity to hire a couple of football coaches before and anytime you do something, you learn things. I took things I learned from those processes and applied them here. We had a great search committee and great alignment throughout and we got the best person for the job and a great coach.”

O’Brien gained national attention when he took over as head coach at Penn State in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky scandal an returned the Nittany Lions’ program to respectability. O’Brien was the 2012 recipient of the Paul “Bear” Bryant National Coach of the Year award and George Munger Award for Coach of the Year.

Brien also has extensive coaching experience in the ACC. O’Brien served as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Georgia Tech, running backs coach at Maryland and offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Duke. He was in national spotlight again as head coach of the Houston Texans and offensive coordinator under Nick Saban at Alabama.

O’Brien’s area of specialization is coaching and developing quarterbacks. At the NFL level he worked with Tom Brady in New England and Deshaun Watson in Texas. He worked with 2021 Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young at Alabama.

O’Brien is looking forward to working with BC quarterback Thomas Castellanos, a prototype ACC dual threat field general who piled up tremendous passing and rushing stats last season.

“When you have a guy that can make off schedule plays, I think that is very important,” said O’Brien. “Tommy is a good passer and he obviously can run the ball and we are looking forward to working with him.”