Offensive coordinator Ryan Day has spent more time at Boston College than any other program, so it is easy to see why he settled in so easily when he made his return in January.
Day spent five seasons at BC as an offensive assistant between 2007-11. His only year away in the last seven was his first job as an offensive coordinator, under Steve Addazio at Temple. When Addazio took the BC job, he brought Day along with him. And with Day came some familiarity with the upperclassmen already on the roster.
He already knew quarterback Chase Rettig. And he worked closely with receivers Alex Amidon and Spiffy Evans in his previous role as receivers coach. A few other juniors and seniors remain, though the roster is filled with younger guys Day had to get to a know in a hurry. But already having a relationship with Rettig and Amidon was huge for Day, especially since they are the top two offensive players returning.
"You would have to ask them, but I do think there was a certain amount of trust there as opposed to having to earn trust, which I think helped the process," Day said.
Day is implementing a different offensive scheme than the Eagles ran last season, so that trust has been huge. Players have to believe he is going to do right by them. That is especially true in Rettig's case, since he is not the mobile quarterback that coach Steve Addazio has had running the offense at previous stops. So that means trying to tailor the offense to what Rettig can do, and having a coach who already knows a player is huge in that respect.
It also has helped that Day spent so many years at Boston College previously. This is actually his third stint, having served as an offensive grad assistant from 2003-04.
"During my time at BC I worked under Dana Bible, Gary Tranquill, Kevin Rogers, Dave Brock and Steve Logan, five different coordinators, so I was able to take a look and say here are some things I like that they did, some things at BC we can do, and here are some things we don’t do so well here based on the personnel we have, and I had that experience to draw upon," Day said.
All those experiences will certainly help as the Eagles embark on this rebuilding project.