Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Recruiting update and other links

BC is in the mix for Ohio defensive lineman Alex Pace. It seems like the staff is using this time -- usually allotted for bowl prep -- to hit the road and recruit. What's interesting is that we are competing for multiple guys even though this was supposed to be a small recruiting class. My hunch is that we will string the fifth year Seniors along hoping to land better options on the recruiting front.


HD also thinks recruiting is the underlying issue. Of course she doesn't mention that most of the current recruiters were recruiting under Jags too.


I am glad that others are noticing how tone deaf our Athletic Director can be.


Cam Atkinson is having a good season in the AHL.


Kuechky is a Finalist for the Lott award and the only BC player to make the All ACC team.

29 comments:

Tim said...

Everyone should watch this:

http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/offices/pubaf/news/2011_jun-aug/jfk-video-splash.html

JBQ said...

I thought that the video was very good!

eagle1331 said...

I wish someone could put that SB Nation article in Fr. Leahy and the board's hands

JERZeagle said...

if i were still at school, i would print a thousand copies of it and just leave them everywhere.

eagleboston said...

ATL, I have been on the fire Spaz bandwagon since the Duke game. I think he makes horrible in-game decisions and is a terrible leader of people. However, I can't for the life of me understand why you will not acknowledge that Jags did a terrible job recruiting his second year. I remember talking to other BC people in September of that year being very concerned about recruiting. He had mentally cashed it in knowing that he was going to apply for NFL jobs. There is no question that was a factor in our competitiveness the past few years. It is not an excuse for 4-8, but I can't stand when people don't take accountability and Jags should be held accountable in terms of his legacy for his terrible recruiting effort in year 2.

Lenny Sienko said...

Mike Leach is the leading candidate for the Washington State opening.

There goes another coach from the ranks of fantasy BC replacements.

Wash State doesn't seem to be bothered by the ESPN -Leach feud. I guess their AD doesn't know what GDF does.

#fireSpaz #fireGDF

eagle1331 said...

Eagleboston -

Allow me to answer for Bill... or how I would think he will. Bill doesn't excuse Jags poor recruiting, but has well documented that his head of recruiting was Mike Siravo, who was retained by Gene/Spaz in the same position. It is the recruiting coordinators job to identify targets, setup visits, etc. Many of the coaches from Jags era are still with the team (aka they did the recruiting for Jags and equally if not moreso share the blame) and personally recruited the players beat reporters strictly assign to Jags' recruiting.

While the HC plays a crucial role in that process, the vast majority of a players recruiting is done by an assigned position coach to a particular school/region/position. Primarily the HC has little contact except on visits and blue-chip recruits.

Click over to eagleaction.com and then on the "more" option near the list of recruits. On the subsequent page, click on "More Info" above the list of players and you can see their recruiting contact. You can go back to Jags years... he is not listed as the contact for any players, and many of the coaches that are still roam our sidelines today.

Thus, why is it Jags fault?

mod34b said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joseph said...

But, should he have been supervising the people who should have been recruiting? Why didn't they get the job done then?

mod34b said...

Eagleboston -- The idea that the Jags class of 2009 was horrible is not supported by the data.

Compare the 2007, 2008 and 2009 classes. What do you think about this?

Here are how the classess were ranked nationally

2007 -- 46
2008 -- 33
2009 -- 70

2009 actually looks pretty good.

Class of 2009 still remaining and contributing (2 left)

1 Dillon Quinn
2 Jake Sinkovec
3 John Wetzel
4 Ian White
5 Jonathan Coleman
6 Bryan Davis
7 Kasim Edebali
8 Rolandan Finch
9 Nate Freese
10 Luke Kuechly
11 Jim Noel
12 Conor O'Neal
13 Andre Lawrence
14 Michael Marscovetra
15 Mike Naples

class of 2008 still remaining and contributing (19 not on roster in 2011)


1 Ryan Quigley
2 Kaleb Ramsey
3 Donnie Fletcher
4 Emmett Cleary
5 Nick Clancy
6 Montel Harris
7 Max Holloway
8 Donte Elliott
9 Colin Larmond
10 Chris Pantale
11 Bryan Murray


2007 Class that contributed (9 left BC)

1 Lars Anderson
2 Anthony Castonzo
3 Ifeanyi Momah
4 Brad Newman
5 Nathan Richman
6 Mark Spinney
7 Will Thompson
8 Dan Williams
9 DeLeon Gause

Tim said...

eagle1331-

I agree that we cannot hold the head coach responsible for tasks that have been properly delegated to assistants. Therefore, Spaz cannot be blamed for our offensive woes; only the offensive coordinator can be blamed.

Thoughts?

eagleboston said...

Mod, looking at the straight numbers out of context can be a little deceiving. On the surface, 2009 appears to be a fairly decent class. However, the following players committed AFTER Jags was fired:

Luke Kuechly
Bryan Davis
John Wetzel
Rolanadan Finch
Connor O'Neal
Nate Freese
Dave Shinskie

This means 11 out of the 18 in the class committed while Jags was still coach. Of those 11, 2 are no longer in the program. One good stat is that 6 of the remaining 9 are in the 2-deep and 3 are starters. So "horrific" may have been an over-statement, but I would describe it as sub-par compared to the TOB days.

And I understand the argument that the assistants do most of the recruiting. But, who are the assistants accountable to? If goals were coming in sub-par, why didn't Jags take control of the situation and make changes? When you delegate, follow-up is crucial. This is leadership 101 and Jags dropped the ball in '09.

Again, I am not defending Spaz. He needs to go, but Jags does bear some of the blame for lack of depth during Spaz's tenure.

mod34b said...

E/B -- the fact that some 2009 recruits "committed" after Jags left is of no moment. Each must have been in the recruiting process well before Jags left and are considered to be Jags recruits. (these are the ones Spaz uses as an excuse)

my point was that the constant claim that Jags left a big hole in the recruiting fabric with the 2009class is false. Compare 2009 to 2008 to 2007. you can go back to TOB classesif you like.

but you are repeating the falsehood -- "Jags does bear some of the blame for lack of depth during Spaz's tenure"

what is your evidence?

Big Jack Krack said...

EagleBoston is correct - more than 50% of Jagodzinski's 2008 football class left the program.

Only about 8 of the 29 players had an impact this year - with Harris and Ramsey out with injuries.

Would some of the players have stayed if they liked what was going on with Spaziani? Would any of the players who left the program have had an impact? I don't know. They didn't look that good anyway - a lot of them.

We could have used Okoroha and LeGrande this year - don't know what the issues were there. Other than that - we can thank Jagodzinski for bringing Montel Harris to Boston - and Ramsey is good when he's available.

In terms of the 5th year seniors, there were some from the 2007 signing class; L. Anderson; I. Momah (out for season); N. Richman; M. Spinney; W. Thompson; D. Williams = 5 of 6 were available.

Total of Jagodzinski recruits who played this year (4th and 5th year seniors) = about 14.

We still could have been 7 and 5 or even 8 and 4. Heck 6 and 6 wasn't exactly a stretch goal.

It is what it is.

If we do something that's counterintuitive, or against our nature - like throwing total support and allegiance to Spaziani and DeFilippo - they will certainly have to perform and deliver next year. THERE CAN BE NO EXCUSES - AND NONE WILL BE TOLERATED.

A exciting, winning team with improved attendance and game day experience - hassle free game day experience must be delivered.

The pressure is on them.

Go BC! Go players - hang tough and be proud!

EL MIZ said...

i agree, BJK. at this point, spaz and slick gene have made the bed that they will have to sleep in, figuratively of course. the excuses have been tolerated and sure we have had injuries just like every other football team from pro to friday night flag football. "ADAPT" as my good friend DJ Lawrence says.

next year we are going to have spaz in his 4th year with a team almost entirely recruited by him. 4th year means that there will be HIS players playing as juniors, like rettig and swigert, who have had a LOT of time and experience. the jig is up -- either we improve next year and reverse the trend (8-5, 7-6, 4-8) or we clean house. no two ways about it. we should be over 500 next year.

and given how dismal this year was, and given how often it is complained about, i hope the game day experience is improved next year. have the people who are employed and paid for by the school HELP the game day experience, rather than take away from it. treat the fans like the paying customers they are and not like mischievous 9 year old children.

Big Jack Krack said...

By the way - congratulations Luke Kuechly - ACC Defensive Player of the Year!

Way to go!!!

Is there any way Luke comes back? :-)

eagleboston said...

Definitely need to improve the tailgate atmosphere. However, I don't think it is just BC. The whole city seems like a police state to me.

mod34b said...

BJK, El Miz and E/B.

Where is the Jags' hole?

FIRST do not forget, Spaz ran off many players who were contributors, not JAGS. Spaz is the hole maker himself.

Transferred from 2007 class on SPAZ wATCH
--------------------------------+
1. Alexander DiSanzo
2 Clyde Lee
3 Dominick LeGrande
4 Okechuckwu Okoroha
5 Isaac Johnson

NEXT ---->> Look at year-to-year numbers of recruits who turned into football contributors (excludes those who transfered or who never really played any role)

2005 - 7 contributing players
2006 - 10 contributing players
2007 - 9 contributing players
2008 - 11 contributing players
2009 - 15 contributing players


Seriously, where is the big hole that Spaz uses as an excuse??? BC produces about 10 gamers per recruiting class.

What did Jags do? He recruited too many bad guys, but once the bad guys left, he is still left with some quality and quantity that is on par, if not better than TOB. If Spaz did not chase away some key Jags players, Jags would have had more keepers than TOB.

Where is the hole???? There is no hole. It is another flimsy SPAZ excuse.


------------------------------


Here are the 2005 and 2006 classes. The 2007, 08 and 09 class gamers are above

2006 Class -- 20 recruits -- 10 good, 2 marginal 8 left/never played

1 Alex Albright
2 Thomas Claiborne
3 Wesley Davis
4 Chris Fox
5 Mark Herzlich
6 Justin Jarvis
7 Richard Lapham
8 James McCluskey
9. Damik Scafe
10. Roderick Rollins

11. Jeff Smith
12 Bill Flutie


2005 class -- 15 recruits -- 7good, 8 left/never played

1 Marcellus Bowman
2 Rich Gunnell
3 Austin Giles
4 Mike McLaughlin
5 Clarence Megwa
6 Jim Ramella
7 Matt Tennant

EL MIZ said...

good points, mod34b. who are you counting in the other classes though, who am i missing:

07: you said 9, i count the same:
1) lars anderson
2) spinney
3) dan williams
4) will thompson
5) gause
6) momah
7) castonzo
8) dom davis - for at least a year
9) richman

08: you say 11, i count:
1) pantale
2) okohora
3) ramsey
4) fletcher
5) emmett cleary
6) max holloway
7) montel
8) larmond
9) legrande

clancy and elliot played sparingly. haden was backup RB for, what, a year and then left b/c he had to be BMOC and montel was 2x as good.

09: you say 15, i count:

1) kuechly
2) finch
3) noel
4) coleman
5) quinn
6) wetzel
7) edebali
8) white
9) freese
10) o'neal
11) shinskie (only count him b/c he started for a year)

who are the 4 guys i'm missing?

going further, here's 2010:
1) rettig
2) KPL
3) swigert
4) appiah
5) kimble
6) CJ jones
7) andre williams
8) sean sylvia
9) gallick
10) amidon
11) harris williams (played at end of season)

jaryd rudolph and dominique williams could count.

EL MIZ said...

and class of 2011 (true frosh that saw time this year):

1) ALJ
2) duggan
3) spiffy evans
4) mihalik
5) asprilla
6) rositano

i think i am missing a few d-linemen, and maybe 1 or 2 others, no?

EL MIZ said...

just looking at the depth chart from the last game (i am really on a roll here), every starter (and backups) on both O and D next year saw time this year. that is why it is time for spaz to either win 8-9 games or get canned:

WR: swigert (JR), amidon (JR) larmond (SR), evans (soph), coleman (JR) (i believe momah got a medical redshirt and will be back next year)
TE: pantale (senior)
o-line: wetzel (SR), vardaro (So), gallik (so), white (jr), cleary (sr), williams (so
QB: rettig (jr)
RB: finch (Jr), williams (JR), kimble (soph)

and on D, more of the same:
D ends: holloway (sr), edebali (jr), mihalik (soph)
DT: appiah (soph), o'neal (sr), quinn (sr), ricci (soph)
linebackers (assuming kuechly leaves): divitto (jr), KPL (JR), duggan (soph) along with some good incoming freshmen apparently (steven daniels, bobby wolford, and michael strizak)
secondary: ALJ (soph), rositano (soph), noel (sr), hughes (sr), sylvai (soph), asprilla (soph)

eagle1331 said...

Tim -

Spaz doesn't call the plays nor does he directly coach the offensive players, so for their direct performance and progression, as well as the play calling, I do not hold him responsible.

That being said, he is responsible (or should be primarily responsible for):
- Game planning (he does meet with the coordinators each week and ultimately decide how they are going to attack (or lack of doing so the past 3 years) opposing teams)
- Clock management (timeouts, kneeling with 1.5 minutes left in the 1st half)
- Hiring those coaches (Tranq was his call, Rogers may have been, who knows about Brock)

So while I understand your point and get what you are trying to prove, you are only correct on the surface and quite wrong when the details are extrapolated.

mod34b said...

El Miz. My lists are several comments ago. Here is a repeat


Class of 2009 still remaining and contributing (2 left)

1 Dillon Quinn
2 Jake Sinkovec
3 John Wetzel
4 Ian White
5 Jonathan Coleman
6 Bryan Davis
7 Kasim Edebali
8 Rolandan Finch
9 Nate Freese
10 Luke Kuechly
11 Jim Noel
12 Conor O'Neal
13 Andre Lawrence
14 Michael Marscovetra
15 Mike Naples

class of 2008 still remaining and contributing (19 not on roster in 2011)


1 Ryan Quigley
2 Kaleb Ramsey
3 Donnie Fletcher
4 Emmett Cleary
5 Nick Clancy
6 Montel Harris
7 Max Holloway
8 Donte Elliott
9 Colin Larmond
10 Chris Pantale
11 Bryan Murray


2007 Class that contributed (9 left BC)

1 Lars Anderson
2 Anthony Castonzo
3 Ifeanyi Momah
4 Brad Newman
5 Nathan Richman
6 Mark Spinney
7 Will Thompson
8 Dan Williams
9 DeLeon Gause

mod34b said...

Eagle1331. - I am pretty sure Spaz is directing Brock to run prevent offense. And told Tranquil the same thing.


Spaz meets with his coordinators and goes over and approves the game plans

He is also wearing a headset all game.

He is in charge and fully responsible.

Big Jack Krack said...

I was pretty satisfied with the effort at Miami - but then we voluntarily went into the Prevent Offense for the entire 4th period, and most of the 2nd half.

Emphasis on "voluntarily" - coach's preference/philosophy.

This is where Spaziani loses most of us and will continue to lose most of us.

It's sort of like a basketball team ahead by 15 points, and then the coach ruins it by changing the flow of the game - the players would have kept the pedal to the floor.

This strategy set Quigley up for the ACC MVP - but could have backfired for sure.

As a matter of fact, we went into the Prevent Offense right after Pantale's second TD, although we should have had one more score except for the growing Bordner Play Selection Problem.

Here we go after Pantale's TD early in the 3rd period:

3 plays and punt
7 plays and fumble
Interception and touchdown
3 plays and punt
3 plays and punt
5 plays and punt
3 plays and punt

It's an odd way to build a winning team - by holding your own players back.

EL MIZ said...

spaz's in game coaching leaves MUCH to be desired. regardless of who is designated what responsibility, the buck stops with spaz.

tough loss for the BBall squad today. they looked like they were in control in the 2nd half, but i guess a team as young as ours is never really in control. they played really hard. i like heckmann a lot, and clifford is a 7 footer who can run and dribble. you don't see that every day. caudill gave us a nice burst to start. they look improved every day, gotta get some Wins to build confidence before ACC season eats us alive.

Dan said...

Speaking of recruiting, Spaz and Co. landed their first 2013 recruit today. Andrew Isaacs 6'3" 230lb TE out of Connecticut.

Welcome aboard Andrew!!

Tim said...

eagle1331-
Believe it or not, I'm not trying to prove a point, just trying to understand your position. It seems that you feel that the head coach is ultimately responsible for some things (game management) but not others (recruiting). Since you seem hesitant to blame Jags for any recruiting shortcomings because he was not the primary point of contact with recruits, do you also feel that any current (and near future) recruiting shortcomings cannot be blamed on Spaz because he is not the primary point of contact for recruits?

I'm just puzzled by your underlying premise that the head coach is ultimately for some things but not others.

JBQ said...

As we approach Christmas, I think that it is about time to look at the real problem. Frank Leahy was the heart and soul of a squad before going to ND. It is a matter of "Ever to Excell" and someone has to scream and shout and say that the status quo is not d--- good enough. My mother passed away yesterday and she was as Irish as they come. The Fighting 69th marches every St. Paddy's Day in New York and I have been there the last four years. The year before last they had empty places. I went up to BC and the Church was locked. That is what it is all about. Throw the bums out and stop playing around. BC has the heart of St. Patrick and losing is not an option. If Leahy doesn't do the right thing, then he has to go. If McGillycuddy doesn't have the guts, then it's to the guillotine. Tim Russert lives and to the ramparts. There is no compromise and "fire in the hole". Semper Fi.