BC Football Coaching Updates: O-Line, D-Line, and Tight Ends

The rest of Jeff Hafley’s coaching staff is rounding out with a few additions this week, leaving only the Special Teams Coordinator position to go (@Luke Kuechly).

Matt Applebaum - Offensive Line Coach

Matt Applebaum was named the new offensive line coach after coaching the group for two years at Towson. Prior to his success at Towson, the Pennsylvania native served two years at Davidson College, serving as offensive coordinator in 2017 as well. In 2015, he was the offensive line coach at Southeastern Louisivana, but had a year stint as an offensive assistant with the Jacksonville Jaguars as well.

“Matt is a critical hire for us to help continue our strong history of excellent offensive line play. “He has both college and NFL experience and is familiar with Coach Cignetti’s system we will run here at Boston College. Not only is Matt a great offensive line coach and technician, but he sees the big picture and will grow into a coordinator role. We are so excited to have Matt join our BC football family.” - Jeff Hafley

The two-year starting offensive lineman at UConn has been coaching since 2008, where he worked with tight ends and as a video coordinator at Central Connecticut State. Then he worked with the Washington Redskins for three years, working in pro personnel and then college personnel. He moved back to college for two years as a graduate assistant at the University of Miami before first starting to coach offensive lineman at Bucknell. Applebaum will be replacing Phil Trautwein who moved on to coach at Penn State.

Given the success of the offensive line over the past few years, and development of a lot of quality players, Applebaum will arguably have the toughest shoes to fill. He doesn’t have the boatload of big time experience coaching the unit, but he surely has deserved this opportunity and has the infrastructure around him to make this work, especially with a strong unit returning.

Vince Oghobaase - Defensive Line Coach

After working as a defensive line coach at UCLA these past two years, Vince Oghobaase has been named BC’s next defensive line coach.

“I had the opportunity to work with Vince in San Francisco and his knowledge of the game, energy and commitment to the players jumped out to me.At Ohio State, he trained under one of the best defensive line coaches in all of football in Larry Johnson and he gained excellent experience the last two seasons at the defensive line coach at UCLA. We are so excited to have Vince join our BC football family.” - Jeff Hafley

A former four-year starter at Duke, Oghobaase crossed paths with Hafley as an assistant defensive coach with the San Francisco 49ers. Oghobaase’s time with the Bruins was marked by working with a very young group of lineman, and hoisting them to major roles.

After graduating, Oghobaase began coaching as a defensive grad assistant at Duke in 2011. He later moved on to be a grad assistant at Ohio State as well for three seasons before his time in the NFL. The Houston native has a nice mix of high level playing experience, and been around some great football minds while coaching.

Steve Shimko - TE coach

The latest addition to the group is tight ends coach, Steve Shimko. Shimko has been working with the Seattle Seahawks as an assistant quarterbacks coach. He doesn’t have extensive experience, working as the Garden City (Kansas) Community College Offensive Coordinator before his time in Seattle.

“Steve’s background as a college offensive coordinator and NFL coach brings terrific experience and expertise to our coaching staff. He is a very positive, energetic and detailed teacher of the game. We are thrilled to welcome Steve to the Heights.”

The New Jersey native actually played quarterback at Rutgers, overlapping Hafley’s time there, but became a student and graduate assistant under Greg Schiano until 2013. In 2014, he worked in Recruiting Operations at Western Michigan while PJ Fleck was in charge, and then worked as a graduate assistant at Georgia, where he first worked with Brian Schottenheimer in 2015. This hire is a bit more interesting, especially without Shimko having any direct experience lead coaching tight ends, but the tight ends group at Boston College has had plenty of success in their own right, so he’s walking into a pretty good gig. He’s a young coach that has been around some well regarded coaches, and his New Jersey background is a nice bonus.