Monday, March 05, 2012

Piling on Gene doesn't really matter

Boston Metro produced a long overdue critique of BC's decline in major sports and put most of it at the feet of Athletic Director Gene DeFilippo. I thought the article was a worthy read and quoted the right critics. But for whatever negative attention it brings on Gene, it really won't impact anything. BC made that perfectly clear when they publicly sided with Gene after Steve Lively's second letter.


Regardless of where you stand on who is to blame and if Gene should go, it will all come down to this football season. If Spaz cannot deliver a winning record, I think he will be gone and Gene will either be fired of neutered of power behind the scenes.


Until then, we are in a holding pattern. Crawley is safe. Donahue's staffers are probably safe and Spaz is certainly safe.


If the Metro article does spark a wave of copycat articles and investigations, the only real benefit will be to BC bloggers and disgruntled fans who want to keep the Fire Gene movement fresh in people's heads.

20 comments:

mod34b said...

"If Spaz cannot deliver a winning record, I think he will be gone and Gene will either be fired of neutered of power behind the scenes. "

Unfortunately, the bar for "Spaz Success" (from BC BOT and GDF perspective) is much lower than a winning record -7-6.

I think if Spaz wins 4 games, BC looks competitive in most losses and is not blown out more than once, Spaz is still safe.

As for GDF, he is safe as long as Leahy rules. I can't even imagine Spaz and GDF both being fired.

And Don't forget the BC cheapness factor. BC has locked into a multi-year contract the lowest HC among BCS schools. Does BC want to pay Spaz off and pay a new coach $2,000,000 per year? I think not.

eagle1331 said...

Mod -

I think one of the most telling parts of that article is that at least one donor who helped endow the coaches position doesn't even stay connected to the program anymore. If other major donors are on the same page as him, finding that 2MM becomes the real story...

The Football Blog said...

http://danssportsreport.blogspot.com/2012/03/constant-bashing-of-defilippo-needs-to.html

Here's what I wrote. If anyone reads this, tell me if I'm too off-base

FakeShalomTfree said...

Fair point Eagle1331, but if GDF goes, and a new AD reaches out to those donors and boosters, those funds are attainable. Those ties are not permanently severed, they simply need to be repaired

Lenny Sienko said...

Dan:

Respectfully, you are off base in regard to the #fireGDF issue.

Months worth of comments and analysis here and on the other BC blogs have detailed the reasons for taking the position GDF must go; but no report says it better than GDF, himself: " It doesn't matter" (what the fans and alumni think about the football program). Any administrator who can make such a statement in public is beyond saving himself.

***

Bill: the number of comments have dropped off precipitously. I feel it is due to the nearly impossible to use verification system. The passwords are unreadable and it takes multiple attempts to post. I fear Atlanta losing its effectiveness if something is not done.

mod34b said...

True! Eagle1331. Think of this. If BC fired Spaz today and brought in a good HC, To get BC to a good place in football will cost BC $10,000,000 and take at least 3 years. Keeping Soaz only cost $3,000,000.

$1,000,000 x 3 for Spaz pay out
$2,000,000 x 3 for new quality HC @~market rate
$333,333 pet year for 3 years in higher assistant salaries

mod34b said...

True Lenny. The new blogger interface is a PIA

EL MIZ said...

mod34b; if spaz wins 4 games again, alumni is going to be empty. i doubt the Powers that Be really want an empty stadium being brodcast on televised games and their precious spot atop the "most applied to universities" to slip, so i think they'll wake up and do something about the football team if we absolutely stink again like last year. i think spaz needs to win half his games to avoid getting canned.

it is really great to keep reading all of this stuff about the dysfunction and how spaz is on the hot seat. in my opinion, only when outlets that reach more people start talking about it, and especially "neutral" sites/media outlets that presumably have no bias, does it really start to make BC look bad. with regards to spazzo and Gene, the more the better in my opinion.

Big Jack Krack said...

UMass football coach Molnar names his staff

...................Mike Kruczek will serve as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach.

NEDofSavinHill said...

Under Gladchuk's coaches ( TOB, Skinner and INglese) the typical records were 20-10 in mens and womens b-ball and 9-4 in football for a combine 49-24. Under GDF and the current coaches the record will be 20-53. So you have fallen from 65% winning to less tha 30%.2. Matt Burke did an excellent job of portraying the decline.3.GDF is a totally false person.Spaz is the best coach in 15 years. A blatant lie. Rogers left for health reasons. A blatant lie. Skinner is lazy. A lie Espn told us what to do or the retraction. Another falsehood.Gdf has comprehensively demoralizied the fan base.4. GDF is the all time leader in college atletics in CUPIDITY ( turning a 100g ayear job in 1993 into a million dollar scam in 2009)Stupidity (thinking that 10 win a year football coaches are easy to find) and DUPLICITY (doing what ESPN tells him and partnering with the Globe. That insured favorable coverage for him personnally but undermined BC and hid his incompetence) Quaddafi had a better season than this mammoth of iniquity GDF.5. BC may be stuck with him because Leahy hired him and isn't big enough to admit a mistake.

Lenny Sienko said...

The UMass Minuteman have hired another "Blast from the past"...Phil Elmassian will be DC/linebackers coach. Less than a week ago, he was announced as LB coach at Purdue.

UMass's OC and DC have BC backgrounds.

eagle1331 said...

I agree with El Miz..

Mod, the cost of keeping Spaz (and Gene) is far, far greater than the $3MM salary. While a new coach and spark around the program may be able to reignite the flames of large donors past, with each year of ineptitude we lose them. While I'm not a big donor, I have stopped giving to the program the last 2 seasons and know for a fact many of my classmates are with me. We don't make a 2.5MM mark singularly, but collectively we make a difference.

Say we keep him for 3 more years...
$3MM salary
Lose $1M 1st bad year
Lose another $1M 2nd bad year
Lose another $1M 3rd year

You're already up to $6MM lost over 3 years to keep Spaz and that's without the lost revenue from advertising/sponsorship due to down attendance and interest, lost bowl money being split by the ACC, etc. While my numbers may be aggressive in donations, I don't think they're that far off after reading the Metro column.

What Gene seemingly fails to realize is the spiraling downward of the football team (nevermind his meddling with all teams) is going to eventually hurt all of the programs. The attitude towards all BC sports will decline and we will become a further laughing stock of the city. But at least the neighbors will be happy with less traffic heading to games...

CT said...

To suggest that the athletic program may be set back many years or even decades is, I think, an overreaction to a bad situation and a poor use of hyperbole. New leadership, as someone posted, would look right away to re-establishing ties to the program's biggest donors. One more uninspired football season played in front of a half-empty stadium after a sub-par tailgating experience will do what no letter to the board can. Some may disagree with that, but there's a lot riding on the arm of Chase Rettig this season and the ability of five large humans to push the defensive line around. I could be wrong--maybe GDF and Spaz have more security than that. But even those in ivory rectories can't escape the whispers of historic lows in morale surrounding this program. I mean, right?

Tim said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tim said...

Sadly, the decline of BC football and bball neatly coincides with the economic decline, so Gene will spin any downward trend in donations as a reflection of the economy, not the lousy football and bball teams.

eagleboston said...

Sounds like Gene failed Leadership 101. Ruling by fear and intimidation is so 1955. Gallup has a long-term study that showed by far the number 1 reason people leave companies is due to their boss. People want to work for a manager that 1) gives them autonomy 2) challenges them with goals that are a stretch but reachable 3) is calm under pressure and 4) never criticizes in public. In fairness, the stories about Gene in the article could be false, but if true, he is a horrible leader.

By the way, who are those idiots in the article comments blaming the sports demise on the movement to the ACC? Are you kidding me? They would actually prefer for us to still be part of the Big Least? What complete morons! Even Pitt and Syracuse have seen the light.

The Football Blog said...

Thank you for your polite comment Lenny. I am getting killed on some of the other boards

mod10aeagle said...

On a happier note ... the women's hockey team is the #4 seed overall in the NCAA tournament and will be hosting St. Lawrence. A win puts them in the Frozen Four.

Thank God GDF is not a hockey fan.

Knucklehead said...

Spaz should be allowed to coach until his agreement with the University is complete.

When the contract ends Spaz should move on even if the Univeristy offers him an extension. You never know.

Then the Univeristy will have a MAJOR decision to make. Will they invest the money that they are getting from the ACC, ESPN, University Donors, and Season ticket holders into a proven successful head coach and assistant coaching staff or will they not.

JBQ said...

In regard to "Knucklehead": I presume that you are aware that the coach is going into year four of a five year contract with an agreement already stipulated for a two year extension. My math is good and that means "four more years" and that he will probably leave, God help us, when the president leaves.