Longtime BC Assistant and Former Player Rich Gunnell No Longer on Staff
Rich Gunnell was the only coaching holdover from Steve Addazio era. But the former star Boston College wide receiver is no longer on staff, sources told Eagle Action Wednesday.
Gunnell served as the Eagles' running backs coach the past two seasons under head coach Jeff Hafley. He will be replaced by assistant running backs coach Savon Huggins, who previously coached running backs at UMass.
Gunnell was first brought on staff in 2016 as a wide receivers coach. He oversaw the development of Jeff Smith and Michael Walker—both of whom ended up seeing the field in the NFL—as well as the emergence of Kobay White, who was BC's leading wideout from 2017-19.
Gunnell maintained his role through the 2019 regular season finale, at which point Addazio was fired, and Gunnell was named interim head coach for the Birmingham Bowl.
The Eagles struggled mightily against then-No. 21 Cincinnati in a soaked Legion Field. Lightning delayed the game for an hour and a half, and BC never really found a spark offensively, losing, 38-6, to an up-and-coming Bearcats program.
Gunnell was not a candidate to replace Addazio full-time, however, he was kept on staff by Hafley upon his arrival from Ohio State. No other Addazio coaches remained on staff during the transition.
Instead of coaching wide receivers, though, Gunnell was tasked with coaching BC's running backs. Joe Dailey took over the wide receiver room.
During Gunnell's two years as running backs coach, the position group changed and developed. After a rough 2020 season, in which BC ranked 118th nationally in rushing and David Bailey and Travis Levy failed to pop explosive runs in the team's zone-run scheme, things improved this past year.
Bailey transferred, and Alec Sinkfield joined the group from West Virginia. But, most importantly, Pat Garwo III broke out as a redshirt sophomore. At first, Gunnell and then-offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. were rotating the backs series by series. But, a quarter of the way through the season, Garwo surfaced as the clear RB1 and ultimately became the 19th Eagle all-time to rush for 1,000 or more yards in a season.
Led by Garwo, BC jumped to 61st nationally in rushing offense. Both Garwo (5.1) and Sinkfield (4.1) averaged more than 4.0 yards per carry on the year.
Gunnell was the lead recruiter for Class of 2022 signees Cam Barfield and Alex Broome. Both are three-star running backs from areas of the country that, before the Hafley era, were out of BC's traditional recruiting footprint. Barfield played at Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas, and Broome went to Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, Tennessee.
Barfield and Broome are the first Nevada and Tennessee high school players to sign with BC since Rivals.com started tracking recruiting data in 2002.
Gunnell might be leaving BC's coaching staff, but he'll always be in the Eagles' record books. During his four-year career (2006-09), the 5-foot-11 wideout piled up 2,459 receiving yards and 18 touchdown catches, good for second and fourth-most all-time in program history.
Gunnell's best receiving season came in 2007, not so coincidentally Matt Ryan's final year with the program. Gunnell hauled in a career-high 64 passes for 931 yards and seven touchdowns.
He eventually converted his success in Alumni Stadium to a six-year stay on the Heights as an assistant, where he was well respected by players and staff members.
Gunnell's replacement marks the fourth coaching change of the offseason for BC.
The only offensive position coach that currently remains from the 2021 season is tight ends coach Steve Shimko.