Bill O’Brien or Brian Kelly. Brian Kelly or Bill O’Brien.

One leafy New England campus struggles with selecting its college football coach of the year.

To St. John’s (Mass.) Prep athletic director/football coach Jim O’Leary, O’Brien and Kelly aren’t big-time coaches vying for multiple corporate-sponsored Division I coaching awards.

O’Leary remembers O’Brien, who guided an 8-4 Penn State team handling major NCAA sanctions, as a bullish center/defensive tackle who helped coach St. John’s freshmen team before enrolling at Brown University.

O’Leary remembers Kelly, whose 12-0 Notre Dame team meets Alabama in next month’s BCS championship game, as an undersized linebacker/guard willing to perform any role.

O’Brien graduated from St. John’s in 1989. O’Leary was his head coach.

Kelly graduated 10 years earlier. O’Brien was his position coach.

“To us, they are the same people they were as kids, whether they were the 50th man on the team or a starter,” O’Leary said. “They had great friends here. They were great teammates. They were both hard-nosed Irish kids who were very competitive and both very, very bright.”

The coaches are products of a driven environment.

St. John’s, an all-male schools 15 miles northeast of Boston, draws students from more than 50 New England cities and towns. O’Brien’s hometown of Andover, Mass., and Kelly’s hometown of Chelsea, Mass., are separated by 25 miles.

St. John’s had 800 boy when Kelly graduated, according to O’Leary. The number swelled to 1,000 by O’Brien’s senior year. Current enrollment exceeds 1,100.

The football programs is large and successful. O’Leary and his staff coach 220 players. St. John’s won a state title this year.

Classes are difficult. O’Leary calls Ivy League schools his program’s “bread and butter,” meaning recruiters from places such as Brown, Harvard and Yale frequently visit his office.

Students from various backgrounds roam the halls despite annual tuition rates approaching $20,000.

“A lot of people make a lot of sacrifices to send their kids here,” O’Leary said.

The majority of the school’s students are Irish-Catholic. Organizing students by last name can be difficult.

“There are a lot of O’Learys, O’Briens and Kellys hanging around here,” O’Leary said.

O’Leary and Central Florida coach George O’Leary were fraternity brothers at the University of New Hampshire. George O’Leary gave O’Brien his first opportunity to work at a major college, offering him a graduate assistant spot at Georgia Tech in 1995. Penn State hired O’Brien as Paterno’s permanent successor last January.

Jim O’Leary imagines O’Brien receives attention throughout Pennsylvania. O’Brien, who maintains a low away-from-football profile, dazzled classmates when he became the New England Patriots’ offensive coordinator. Boston’s main media outlets devote the majority of their time and space to professional sports.

“It was probably a bigger deal around here when he was the offensive coordinator of the Patriots because we are a Patriots town,” O’Leary said. “I would imagine he’s like the rock star in Pennsylvania when he goes to places. When you are the offensive coordinator and Tom Brady is the quarterback when you walk around Massachusetts, it’s the same way.”

Kelly’s situation is somewhat different. New England’s demographics make the Fighting Irish the region’s most popular college program.

“Everybody knows Brian because it’s a national job and so high profile,” O’Leary said.

Both coaches remain connected to St. John’s. When St. John’s played in the 2010 state final in Gillette Stadium, the New England Patriots’ home, O’Brien welcomed the team to the complex. O’Brien also made unannounced appearances at playoff basketball games.

Kelly returned home for a St. John’s alumni event last spring. Before the formal ceremony, Kelly attended a reception with former classmates and teammates.

“He was just Brian Kelly again,” O’Leary said. “He wasn’t Brian Kelly, the head coach at Notre Dame. And Billy is the same way. He’s unassuming. He has a sincere interest in how our kids are doing and how our teams are doing.”

The duo scrapped their way to the top of the profession. O’Brien coached fellow teenagers after graduating high school and waded through low-paying assistant coaching jobs after earning an Ivy League degree. Kelly played linebacker for Assumption (Mass.) College’s club team. He then accepted a low-level assistant coaching job, helping Assumption transition from the club to Division III level.

No matter how many games or coaching awards they win, they are the same driven teenagers who once walked a respected school’s fields and halls – and received instructions from the same man.

“They are Prep guys,” O’Leary said.

Guy Cipriano covers Penn State football for the Centre Daily Times. He can be reached at 231-4643 or gciprian@centredaily.com. Follow him on Twitter @cdtguy.