Replacing Gene DeFilippo presents a great opportunity for BC. I hope we don't blow it by hiring a "BC guy." There are so many challenges ahead. Narrowing our search only to people who worked at or graduated from BC eliminates too many great candidates. Fans always clamor for the familiar or "one of us" but those sorts of relationships and expectations can also bring a lot of baggage. I also fear that hiring a BC Guy or Gal brings a lot of preconceived notions of what can be accomplished at the school.
I don't want someone who just assumes BC will always be behind the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins because "Boston is a pro sports town."
I don't want someone who will just accept the limitations and roadblocks from our neighbors in Newton, Brighton and Brookline with a shrug or an "it is what it is."
I don't want someone from the Old Boys' Network of Athletic Directors and former BC employees. I understand that this is a relationship business but the schools and the conferences that are making strides are hiring business leaders and forward thinkers. A successful executive can learn about coaching just as easily as a former coach can learn about Marketing, Budgeting and Fund Raising.
I don't want someone who approaches the job with a built in assumption that "I have to win over the BC Wall Street crowd and then get the Football Alumni onboard, and then throw a bone to the internet fans,..." A fresh start with all of the BC factions is important but I want the AD to learn that on his or her own, not because they know that from Gene or from being a member of the BC community.
There are many major projects and decisions ahead for our new Athletic Director. He or she will have to change the Department's attitude towards donors, fans and the media. He or she will have to decide the fates of numerous coaches. And the new AD will have to start multiple major infrastructure projects that Gene has been putting off for the last few years. Gene is leaving for a reason. We don't need one of his acolytes to take over and be a lessor version of Coach Flip. We need someone new and bold and someone who thinks BC can be the best athletic department in the country.
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aTl, we all want the best possible AD for BC who fits BC and will move BC forward in an ethical and honorable way.
It seems like you have a lot of preconceived notions and prejudices about what a "BC guy" is and is not.
We all do not fit neatly in whale pants and other stereotypes you seem to be alluding to.
Be a little more open minded. A BC grad could, in fact, be the best choice for BC.
P.s.: i am waiting for your scoop from your network of BC Guys who can tell you why GDF "retired"
GDF "retired" because Fr. Leahy grew a set of balls.
(I'm sorry for being so blunt, but I think that FL finally realized that GDF took BC as far as he could, and it was time to move onward and upward.)
Sorry, but I am going the opposite way. Fire Jerry York at the end of the 2012/13 season as hockey coach and beg/hire him to be Athletic Director. This becomes a transition year for hockey as he takes his well deserved accolades and he first replaces himself.
BC is not going to fire Spaz and eat that contract.
Donahue deserves two more years.
York is THE greatest coach in the history of Boston College, and probably college hockey. He IS a BC guy, he is respected by everyone at the institution, and his karma will spread throughout the athletic program.
This all assumes that Jerry York would take the job.
How about a new AD that can pick top notch coaches. A " BC Guy" Gladchuk selected Coughlin, TOB, Paul Johnson and Nieamitolla in football. No AD in college history chose 4 better coaches.An unrivalled success. Plus add in hiring the best mens coach in NCAA history ( York) and it would seem that a Gladchuk type is exactly what is needed 2. Remember in 2006 ESPN ranked the best programs combined b-ball and football using the previos 5 years results. BC was 6th in the nation and best in the ACC. Skinner and TOB ( both hired by Gladchuk ) were the coaches. Gdf replaced those two and now BC is the worst in the ACC. Gdf was a total failure and those claiming he had a positive impact have to get off the Maui Wowee.
The problem that I have always had with the school as a whole, and athletics play into this, is that it mis-treats its students. Reasons for the statement:
1) Most academically rigourous schools give their students a reading week or two before exams start each semester. BC does not. This obviously leads to better academic success.
2) The student athletic complex(Plex) is sub par in terms of quality. The lack of quality is UNBELIEVEABLE given the fact that the University's students are rated as some of the most healthy. Building a top notch STUDENT athletic complex is obviously an area that the University could use to build its brand and attract EVEN BETTER students.
3) The Academic advising program is poorly coordinated and involves faculty members and not objective indivuduals who can comment on majors or professors in an objective manner.
4) The cost of attending any event at the University is exorbitant be it a dances, volunteer trips or athletic event tickets. Specifically, on tickets alot of schools do not charge students to purchase tickets for games or for a teams' season. They are subsidized by a fee at most schools but the fee is not out of control. BC charges a student fee and for tickets. The school should raise the fee(if it has to) then make ALL the game first come first serve. This will increase demand. There are DEFINITELY enough law enforcement folks on campus to coordinate this safely. This leads to may last point.
5)This is a necessary evil for a school with the history of Boston College(in terms of drinking and criminal activity) but there are ALOT of police officers on that campus an a day to day basis. It grows exponentially on a football game day or big b.ball/hockey game. The school probably has more police per square acre on a DAILY basis than any other University in America. I think this stifles the current students and does not allow them to par- take in the college experience in a way similar to other schools in the ACC and even Hockey East. In the long term these students become alumni who are asked to make donations. Stifling the college experience is NOT a good thing for the long term prospects of the University as it relates to alumni connectivity and the alumni community.
Gene did a GREAT job maintaining rhe academic integrity of the University and solidifying it financially in terms of athletics budgets.
He did a TERRIBLE job hiring coaches: The womens hockey coach got removed for an in appropriate relationship with a player(this does not get focused on enough), the womens basketball coach he hired was not successful at all, Jagodinski was a failure- anyone who knows BC people associated with Jags knew that he was questionable, Spaz has not been successful as a head coach(I fully respect him as D- coordinator).
The ESPN initerview where he was talking about their involvement was the last straw.
He made the school alot of money and aligned it with similar academic institutions when he moved us to the ACC, which was positive.
He cost the school alot of money and alot of bad publicity with his coaching choices, which was negative.
He did not have the capability of communicating with the media in a manner conducive to maintaining the integrity of Boston College and the ACC.
Last thought of the day here specifically regarding football.
When TOB was the head coach at Boston College I was a student at that time and he blew a home overtime game against Miami because he did not know the new overtime rules.
He also blew a home game against Notre Dame when I was there because he ran the same running play against them on the goal line four times in a row.
This type of stuff irrited the crap out of me. Know the rules and don't be arrogant. Then you beat Miami and beat ND.
As I look back on the TOB years he learned from this mistakes and created a TOUGH, intelligent, and successful program. The team won games, won bowl games, and did it with integrity. TOB was also loyal by background.
A USA Today article came out (a couple years before TOB left) detailing the coaches salaries in the ACC TOB was at the bottom. He was AS successful as anyone on the list(except Governor Bobby Bowden) so he asked for more money.
He was making $1 million annually and asked for $1.4 million. He did not get it from Gene, Father Leahy, the Board of Trustee's or who ever.
We should have paid him the $400k.
I always wanted him to loosen up the offense and loosen up personally but we should have paid him the money.
What we need is an AD who understands it is completely unprofessional to bring a head coaching candidate into a room with your Defensive Coordinator and tell the candidate while smoking a cigar "here's your Defensive Coordinator."
Knucklehead,
You are right. Be careful what you wish for. I was guilty of wanting TOB gone and what I got in return was an egotistical jackass (Jags), who ruined BC's bowl streak and gave up on recruiting and an inept loser (Spaz). We BC fans (and I include myself) got completely greedy and believed 8-9 wins per year, completely dominating Notre Dame, and winning bowl games were not enough.I think we would all go back to the BC football of the mid-2000's given the choice now.
I wouldn't go back to the football of the mid-2000s if given the choice. BC prided itself on having a phenomenal winning pct over the past decade, but personally, I'd rather have stunk it up like Stanford for 6 years and then go to two BCS bowls and win an Orange Bowl. At least they have something to show for the past decade. What do we have? A Champs Sports Bowl trophy. I don't want what we used to have, I want what we haven't had since 1940.
Well, Chicago, have fun being miserable the rest of your life. Your expectations are completely unreasonable.
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