Wednesday, December 07, 2011

We hardly knew ya, Mike Faragalli; the coaching rumor mill keeps turning

Earlier this week Spaz hinted to the Herald that he would hire a new offensive coordinator to replace Dave Brock.


Wednesday, numerous message board posters on Eagle Action claimed that current Virginia Running Backs Coach Mike Faragalli would be named the new offensive coordinator and play caller. By late morning the football coaching sites were claiming a done deal too.


Spaz was on the road recruiting (with Dave Brock) so there wasn't any official confirmation. But by late Wednesday the earlier rumors were being shot down. The afternoon updates were worse as the reports said Spaz offered Faragalli and the Running Backs coach turned the job down.


Now we are back to square one. Based on the rumors and the fact that he is still on staff, I hope that BC has been upfront with Brock. Letting him twist in the wind would be unkind and leave BC looking stupid if the end of with Brock as OC again. For now let's hope he is onboard with the change and ready to help BC win again.


The struggles to land Faragalli -- when this would be an obvious step up from position coach to coordinator -- speaks to the challenges BC will have filling the spot. Being Offensive Coordinator at BC is not that great a job right now. Outsiders will wonder about our talent level, the Gene-Spaz relationship, Spaz's track record with Coordinators, Spaz's future, what happened with Rogers, the cost of living in Boston, and inheriting a bunch of position coaches. With all those issues, BC will have a hard time convincing someone with a stable job to take the risk with Spaz.


There plenty of good coaches looking for work. BC will find someone. But based on whats happened so far I don't think we will have an A-List blockbuster hire. Instead we will hire a coordinator who has as many questions as BC does. Until then, we will let you know what the rumor mill is saying.

37 comments:

BCDoubleEagle said...

For those of you interested in taking a break from false internet rumors and actually paying attention to reality, Kuechly won the Lombardi award.

BCMike said...

I found it entertaining that the wine and Brie crowd frim UCA deemed it appropriate to take shots at our supposed non-existent fan base.

Must be quite the impressive glass house they have in Charlottesville.

Evertosmell said...

The AD did a great job picking the basket ball coach. In Skinner's worst days we've never seen BC ranked 315 in points per game; 322 in rebounds per game; 310 in assists; and 316 in field goals.

Last in the ACC without having played an ACC game. Add that to the football horrors and it seems that million dollar genius AD has some big trouble spotting winners.

neenan said...

ATL - you've become a teenage girl.

You are like so interested in your own rumor mongering (yes you were a big part of the rumoring on EagleOutsider (gee, your didn't mention that one)), that you find the false rumor to be more interesting than one of the biggest sports news items of the season: Luke Kuechly won the Lombardi trophy. (DCDouble notes this above).

And to top it off you still treat the UVA coach rumor as truth when you say "The struggles to land Faragalli -- when this would be an obvious step up from position coach to coordinator -- speaks to the challenges BC will have filling the spot."

You are now assuming the rumor was true. But really does it make sense that Spaz would offer the OC job to the UVA guy and then let the UVA guy turn him down while Spaz is travelling with Brock?

and why would the UVA guy be talking out of school about this? Did he want to embarrass Spaz and BC (unlikely)??

eagleboston said...

Would you want to leave a job with a great, young head coach to come to a school where the coach is probably going to be fired next year?

BC Mike,

The fan base is non-existent. Have you been to a game in Alumni lately? We could not even sell-out Florida State. Florida State! I swear there were more people at my son's HS b-ball game than at the last BC b-ball game. We were much more supportive in the late 80's and the team was just as horrible.

Tim said...

Speaking of false rumors, I'm still wondering if ATL can explain his statement that "Rogers was fired."

Joseph said...

"evertosmaell". The name says it all for this poster and a ridiculously negative attitude. Don't you understand anything about the BB situation. Yes, we all know the team is not good, yet. When Luke was in grammar school he was not good , yet. Now look. Possibly the best football player ever at BC. At least among the very top few. Probably the BB team won't progress that far, but you never know. Give it a decent shot with some positive support.

mod34b said...

Tim --

You keep asking "I'm still wondering if ATL can explain his statement that 'Rogers was fired.'"

This really is not very complicated.

Obviously, ATL has a source(s) who told him Rogers was fired. ATL finds the source credible and reports that Rogers was fired. Maybe others disagree with that source. ATL is giving his take based on his sources. It differs from the "official word." So what.

ATL is not going to reveal his sources to you (and the blogosphere) to satisfy your curiosity.

Tim said...

mod-
Are you ATL's spokesman? With all due respect, I'm not interested in your theory as to why ATL says Rogers was fired, I'm interested in ATL's own explanation for why he says Rogers was fired. Please do not put words into ATL's mouth. He can clearly speak (write) for himself. I've asked this question several times, and apparently he can't or won't answer it, which makes his claim that "Rogers was fired" all the more suspect.

I'm glad, though, that ATL will "let [us] know what the rumor mill is saying." That's really helpful.

Big Jack Krack said...

With all due respect to you, Tim, ATL has no idea who you are.

Most bloggers are 100% anonymous.

You could be Napoleon DeFilippo's attorney.

mod34b said...

Ah Tim, it is unfortunate, but, as they say, you can bring a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. . . .

me thinks u might be a loon.

Darius said...

Tim/94, you seem to be one of very few people who DOESN'T have a source who was in the room when Rogers was fired.

He was fired. End of story. The only story is why the university won't admit it. But I think that's pretty obvious, too. As is the likelihood that the severance deal stipulates no one will deviate from the "medical issues" explanation.

Scott said...

Faragalli accepted the job until London stepped in, and promised him the UVA OC job as soon as the current OC moves on this year or next, as he who is a rising star and already interviewing for HC jobs. Faragalli will announce a new contract and big raise in a few weeks.

JBQ said...

It has been stated on ESPN that the loser of the Dallas v NYGiant game of this week will then fire their coach. I wonder if there is any desire to offer the A.D. job to Tom Coughlin. I would think that the domino effect would solve all of the BC football issues. Tim Russert lives.

canttakeit said...

Please stop the all the positive basketball talk about the future.You are making judgements on no facts. It took Donahue a long time to make a run against nobody in the Ivy League. Amaker has done it in a more consistent manner and in one half of the time And they are beating good teams in the regular season. Not a Cinderella run in the NCAA tourn. There was no need to start over. Where do you ever see all the immediate defections from a team? This team is an embarrasment, plain and simple. I don't care how young they are. They have gotten killed by teams that should have one or two players even capable of playing at the lower level of the ACC. Anyone given a free ride to BC should be able to start for BU or Holy Cross right away. Our guys have trouble competing let alone starting for them. I do not think he is capable of recruiting and coaching to this level. These stats are against low level teams. How much lower will (can) they go when this team starts playing real teams. This is like York retiring and the Hockey team losing to Bowdoin and Colby 6-2 everynight.

easteagle said...

Sorry, but I'll opt for the positive.
So you are convinced that none of the BS BB team could start for HC or BYU? On what do you base that? As a TEAM they lost both games, but as far as I know none of the current team was never on the teams from HC and BU, so what can we know?

I don't like Gene either, but it seems rather obvious that anything that he does will not meet with your approval.

Joseph said...

Sorry for the mixup. I am was using another guy's computer while mine was being serviced by the teckie. The other guy Easteagle is pissed because he agrees with you about Donahue.

EL MIZ said...

cant take it -- here are some #'s for you:

reggie jackson, the most recent BC player to make the NBA, and a guy who was Mr. Colorado coming out of high school, played 20 minutes per game as a freshman and had averages of 7 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists.

tyrese rice (freshman) - 9 points 2.5 assists per game

jared dudley (freshman) - 12 points 6 rebounds 3 assists in 34 minutes per game.

compare that to what we have now:

ryan anderson, who was Mr. California last year: (24 minutes per game) 8 points 5 rebounds 1 assist

pat heckmann (26 minutes) 11 points 3 rebounds 2 assists.

dennis clifford (24 minutes) 7 points 5 boards in 24 minutes.


i think you can see that if those BC standouts (rice, dudley, rice) were on a team with basically all other freshman, the team would have struggled and looked poor.

i think heckmann, clifford, and anderson have the most potential of the guys we have now. granted, these numbers are through 8 games, but it is still a good snapshot. its going to take time; i agree SOME of these players are not ACC caliber and have no business being on the team (rubin, moton, cahill, maybe jordan daniels); but there are some kids who should be very good in a year or two.

Joseph said...

Thanks for the help. Some of these guys can't stand logic, and just hate Gene so much that there can be othing right with anything.

MUD said...

Agree with the Miz, plus he used to announce games at Conte Forum for the world renown WZBC, so he knows his jive! BC Basketball will be back, endurance, perserverance and a little TLC will go a long way. BC Football. Let's hope Kuechly stays or our current NFL studs (literally in every game I have watched all season) can talk these youngsters into the Chestnut Hill experience.

bc1900 said...

One or two of the new guys on the bball team will be solid guys, the rest have zero chance. What concerns me are recruits for next year, again nothing special. Time will tell. Do we lose by more than 20 tonight at Providence? What do you think. I will be more positive when we see some improvement with these guys, but the schedule only get harder and I don't see it happening. I hope I am wrong, but I just don't see it. If Duke and UNC wanted to they could beat BC by 50+ easy this year. Meanwhile, Harvard is on ESPN tonight against UConn and will probably give them a decent game. UConn would beat us by 60 with Calhoun calling the shots.

EL MIZ said...

harrow, how many times have you seen the two guys who are committed for next year play?

if the answer is zero, then what are you basing your opinion on?

if you're answer is "look at who recruited them!" i refer you to the players jared dudley, craig smith, montel harris, and luke kuechly. (and hallinan or whatever his name is was recruited by big east and ACC schools anyway).

bc1900 said...

Craig Smith was recruited by UCLA, Dudley came on late and peopl offered him but wanted him to prep a year, he wanted to play right away so he came to BC, that is the only reason we got him. Football is a different beast, I agree rankings do not matter in football. This is the worst BC team I have ever seen since I have supported them since the late 80's. That is a fact you cannot refute. Even Skinner's last second recruiting job his first year was light years ahead of Donahue's. If Donahue wins the ACC going away like Skinner did winning the Big East when his first class were juniors or seniors I will take it all back. I just don't see it happening. Don't blindly support something just because it is BC. The product BC puts out on the floor for Bball currently is embarassing plain and simple. This might be the worst team in the history of the ACC. That is a big problem if you are a BC fan.

EL MIZ said...

"what concerns me are the recruits for next year, again nothing special." -- what did you base this on? that was all i was asking.

i think a few guys (heckman, anderson, clifford, caudill) will wind up being decent. the rest i agree are nothing to write home to mom about. ("dear mom, i saw danny rubin today...")

bc1900 said...

Yes some of those guys will pan out. I just don't see us getting under the radar guys like Skinner used to get. Every other year we had someone who became an ACC star or a national star. FYI, Harvard is down by 3 to UConn on the road with a minute left in the first half. I know your opinion on the team and recruits and you know mine, let's just leave it at that.

Knucklehead said...

I know the source. If you respect jags then you would respect the source. The source is not jags.

Virginia absolutely sucks by the way. They got destroyed by VT. We played VT tougher than UVA did. We should not be going to UVA for coaches. We should be going to Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State. Schools that know how to play football the way BC does . . . Offensive line and Defense and Smart QB's

We really should hire Tim Murphy from Harvard. He could be OC for a year and then move up to HC. Guy has class and coached NFL players . . . Birk(Center) and Fitzgerald(QB)

Knucklehead said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bc1900 said...

Let's do a package deal for Murphy and Amaker.

EL MIZ said...

harrow, its not skinner you miss -- its ed cooley, the guy who found all those under the radar guys. he's coaching providence tonight, and they have a sick recruiting class for next year.

eagles looking a lot better tonight. anderson with 9 points at half time. he seems to be better coming off the bench. also very happy donahue's going to an 8-man rotation; he needed to do that. play our 8 best guys and lets watch these guys grow.

Knucklehead said...

I think Donohue knows that all the players he recuited are not ACC level in terms of talent and that there is a high probability that 3-4 of them washout.

When they washout then he will go ut and get more players.

Point being that most of these guys aren't going to be around next year or in the next couple years.

The thing that concerns me is the lack of a "go to" assistant coach who can recuit and relate to inner city recruits.

BC should be able to go to NYC, Baltimore, Phili, and NC and grab a decent couple of players especially with all the Catholic highschools

EL MIZ said...

and harrow, we agree that there are some guys on this team that have no business being in the ACC. we disagree in that i think heckman and anderson will be good players one day, and i think clifford and caudill are both ACC caliber bigs.

unfortunately its not like we can ease them in. we have to play them with the other freshman, some of whom aren't good now (and some who won't ever be ACC caliber).

its not easy -- look at St Johns. they had the #2 recruiting class in the country. already 3 guys were academically ineligible for 1st semester (2 of those guys are transferring) and another guy just announced he's transferirng today. and that's at a school with big basketball heritage, recruiting in a hot bed, and with no academic restrictions. and they are 4-5 with no impressive wins, and some ugly losses (lost to northeastern by 14).

i don't think its as bad as you make it out to be. i'm willing to give donahue another 2 years to see what happens with this class before i start sending more hate mail to the flynn fund

Knucklehead said...

Seriously on Murphy. I put the Murphy thought out there 2 months ago.

Amaker is trouble though. He knows that Harvard is his last job and that is he is not successful them he is done. Their success along with the fact Calhoun agreed to play them makes the Harvard smell real funny.

EL MIZ said...

are people not watching the team? i find it hard not to love this squad, even with the losses. they play SO hard. guys are constantly diving for loose balls and going all out. at TV timeouts everyone is off the bench clapping and stuff. and this is with a team with 2 wins and getting beat by a lot often. great effort and energy, i really like watching them.

clifford is a 7 footer but only 240. needs to put on 20 lbs of muscle this summer. anderson and heckmann are legitimate players.

bc1900 said...

I think Anderson will be good, same with the german, I agree. Amaker has always been a good recruiter, that will work fine in the ivy league. He is happy there. Most of the guys on Harvard's team still had excellent academics in HS. If you know anything about sports in the ivy league there is an algorithm which is used to determine if you can attend or not. It takes into account test scores and grades. Most if not all Harvard Bball team could gain admission into BC even if they didn't play ball. They were all ranked at the top of their class in HS. The starting PG had over a 4.0 in hs. Nothing smells at Harvard that is ridiculous. Especially coming from a BC grad, as we have had our share of scandals. That is one of the major reasons we have Donahue. The administration and the trustees were sick of the one or two idiots on the bball team we got every few years. Cooley should have been the hire but he was connected to Skinner, I agree.

bc1900 said...

Great spin move in the lane, they look like they are giving it their all.

Knucklehead said...

A 4.0 in high school doesn't mean that Amaker didn't pay the kid to go to Harvard instead of Princeton or Penn.

JBQ said...

David Brock did a creditable job under pressure. It is no surprise that Coach Faragelli turned down the job. Spaziani appears to sabotage anyone who does not make him look good. He has o.c. experience in Canada with D. Flutie. In the words of Clint Eastwood in "Heartbreak Ridge", he is one big "clusterf--k". He should "go softly into the night" with his great accomplishments as a loyal defensive coordinator. He cannot lead. So, let him step aside so a true leader can inspire Boston College as did Frank Leahy. Either WPL steps in and draws the sword of leadership or he too will join the trashheap of foiled ambition with GDF.