The Herald's Steve Conroy updated a list in Sunday's paper that included many of the names from my first expanded list (Jags, Sullivan, Ianello, etc.) Jags claims that he has not been contacted yet, but we know how little that means.
Kragthorpe was a hot name, but now that he is moving up Alabama's target list, coming to BC might be a tougher sell.
One name that is not in the Herald, but I've heard floated is Richmond Coach Dave Clawson. Young Clawson was the OC at Villanova in Gene's final year there.
Let's hope that Gene and team make the right choice, but this process confirmed that BC is a very desirable job.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
No news yet...more lists
Despite reports Friday, Gene and others continue to deny that anything is final with Whipple.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
I blew off my planned trip to Miami (Pats-Dolphins) this weekend to work on the BC HC search. Didn't want to do that, but felt I owed it to the team. Here's what I found out:
Whipple is GDF's number one choice, and has been since TOB did a dance with the U-Dub AD 2 years ago for the Huskies' job. As for his interest in BC, I spoke to a close friend who has some pretty good connections to Whipple. He was offered a scholarship by Whipple, and 2 of his brothers played for him. One of them is still very close to Whipple and speaks to him all the time. Whipple is all over the job, and will snatch it up in a heartbeat. As was reported in the papers and on ESPN.com, GDF flew out to Pittsburgh yesterday to interview Whipple. I'm sure they learned Whipple is still interested in the job, discussed parameters on financials, and said "we'll get back to you real soon." I expect BC to interview a couple of other candidates this week to satisfy the due diligence part of the search (and send a message to Whipple that he can't just name his price). Then they'll sit down with Whipple's agent Thursday or Friday and hammer out the contract. Done deal.
The next thing I wanted to confirm was my belief that Whipple is the right guy for the job. On that front, I spoke to another friend who played for UMass in the 80s and started the Friends of UMass Football (an organization trying to take the Minutemen to D1). He was very close to Whipple during his tenure there. He said Whipple would be a phenomenal hire for BC, a great motivator, a great recruitor, a great ambassador for BC football. He said his one weakness is in the details. Great at running the railroad, not so great at making sure the trains are on time. So he thinks the real key is who Whipple hires as Defensive Coordinator, which has traditionally been the No. 2/behind the scenes guy for him. At UMass, that was Don Brown (current UMass coach who has UMass in the championship game right now). Would Brown follow Whipple to BC? I think if Brown wins the championship on Friday, being BC DC would be a perfect stepping stone to a D1 HC job for him, if those are his aspirations. I'm not confident Spaziani would stay at BC if Brown isn't interested, though I think that would be great for continuity/familiarity reasons. Those guys usually follow the HC when they change jobs.
Post a Comment