At times the media can act as messengers for their friends. For example: Blaudschun demands quick action and warns that Spaz won't stay if he is passed over again. He even describes Spaz's treatment as an ornament. Nice. I think if there is anything we've all learned it is that you don't try to force Gene's hand. I think Spaz would be a good holdover at DC again. I wouldn't be thrilled if he got the head job. If that costs us his services in the short term, so be it. Gene needs to make the right hire.
HD also thinks Spaz should be choice No. 1. What is interesting though is that she throws Tom Bradley's name in there. She could just being throwing darts, however, HD did cover the Penn State for a while. She could be floating his name with his encouragement. If Bradley has real interest, Gene needs to have a serious talk with him. He would a big splash.
Skinner says his team doesn't yet know how to handle success. No kidding. Al did get a new commit for the 2010 class.
More kudos for Gene's stance.
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34 comments:
If Spaz is not selected as head coach, it would be easy to appease him simply by throwing more money at him, say, an extra $200Gs per year. He's 61. Do he and his mustache really want the responsibility of having to travel all over the country to recruit guys?
it IS a very powerful mustache.
I worked for the team when I was at BC, during the 2nd to last year of the TOB era. I must say - Spaz and Petercuskie were two of the smartest and nicest football people I have ever met in my life. I respect them as people and coaches a lot. However, I can also tell you there was a sentiment in the locker room that non-defensive players were not big Spaz fans. As you can imagine, his personality is quite... special... and it takes a certain person to like like or tolerate it.
I am afraid if he becomes the HC that he would push away a lot of recruits because of his personality.
That is why if he becomes HC, we need a GREAT offensive mind to take the offensive mind and name (not logan) to take over the offense and I think we also need to bring in a great defensive assistant to help out so he's not overly worried about the defensive responsibilities. I'd much prefer we bring in an offensive mind to be HC and him keep DC responsibilities.
eagle1331:
"As you can imagine, his personality is quite... special..."
I don't think that most of us can imagine. Few of us have met him or heard him speak. Don't be a goddamned tease. Please elaborate.
Okay, I'm gonna bite on this HD-Tom Bradley tidbit. If it's true, we must - as they say - hit that. I'm not saying we've gotta hire him, but at least give the man a call and an interview. He's clearly an amazingly accomplished defensive coach (whose scheme is pretty similar to Spaz') and would be a huge splash. Plus, he'd bring instant credibility in recruiting. Downside, he might head back to Penn State in a couple years, so Gene would have a choice to make. I'd say, if put in that position, give him a special out for Penn State. My top three right now (if they are indeed interested/being considered): Strong, Bradley, Bicknell.
Sorry Eagle1, I think it was well known that Spaz has a unique personality; everyone on the message boards at least gives me that impression.
I think in some of the Jamie Silva articles 2 years back he gave a lot of Spaz quotes to show how strange he was. Jamie Silva wasn't a hard-nosed tackler, he was a heat-seeking missile.
I, however, can't give any direct quotes because that was a few years back and I don't remember them. The only way I can think of explaining it would be to say that he gives a lot of his lessons and examples through hyperbole. Something like... "you're running around like a chicken with its head cutoff" except with more colorful images you'd expect to hear from somebody tripping on acid?
Sorry I brought it up and can't be more clear on examples. I will try to find some examples in old news articles later, but for now I'm out of work...
T Boyd, star recruit, gone...(but was he really coming here anyway.. i doubted it)
Another school that has fallen off Boyd’s radar is Boston College. “I was thinking about visiting them this month but now coach Jags (Jeff Jagodzinski) is gone,” Boyd said of the recent firing of the Eagles head coach.
“That’s shocking,” he said. “He’s a good coach, but I guess they had their issues."
Perception is reality.
It doesn't matter if we ever know the truth, but as long as critical people believe one thing, like Boyd here, that belief will be as good as truth about BC.
Positive or negative.
The more I read and learn about this, the more I am backing Gene. Here are the facts:
1) Gene stuck his neck out and hired Jags when no one was beating down his door to give him an opportunity. Remember when we first heard about the hire after Eagle in Atlanta had built up Whipple for the job? "Huh, who is that?" Gene took a huge risk in going with Jags.
2)According to Gene, and I believe him, there was a gentleman's agreement that Jags was in it for the long haul. Looking for greener grass after only 2 years is pure BS.
3) Neither the Jets, nor Jags asked Gene for permission to interview with the Jets. This is common courtesy and was not granted to BC.
4) When you interview for other positions, you have already mentally left your job. Further, you send a message to recruits that there is a good chance you will not be around for 4 years. What recruit wants to commit to that uncertainty? I believe Jags knew he was leaving months ago and that is why recruiting was nowhere near as aggressive or successful as the prior year. I own a business and none of my employees are under contract, but if I found out they were interviewing, I would tell them, "good luck in your future endeavors, but your services are no longer needed." By interviewing, they have already mentally checked out of their current job and it is a matter of time before they leave you.
5) BC is a special place and we deserve to have a coach that wants to be here. I know it is not destination job for the overly ambitious. But the overly ambitious are fly-by-night hucksters. Give me a decent, ethical coach that WANTS to be at BC.
With all of the BC players in the pros, we are just a few years away from grooming our own "BC guys" who will come to the Heights and coach because they want to be there and love their school. Until then, let's do everything we can to find an outsider that will commit to BC for at least one recruiting class.
taken from our new bball commit's page:
OFFICIAL DANNY LAWHORN MYSPACE{BOB&Y.R.F.T}D0N ISH's Blurbs
About me:
NIKKAS SAID I WAS NEC-MAC MATERIAL POSSIABILTY A-10..SAID I HAD PRO PROTENIAL BUT IM 2 SMALL SAID EVERYTHING BUT ME GOING HIGH MAJOR...DEY SAID WHO DANNY LAWHORN?MA AAU COACH(J.R.)SAID DANNY HAVE HE ABILTY 2 BE SOMETHING SPEICAL BUT HE JUST UNDERRATED...AND KNOW WHAT I SAID?LET DEM KEEP TALKING IMA SHOW EVERY1 WHAT ITS ABOUT NOT ONLY YET I COMMITTED 2 1 OF THE BEST CONFERENCES ACC BABY...IMA MOTHA FUCKING STAR IN DA MAKING..MA COUSIN LAMONT"MO-MO"JONES SAID F*** WITH EVERY1 SAYIN DO U DEY TOD HIM DA SAME THING LOOK NOW...IM A F*** BOSTON COLLEGE BOUND!!!! THE STUFF I DREAM 2 GET MA MOMZ OUT DA HOOD ITS SOON 2 COME IMA MAKE MA CITY PROUD..NOT GONE BE MAKING PBJs 4 SO MUCH LONGER"DANNY"JIGG"LAWHORN UNDERRATED GAURD-----MA BROTHA TONY TAYLOR,PRESCOTT SAID F*** WIT EVERY1 SAYIN YOU DA ONLY 1 DAT CAN BEAT YA SELF AND DONT WORRY BOUT RANKING--"U GONE BE DA NEXT BEST THING MA BOII" LOOK AT ME NOW--(DATS DA STORY OF DANNY JAQUAN LAWHORN)) IMMA TELL U A LIL BOUT ME IMMA BALLER JUST TRNG 2 MAKE MA DREAMS COME TRUE..I WAS BORN IN NEW YORK BROOKYLN RASIED IN HARLEM(UPTOWN)
.............
yeah.
Love the enthusiasm, hope he comes in ready to work on his game with that chip-on-his-shoulder mentality that drove guys like Dudley and to a lesser extent Tyrese Rice.
With that said, hitting up the Connors Family Learning Center around exams time might be advantageous in terms of, you know, academic eligibility...
Jerzeagle,
Please don't ever put quotes like that on here again, not because I don't appreciate the information, or because I don't find it somewhat entertaining/humorous, but a lot more people that would know no better just found out how dumb that kid really is. I think my diploma just curled up in a ball and hid in the corner.
That being said, bring us a national championship Mr. Lawhorn.
Yo Thomas, a little urban slang on someone's myspace page does not mean someone is dumb, so relax. The kids in high school and having fun talking some trash to his friends online. He looks like he may have some potential.
On another note, did you guys watch the Florida game? Great D. Charlie Strong for BC Head Coach!
GO EAGLES!!!
Haha, urban slang? Dude, come on. There's a difference between urban slang/trash talk and that abortion of language. Keep pretending that BC doesn't have a double standard though.
All Im saying is that I doubt he talks like that in the classroom or a professional environment. I doubt he will talk like that in a BC press conference either. This was his myspace page and his language with his peers. Yea it looks like gibberish, but it he necessarily dumb?
And I do admit athletes get in more easily than other students do to BC. But from what I've observed, BC for the most part has much more intelligent and excelling athletes than I have seen in most other programs. Our players at least generally graduate and can get decent jobs when not going pro.
I question any proud BC alum who reads what Lawhorn has up there and doesn't cringe a little bit.
Ryan is correct. So many people on this board get up on their high horse about BC's academics and it's superiority over other schools when I can tell you that during my tenure at BC, I didn't know I had history class with Troy Bell until he showed up for the final. By the way, I'm fine with this. As an alum with a good job, I just want to watch winning football and buy t-shirts that say "CHAMPION" on them. Flame away.
I was referring to the double standard between how accountable we hold the players on the football and basketball teams respectively, but sure the general double standard works as well.
@chicago
And you know what? I'm OK with your logic. I'm doing just fine for myself, consider this the chance that those kids would never have gotten otherwise. I'm generally annoyed by BC hiding behind this implied superiority as well. It's just a smokescreen to deflect the unsightliness of our players getting in bar fights, sexually assaulting girls, robbing people, and doing drugs.
Relax guy, no need for all the self loathing.
The kid's profile is pure comedy, just laugh and let it slide. As long as he's not stealing laptops like our pals in Storrs, we should be fine.
Sure BB and FB get some free passes with recruits in addition to lowered standards in general, but when juxtaposed against the majority of comparable schools (in conference, in region, in top 30 annually in AP poll), BC shines academically.
Enough of the smokescreen BS.
Ry:
I cringed, then shook my head, then wept. I don't buy the "It's just a MySpace entry; Don't worry about it" talk. Not entirely the kid's fault. Look where he grew up.
I need his mailing address. To get him started on the road to English recovery, I would like to send him a dictionary and a copy of Strunk & White's "Elements of Style."
It's probably a toxic mix of questionable parenting, bad influence in high school and urban culture. Can't blame the kid too much for that. He did after all choose BC, so give him credit for that.
But if he becomes another Sean Williams, all of us who read that will have a little more insight as to why.
I agree with Ryan completely. From my time at the heights, it was apparent that the football team was held to higher standards than the basketball team. I don't have a problem with that because I think that's true at most schools. Just check graduation rates. I'd bet 95% of schools have higher football graduation rates than hoops.
Lawhorn definitely has a chip on his shoulder. Hopefully it manifests itself in on-court greatness. Let's try to keep him away from the press til, say, junior year though.
I don't think saying BC has higher standards means every athlete is brilliant and loves to go to class. It just means that we do not lower our standards as much as a lot of other schools. And I recall, especially as a freshman, a lot of non-athletes that didn't make it to a ton of classes and weren't lighting it up academically. Overall our kids can graduate and have some ability.
As for the My Space page, my niece was top 5 at her Catholic school, but when I would read her IM's, MySpace, or even hear her talk to her friends, it seemed like another language. Not saying this guy is a Rhodes Scholar, but it may, MAY, not be as bad as it comes off.
Eagle 1331 don't leave us wondering.
What does hyperbole sound like when tripping on acid? Great line.
BC offensive players would like Spaz better if they did not get the crap beat our of them by the defense in practice.
I had a meeting with a former NBA player yesterday. This is a white kid from a Catholic high school who went to a big state school. "Man, I never went to class. Never. I just got notes and during tests, I copied off girls that seemed smart." Granted, he was in college nearly 30 years ago, but I think it is indicative that many athletes just don't take school seriously. That is why BC football players are so impressive.
About Five:
Touche.
For those that are truly worried about Mr. Lawhorn's Myspace page, I highly recommend David Foster Wallace's essay "Authority and American Usage" from the collection Consider the Lobster as an examination of dialects in American English (among many, many other things). My opinion: I'm not real concerned.
I live less than 3 miles from Lawhorn's high school and I can tell you, it's another world. Honestly, it's an achievement he can put that many words together coming out of the Hartford public schools.
I'm more concerned that somebody would be cutting and pasting from a HS kid's MySpace page to this blog than I am about what the page says.
I agree with that one flutie22phelan20. The page was meant to be read by his teenage friends, not old BC alums. Kinda creepy. I have been around some pretty brilliant students in an inner-city Los Angeles High School who talk like that out of class all the time. Let's all wait till he does something idiotic at BC before feeling ashamed that a student like that attends our beloved BC. I didn't think my post would blow up into this big discussion.
So...Charlie Strong?
Strong's a pipe dream unfortunately. All signs point Spaz.
Of course we would all be thrilled if every BC student-athlete's bio read like that of the impressive young man who embarrassed our basketball team on Wednesday night ("...Sported a 4.2 GPA in the classroom ... Was a summer intern for California senator Joe Simitian ... Editor of school newspaper ... Earned school’s President’s Award as well as Vision New America 2004 Scholarship Award ... Enjoys spending time with family and friends, listening to music and going to church.") But Mr. Lin isn't exactly the type of "diamond in the rough" that Coach Skinner typically recruits. Mr. Lawhorn is. Working-class, proud of where he comes from, chip on his shoulder, with something to prove, genuinely excited to be coming to BC and hopefully hard-working to prove himself on and off the court. In that sense, he is entirely consistent with the kind of working-class kids that have made their way up to the Heights since the trolley era. If they could have commented on blogs, I'm sure the Brahmins of that era would have expressed strong feelings about the intelligence and worthiness of those early Heightsmen with their flat caps and heavy brogues. I'm also sure that many of the conversations among those early Heightsmen would have evidenced foul language, poor grammar and generally provincial attitudes. In our own time, check out some of the other BC message boards, and you'll find much of the same. I'll admit that the first time I read Mr. Lawhorn's comments, I cringed. But after reading them again, I'm actually proud.
Welcome to the Heights, Danny... Make us proud!
GO EAGLES
Well said. Welcome Danny.
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