Monday, February 13, 2012

Commissiong still on campus (and staying) and three new coaches hired

First an update on Jeff Commissiong. Despite Rivals report, he was still on campus today and telling people he is staying. That makes sense as BC has backfilled three positions without mentioning him leaving or staying.


We already knew about Sean Desai. The other two newcomers are Aaron Smith and former Eagle Al Washington. All three fit the prototype BC needs: young and hungry for a shot at the big time.


Smith comes from Columbia where he has held a variety of roles. He played college ball at UConn and Maryland. With an Ivy League background you assume he understands the type of player BC can and will recruit.


Al Washington is a name I floated from the beginning. He seems like the perfect fit in that he is young, understands BC and can help provide a little emotion to a team that seemed lifeless at times. Washington was an undersized DT for BC but always served as a team leader and someone who could achieve beyond his physical talents. Since his playing days he's stayed in the BC circle, first as a GA with TOB at NC State and then as a DLine coach with Swepson at Elon.


The coaches leaving were not a good sign, but I think Spaz really did the right thing with how he filled the openings.

22 comments:

mod34b said...

Nice to see Spaz move quickly. Nice to see a BC guy return.

But, what did we get? Not an All-star team

1. An Ivy League (and a really bad one football-wise) assistant
2. An FCS (Elon) assistant
3. A guy who was not a coach at Miami, but an admin. there

Let's hope for the best, i guess??


As to Desai (a dubious choice given his woeful lack of footall and coaching experience), not only is he the Special Teams coordinator, he is also the RB coach? Desai has zero experience with running backs. NONE. Zippo. Nada. Nyet. Never played RB; never coached RBs. So what is he going to teach our RBs???


But one thing that comes through, is BC is being VERY VERY CHEAP.

Wesley said...

wasn't Bollman's title officially Running Game Coordinator?
Curious, lots of changes, hard to keep up.

Lally said...

What about the scuttlebutt around Kevin Rogers to Temple? Is he healed?

EL MIZ said...

mod34b -- we pay our HC the lowest amount in the ACC. what kind of all-star assistants do you expect?

i love al washington coming back. he was a team leader back in the day, and ATL has gotta be happy that we have an assistant of color now on the squad.

everyone needs to get their start somewhere. hopefully one or two of these guys turns out to be legitimate.

Big Jack Krack said...

It's confirmed, Lally.

Report: Kevin Rogers To Accept Temple QB Coach Position

mod34b said...

El Miz -- exactly! Why is BC so CHEAP.

Does the school have money issues due to expansion costs?

Or it is a philosphical thing with the Jesuits (refusing to pay millions for sports)

EL MIZ said...

declining home attendance + no bowl appearance likely means a lower budget next year for football. i have no idea.

even if there was money in the budget, i'm not sure who you are going to get at those spots. i'd rather have a younger guy who is looking to prove himself than hiring gary tranquill out of his 5th retirement to go through the motions.

i'm going to reserve judgment on the ability to recruit and coaching prowess of guy i've never even heard of (the ST coach and the guy from columbia). i'm happy we got washington; he was a passionate player and that he's coming back to BC is likely a good thing.

EL MIZ said...

let me put it this way: if there was an unlimited football budget, who would you sign to fill these three spots?

mod34b said...

Martin and Bollman seemed to be good quality hires. For these current positions, I think BC should have sought out guys from PSU, tOSU, etc. Schools that have good football. Coaches with actual relevant experience.

Columbia? My lord. Last year Columbia was 1-9 in the Ivies. How are our WRs going to respect this guy? An admin, non-coach from the U? another RESPECT issue.

Washington seems like a good addition, though.

BC must spend some $$ to get better results. Could that point be lost on Father Leahy? (he seems like space cadet when it comes to sports)

Mr. Tambourine MAn said...

Congratulations to Kevin Rogers on his remarkable recovery!

blist said...

With all the great medical minds in Boston and Philadelphia, it's probably fate that Rogers was stricken where he was.

At least Spaz didn't dawdle in filling the spots. Less than a year until a new coach! Yay!

Joseph said...

Mod 34 has never been an AD or a head coach but he sure thinks that he can do their jobs!!

Mr. Tambourine MAn said...

Well he did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Just kidding mod, we're all arm chair quarterbacks here.

eagleboston said...

Mod,

I'm a business owner and I hire for attitude. I can teach the skills, but I cannot coach attitude. I don't think it is so important that the assistants have experience in the positions they will be coaching. That can be learned and I am sure all of them have mentors in the college ranks. What is more important is that they have a positive attitude, a passion for football and genuine ability to connect with young men. Belichik hires guys all of the time that have little experience in the positions they coach.

I do like to see Washington coming to the Heights. We need more BC guys in the program and I think we need to keep our eyes out for others, such as Paul Peterson.

Knucklehead said...

When Brad Butler cheap shotted Mathias Kiwanuka in the mid 2000's Al Washington stood up for Mathias by going back at some of the UVA scumbags.

Al deserves the opportunity for that reason alone.

EL MIZ said...

eagleboston,

couldn't agree more. i really don't think where they came from matters, so long as they have energy and passion and are willing to work hard. for a guy like the ST coach who hasn't even played, i think its an even better sign, as that is a guy that has already overcome a lot and worked through the stereotypes and bias.

also love that we got a former player back. i think these are good hires and am happy we got rid of some of the coaches from last year.

mod34b said...

EagleBoston, Yes, attitude is critical, but so is experience. In fact, for every job but low level menial labor jobs, experience is more important. A big smile and a positive attitude about our RBs won't be much help against VT if Desai does not know how to coach an RB.

Seriously, this year Montel Harris is trying to be the all time ACC rushing leader and he has to work with a guy who never coached an RB before? And only has 1 year of actually being a college football coach. Montel deserves better.


Now El Miz, what the dickens are you talking about?

for a guy like the ST coach who hasn't even played, i think its an even better sign, as that is a guy that has already overcome a lot and worked through the stereotypes and bias.

Is lack of experience a stereotype to be overcome? Of course not.

What is your point El Miz?

EL MIZ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
EL MIZ said...

"Leach is atypical among NCAA Division I head football coaches in that he did not play football at the college level. He was one of only five such coaches, with Paul Johnson at Georgia Tech, David Cutcliffe at Duke, George O'Leary at UCF, Bobby Hauck at UNLV, Mark Mangino at the Kansas Jayhawks and Chip Kelly at Oregon."

having played football is not a prerequisite to coaching football. spaz played QB in college and became a defensive coordinator. these things are very fluid.

my point regarding the special teams coach (i forget his name) is that the bias against him -- as in, what do you know about football, you've never played -- was probably a huge hurdle for him to get over from day one. he had to prove that he knew what he was talking about, that he knew football, and that likely motivated him to work harder and longer than other coaches to make sure he did know what he was talking about.

there was an NY Post quote the other day preceding the super bowl where former giants were talking about belichick and how he was viewed as a "lacrosse guy" and that he only got the job because of his dad, and how that sort of stereotype fueled belichick to work harder and longer than others.

is this guy belichick? doubtful. but the fact that he's been taking low level jobs that aren't well paid and stuck with it, was liked enough to have a spot created for him at miami, leads me to believe he is passionate & knows football. this guy got a PhD while coaching, that shows to me he's a hard worker. i want passion, a hard worker, and someone who knows football coaching. i don't care if you were an all-american or never played.

and to directly rebut your point, some great players have been horrible coaches. see isiah thomas. (same with GMs -- see jordan). different sport but same idea -- just b/c someone was a great running back doesn't mean they'll be able to help montel harris.

i really don't care to defend these guys any more, i know no more about them than anyone else does. i just think its good that we are presumably hiring guys with a lot of energy and passion -- if they didn't have it, they wouldn't have lasted!

eagle1331 said...

Frankly, I'm just happy for the change. They should all be out 10 months from now if we blow chunks again this year (in my opinion... though likely Gene sees this as an excuse to give them all expensive extensions), so either this facilitates the change or it works a miracle...

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CT said...

The ACC splits bowl money. Doesn't matter if BC goes or not. In fact, not going probably saved the school some money, esp. in light of the fact that the conference got two BCS bids this year and lower-tier bowls cost schools financially rather than reward them.

The position coach talk is great, but attitude starts at the top. I think we could all agree that unless and until that changes, the rest is lipstick on the proverbial pig.