The blame for the sudden changes lies with Gene and Spaz. Since allowing TOB to walk, Gene has used his position to go beyond the norms of an AD's responsibilities to be sort of a football GM. Spaz gets blame for being the ultimate enabler. He played his cards with Gene to stay on staff and has deferred to Gene enough to get the job when it opened and get an extension last year. Spaz is not unique. Jags played a similar game with Gene to get the job in 2006. But despite both of their relative successes, that is not healthy.
A good program would hire a head coach and let him build the program how he saw fit. It wouldn't be about who is part of the staff or what influence the AD wanted or needed. We would set measurable benchmarks for success (wins, ACC championships, player behavior, and graduation rate). I am not calling for anyone's head yet, but when we make our next football change, the new head coach needs to be empowered and needs to start with a clean slate. If not, we will keep facing these same sort of disruptive problems.
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35 comments:
Let's just take care of business against Duke. Who cares about the politics, the drama or the pissing matches? I don't. I just care about getting us copping some Ws (preferably copping more than two).
I agree with you ATL. As much as I appreciate GDF's and Spaz' love of BC, I think I reflect the attitude most alum and the admin have which is that the athletic department should not reflect badly on the university. It is starting to look that way now.
A bone, a win to mollify the awakening crowd. The leaders really want it bad so they go back to their world of excuse, ignore, justify and get paid like champions.
One other thought. Rogers may have quit, and now GDF is letting folks inside "know" he fired him. One guy's word against another.
ATL: You are on the mark, as per usual. If he was fired, shows an amazing lapse in judgment on either the front end, back end or both. Firing soemone after two games? ridiculous. Also, issue of whether he was fired or quit is not inconsequential. If he was fired, he will presumably be paid off per the terms of his contract. So assume he had a multiyear contract and made at least $500K per year, then he ended up making $500K per game coached, at a minimum. Could well have been closer to a million. I will think of that when BC comes calling for donations to the athletic department, we are being asked to pay for GDF's impetuousness. hard to get excited about. Like when the church comes calling looking for donations to offset all their pedophile lawsuits...
GDF needs to go for the same reason TOB and Skinner did... they've grown stale. Worse yet, GDF knows he's stayed beyond his welcome and is trying to create value in his position by overstepping his bounds; the Blauds article spells that out to a "T."
While my dollars are few and far between I wrote a letter this off season saying I will no longer donate to the Flynn Fund while Gene is in command. This was based on several experiences, not just rumors, that I had at games and in dealing with the department over the last year.
If you have ever met Gene, he is nothing but a politician. Leahy will never fire him unless something terrible happens because their comfy together and the school still has a clean nose academically and eligibility wise. Money is the only way we, the fans, can speak.
Tickets sales are crashing, if donations follow suit it will hurt rankings all around and the whole schools reputation. Father Leahy needs to wake up and make the call to change the regime.
This is sad - and also it is beginning to make my blood boil. I am a season ticket holder since the early 70's. I only bring that up because I have seen a lot over the years.
But this is something else entirely.
I have also worked for some very bad management teams at various times in my life. Somehow you have to persevere and move forward during those times. This is what our players must do. These students have been put in an uncomfortable position and they have to figure out how to navigate their way through this.
I am going to support the players in my words and actions and root for them to overcome all of the BS surrounding them at the present time.
As I said last night, Gene DeFilippo and Coach Spaz have a lot of explaining to do.
Gene "Little Napolean" DeFilippo is a hack. Plain and simple. Like I've said before, his handling of the Jags situation was pathetic (and I don't think Jags is an angel either) and he has put BC in a very difficult situation going forward. He calculated his decision during that process and it backfired. He acted like the Coach (an employee) should put the school above all else (career longevity and/or upward mobility, family dynamics, lifestyle. etc.)and should not ever look beyond the PRESTIGIOUS position of head coach of BC Football. Total crap!!!
I agree with other posters who state that GDF is the ultimate politician, and I also believe that he is a puppeteer looking to pull the strings on every aspect of the football program. Why else hire a septegenarian coach who had no realistic chances of landing a big time head coaching job?
The Kevin Rogers fiasco is probably KR finding out a little too late how things are run at BC. He probably had a few calls in the booth from GDF or an unfortunate run in with GDF, where it became apparent to him that GDF wants to call the plays himself.
BC needs to thank Gene for his service, kindly send him packing, clean house (bye bye to the entire staff), and start over. We have to get rid of everything that has to do with Tom O'Brien/Spazx/and Gene D and start over, otherwise this nonsense will continue.
I know there has been success at the Heights attributable to Gene, to TOB, and to Spaz, but BC needs a completely fresh start. If BC doesn't clean house then there is no reason to believe that anything is going to change, and BC football will continue to be a "nice program" that has been "in turmoil" for a couple of years.
Brook eagle,
what did you want Gene to do with Jags? He clearly coached with a foot out the door -- his last recruiting class (2009) produced Kuechly, Noel, and basically a bunch of spare parts who have yet to make an impact or even a handful of big plays. Jags sticking around for another year would've done more harm than good, and it was doubtful he would've stayed (he took the TB OC job weeks after he was fired and didn't even make it to regular season before getting canned).
until the real story with rogers comes out, i'm going to give the Gene D/Spaz regime the benefit of the doubt and hope for the best with Brock. Brock was the OC for a kansas state team that scored a LOT of points and produced two very good NFL players (jordy nelson and josh freeman). he has done it before and hopefully the offense gets it going.
without any sort of facts, its hard to say Gene D is going around lying to alumni and misrepresenting what happened.
we have two absolute gimmie's coming up in duke and umass (both at home) to attempt to right the ship and get some momentum before wake comes to town, and then going down to clemson before the bye week.
i'll start calling for spaz and gene D's head if duke beats us.
It does not matter much if Rogers left voluntarily or was fired. Really what is the differennce if he quit in a huff, was fired or something in between. He left very prematurely and that created a big problem for BC on many levels.
What DOES matter is that 1) liars are running the BC football program 2) these liars are incompetent managers.
LIARS: GDF and Spaz feel free to lie to the BC community about the departure and intentionaly mislead all with the lie about Rogers' "health issues" They know this statement is a lie but they have repeated it again and again so no one asks any questions.
NITWITS: GDF and Spaz again have exhibited very poor judgment in selecting key assistants and equally poor judgment in the 'how' and 'when' of terminating assistants. All thumbs again, just like with the Jags fiasco.
GDF's main job is to insure that the best possible hiring decisions are being made. This means hiring the best guy who will work out at BC. Obviously GDF and Spaz get an "F" on Rogers. Just like they get an "F" with Tranquil, and "D-" with Day and an "D-" with Devine. GDF also gets an "F-" for Jags and and "F--" for promoting Spaz.
NOTE to FATHER LEAHY: ACT TO PROTECT THE INTERGRITY OF BOSTON COLLEGE. ACT NOW.
The ironic part is that GDF probably thinks he's handling this in the "BC way." I'm sure that the admin believes that the health story gives KR cover for future jobs in that (1) he left for health-related reasons and was not fired, and (2) future employers/interviewers may not even legally be able to inquire about his health condition. GDF and Spaz therefore think they're doing the right thing by sticking their necks out for Rogers and not hampering his future employment opportunities. (Of course there's also the benefit to BC in that the football program doesn't come off as a dysfunctional, cutthroat place where coaches get fired after two games.)
However, lying-- no matter how expedient it is for both sides-- is not right and it is definitely not the BC way. This is a sad chapter for BC athletics.
mod 34b, what do you have to corroborate ATL Eagle's post about Rogers being fired? i love this blog and check it every day, so i mean no disrespect, but ATL's sources have been wrong before (the Ryan Day is the new OC story being the post that comes to mind).
you wrote "It does not matter much if Rogers left voluntarily or was fired. Really what is the differennce if he quit in a huff, was fired or something in between. He left very prematurely and that created a big problem for BC on many levels." -- well, it does matter for the sake of your argument. according to BC, rogers left for health reasons. you. IF rogers has legitimate health reasons that are preventing him from coaching, then the only thing you can fault Gene D and Spaz for is hiring a guy who has health problems.
I have no idea (and no sources) if Rogers was fired or forced out, and, as I said, it does not matter which occured. And I think ATL is just offering something akin to an educated opinion based on remarks from an insider. Seems like he is right. But sure he has been wrong before. So has everyone else. I might be wrong here.
But I do not believe the 'official' "health reasons" story for a second. It is obviously BS and was conviently planted in the Globe and Herald pieces to provide some cover for BC (not Rogers). The fact that BC is spinning this nonesense about the flare up of an old college back injury tells you they i) are lying and ii) find it useful to lie to cover up.
I wonder why none of the players -- many of who are quoted in the media over the past few days -- are offering any sympathy or support for their ill coach. Don't you think players would rally around a fallen leader. But that is not happening. Nor do we see the usual administration comments when someone is sick -- e.g.'we are behind Kevin and his family in this difficult time and cannot wait for him to return' etc. Zip on that front.
But you are right, if the 'health reasons' are true, then it is just unfortunate all around and noone can be blamed for a guy's unexpectedly serioulsy debilitating illness.
DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE "health reasons" the story. I don't.
I've never been a fan of Blauds. But this post of his does put things into perspective. I had completely forgotten about the Whipple and Turner incidents. Pair those with the Jags and Rogers stuff and you really have to wonder what the hell is going on up there on The Heights.
El Miz, You have company! Another loyalist refuses to believe GDF is anything other than upstanding.
Specifically, CSOM Prof. Edward Taylor denounces ATL on his PROF TAYLOR BLOG. Prof. Taylor says:
"Eagle in Atlanta is reporting that Kevin Rogers was fired as the BC offensive coordinator. Our AD announced that Rogers is taking a leave of absence due to health reasons. Sorry Eagle in Atlanta, I'm not buying your version and I am questioning your sources. Gene has nothing to gain and everything to lose by lying about Rogers' status."
What say you ATL???
I heard a few at EA also disagree with you, ATL.
Give us the reaction to your BOMBSHELL!
Who really cares what LECTURER Ed Taylor thinks?
The truth will come out one way or another. Independent of feelings towards GDF, nothing about the situation passes the smell test.
To the Heights,
Hands of Ed Taylor. There's isn't a more beloved faculty member in CSOM, nor more passionate BC sports fan amongst our faculty. He wins favorite professor in CSOM year-in, year-out, and has been an invaluable resource for *decades* of BC students when it comes to career and life. He's epitomizes the BC way discussed through this thread.
A straight up firing seems a little questionable to me. If KR was straight fired there would be no real reason for him to go along with the health lie unless there was hush money involved which seems unlikely given the haircut we took on the Jags contract, sliding donations and dropping ticket sales.
Although, i guess since Brock is already on payroll just paying KR for the year wouldnt really be a big hit.
Yea BTW, I totally agree with Foodie. Disagree with Taylor's opinion if you like but don't try to diminish his status. He is a great teacher, a HUGE BC fan, has been a mentor to countless students (myself included) and probably knows more about this whole situation than any of us.
A few thoughts. If Rogers went because of a bad back it'd be nice if he told us. Why is Rogers not speaking up? Hell, when rumors surfaced that Whitey Bulger killed Stippo Rakes he brought him back from Florida to stand on the corner next to him to wave at passing cars. This matter is important to BC. We should know what really happened to Rogers. Bring him back to talk to us. Otherwise it appears he was told to keep his mouth shut or the school would not honor his contract. He is being paid for his silence. This is something that could be quickly resolved and it reflects badly on the school it has remained an open question so long.
Then again why isn't Professor Taylor who you all love not giving us his reasons for denouncing ATL. If he knows something we should know, let him speak up or else he too is part of the program.
As far as the new OC is concerned if he were any good he wouldn't have gone from an OC at Kansas State to a lesser position at BC. What BC needs are good coaches ages 32-46 who can relate to the students. These old men on the gridiron who come here with mediocre records can not inspire much confidence in the kids. BC could be great but it needs to do things differently than it has been doing under Gene.
By the way Spaz was asked at his press conference. "Kevin Rogers is pretty well known down in this area, is there any chance he returns this season?"
COACH SPAZIANI: Well, I don't know. That's up to -- I'm not sure what the status of that is right now.
Q. Has it been an issue up until this week at all? Obviously --
COACH SPAZIANI: Well, what are you talking about, his health?
Q. In terms of his availability or the offense obviously has not been --
COACH SPAZIANI: No, no, he's been on the job every day."
What do you make of that? Let's call on the school to produce Rogers.
I was the guy who asked Gene if Rogers would coach at BC again (I was in back, right hand side if you were facing Gene's podium). Before he spoke, I shook his hand and said hello, and completely chickened out asking him to his face. I didn't want to ask "was he fired?" in the event Rogers is really sick - I felt it might be insensitive. I thought asking if he would coach again at BC would be innocent but telling depending on his answer. He was completely defensive. He replied to the effect "I don't know. He has taken a leave of absence due to illness, which is what happened. I wouldn't say it if weren't so. We've fired coaches before, so we wouldn't put something out that wasn't the case." He either is immediately aware of the firing rumors, or very defensive because it was a firing. He brought the notion of firing up himself, without being prompted.
I am not knocking Ed Taylor (who is a lecturer at BC and not a professor - there's a difference). He is a good teacher and passionate BC guy.
The point was that his opinion is no more valid than anyone else's on here. ATL may not have been accurate with Day getting the OC job, but he was first to report Tranquil was retiring.
Regardless, I tend to form my own opinions based on the facts. A bumbling Coach Spaz lends me to believe Rogers quit or was let go. I think (or would at least hope) that if Rogers was facing a grave health issue, the message from the head coach and the university would be quite different.
Yeah, the difference is that lecturers teach while also having successful careers in the real world, while professors teach and write articles that only their fellow professors read (and only when asked). It's probably best to stop minimizing ETs role in CSOM or questioning his bona fixes as a BC fan. There is an army of his former students and mentees who won't stand for it; I'm one of them.
At least we have basketball to look forward to.
I went to BC 87-91 and our big time sports are mirroring that era
I didn't minimize ET's role at BC nor did I question his 'bona fixes' as a BC fan. In fact, I don't know what 'bona fixes' means. Your army of former students and mentees can stand down.
HCRE suspended Quintin McCree and Ronnie Tyler indefinitely. I take comfort in knowing other teams have some misery too.
Lighten up Patrick(Francis). Just because your buddy the Professor is standing up for Gene D is not going to stop us from getting the truth. I don't care what his credentials are. Something stinks here. Either Gene D is lying or he has no clue how to handle a simple press release about somebody having health issues. It is time to relieve Gene D of his duties. Give him a taste of his own medicine.
Ted, Mod, and everyone else who is under the guise that either Rogers really has debilitating health issues that are preventing him from coaching (which I also find highly unbelievable) OR that gene D has fired him and is lying to everyone about it.
Why is Kevin Rogers being given the benefit of the doubt? What do we really know about this guy? There was a pretty long search for an OC last year, with different people being mentioned at different times as front-runners or "likely", and Rogers emerged. Or maybe it just took him a while to accept the offer? I have yet to read much about Rogers being happy to be at BC, excited to work with the players/Spaz, etc. He has said some general comments about the players and such, but nothing glowing and passionate. moreover, his affiliation with the program has been a few months -- i know little about the guy in general!
A few days ago Blaudschuan or whatever his name is comes out with an "inside scoop" on Gene D and Spaz which should have and could have been written two years ago! Where was that piece then? Instead, two years later we read about how Gene forced out Turner (which is inaccurate, the article said Turner had philosophical differences with Jags, who was the HC), and how Gene promised Bicknell the job (a "scoop" likely supplied by Bicknell, no?), and how there are some weird things going on at the Heights. The best Boston College coverage I read is from THIS BLOG, written by an alum who lives in Atlanta and has a full-time job. Blaudschaun and the rest of the people who "cover" BC sports are a joke, and that this story is hailed as a "peak behind the curtain" is pretty comical when it contained absolutely zero pertaining to rogers and instead a bunch of scoops which should have been broke literally two years ago.
Objectively, and logically, it is HIGHLY doubtful that Gene and Spaz decided to FIRE rogers after TWO games! think about that for a second. we moved the ball well against northwestern, rettig had 375 passing yards for christ sake, and then we lost a bad game to a mid-major (who looks to be on the rise and could finish the year in the top 25). its not like we have scored 0 points through 2 games!
i have no idea what happened, but i think that Gene D would have had to seriously lost his mind to fire this guy behind closed doors, then "pay him hush money" as someone suggested (like this is the mob or something) to not talk (as if, after being fired 2 weeks into the job, you would care what you say about your former employer?) AND go around to alumni events lying to alumni faces saying "no he wasn't fired" when he really was -- it is a completely ridiculous set of facts and one i would guess is very far from the truth.
rogers has been at BC for a couple of months, and little is known about the guy. maybe "health issues" are a nice way of saying the guy's an alcoholic, maybe his family has problems, maybe he's having a mid-life crisis, maybe he wants to coach in the NFL, but one thing i seriously doubt is that he was fired two games into his BC career (the first of which our sophomore QB throws for almost 400 yards and our sophomore RB rushes for over 100 against a big 10 team) and that now gene and spaz are going around covering it up like its watergate. come on! where there's smoke there's fire, and there probably is some sort of fire, but i don't think rogers got fired and i don't think gene D is "covering it up."
also, to everyone saying gene should go packing....take a look around college football and find me an AD who isn't a slickster like gene. all of these guys are politicians, and i think gene has done his best by BC and tried to do what's best for the school during his regime.
-- he handled the ACC move deftly, and we are not in the big east anymore largely because gene had the wherewithal and the swag to get us in the conversation with the U and Va Tech. originally syracuse was going to jump ship but he managed to get BC in the conversation. we are now in a lot better footing in the ACC economically, and better positioned in the looming conference re-alignment (since the ACC has a better likelihood of expanding than the big east does).
-- yes, he f-ed up the jags hiring. BUT, i think he was right to fire a guy who basically didn't recruit for an entire season and was interviewing for jobs after saying he'd be here for a while. moreover, its not like he swung and missed and hired a complete dud -- we went to two straight ACC championship games with jags. what was unfortunate was that the guy was trying to land a job in the NFL during his last year.
-- hired who i think is a good coach and a guy who wants to be at BC for a while in donahue. ed cooley may have been a better candidate, but i'll assume gene wanted to move on from the skinner coaching tree, and donahue was the hot name at the time. i think donahue is actually going to build a program, and plays an exciting style to boot.
the book has yet to be written on spaz as a HC -- but i blame the spaz HC troubles more on spaz than i do on Gene. spaz stuck around when o'brien left and our D has provided the program with continuity. we got to two straight ACC championships because spaz's D never declined and kept us in games when our offense was subpar (that the chris crane/dominque davis team made the ACC CG is still shocking to me). we had a top 20 D last year as well, i believe, in terms of takeways and yards given up.
his game management, the offensive coordinators, and the general decline of the program from 2008 until now is disappointing to say the least -- how he couldn't capitalize on kiwanuka, matty ice, and BJ raji being first round picks and get some better players recruiting is beyond me. is a 64 yr old career assistant coach the right guy for the job? probably not.
but that this debacle of rogers leaving the team for health reasons has led to everyone to call for both Gene and Spaz's head while insinuating that a massive cover-up has gone on which will lead to not only the sports but the entire prestige of the university will go downhill (the U just shot up 9 spots in the US News college rankings when for the past 10 years they've had a booster paying players straight cash shows how meritless this argument is) is crazy.
El Miz whether he was fired, had health problems or quit is inconsequential at this point. Who hired Rogers? Who hired Jags, Tranquill and Spaz? There's a common thread there. Gene D. His judgement has been sorely lacking and this program is in disarray. Why do we keep hiring old coordinators? I know you love Gene D but even you cannot ignore this.
EL MIZ, do you work for GDF? Ha!
Agreed that Blaudy and Conroy are lazy cows who report what someone else spoon feeds them and do nothing on their own,.
But note that In both articles about Rogers there is some info about Rogers' health - his troubling back. That info came from BC not from the dogged efforts of the newspaper reporters. It was planted to suggest the "health reason". It is almost surely a lie, or at least false info designed to mislead.
The rest of the old retread parts of their articles is background about how BC terminates problems. Why is that background needed in an article about a coach who left because of health reasons? Also note that both articles have similar content, suggesting BC/Spaz/GDF was feeding this Info to both.
If there is a real health issue here, then Rogers' departure was legit and my suspicions are misplaced. In that case, the worst to be said was that there is an issue of BC screwing up tbe PR/press management. But there is too much info pointing the other way.
I am a former BC student. From reading all the comments on this blog so far, the ones at the bottom of this thread by "EL MIZ" make, by far, the most sense of anything I have read. I'm not being sarcastic, I'm not kidding, I'm dead serious.
Why would Spaz decide to fire his OC two weeks into the season? That makes zero sense. Unless they had a tremendous fight and falling-out over night, then it's crazy. I don't buy the health reasons thing, but I highly doubt he got fired in the blink of an eye. The whole thing is fishy, but the idea that he got fired is just as fishy. I think this one is on Kevin Rogers.
My well-placed sources tell me that GDF discovered that Rogers was making offensive strategy and play-calling decisions based on his reading of astrology charts and opposing coaches' horoscopes. He was tripped up when he tried to implement the Pleiades formation in practice, which resulted in too many players in the backfield every time.
Prof Taylor and my wife are friends so I have nothing against him. He is a great guy and a huge BC fan.
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