Friday, December 08, 2006

Unspinning the spin: Friday edition

Some really good stuff in both the Globe and Herald Friday.

Vega might not always be a news breaker but he is connected and writes a good feature and really delivered with a unique angle getting extensive quotes from Greg Barber. Barber funded the chair that pays the Head Football Coach's salary. And Barber confirmed via the interview that BC can more than pay above market for a coach. So once again, ignore all the money rumors. Our trustee who writes the checks just confirmed we can pay. What is more revealing and comforting is that Gene purposely chose not to increase TOB’s pay. Regardless of if he makes a good hire, this shows that Gene knew BC Football needed change.


While the Herald didn’t get quotes from Barber, they did give the controversy more coverage. Conroy had player quotes and listed the names being mentioned. Megliola took a TOB needed to go angle. While Karen Guregian correctly points out that this is all on Gene now. He wanted TOB gone, now he has his chance to put his guy in place.

One thing is clear -- BC is reaching the local media and getting our side of the story out there. Multiple articles are mentioning TOB’s shortfalls in games against UNC and Syracuse. But for the first time the Boston media is blaming TOB for waning fan interest and specifically focusing on the Porter fiasco. I am glad that Gene and BC are getting their message out there. Look for the pro TOB media guys to start bad mouthing BC soon.

Name names

The papers also threw out many names as candidates. I am not a reporter…more of an aggregator with an opinion. I’ve been asked about or sent 50 or so different rumors in the past few days. The one rumor that seems most credible is that Steve Kragthorpe is the primary candidate. Whipple is also high on the list. The Davie stuff scares me to death, but honestly I’ve seen it most often as media speculation, not gossip from anyone in the know. Fassel and Flutie are fan favorites, but I’ve been told that both are very flattered and love BC but don’t think the time or job is right for them. I think both Kragthorpe and Whipple would be very good hires. I think Whipple is more realistic. Kragthorpe is a very hot young coach who will continue to be mentioned on every school’s short list (UNC, Miami and Iowa State had interest). He did spend one year at BC as an assistant to Henning. If we can get him to come here, it would be quite a coup for Gene.

If none of these guys work out, our Plan B list has many NFL names who would be very good fits.

Transfers

I’ve been getting tons of questions about transfers. The players were told there would be “no penalty.” I don’t know what the heck that means. The guys seemed to interpret it as they can walk right away. But the NCAA rule still forces them to sit out a year if they go to another Division 1A school. If a player goes DIAA, he can play right away. The NCAA does allow fifth year seniors with completed degrees to play right away at another school. The only guy who fits that category who scares me is Matt Ryan. But I think all of the players will wait and see who is hired. TOB was not beloved by all, so there are many players that are happy to see him go and are more than willing to give the new guy a chance.

6 comments:

flutie22phelan20 said...

Wow, I sure hope that Kragthorpe is the #1 choice, that'd be phenomenal. You'd have to think that BC is an attractive situation for a young coach trying to make a mark; I mean, I don't think there's any question he'd be walking into a very talented team.

Incidently, rumor has it that Matty Ice CALLED the team meeting yesterday. That does NOT sound like somebody who is about to leave. Thoughts?

Anonymous said...

I think if any player has a reason to be happy about TOB leaving, it's Matty. Almost every game I watched I felt like he was being held back, and a couple times he was clearly pissed off on the sidelines after some really dumb 3rd down play calls. I think he's drooling at the prospect of a coach that will let him show what he and the receivers can do.

Anonymous said...

Mark Whipple is a quarterback's dream and an offensive genius, so Ryan would be psyched is GDF could land him. He's done a great job with Ben Roethlisberger, and Bankhead at UMass did well and James Perry at Brown set all kinds of records under Whipple. Plus Whipple was a QB in college.

Anonymous said...

Mark Whipple is a quarterback's dream and an offensive genius, so Ryan would be psyched is GDF could land him. He's done a great job with Ben Roethlisberger, and Bankhead at UMass did well and James Perry at Brown set all kinds of records under Whipple. Plus Whipple was a QB in college.

matt said...

I gotta disagree with TOB leaving being a good thing.

http://leftyloon.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Well then Matt, I gotta disagree with you having a fuckin brain in your head. IF GDF has any sense, he will sign Whipple by the end of the weekend. Give him a signed check and let him write in the numbers. Who cares how much he gets paid? When BC is going to the Orange Bowl next year, they will make it all back in spades. Check out his bio for crissakes - he's won EVERYWHERE goddamnit. Hire the fuckin guy right fucking now.