Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Advice for Steve Addazio

The Steve Addazio hire left me lukewarm, but because I see some positives in the move, I am being put in the Pollyanna category. I wish BC had gone in another direction, but that is a Brad Bates issue. For now, I want Steve Addazio to succeed and believe he can. To help him succeed, I am posting some straight forward advice.

1. Do not retain Bill McGovern, Mike Siravo, Jeff Commissiong or Sean Devine. I don't write this lightly. Families are impacted by these moves. I know all four have served BC well for many years. I am sure Ryan Day and Kevin Rogers will provide endorsements of all four. But if you want to succeed and truly rebuild you need new ideas and new blood. These four staffers are too closely associated with BC's decline under Spaz. High school coaches, recruits and fans need to think BC is turning the corner. It is hard to do that with the same faces on the sidelines. If Ryan Day is coming back to BC, I don't know if you need to retain any coach to provide a bridge between staffs.

2. Recruit like there is no tomorrow. One of the things I like about Addazio is that he is supposedly handsoff with his coordinators. That is good and leaves him more time to do what he is known for: recruiting. Not only does Addazio need to hold this class together, he needs to pick up a few guys from other programs. With the shakeup at Wisconsin and the staff changes at UVA, there should be some good kids to poach. I also want him loading up for next year. Spaz didn't leave Addazio with a ton of talent, but he left him with plenty of scholarships. BC should take 25 kids in 2014 and 25 in 2015. Recruiting for that class starts now.

3. Hire the best Offensive Line Coach in the country. I don't know anything about Justin Frye (Addazio's current Oline coach). He could be a fantastic coach and teacher. What I do know is that Oline U is a shell of its former self. Addazio being a former OL coach will understand and also appreciate that a good line can cover a lot of our problems. Tons of good OL coaches would consider BC simply because of our reputation  Go find the best. 

53 comments:

Fenwick 111 said...

I am amazed at the number of comments on this blog regarding the new football coach.

Hopefully, when the hockey team wins its next game, Eagle in Atlanta will have 70+ comments congratulating Jerry York...

chicagofire1871 said...

More people care about football. That's life.

Fenwick 111 said...

The Boston Herald is reporting that it is a six-year contract. It also states that the BC administration gave Bates a $2 million ceiling to work with, a "figure that allowed for a nationwide search."

Can anyone verify six years?

Dan said...

Brad himself verified it.

Unknown said...

I'm excited about the hire. If you'd asked me 2 weeks what were the 2 most important characteristics of the next coach I would've said: 1. A recruiter. 2: a guy who brings energy to a lifeless program. Addazio brings both. Diaco would have been the sexy pick but haven't we gone down the road already of a defensive coordinator with no head coaching experience? And I'm sure Diaco is good coach and nd has had a great season defensively but outside of Stanford many of those "quality" wins were against teams that were down (Sparty, USC, even Michigan was a bit of a disappointment).

I couldn't agree more on getting rid of the current staff. Probably all good guys but Bc needs new blood. Bc needs to keep the top local prospects. There are 3 very good lineman in mass this year and they're headed to Nd, Mich, and UVA. Those are the kids Bc can't lose in recruiting. They need new faces showing up in the living rooms of those elite local players.

Bc is never going to be a team built on speed with athletes from South Florida. It needs to get back to being Oline U and a team that will be more physical than you. It can get back to that and quickly. Go read some of the quotes from former Gator players about the intensity this guy brings and how that toughness rubs off on to his team. I fully expect this team to struggle next year because let's face it the cupboard is pretty bare (spare me the number of returning starters) because they are starters from a team that beat 1 division one program all yr. But I fully expect this team to be a lot more physical next yr because of the culture change I'm hopeful he can bring to these guys. And then it's all about recruiting. The 2013 class is what it is and it's important to keep the guys weve got but don't expect Bc to rise up the recruiting rankings in the next 8weeks. Come 2014 I fully expect this to be the best recruiting class we've had in yrs and coming off some pretty bad win/loss records that is no small feat.

12 months from now we are going look back at this hire and realize it was a good one. And trust me Im not a glass half full guy on these things.

EL MIZ said...

i couldn't agree more turning the page from the current coaching staff. i get why the current coaching staff wasn't entirely purged, but if we are essentially the same team with the same coaches but Spaz is swapped out for Addazio, how can we expect vastly different results? get McGovern out, get the O-Line coach out, get the recruiting coordinator out -- these guys have not lived up to their job titles in the last 2-3 years and they need to be shown the door.

BCAlum2000 said...

You think Adazzio will be looking at openings such as the Tennessee job (which he will never get) much like he was looking to jump ship on Temple after just one month when the UConn job opened up?

@timstwrt said...

The administration leaking the $2M/yr figure and then hiring someone who undoubtedly commanded far less is such a small-time move. If you're willing to pay the big bucks, you actually pay them to a big time coach. If you're not willing to, you leak to the media that you might and then find someone cheaper who's "the best fit for the job."

I share some mild optimism here. People liked the Bates hire, and he hasn't done anything to lose the benefit of the doubt. Diaco would have been the sexy pick, but it's also entirely possible that he's a flash-in-the-pan beneficiary of someone else's recruiting.

Nobody knows if this is a great hire. What we do know is that the BC administration is playing small with the media and expectations. Again.

mod34b said...

ATL, your blind spot for Ryan Day continues.

You suggest Addazio might bring Daybback to BC as OC? Wow, that would be an awful move.

Ryan Day is a bad coach. Period.

Just look at Temple's total offense vs FBS teams this year.

Temple was in Last place in Big East

Temple was #110/124 nationally in total offense.

Day's results as OC are bad.

One big negative I have about Addazio is that for a guy who supposedly in a Mr Football/ a "mega connections" guy, HE PICKED RYAN DAY as OC. Why would he pick Ryan Day, already a failure at BC, for Temple? Was Day the best he could find? A bad choice by Addazio that makes me think he has poor judgment - same mindset as Spaz???

ATL, I know you famously hawked for Day to be BC OC, but be a little more objective about the guy - his return is not good for BC or the idea of renewal.

nceaglefan said...

Words cannot describe how ridiculous it is that Rogers and Day may be coming back to BC. I appreciate the optimism of some, but this hire is a joke and I cannot help but wonder if GDF was behind it in some way. It is a little strange that one of his finalist from 4 years ago ended up getting the job and don't forget he was the one who thrust Rogers on Spaz.

EL MIZ said...

Day was bad at BC. nobody was sad to see him go. the Temple offense stunk this year. why is this guy even mentioned as a candidate?

TURN THE PAGE ON SPAZ!!! the ENTIRE coaching staff failed last year, not just Spaz. they should all be removed.

Unknown said...

Recruiting is good if it really can be done. No one knows if this type guy can recruit for a program like BC.
I like to look at the winning coaches and see what they have. Few, if any of them, look like goons or football players. They are the type of guys who you'd want your son to be associated with. Think of Belachick, Meyers, Brian Kelly, etc) Addazeio looks like a big football player-type with the shaved head and mustache. He won't be well received when stacked up against other recruiting coaches.
I also look at the coaches background. How smart is he? Where did he go to school? All those are strikes against Addazeio.
We're left with a guy who is enthusiastic. That means little. With Spaz we had a guy that loved BC. What did it get us?
If it is true Addazeio tried to get the UConn job just after joining Temple and is bailing from Temple after saying he was not leaving there, then we have a big dumb, rah-rah, empty headed, coach. I supposed it is perfect for what BC has become.
Bottom line: Father Leahy has the same attitude toward football as the President of the University of Chicago had to athletics after her destroyed it football team. He told his students that when they think of athletics to lie down and take a nap and let the thought pass out of your mind. Maybe that's BC's long term goal, drive away those who want a good football team so that when they downgrade the opposition will be less violent.

HUGE said...

Might it be possible that Diaco wasn't as interested in the BC job as some might have hoped . . .

AA said...

BC fever...catch it. Any time, you can hire a head coach in his 50s that inherits a 10 win team and within two years drags them down to the 4 win level....you have to take it.

Again, I predict 12 wins in the next three years.

BCAlum2000 said...

If Diaco wasnt interested, he wouldnt have flown to Boston to interview.

mod34b said...

BATES: "This is a well-connected guy in the football community," Bates said, adding that he had only spoken generally to Addazio about assistant coaches. "He's going to have an amazing collection of coaches that he can assemble."

Yeah right. Addazio is the guy who hired Ryan Day for Temple's most important assistant job: Offensive Coordinator. Day was bad at BC and worse at Temple.

How can anoyone say Addazio has good contacts or good judgment when he hired Ryan Day after Ryan had years of failure and non-promotion at BC?? Just baffling.

So, sorry Brad, someone gave you a bum steer.

Walter said...

Jesus Christ just because someone is in his 50's doesn't mean he can't coach. Such a cheap shot that probably has 0 statistical backing whatsoever.

bc1900 said...

College sports have changed radically in the last 10 years. we are not going that route. anyone who thinks we can compete even with the other academic schools are nuts. They all have larger athletic budgets and some type of administrative support. Phil knight bankrolled Stanford's new stadium. duke is going they route as well for football soon. they also have large wealthy athletic donors. gdf ran off barber, we have no one. furthermore, the reason our hockey team is so good is that we don't have the sameacademic restrictions we have for the other two sports. just like coach k he can being anyone in as long as they fit the look of the program and they trust York to keep them in check. it is much harder to do for a football team. there are guys in bc hockey who if they played football would never be admitted to bc. I would think we could take this route in ball, but you need the right coach for that. This is what the bc administration has decided is the future, sports are now tolerated. College sports are a dirty, dirty game and bc has decided not to play this. on top of that we have laudable facilities. without money and space we can't build new ones. most private schools raise separate funds for sports. People keep on talking about endowments which have nothing to do with athletics, it just goes to show no one knows how endowments work on these boards. money needs to be raised for specific projects for sports from wealthy donors. this is not happening at bc nor are there anyplace to do this. all of you need to wake up, get over your computers and understand how top academic universities are run in general and regarding the athletic dept. the ill informed and uneducated comments on bc boards are amazing. that being said this site is the best in regards to educated posters. bci is full of people who love bc sports but have no clue how endowments and universities like bc are run.

BCAlum2000 said...

Endowments are NOT used for athletics. In fact endowments are not usually used for any large campus projects. Funds are raised separately hence all the specific funding programs that BC has reached out to each and every one of us for over the past 5-10 years. BC athletics has its own budget and revenue. The difference with BC though compared to most everyone else is that BC athletics from what I know actually turns a damn profit. I believe are revenue is actually one of the highest of all the ACC members and we are one of only a couple or so in the ACC that turns a profit and actually feeds money back into the university. That is all going to end though with plummeting ticket sales for both football and basketball in addition to the alienation of not only the big money donors, but also the regular donors who would give their $500 to a few thousand a year. Napolean Gene chased them all away with his attitude and the results of the programs. Only going to get worse.

NEDofSavinHill said...

You can't judge a book by it's cover. Even one with an absurd moustache. One has to give the new coach a chance. Let's see if he can recruit. 2. When Bellichik was hired by the Pats many were critical pointing to his less than stellar record at Cleveland. He turned out o.k. 3. In the last 60 years BC has been good when they have had quality QB play e.g. Flutie, Foley, Hassleback, St. Pierre, Peterson, Ryan and Crane. Without it they have floundered. Addazio should look at D. Bible as O. C. or QB coach. He developed most of BC's top QB's and produced Glennon and Wilson at NC. St.

Lally said...

Are you effing serious suggesting Dana Bible? Get out now.

Joe Gravellese said...

BC1900 wrote: "there are guys in bc hockey who if they played football would never be admitted to bc. "




....Do you have any evidence to support this claim?

Are you trying to seriously suggest that the football and basketball players at BC would get in on their own academic merits?

bc1900 said...

Laughable facilities, sorry about the poor writing this is from a smart phone as I can't type properly to write a cohesive paragraph, but you get my points.

bc1900 said...

York is given a much longer leash to recruit, he is allowed academic fliers if they are good character kids. coach k is allowed the same, they have built the trust with the administration. i had freshman writing seminar with some hockey players, they wrote and used vocabulary similar to an 8th grader. Most of the big 3 athletes would not get into bc without sports. for the Olympic sports it helps them get in, but most of these kids have academic skills. It you think Jerry York has a bunch of Fulbright scholars on his team you are nuts.

EL MIZ said...

i think the point was that if you think football has a bunch of Rhodes scholars, you are equally nuts. football players definitely get help; compared to bigger schools i would say not as much, but there is still deference given if you're going to be a scholarship athlete in football and basketball.

Claver2010 said...

BC1900 wrote: "there are guys in bc hockey who if they played football would never be admitted to bc. "


HAHHAHHAHAAHHHAAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA

Big Jack Krack said...

Truth be known, I really enjoyed blogging back in the days when we talked about football and our very reasonable chances of beating our upcoming opponents like Clemson, FSU, VT, MD, NC State, Wake and ND, etc.

All this negative stuff is really unproductive.

I understand how everyone feels and so forth - but I've got to get off of this train for awhile.

Right now I'm thinking about not renewing my season tickets of 40 years - but by springtime I'll probably be optimistic again.

I am a Boston College Football (and of course Hockey) fan - but it's tough. I have given up on basketball until we can be competitive again. What an embarassment!

Gene DeFilippo was a disgrace the way he ruined our programs.

We can only hope that BC can rise up from the ashes.

bc1900 said...

I am not suggesting that at all in regards to football or bball. all I am saying is York is allowed borderline recruits here and there. the bball team and football team are not. just like coach k the administration trusts him and is hands off.

Claver2010 said...

You mean like a former Skinner recruit who is now at Ohio State and had a 0.0 at BC?

bc1900 said...

Do any of you have reading comprehension skills or did you just graduate from bc in the 80s when it was easy to get into. I am saying bc hockey gets borderline recruits. football and bball are not allowed these guys. that being said if course academic standards are much lower for bball and football compared to the avg student. what I am saying is hockey has the lowest standards allowed on campus.

eagleboston said...

Gotta love a poster that rips on graduates of the 80's when he or she can't even figure out basic punctuation.

You can have your Psy and One Direction. We will take U2, the Replacements and The Clash. We win.

Claver2010 said...

No I didn't graduate 20+ years ago.

Of course athletes have lower academic standards to get in. But to say football and basketball don't receive the same considerations that York does is at best naive and at worst incredibly dumb.

Based on the what has transpired academically at each program over the last decade+, it's safe to say basketball and football get a ton more leeway. We don't need to enumerate the mensa candidates that have passed through the basketball & football program over the years.

bc1900 said...

Look we let guys in to bc with 900 sat scores who play sports. football, bball, hockey. all I am saying is York is going to win more battles with the admissions office.

BCAlum2000 said...

Was the call for Dana Bible to return seriously meant as a joke? If so, that was pretty funny ...

BCAlum2000 said...

And I am willing to bet the hockey players are no more or less intelligent than the football or basketball players.

EL MIZ said...

hockey having the lowest standards is definitely news to me, but i have no idea how it actually works. then again, it shouldn't be surprising, since your argument is that York gets that wiggle room b/c he has been here for a while and built up trust. i've gotta imagine Skinner had built up a similar level of trust since some true boneheads were in his program at one time or another.

moving beyond that conversation, and back to something mentioned in this post with day, i want no part of Day or Rogers.

to me, the ONLY assistants worth keeping on are:
a) Aaron Smith the WR coach - last year was his 1st year but i actually thought our WR's improved. amidon had a breakout year, and Coleman and Spiffy both improved as WRs. he was also the one calling recruits and telling them to sit tight in the days after Spaz's firing, which earns him points.
B & C) Al Washington and Rich Gunnell -- I know the D-Line stunk this year but i've heard that Washington is a good recruiter. i think its a good thing to have former players in the program in some capacity.

other than that, i don't think anyone should be kept. Addazio should clean house and bring in new blood.

bc1900 said...

Look most of the guys on bball, football, hockey are not academically inclined. they got admitted due to athletic skills. that being said York is allowed borderline guys here and there, that is all I am saying.

Joe Gravellese said...

LOLOLOL BC football and basketball aren't allowed borderline recruits? You're smoking crack, absolutely smoking crack. I also guarantee that if BC football or basketball were capable of recruiting a truly elite athlete, they would be given all kinds of leeway that the average BC student-athlete wouldn't get. That said it's all a silly hypothetical because the top-end fb/bb players would never consider BC, ever.

There are a few main reasons why BC is able to be elite in hockey. NONE of them are that the hockey team somehow has more academic leeway than f***ing football. LOL:

1) is Jerry York, though obviously there's a reason why we're able to have the very best coach in hockey and not other sports.

1a) the greatest coach in college hockey is a BC alum, making him much more attainable for us.

2) The very best American-born hockey players come from either Minnesota or Massachusetts. So we are automatically plugged in to the pipeline for the best players due to location, something that's not the case in FB or BB.

3) BC has a storied tradition helped in part by being a participant in one of the most historic and publicized events in college hockey, the Beanpot. BC football/hoops have no rivalry and no nothing that compares to the very famous trophy games like Ohio sTate/Michigan, Cal-Stanford, etc.

4) The "SEC" of developmental hockey is the Canadian Hockey League. In football and basketball the very best athletes who have no interest in school go to the SEC or some hoops factory and do their one-and-done year. In hockey these players go mainly to Major Junior in canada, so BC doesn't have to compete with that....most kids playing college hockey are doing so because they want to go to college (or because they're not good enough to go to major junior). Imagine where BC football would look in the landscape if there were no SEC.

5) Given that hockey is a lower-revenue sport the fact that we have a 7,884 seat stadium and top-end BCS football level athletic facilities give BC A leg up that most programs are not able to provide, other than the Big 10 schools.

That's why we're able to be elite at hockey.

Good lord people.

bc1900 said...

Thank you el miz. yes, he was allowed boneheads when they gave him some wiggle room. but Skinner didn't keep his guys in check and they were all over the media for their behavior. one of the reasons he got canned. again, all of this arguing is stupid as like I said bc now TOLERATES big time sports, that is the track they want to take. Coaches don't have any university support.

BCBCBC said...

The funny thing about this is how many people who ripped Gene for not hiring Addazio 4 years ago all of the sudden think he sucks (like HJS on Eagleoutsider)...some people will bitch no matter what, even if it means contradicting themselves

Joe Gravellese said...

BCBCBC - you don't think people want to be excited about the hire? I just think most people are looking at this as a genuine missed opportunity. I don't see a lot of bitching for bitching's sake.

People were excited about Donahue when that went down. Though, how'd that work out for us, I guess.

bc1900 said...

Joe, all of your points are valid. that being said he gets borderline guys here and there. the reason York is successful is also because the administration lets him do his job, and he keeps the guys in check. for the bc administration they just care about image and ploddingvalong. addazio was a waveguide.

AA said...

BC football sucks and will continue to suck until we get new players in. I'm not thrilled with Spaz 2.0, but the real questions is: Can Addaz bring in enought quality players to compete in the ACC? I am guessing no, but will hold off for two full recruiting cycles (not including this one) until I rate his recruiting acumen.

I just don't think any top hs players will come to BC because of our new coach.

bc1900 said...

Sorry auto correct there. in summary the bc administration doesn't care about sports, we lucked out with York. I mean he is one of the sports legends. in other sports we will be avg, the powers that be are happy with that. they don't want scandals, arrests, recruiting violations. they won't pay for the coaches who could do it the right way. Donahue was brought here to make bc look like an ivy league team. guys who won't flunk out, be in the need, etc. this is what the school wants and will do going forward.

bc1900 said...

Be in the news, sorry. Leahy hated the guys on skinners team who were in the need, he hated it. that is why you have Donahue on the bench. he was brought here to make us Cornell and it seems he is doing that with the players on the floor.

EL MIZ said...

AA -- one of the pro's of Addazio is his recruiting. he recruited well at Syracuse (Dwight Freeney), at Florida, and his Temple class for next year is on par with BC's in terms of grades for players. he actually beat BC out on 2 of his players, both of whom would be among our higher rated commits (and hopefully he can make them switch to BC).

the Spaz 2.0 stuff is really totally unfounded -- what similarities do thay have, other than having Z's in their name and mustaches? Addazio is high energy, is 10 years younger than Spaz was when he took the job, has 2 championships on his resume; i just don't understand the comparison at all.

EL MIZ said...

from ESPN

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/football/news/story?id=4897073

Florida assistant Steve Addazio helped the Gators weather the greatest of storms and landed several of the top prospects in what is the best recruiting class on paper over the past five recruiting cycles. For this, he is the 2010 national recruiter of the year.

"Steve Addazio is certainly one of the very best recruiters I've ever been around," Meyer said. "He brings the same passion and excellence to the recruiting trail that he does to coaching on the field. Our guys love him because he connects with them and cares about them, and that's very evident to anyone who spends time around our program."

EL MIZ said...

also, Bc1900, sad to say i agree with you on the basketball team. i had been one of the most vocal defenders of Donahue but i am done defending him and really don't think he is the right guy for the job.

Anderson, Hanlan, Clifford, and Rahon are the only ACC calibers on this team. that is 4 good players from 3 recruiting class total. just a pathetic yield, and the fact that we brought a freaking WALK ON off of the bench as the first sub yesterday was all you need to know. the recruiting has been a joke, and these guys don't even play hard. we got outworked last night by Harvard (who had way better freshman), we got blown out by Dayton, we lost to Bryant at home -- this is just unacceptable results. i thought it would take a while but the fact that we only have 4 players to show for 3 years of recruiting is laughable. we are a shooting team that can't shoot, a hustle team that doesn't hustle, we are sloppy with the ball, we get crushed rebounding, its just a disaster in all facets of the game.

mod10aeagle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chris said...

Let's be honest, we don't really know what kind of a coach Addazio is yet. There are alot of things out of your control judging the success in the first 2 years...especially since very few contributors are guys you brought in.

I'm sure he will be an excitable guy at the press conference, and say all the right things. None of that really matters. It's going to matter how well he sells Boston College in living rooms to parents. Maybe he could sell Florida (but it's not that hard). We don't know how well he sold Temple (clearly a tougher sell).

The reality will set in after next season is done. I want to win as fast as anyone else does, but it's going to take time to right the ship.

As for the comment about bringing Dana Bible back, maybe Addazio should consider bringing Spaz back as defensive coordinator for stability while we are at it?

In all seriousness, this needs to be a totally different coaching staff. No holdovers, either from the current staff or bringing Rogers/Day back.

JBQ said...

Sadly, rightfully or wrongfully, there is no excitement behind the hiring. If one remembers, there was plenty of excitement when Jags came to town. He was Mr. Excitement and then charmed himself right out of a job. As stated, he appears to be Spaz 2.0. Maybe like at ND with O'Leary, he falsified his Masters credentials. PR needs to kick in and make this a positive situation. Otherwise, the ship sinks before it sets sail.

Lenny Sienko said...

Somebody check Daz's resume very carefully. Pulling a "George O'Leary" has got to be better than being stuck with Spaz 2.0 for six , count'm six, years.

EL MIZ said...

for JBQ and others...WTF does "Spaz 2.0" mean? they have zero similarities other than having a Z in the last name and a mustache. how are they similar?

is addazio a lifelong defensive coordinator? NO
is addazio 62 when he is accepting the job? NO
is addazio a surly grump who doesn't like recruiting? NO

what am i missing?????