Eighteen months ago, Jeff Hafley was a relatively anonymous defensive backs coach for the San Francisco 49ers. Today, he's a first-year head coach for Boston College... in the middle of a global pandemic. Life, Ferris Bueller once said, comes at you fast.
After being hired in December and taking over full-time in January, Hafley is installing BC's new schemes and culture and building the Eagles' future roster from a computer screen.
He took a break from a meeting of BC's defensive staff to talk with me on Monday, where we talked about why the pandemic ended his days of sleeping in the office, why the cancelation of a major recruiting weekend left him encouraged about BC's recruiting efforts, and why the Eagles' defense is not his No. 1 priority.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
FootballScoop: First off, what's your day-to-day look like right now?
Hafley: Start off with a staff meeting early in the morning, between 7:30 and 8:30. Before that I'm usually at my desk getting organized for the day, having breakfast with my two kids, see how everybody's doing. Then we usually meet as a staff, do some recruiting, break for lunch. I get to see my kids again, which is awesome. And then in the afternoon it's a combination between Zoom meetings with recruits for me, defensive scheme stuff with the defense, and then at night I have dinner with the family -- which is three meals a day I get to see my wife and kids, which has been awesome -- and then back to Zooming at night with recruits until it's time to get the kids to bed, and then it's time to go to bed myself. It's a pretty busy day, actually. I probably get more work done being at home than I would in the office without any distractions.
FootballScoop: Is this something you can see continuing once the restrictions end?
Hafley: I think you go back to the office as much as you can, but I think you ask a really good question. Truthfully, I think there is a place for this. Whether it's, "You know what, guys? Go home, have dinner with your families." I think it opens up the door for more family time, which is the most important thing for me and my staff. If our players aren't around, we're just going to sit in our offices, get together and watch tape and not be able to see our kids before they get to bed. Why not get home, put our kids to bed, eat dinner and then get back to our offices and watch the tape together? I can't tell you how many nights I spent in my office by myself watching tape for three or four hours when I certainly could have put my family ahead of that now that I've realized all the stuff I can do at home. I think the days of coaches sleeping in the office... you might as well sleep in your home office because you can accomplish a lot there, too, you know what I mean?
FootballScoop: You're, obviously, a defensive guy. How do you balance your experience as a coordinator while giving your defensive coordinator, Tem Lukabu, room to run the show? What's that dynamic like?
Hafley: (Tem) will run the meetings with the staff, because I can't be in all those. He'll get me caught up when I get in, and we'll talk together. To me, it's the whole defensive staff talking together at that point. When we run meetings in front of the players, if there's five of them in a week I might jump in and say, "Hey Tem, I want to go over a few things." Let me get up there and coach for a while. He and I are really, really good friends. We trust one another and bounce back and forth with each other. At the end of the day, shoot, he's in a defensive meeting with the staff right now and I'm on a call with you, and I'm not going to have to check in. I know he's going to do an awesome job.
FootballScoop: When did you feel like you were ready to be a head coach?
Hafley: Probably sooner than I actually was. Two years ago I was itching to become a head coach when I was in the National Football League. I knew I wanted to be a college head coach, and in order to do that I needed to get back in the game. As the season went on this year, that's when I really felt that I was ready. To get back in the college game, being around college kids again, seeing how things have changed a little bit -- shoot, there were a lot of things that were different from the time I had left -- I would say as the season went on this year, I did, I felt like I was ready. Didn't know if many opportunities would come this year. I had my head down making sure that defense was doing a good job, and when they did I felt confident and ready so I went after the one.
FootballScoop: Is this something you talked with Ryan Day about? You and him had pretty similar paths to becoming head coaches.
Hafley: We talked about it. Ryan and I are very close friends. I think the world of him as a person and a coach. I bounced a ton of ideas off of him. When he and I were on the road recruiting, we knew a bunch of jobs would open and he would say, "Be careful with that" or "Don't look at that." He said, "If that BC one opens up, that's certainly one to look at." We talked about things he would change or do differently in Year 2. He'd get my thoughts on some things and we'd share ideas. When the BC one opened we sat down and he was awesome. He gave me his advice and input, and when I told him I was going to the job he was thrilled for me.
FootballScoop: This is something I've asked other head coaches, and I'm particularly interested to hear the answers of the first-time guys. What do you view your role is when you walk in the building each morning?
Hafley: I wish I was walking in the building right now. My main objective is to connect with the players, to be there for my players -- offense, defense and special teams. I want to connect the players together, the players with the coaches, the coaches with the coaches. I need to bring this group together. That has been my main focus. Now that I'm here, in my office at home, my main objective is to make sure the players are safe and healthy, their families are safe and healthy and the staff, the same for them. As the head coach, is the defense my No. 1 objective right now? No. My No. 1 objective is the team and the players. Getting to know them as quickly as I can and being there for them and letting them know that, and feel that, and show them that. That's my No. 1 objective, the players first.
FootballScoop: You said you want to connect with your players. How do you sense that, maybe, this player or this group needs to connect with a certain player or coach in the program?
Hafley: Spend time with them. Bring them in, talk to them. I've tried my best to sit down with every player on the team, which has taken a lot of time. Right now I pop into Zoom meetings, whether it's the running back room, the O-line room, try to get in there and spend time with them -- joke with them, ask them questions. Share a story with them, have someone share a story with me. Building relationships is about time and honesty. It's going to take a little bit, especially when we're not around each other, but I've been trying to do the best that we can. I want these guys to know if they need something, they can come in my office, sit down, eat lunch, watch film with me, and if they have a problem with me or a coach I want them to be honest and tell me that and then we'll address it and we'll get by it.
FootballScoop: What do you want a Jeff Hafley BC team to play like?
Hafley: I want them to be tough, mentally and physically. I want them to love one another, I want them to love their coaches, and I want that to show up every time you turn on the tape. I want them to compete in everything that they do. I do believe if they do all of those things, I'll be happy. It'll be a process, but those are the three things I keep asking from the guys this first year that I want to build on.
FootballScoop: Have you gotten the sense that you're going to have to pair down your playbook from what planned to install before the virus hit?
Hafley: Definitely. I think you're right on. And it probably took me a little bit of time to realize that and start to think that way. I mean, we can't implement our whole defensive scheme; I'm talking from a defensive standpoint only because it's what I do. If they only give us a certain amount of weeks, without spring football or only because it's Year 1, we're going to have to shrink it down. I can't justify putting in all these things that these players have never practiced and don't truly understand, they won't be able to go out and do it fast and execute. We're going to have to look closely at what we do best to put our players in the best position to succeed and we're going to have to live with it.
Week 2 might look different from Week 4. The first month might look totally different from the third month. I need to make sure, one, that the players are safe and, two, I put them in positions to succeed. That's the most important thing to me.
FootballScoop: How has recruiting gone, transitioning from Ohio State to Boston College?
Hafley: The one thing I've realized, when you walk into schools (BC) is a national brand. Whether we went into a school in Georgia, California, because the school has such an awesome reputation academically, we're out there. Here is the exciting thing for us, truthfully: We had an early spring break. That whole week, weekend where everybody was getting all their kids on campus, we didn't get anybody on campus. We were back the following week and we had about 60 players ready to come up and we felt really good about, and then everything got shut down so we had nobody come up for a visit. So, for what our staff has done -- and I give them all the credit -- without having anybody visit, to get the commits that we have already, that just, I told the guys the other day, "You guys have done such a good job, imagine what we could have done if we got them on campus, to this city." So that kind of excites me. Are we getting every kid? No. We're finding great fits. We're finding kids that want what we want. Our guys have done a great job without any visits, so I'm fired up about that.
FootballScoop: How do you progress a relationship to the point where kids are committing when they haven't visited campus and you haven't visited them?
Hafley: I think one is the time we've put in, the staff's put in. Whether it's Zoom meetings with myself, the staff. We've done virtual visits, with guys walking around campus, showing them whatever they can with their iPad or whatever technology we have. It's just been a lot of time. It's been a lot of time developing relationships as quickly as we can, trying to show them who we are and being very honest, not over-selling ourselves, showing them the vision we have as a staff, the vision I have as a head coach, and we've been fortunate so far. Some people have believed in us and have jumped in, and we appreciate that.
FootballScoop: You strike me more of a laid back, mellow guy than most coaches. Is that fair?
Hafley: Maybe off the field. When I get on the field... that's something I probably got from being in the NFL, right? I'm laid back, yes. I'm easy to talk to, yes. I'm easy going, I love people, but when I get on the field, now, you want to see energy and excitement and intensity, it's a totally different deal. But in the film room I'm very hands-on. I love communication. I want to hear what people are thinking. I want players to understand why. I'm not a guy who's going to yell at people in the film room just to yell. Too many coaches yell and don't teach. I believe I teach, I explain things.
And I want guys to be fearless, man. I want guys to not be afraid to fail. I want guys to be tough and too many times I've seen these kids be so afraid to make a mistake. Forget making a mistake, that's what practice is for. I'm going make mistakes; I'm going to make mistakes in games. I just want them to work so damn hard every single day, where they're so confident they just go and let it rip on Saturday, and whatever happens after that, I'm good with.
Yeah, you might think I'm laid back on the phone. When we get on the field it's a little different deal.
FootballScoop: How do you make guys feel comfortable enough where they can make a mistake and not be punished for it?
Hafley: Jordan Fuller last year at Ohio State. The first time he got beat on a post in the middle of the field, he turned around to quickly look at me because he thought I was going to come running to yell at him. I went up to him and said, "Hey, man. I'm glad that happened now. Learn from it." That's what I want the players to understand. That's why you practice. You've got to be scarred to learn. You've got to get beat some times to learn. Let's get that over with in practice. Let's not yell at them, let's instead show him why he got beat and how he got beat, and then let's show him how to fix it. Now, if he's doing the same stuff over and over again and not listening to what we say, that's a different deal. But if the kid's doing the best he can and trying to do everything we teach him and he gets beat, it's our job to show him why, not to go rip the kid. I thought it was cool when Jordan said that to me.