Sanders saves the day

Last year in a late January game against Virginia Tech Rakim Sanders made a huge shot to send the game to OT. BC lost and the season went down the tubes shortly after. This year Sanders made a huge shot to win a game over Virginia Tech. Maybe this will prove to be the turning point as the team tries to solidify its tournament resume and lock in a spot in the top half of the ACC. Nothing is set but standing 5-3 at the halfway point of the ACC slate puts BC in good position.

Likes
-- Solid minutes from Tyler Roche. With Trapani in foul trouble, Roche got serious minutes and played well. He hit his shots, grabbed a couple rebounds and most surprisingly played solid D.
-- Out rebounding the Hokies. Big night from Raji and Dunn, but Sanders' put back was the most important. VT killed us on the boards earlier in the season in Blacksburg. Controlling things tonight made a difference, especially in the second half.
-- The final possession. It worked so Al looks great, but the reality is it is a great call. You put it in Rice's hand for the final shot, have him drive and then have the guys close to the basket to pick up the rebound. It's a high percentage move.

Dislikes
-- The final two minutes. BC made some questionable plays in the final two minutes to let the lead slip away. Why is Rice giving it up in traffic? Why wasn't Trapani more careful with the elbow? Why did they fall asleep on the inbounds? It wasn't pretty.
-- Chucking from 3. Another off night from downtown. Other than Rice, I really don't think anyone else deserves the green light from long distance.

Good win in front of a good crowd. Now let's get a win against UVA before the brutal Wake, Clemson, Duke stretch.

Expansion news and other links

There will be baseball in Brighton! Most of BC's expansion received approval yesterday. The main hang up remains some of the dorms on the former seminary land. Overall this is good news for the school. Now it wasn't part of the approval or expansion plans but someone better start sketching out ideas for exclusive football practice facilities (indoor and outdoor). Why you ask? It might not be a sticking point with Spaz, but it will be with a future coach (just like it was with TOB and Jags). Getting the idea in the queue now while all this other construction and planning takes place makes sense. In ten years there might not be an inch of campus left to put it on.

For those who missed it, here is the school's official release on the McGovern promotion.

Hockey East awarded Scott Clemmensen their Unsung Hero honor. Clemmensen continues to play well for the Devils.

The women's basketball team is now 5-1 in the ACC.

The Beanpot starts Monday and BC's opening round opponent is long overdue for some Beanpot glory.

Matt Ryan parlayed his rookie season into a few endorsement deals including one with Axe. It makes me fill a bit old when a BC QB is pitching products that skew to a demographic younger than me. Come on, Matt, endorse a minivan and I'll be all over it!

One of BC's last targets is headed to Iowa. Can't blame him though as it is hard for an offensive lineman to commit to a school without knowing his future position coach.

Tampa names Jags offensive coordinator

Jags is now officially back in the NFL. He joins new Tampa Bay coach Raheem Morris as offensive coordinator. Regardless of what you think of the BC breakup it does bring some financial relief to BC's football program. Reportedly the school's obligation is prorated based on Jags' future employement. The uncertain news is if any current BC staffers will join him in Tampa.

Report: BC will promote McGovern

A smaller news site out of New Jersey reports that Bill McGovern will be our next Defensive Coordinator. It is probably true, but I am surprised it didn't break at one of the Boston outlets or on one of the BC message boards.

McGovern is a solid selection and helps with continuity on the defensive side of the ball. He briefly served as interim DC under Dan Henning more than a decade ago. McGovern has coached under three different BC Head Coaches and clearly likes the school and the area. He is also an important recruiter for us in northern Jersey.

There have been grumblings that McGovern felt neglected and slighted as BC took its time in naming him as Spaz' successor. Supposedly Spaz made a play for a few big names. In the end this move makes sense. The next question is how involved will Spaz be in defensive game prep and in-game play calling?

More bloggers weigh in on staff changes and other links

Collegefootballtalk.com is perplexed by the Tranquill hire.

This take at the Fanhouse references back to some of my earlier posts.

The Chargers signed DeJuan Tribble for another year. (Thanks to Tim for the link.)

The blogger picked up on Tajh Boyd's lack of certainty and excitement over his commitment to play at Clemson.

Another glimpse into the crazy world of recruiting...

I've tried to explain my opinion on recruiting many times on this blog and offline with others. Let me clarify things a bit since recruiting will be a hot topic for the next three weeks.

1. I think recruiting is very important. Talent is the life blood of a program. The team with more talent will win more often.

2. I don't trust the recruiting rankings. Others have successfully argued both sides elsewhere on the internet. You can find those debates if you are interested. I think the stats are misleading and as anyone who has a good BC education knows, there is a difference between correlation and causation.

3. I think talent development and nurturing your players is underrated. Projecting a player from one level to another is very difficult (high school to college, college to NFL). I think seeing something in a kid and then working with him and keeping him in your program for four or five years is an undervalued and hard to measure aspect of winning.

Why restate that now? Because of the growing interest around Nick Klemm. Klemm is an Atlanta-area kid that committed to BC in December. To say he is a under the radar, late bloomer, project would be an understatement. Supposedly a good kid, he played on a team in one of the most heavily recruited high school football leagues in the South. I would safely assume that at least one coach from every SEC team and half the ACC has been to at one of his games this year too see other players. Yet he generated very little interest. When BC started recruiting him, recruitniks who follow the stuff more closely than I do panned the offer and said Jags and Co. were scrambling and terrible recruiters. Now -- seven weeks later -- Maryland has interest and we might lose this kid that no one wanted! If he was so terrible why does he have other options now? If some BC fans didn't want him last fall, why the concern now? Funny how things play out.

Football 2008 In Review: Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda...

Sorry to the delay in the year in review stuff. Got a little sidetracked with the coaching change. Keep in mind that I am using what happened during the season. Any of the off the field drama that happened after Nashville didn’t influence this.

This portion was formerly known as the biggest disappointments. I softened the tone to acknowledge that all these guys make huge sacrifices for our school. But I still feel the need to point out poor performances or guys who wasted opportunities. You’ll notice two names that are not on this list: Chris Crane and Dominique Davis. While both generated numerous mistakes and agita among BC fans, they are not the type of players I try to feature here. The point of this are the guys who blew it or let us down for other reasons. Crane and Davis offset their cringe inducing moments with enough big plays to get a pass here.

1. Billy Bennett. It is easy to pick on a kicker, but this kid never delivered on his potential and then doubled the disappointment by being a jerk off the field. Even before his fallout he wasn’t nearly as consistent as or as powerful as we needed him to be on kickoffs. Some kicks had distance yet no hang time. Others had hang time without distance. He never got a shot at kicking field goals, but he also never did anything in practice to give the staff confidence that he could make the kicks under pressure.

2. Jeff Smith. Another case where it may seem like I am picking on a player. That is not my intention. Yes he’s battled injuries, but if you talk to people around the program that was not why he wasn’t on the field at the end of the season. He never showed the desire or aptitude to be used in the regular offense. When I saw Haden and Harris get caught from behind all I could think about what could have been. Smith is probably the fastest player in the ACC. The guy who couldn’t even be touched against Kent State never showed up after that game. It’s a shame. We could have used a focused Smith this year on offense.

3. Kick off coverage. This sort of relates back to Bennett, but even after he was gone things weren’t good. The tackling was often poor and the guys often seemed to just sit back and wait. The staff rotated a variety of different guys in there (starters, backups, etc.) and nothing seemed to click. The only game where you could say it cost us was Clemson, but the field position battle does influence our ability to score and the kickoffs did us no favors.

Road rally

Solid win tonight against the Terps. A road win in the ACC is nice and so is improving to 4-3 in conference, but the most important part of the win was the comeback. Here are my first thoughts. Don't be shy about leaving our responses in the comments.

Likes
-- Using a lot of 2-3 zone in the second half. The players responded and did a good job of covering their area and helping when needed. We should probably use it more against small front line teams (like Maryland).
-- Playing without Rice. The announcers attributed BC's struggles to Rice's foul trouble. That didn't tell the whole story. We fell behind when he was in the game. But Paris came off the bench for a long stretch and helped chip away at the lead. That's a good sign.
-- Trapani on Vazquez. I've been harsh on Joe's D, but tonight he handled Vazquez well and his size and length proved to be an issue.

Dislikes
-- Dumb fouls. Rice and Southern got themselves in foul trouble again. Fortunately they both held on and played well with four fouls. But both have had a penchant these bonehead moves. One of these days it is going to hurt us.
-- First half D. It was pathetic...poor transition, poor rebounding and plenty of lost men. Maryland had it too easy and a better team would have made our hole insurmountable.

Even with the rough patches against GT and MD, this team is playing good basketball. Virginia Tech looms large. Let's hope this momentum continues

Other schools following BC's lead and other links

BC's stance with Jags set a precedent. Hampton just fired their coach for exploring NFL opportunities.

Although he was let go Sunday, BC and ESPN are just getting around to the Yanowsky news now. Regardless of the press release, he did not resign.

More on our new kicker.

This post explores fan fatigue at ACC schools. It will be interesting to see how fans respond to Spaz.

Which Maryland team will show up tonight?

If you feel like BC's been inconsistent, you haven't been following Maryland. They have solid wins over Michigan and Michigan State. They got killed by Georgetown and lost to Morgan State! They are also coming off the worse loss to Duke in their history.

We matchup fairly well against them as they are poor offensively but decent on D. They are not particularly big so I don't think they will expose our front line issues. The excitable and annoying Greivis Vasquez remains the cornerstone of their offense. I imagine we'll put bigger bodies on him like Sanders and Raji. Whoever guards him will have to keep him from penetrating since we don't have a shot blocking presence this year.

I think the key will be rebounding. The Terps don't rebound particularly well on either end. If we control the boards, we can control the game.

Here is Kenpom's breakdown of Maryland.

Dienhart returns to flame Gene and other links

Tom Dienhart has always been one of TOB's biggest boosters. The inexplicable relationship and support allegedly stemmed from a shared agent. Who knows? Of course since in the process of making TOB sound great he also became of critic of Jags and the Jags hire. Now that BC bounced Jags, Dienhart popped back up only this time to lambaste Gene. Although I have been critical of Gene in this process, I don't think Dienhart is offering anything insightful. He is just piling on one of his favorite targets. Plus he floats Mitch Browning as a replacement but Browning is supposedly joining Tennessee's staff.

BC seems a little concerned with Bryan Davis's grades.

Here is a Q&A with Ron Brace.

An opponent's take on BC hoops and other links

The Washington Post got an unnamed ACC assistant to provide a scouting report on BC. Very interesting to read what outsiders have to say about Rice, Trapani and our offense.

BC is still on the bubble.

Brian St. Pierre is now a blogger.

A look back on the difficulty of projecting QBs from high school to college.

Bill Coen is leaning on his D to win games at Northeastern. Where was that defensive prowess when he was at the Heights?!

Speculating on staff changes

'Like sands through the hourglass...

The hardcore fans are debating the merits of Spaz's first hire and trying to read the tea leaves to figure out who is staying and who is going. Before I get into the speculation, let me restate what I said this weekend: 1. we won't get positive confirmation on returning staffers until after Signing Day and 2. if Jags gets hired you could see one or two guys join him in the NFL.

Topic 1: 'Oregon hired a WR coach, that means Ryan Day is staying at BC, right?'

It is a good indicator but doesn't assure anything. Once Mike Belotti steps down, another coaching spot will open up with the Ducks. Day will be a likely candidate then too. For a young guy he's got a decent network and a strong reputation so he'll have options. I hope he stays. In his case, I would say we won't have any positive confirmation until Signing Day.

Topic 2: If Yano is gone, why is he still listed on the team web site?
I would chalk it up to the site hasn't been updated. Bicknell is still listed and they haven't put anything up for Tranquill yet (outside of the press release).

Topic 3: What is going on with McGovern and the defensive coordinator opening?

There a few different theories floating around on this one. McGovern might still get the job, but if he was the prime candidate why wouldn't they have locked him in and announced it already? Occam's Razor would say they are looking elsewhere and he is the fallback.

Topic 4: We have three openings, when are we going to hear about new staffers and hires?

I think you'll hear names as they happen. BC might wait until after signing day as a courtesy to their current employers. As far as who they will hire, I think you can look at Jags' staff and Spaz's first hire as templates. Expect any new staffers to have a BC connection, Spaz connection or Gene D connection. The coaching fraternity does exist and they are likely to go with familiar faces.

New Eagles and other links

BC picked up a few more commitments over the weekend. The most important was arguably kicker Nate Freese. The hope is that he'll give us the distance we've been lacking on kickoffs and long field goals. It probably means that Steve Aponavicius won't be back for a fifth year.

The end of this article mentions new BC commit Conor O'Neal.

Ryan Day' coaching future remains up in the air. Don Yanowsky is gone (sorry no link yet). This was somewhat expected since he had ties with Logan and Jags.

Final Raji plug from the Senior Bowl.

The hockey team picked up another critical win over Maine on Sunday.

William Pratcher will not be an Eagle, but in his own words "BC never really showed me that they really wanted me"

Back on track after defeating 'Pack

This win won't pump up BC's RPI, but I think it was an important win on a few fronts. First it evens BC's conference record to 3-3. I also thought that it was important that BC reacted differently when they wasted a big lead. Unlike Georgia Tech, this time when BC fell apart, they put together another run and controlled down the stretch. Other thoughts follow. Leave yours in the comments.

Likes
-- Offensive rebounds. This is an obvious one as BC dominated the boards. Part of it was a good effort on BC and part was NC State playing very passively.
-- Rice's even performance. As I've said, this has been a weird year for Rice. Today was different and more inline with what we all expect. He ran the show but instead of waiting for the second half, he decided to attack in the first half. His aggressiveness helped the entire offense. His D was better today than it has been. And no stupid fouls.
-- Raji playing through pain. I don't think people realize how banged up Corey is. His lower body is heavily wrapped and he is limping when he is not running the court. But that didn't stop him. 30 minutes, 12 boards and some good moves running the break...the guy is showing a lot of heart.

Dislikes
-- The transition D during NC State's comeback. Little effort and some stupid fouls too.
-- Trapani's jumpers. They were way off today. Not sure what was wrong.

Next up, another winnable game against Maryland. Let's hope today's performance is an indicator of things to come.

Women's basketball kicking butt and other links

The women's basketball team is flying under the radar, but is off to a very strong start in ACC play. They improved to 4-1 in conference by romping Clemson on Friday.

Did anyone else realize that Troy Bell was Larry Fitzgerald's high school QB?

Not that I wrote anything particularly special, but it seems like HD framed her Tranquill piece along the same lines I did.

The Hockey team got a much needed win Saturday night over Maine.

Staff stuff

The Tranquill hire threw everyone for a loop. With 24 hours to digest it all, I still don't know what to think. Honestly, I am shaking my head...in part because of the age factor but also because, like so many things in this process, it never had to happen. Tranquill may bring a lot to the table. He may do a great job. He may be just what Spaz needs. But even if he is, he remains a risky, risky hire. Instead of taking that risk, Spaz probably could have brought him on in some capacity and then bestowed the OC title on a safer or more exciting candidate.

These curve balls have everyone speculating on what other staffers might stay or go. In my opinion, the only sure thing to return is Mike Siravo. I would say everyone else could leave. We probably won't have a certain staff until two things have happened:

1. We get through Signing Day. Once Signing Day is concluded, the staffers might be free to move on to other college jobs.

2. Jags figures out his 2009 plans. If Jags does get an NFL coordinator job, you might see a few BC names join him.

Gary Tranquill as OC? Yet another interesting twist in this drama

When I first heard this rumor floated early Friday that Gary Tranquill might be our offensive coordinator I thought it was a joke. Now, according to the Globe, it is going to happen. In my opinion this doesn't look promising. Let me explain why.

Age
It is not fair but everybody's first reaction is going to be over his age. Tranquill is 68 and will be 69 in April. Age doesn't mean he cannot still coach, but it is going to be used against him and BC in recruiting. He has also retired...twice. So this is his second time coming out of retirement. When he talks to recruits and players, there is going to be doubt that he will be around for their four years shaping the offense.

Track record
This is my bigger concern with Tranquill. Think of BC's 2004 and 2005 games against North Carolina. Watching the Heels did you think they were well coached offensively? Or that the play calling exploited our weaknesses? The first Tire Bowl was right around the time I started this blog and I remember thinking that the Heels' offensive players had good talent but many bad habits.

Here are some of the raw numbers from his stint at UNC.
2001: points -- 337; record 8-5
2002: points -- 223; record 3-9
2003: points -- 317; record 2-10
2004: points -- 319; record 6-6
2005: points -- 198; record 5-6

Not particulary impressive and never any consistency or upward trend.

Here is his go around at Michigan State with Nick Saban

1995: points 287; record 6-5-1
1996: points 358; record 6-6
1997: points 342; record 7-5
1998: points 336; record 6-6

Tranquill retired for the first time after that season. The following year with a new OC, Michigan State scored 378 points and went 10-2.

Tranquill hasn't been around a lot of winning football in a long time. He also has a reputation for very conservative gameplans. This SI article from 1997 went behind the scenes with Michigan State. In a telling moment Tranquill decides that given State's lack of playmakers and Michigan's exotic defensive packages he would go simple and basic. The philosophy is closer to TOB/Bible than Jags/Logan.

Recruiting
I am not as worried about recruiting. Carolina had decent offensive talent while he was there. I don't know how much of that was due to Tranquill, but he obviously wasn't an impediment. However, when you google his name a post from a Michigan State message board comes up with Tranquill as the punchline regarding recruiting:

"a great recruiter" - a description applied to every MSU assistant coach over the past 20 years with the possible exception of Gary Tranquill.

Signal to the other staffers
One of the recurring message board themes of the past few weeks was the importance of keeping Ryan Day. This is probably not encouraging. He may stay, but the other two guys on the staff who just got passed over left. Don't be surprised if Day bolts after getting passed over for a job he thought was his.

What I like about the hire
When Spaz was hired, I said he needed a trusted, veteran presence. He's got one. He's known Tranquill for more than 30 years. Tranquill has seen it all and spent time with Saban, Welsh, and Belichick. He's coached in the NFL, Big Ten, and ACC. He's been a head coach. If Spaz needs someone to talk to and work through things, he can turn to his wise friend and mentor. I would have preferred Tranquill as an assistant head coach or even as a QB coach, but at least he's a resource.

Conclusion
This was an unconventional pick. It will provide plenty of jokes and references (Grumpy Old Men, The Sunshine Boys, Cocoon) but the ultimate test will be on the field. We have talent of offense. If Tranquill can get through to one of the QBs we may surprise people next year.

NC State bloggers on the BC game

It is interesting to read what others think of our team. It also helps when the bloggers use numbers and stats to back up their perspective. Two very good NC State blogs did just that in their previews of this weekend's game. Here is Section Six's take. This is from YANCSSB. Kenpom's data predicts a BC win.

The Pack have inside talent which should give us trouble. But they also lack a good point guard, meaning Rice can focus on offense. A win here becomes very important as this is probably the lighter portion of our ACC schedule.

Coughlin on Bicknell and other links

In a statement regarding the Bicknell hire, Tom Coughlin reflected on Bick JR as a player. He also followed Bick's work at BC...but someone needs to tell TC we didn't win 10 games this year.

Yet another Raji link. And another.

Because it is the end of the week and I don't give them enough credit, be sure to check out BC Interruption and BC All Access.