Saturday, September 25, 2010

Why do I seem more upset than our Head Coach?

I know there is much more to being a head coach than emotion and outward appearances. I know that coaches handle things differently and Spaz tends towards the "handle our business behind closed doors" but why is he not more upset after a second consecutive embarrassment game against the Hokies? Last year we had issues at QB and the emotional drain of the Herzy illness. This year there are no built in excuses. This team has potential. Is it good enough to win the division? Maybe not, but we certainly shouldn't be smirking after another shutout. Am I overreacting here?

29 comments:

mod34b said...

I think u r overreacting. Spaz is quirky, but overall he seems ticked with Shinskie . He may b a little light hearted b/c he knows reporters so well

America said...

where did you get this video? Everyone knows we stream the press conferences afeter each game on bceagles.com.

America said...

i meant "everyone knows we stream the video, right?" I'm saying if you want to watch it you can go to it live.


ok thank you!!

Dan said...

Yea I think he's just lighthearted and easy going in general. Hence why he recruits better than TOB did. Also, a bad day at the office seems less bad when you make $1 million a year. Just sounds frustrated with Shinskie's decision making and the smirk definitely implies a general impression of Dave being a bad decision maker.

Really curious to hear the explanation on why Rettig doesn't get more looks. I mean at this point Marsco is not head and shoulders better, Spaz has shown 0 problem in burning redshirts the past 2 years and since he came in January he's really on a few months behind the current 2 guys.

JD BC90 said...

That is a bad head coach with way too much job security.

Glad he thinks it's funny.

He sucks and I am sick of his schtick. And there is no sense bashing the players. Shinskie and Mars don't have great natural instincts as QBs, but the fact they are regressing (and really incapable of facing a decent defense)is on the offensive staff that Spaz hand selected and/or coaxed out of retirement.

Spaz should be embarrassed, but is still somehow able to chuckle his way through. Blaming the players and the fans are next.

Way to go Gene !

CT said...

I don't give a s--- what he says in the press conference, the only thing that matters is whether his team gets any better week after week. That's coaching. Not press relations.

Having said that, I do think the laissez-faire attitude is part personality and part expectation. It's BC. Were this a school in the south, he'd be getting absolutely grilled in the press, from alumni, boosters, etc.

The crowd today is emblematic of that. Unless and until BC changes expectations, which it likely won't, this is what we get from a basketball conference. There's so much less pressure on Spaz up there than were he HC where people who didn't go to the school care more about the team than people who did. When we get more serious about winning, we'll get a coach that reflects that.

Dan said...

No amount of emotion in the press room is gonna change the fact that Bud Foster outschemed the shit out of Tranquill in the second half. As long as he's not chuckling when he talks to Gary about this game, I'm fine with this.

Danny Boy said...

I'm not concerned with what he says in the press conference. I'm concerned that he punts to end the game. It sends the message to the team that they stopped playing (even if the game was over). Go for it. Use the opportunity to give Marsco one more rep under stressful situations. There isn't much downside.

eagle1331 said...

The biggest problem is the OC. Period. End of Story.

If Tranquil gave marscovetra some real opportunity in the first 2 games who knows where he'd be. If he opened up the play book today, who knows what would happen.

Regardless. Marco and Shinskie have both been terrible in their opportunities. Flashes of brilliance don't cut in in this division, conference,etc. We need a new, young OC, and we need a new, young QB. Marco should be ready to come in at this point went Dave falters, and he's flopped at every opportunity. Know matter how bad the play calls he gets, he's failed.

Usher in a new era. Completely on the offensive side. Top down.

Give Rettig a week with the 1st team, let him start a nice game at home with a full out home crowd, and let's see what a 4 star can do...

ToTheHeights said...

this was after a bye week.......

blist said...

Is he taking night courses at the Al Skinner School of Coaching? I think we have a right to be a little upset, ATL. Hey, I like a coach who has perspective and realizes games aren't life or death, because I think that can help over the long run of a season keeping an even keel (that and, you know, football isn't life or death). BUT, he gives off a vibe of resignation, laughing, picking his ear, saying 'we knew exactly what we wanted to do' and saying he didn't see anything wrong with the end of the half, but blaming his QB. Come on. As a lifelong Jets fan, I hate to say this, but he gives off a vibe from their coaches in the dark days of the lost seasons. Not a good sign to me. Personally, a new OC may help greatly. the back half of that game was played like it was over - granted the QBs didn't perform, but still. It must be what offense looked like when Tranq started in football - you know, the days when they were still figuring out the forward pass...

Claver2010 said...

We are all more upset than the head coach because he isn't one.

Jags and Logan were able to take a complete dogsh*t offense to the ACC CG. We have 2 weeks and this is what we come up with?

BCNorCal07 said...

We're stuck with him for thee-and-a-half more years. This could be fun.

Goberry said...

In a day and age where high school coaches can be plucked by colleges and light up scoreboards (Gus Malzhan), how is it possible that the OC of Boston College is Gary Tranquil?

John said...

I agree, I want Spaz to say "I am mad as hell and won't take anymore." As a new season ticket holder, I expect this team to be ranked in the 15-25 range every year or my tickets will be very short lived. In my section, we were lamenting on how good we would be if the VT QB were at BC.

mod10aeagle said...

I arrived at lower campus just before noon and the place had had the look of just having been swept by campus police. Sure enough, they were rolling through the lots announcing "The tailgate is over. Proceed to the stadium." Bizarre. Nice to have fans in the seats for the opening kick-off, but it felt like living in a police state.

Not excusing Shinskie's play -- he should've been picked at least four times -- but there were several times when it appeared that receivers had run the wrong routes. Sometimes there'd be two BC receivers within three yards of each other, and a couple of times his receivers completely failed to read the blitz. Nevertheless, Shinskie was really bad. Even his completions were badly thrown. And his decision-making is truly atrocious. Marscovetra looked like a slightly taller Shinskie, overwhelmed by the speed of the game. But the worst job all day was the failure of the OC to make any sort of adjustment whatsoever. This offense is totally predictable, and they kept doing the same thing over and over again regardless of repeated failure (the definition of insanity, right?).

The defense was great; in addition to the usual heroes, Max Holloway made several terrific plays. My only complaint is that our pass coverage (DBs & LBs) never seem to get close to a receiver until after they've caught the ball. They cover space, but not a receiver in that space. How many times did we see Taylor, scrambling under pressure, complete a pass to a stationery receiver surrounded by three or more BC defenders? A dozen? Drives me nuts.

EL MIZ said...

who else is excited for basketball season?

this team is completely lifeless and boring to watch. the game plans are as if they get paid just to show up. nobody expects to win or seems to care (see: spaziani in the press conference). the QB situation is perplexing -- how they haven't gone with one player yet is beyond me. are all of the QB options mediocre? putting marscovetra in for one series a game and expecting any type of improvement or progress seems illogical. just pick a guy and go with him. i don't know what happened to rettig but why not go with the youngest guy? sticking with a 27 yr old sophomore who has made negligible progress since last yr does not seem like a good plan.

we have far and away the most vanilla offense i've watched in college football, which is sad because it seems like there are some guys who can make plays (montel for sure being one of them). weren't chip kelly and ryan day on the same coaching staff at new hampshire? how is it that we can't think of any new plays or wrinkles in the game plan its literally the same junk every week. it is also offensive to me that the team punts when down late in the 4th quarter. JUST GO FOR IT! we as fans get angry when players quit on the team or stop trying hard, what about the coaches? what is the harm in trying to go for it? i don't understand.

BC will limp through another season, finish 7-5, play in some negligible bowl and gene D will continue to email alumni about how many athletes we graduate.

mike leach is available. call him up. BC has the resources to have a competitive team every year, this team is not competitive. they didn't compete in the VA tech game, the coaches act like they don't care. we were absolutely crushed by VA tech last year and this year didn't put up a fight -- which is embarassing when boise state beat them on a neutral field in their back yard and james madison beat them AT HOME! gene seems to be happy with 7-5 and a bowl appearance, it will be nice to get a AD and head coach who actually want to put a team out there that can compete.

eagleboston said...

Here is an amazing stat: Tyrod Taylor was held to 10 net yards rushing. 10! If I had told you on Friday the BC defense would contain Taylor, would you not expect a BC victory? It's an absolute shame the offense is holding this team back.

I do think many of you are over-reacting about the 2:38 clip on YouTube of the Spaz conference. What do you want him to do? Cry? Throw things? Start screaming, "Playoffs?!" a al Coach Mora? What matters are the hard decisions he makes and he has two that if he does the right thing will earn my respect 1) yank Shinskie as the starter and 2) fire Tranquil at the end of the season.

Jordan Dempsey said...

Shinskie doesnt have it. Period. Marco is worse, hes not a D1 player. His escape technique is drop back, move further back, a little further back, then get sacked. We have 2 options: 1) suffer through shinskie like we did Davis and Crane, redshirt our 4 star recruit and hope hes the future. 2) Play Rettig and see what happens. Hes our real shot at going anywhere this season. He could fail, and nothing is lost, or he could shine and we look good moving forward. I vote the latter.

If we let Rettig go, theres a big question mark. If we start Shinskie, we win 4-5 more games this season. If we start Marco, we could give UNH a run for there money.

bc1900 said...

from the herald just now, rettig or marco to start on saturday.

Erik said...

Well, I hope they chose one by tonight and devote full attention to preparing that one guy, giving him the best chance to suCceed.

As much as us fans get up for ND, a non-conference game is the best time to make a change like this.

blist said...

I assume then it's Rettig's to lose? Otherwise, why not say Marsco is starting? If Rettig can't win the job the week against Marsco, he's not the answer

Benjamin said...

To reiterate Bill's comments from earlier, this is exactly like Georgia Tech from the 2008 season. And after every loss that year, there were the typical "This is the worst game I have ever seen in my BC football career" followed by (Insert head coach/offensive coordinator here), and ultimately wrapping up with "Looks like we're in for a ho-hum season of (insert not so great record here).
AAAAAaaaannnd then BC pulls it out to have a trip to the ACCCG or a very respectable year when no one really would assume we would in the first place.
Yes, Spaz smiled and laughed during a press conference. But I got the impression he was pissed.
Shinskie has improved, just not the point were we all are confident having him lead the team. (Go back and read the comments on Crane. By the end of his season, we all were clamoring to have him back).
Was the game dissappointing? Hell yes it was. Was it the worst I've ever seen? No. That would be Clemson and VaTech last year, and UNC from 2008 (Which was particularly bad seeing as we were up 10-0, and then lost 45-17).

Claver2010 said...

2 weeks of practice & that is the offensive crap we see? Come on, what a joke.

I was never a Spazoo fan but I've never seen a BC team come out worse than the 3 games (2 VTech & Clemson) than I have in a year+ and that is very alarming.

Claver2010 said...

Ben,
Completely disagree with that. We lost by 3 blowing a 6 point lead in the 4th. Did it suck? Sure but at least we were competitive.

Unless aided by multiple upon multiple penalties, this O had zero shot of scoring.

Big Jack Krack said...

Ben is correct - UNC killed us in 2008 45-24; they held us off in 2005 16 to 14, running the opening kickoff back for a TD. I was at both games.

The 2nd half yesterday was as bad as it gets. I don't know, but I'd start with the OC. My wife said BC should be embarrassed.

We were at the Clemson game last year, and I'm not going to sit through many more of these. If the OC won't give us a chance with some interesting plays, HD TV is my answer. No more Flynn Fund to park in a non-tailgate area (Brighton Campus Library), flights, hotels and restaurants. I'm willing to bear the expense for a chance - but with Nyquil, I'm afraid we're a long shot. It certainly appears as though he can't make any adjustments. He might be a nice guy, etc - but his time (if ever there was a time for him) has come and gone. UNC couldn't stand him when he was their OC. So that's what we have.

Spaz and his sense of loyalty - will that equal good recruiting and coaching? We'll see.

LinebackersForHeisman said...

I'm not upset by the presser. To be upset, you have to believe that the coach would be angry with his team's performance. I don't get that Spaz is really a "rah rah" sort of guy. In fact, I don't get the sense he's much of a coach, at all.

The primary issue with the team, and I posted about this at length on Saturday, is the offensive coordinator. The play calling is well beyond vanilla. When it's 3rd and greater than 4 the call was the same at least 75% of the time: across the middle to the tight end or a post route to the QB's right. It was so predictable that my girlfriend, who knows almost nothing about football, noted it! And that post route almost resulted in 3 more interceptions for Shinskie. the CB was reading it so easily - and it's not hard when you seem to script all of your plays ahead of time.

But when the average BC fan could care less about the team winning, why should the coach? The fact he hasn't announced a starting QB and even has said it could be game time is proof positive that he has no control over his own squad. He gets a big, fat F in my book.

Walter said...

hey mod10aeagle, I've heard that the tailgating atmosphere at BC is usually very strict, but perhaps this time we could give them a pass because there had been a stabbing at BC in the mods late friday night/early saturday morning. The guy's all right,but I wonder if that still had anything to do with it.

Ryan said...

No, it has nothing to do with tailgating atmosphere or what should be permitted. Whatsoever.