Jeff Hafley, Boston College's newly minted head coach, rattled through the list of mentors he needed to thank.
At his introductory press conference on Monday morning, Hafley, 40, began with Ed Zaloom, former head coach of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where the up-and-comer started his budding career. Hafley offered a nod to Bob Ford for the four years he spent at Albany. Then, he got to Dave Wannstedt.
"He's been like a second father to me," Hafley told reporters. "He's taught me so much about myself as a person and as a football coach. He gave a 26-year-old a chance, and I'm forever grateful."
Hafley got his Power Five start at Pitt from 2006-10, first as a graduate assistant and later the Panthers' secondary coach. And though he moved on to bigger and better, most recently accepting the B.C. job after pushing Ohio State to the College Football Playoff as its co-defensive coordinator, Hafley's time on the South Side was instrumental in his swift ascent up the industry ladder. Those around him recognized that potential from the get-go.
"There are people that think they're the smartest in the room and act like it. Jeff commonly, probably, is the smartest in the room, and he would make everybody else feel like they're smarter than him," former Pitt defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads said. "He's just got a great knack for people. He's respected. He's innovative. He sees a need and fills it. He's a special breed of intelligence and common sense."
Rhoads, who served as the Panthers' defensive coordinator from 2000-07, also received mention in Hafley's presser, and with reason.
Rhoads and Wannstedt identified and hired Hafley in 2006 after seeing the wet-behind-the-ears Albany assistant working camps on Pitt's campus. Rhoads also noticed Hafley attending coaching clinics up and down the East Coast, taking notes in the front row in Rhode Island, New Jersey and Scranton.
It was an easy decision for Wannstedt and Rhoads to bring Hafley into the fold. Now, he just needed a place to live.
For that, Wannstedt told Hafley to walk down East Carson Street to see Richie Cupka, who owns real estate on the South Side. Adjacent to his bar, Cupka's Cafe 2, Cupka had a two-story Dutch colonial he rented out to Hafley and two other Pitt graduate assistants. Cupka said Hafley collected the monthly rent, something he never had to worry about. And on a regular basis, the GAs popped into the bar for a beer, some grub and conversation.
It was there, 12 years ago, that Hafley told Cupka he would have him on the sidelines for his inaugural game as a head coach. Hafley didn't know where or when that would be. But Cupka believed it was only a matter of time.
"When I first met Jeff, you know who he reminded me of? Marv Levy," Cupka said, referencing the Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee who guided the Buffalo Bills to four consecutive Super Bowl appearances in the 1990s. "The way he walks, talks, everything. ... There's a presence about Jeff."
A presence that served him well on the recruiting trail.
Hafley, a New Jersey native, dominated The Garden State for Pitt with an undeterred work ethic and focus on building genuine relationships. Phil Bennett — the Panthers' defensive coordinator in 2009 and 2010 — called Hafley a "hustler" who started his recruiting days at 7 a.m. and pushed off lunch whenever possible.
"I'd tell him, 'God almighty, are we ever going to eat?'" Bennett said in a heavy Texas accent. "He'd just laugh at me."
Tony Wise, Pitt's offensive line coach from 2008-10, recalls visiting New Jersey powerhouse Don Bosco Prep with Hafley to recruit a prospective blocker.
"You can tell if a guy's been workin' when a guy shows up at the school and he says hello to the janitor, says hello to the principal and knows exactly what classroom the head coach is in," Wise said. "He was on a first-name basis with the assistants. He was a good recruiter for a reason."
Those relationships bore fruit in the form of prospects.
Most notably, Hafley secured the signatures of running backs Ray Graham and Dion Lewis in 2009. The former, a four-star recruit, was coveted across the region. But Hafley had to pitch Wannstedt on Lewis, a three-star kid whose only other offers, per Rivals, were from Tulane and Miami (Ohio). "Nobody wanted Dion," Bennett said. "But Jeff, when he went to Jersey, he knew people. And they trusted him."
So did Wannstedt, who, Wise said, saw six plays on tape and went with Hafley's intuition. It paid off, as Lewis produced 1,799 yards as a freshman — still the second-highest single-season rushing mark in Pitt history.
Hafley's ability to identify and close the deal on New Jersey talent was recognized by his peers, namely Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano.
When Wannstedt was fired after a 7-5 season in 2010 ("It still makes me ill what they did to Dave," Bennett said), Schiano scooped Hafley up. The secondary coach, along with former Pitt tight ends coach Brian Angelichio and offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr., joined Rutgers' staff in 2011. Schiano yearned to use Hafley's recruiting prowess for Rutgers' benefit as opposed to the Scarlet Knights' detriment.
"He was killing it in Jersey for Pitt," Rhoads said of Hafley, who also was responsible for signing 2010 four-star prospect T.J. Clemmings, a first-team All-ACC tackle at Pitt and eventual 32-game NFL starter. "The top players were leaving the state to come to Pitt, and it was because of Jeff Hafley that they were doing that. Greg knew it, and he recognized it."
But Hafley could do more than just recruit. He broke down X's and O's with the best of them, too, changing the way Pitt players consumed film. Bennett called the then-under-30 assistant "up-to-date with all the new technologies," utilizing graphics and video to draw up "self-understanding" coverages for the Panthers' defensive backs.
"He made all of us better coaches by what he knew. It was a new wave," Bennett said. "I started back when you did cut-ups, you truly cut them up and pasted them together. And he could get on that computer and make it sing."
That coaching acumen is why Schiano took Hafley with him when he left to helm the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2012. And it's why the Ohio State coordinator was a finalist for the Broyles Award this season, given to the country's top assistant coach.
Hafley — after stops with the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers — was hired at Ohio State in January to, ironically, help fix a defense that fell apart under Schiano when it couldn't afford to. The Buckeyes were left on the outside looking in at the playoffs in 2017 and 2018 after blowout losses to Iowa (55-24) and Purdue (49-20), respectively.
In one year, Hafley put together Ohio State's No. 2-ranked scoring defense (12.5 points per game), a driving force in the Buckeyes' undefeated charge to the CFP. Hafley told reporters Monday that he will coach Ohio State in the playoffs. The Buckeyes face Clemson on Dec. 28.
"I have to go back and win a national championship," Hafley added.
As he pursues a title, Hafley will have the support of Rhoads, Bennett, Wise and Cupka. And when he attempts to bring relevancy and success to Boston College, a program mired in mediocrity with a 59-57 record since 2009, they'll champion his cause there, too.
Pitt and Boston College, after facing off in the regular season finale, won't play again until at least 2025. Where Hafley will be by then, who knows?
But Pitt, like every ACC school and program in the region, should, at the very least, prepare to feel Hafley's impact on the recruiting trail. Those from Wannstedt's old staff understand all too well what Hafley can bring to a Power Five program.
"It was obvious," Bennett said. "He was a rising star."
First Published: December 16, 2019, 9:13 p.m.