Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Spaz's To Do list

I've been criticized for being overly negative or piling on Spaz before he even starts. That's not my intention. In fact, I am actually optimistic about next season. I think the defense should be excellent again. The offense has all the pieces in place except for QB. If Davis matures or Tuggle steps up, Spaz's first season could surprise.


But there is a lot of work to do before September. I don't think Xs and Os will be an issue with Spaz. I do think other issues will arise. Knowing that, this is what he should do.

1. Get at least one experienced coordinator on staff and at least one former coach. One of the supposed benefits of promoting Spaz was his ability to retain the staff. I don't think it will be that easy or even necessary. This is his team. Let him pick the staff. If he wants to clean house, I have no problem with it. Once his guys are in place, I hope there are the two veteran presences listed above. Although very experienced, Spaz is a first time head coach. He needs a staff that will support him and challenge him. Not a bunch of yes men. He needs a few voices that he knows he can trust and to whom he can delegate. When Jags had questions or faced issues or just needed reassurance, he could turn to Logan or Spaz. They had been around the block a few times. Spaz needs those same sounding boards too. I hope he finds them.


2. Find a recruiting strategy and stick with it. I am on record with not caring about star rankings or ratings. However, I do think a staff needs to be of one mind on recruiting. Jags' staff proved to be good evaluators, but seemed to shoot in multiple directions on their strategy and targets. And I think that lack of direction and clarity hurt when BC attempted to lock in commitments. Spaz needs to decide what type of kid he wants (projects, under the radar, 4 stars, etc) and where they will spread their resources (the Midwest, Jersey, ACC territories). And he needs to decide how BC will approach kids, who will have authority to offer scholarships and who will be the closer.


3. Show the on the field emotion off the field. Spaz clearly has fire. We see it every Saturday in his reactions. He held his own in the press conference, but I still think his personality was muted a bit. BC fans want passion. They want hope. They want to believe. Share that passion when you speak to the press and certainly when you speak to fans. That, along with winning, will turn the skeptics around and have kids lining up to play for BC.

23 comments:

Old Heightsonian said...

Curious observation:

In 2006, BC's press release announced Jags as the "Gregory P. Barber and Family Head Football Coach at Boston College."

Yesterday's press release made no mention of Barber.

One of unfortunate episodes of the '06 transition was when BC Trustee Gregory P. Barber '69 decided to publicly express his disapproval about TOB's departure to the Globe. At the same time, his support of BC football is unquestionable (in addition to endowing the HC position, yesterday's press conference was held in the Barber Auditorium).

So what are we to make of this omission?

About Five said...

Oh Great One,

Honesty brings the harshest criticism. So do not be surprised by the reaction of the weak minded and self serving mob.

Put your attention to to new staff composition.

Thanks

Anonymous said...

ATL,
Any chance you could give us an in depth recruiting break down? Rumor has it that even our solid commits are scheduling visits elsewhere....

Thanks as always for the great coverage.

eagle1331 said...

Apparently the big recruits, according to Mike Farrel of Eagle Action, said now that Spaz is retained they will stay... but who knows. Noel, for one, scheduled a visit to Cincinnati...

Anonymous said...

ESPN reports that Davon Custis will decide between NW, Stanford and BC on Friday. I hope we get this guy, his physical stature is almost identical to Kiwanuka at that age.

CHI_Eagle said...

Tenuta would be a great pickup. He's a name that even more casual fans have heard before.

Also, the globe article about the players' support for the Spaz hiring has me feeling much better.

Also... Defilippo & Spaziani. BC is sounding more like an Italian version of Notre Dame.

Erik said...

I'd love the entire North End to rally around Spaz, and make BC become a huge viewing sport instead of soccer and bocce.

Maybe his run will be better than Pitino with the C's.

Anonymous said...

I just came back from having my eye opener at Mary Ann's.

Here are the odds for Spaz's first season:

0 Acc Wins: 100-1
1 Acc Win: 50-1
2 Acc Wins: 10-1
3 Acc Wins: 1-1
4 Acc Wins: 100-1
5 Acc Wins: 1000-1
6 Acc Wins: 10000-1
7 Acc Wins: 50000-1
8 Acc Wins: 1,000,000-1

0 Non Conference Wins: 1,000,000-1
1 Non Conference Win: 100-1
2 Non Conference Wins: 30-1
3 Non Conference Wins: 1000-1
4 Non Conference Wins: 10,000-1

Dominque Davis is pulled as starter:

Game 1: 1-1

Odds to reach a bowl game....all bets are off

America said...

Ok Brookline I bet 100 bucks at 1,000,000 - 1 that he gets the 8 ACC wins. You're on.

downtown_resident said...

Hell, I've got $100 at the 1000-1 odds he's got for five ACC wins. Speaking of which, I wish Bravesbill and I had put some money on the 2008 season predictions (assuming Bravesbill is not Brookline12).

EagleEye2002 said...

Bill,
Love the blog and read it daily. I know there is all this crazy stuff going on football and so much press coming out about our team, but how about some bball coverage? Tonight is a HUGE game for the Eagles and we are getting into a very important part of our season.

GordonsLeftFoot said...

I recognize this pessimism. Brookline, are you Bravesbill in disguise?

CHI_Eagle said...

ATLeagle happens to be a 'Bill' in atlanta. The braves play in ATL. Is ATLeagle/BravesBill the same person in some kind of good cop/bad cop setup?

Deacon Drake said...

I figure bravesbill would be on here beatin it like a 13 year old with his first VS catalog... as bland as Spaz can be calling the D, Tenuta has no problem dialing up the fun stuff. I doubt we can afford him, though.

Recruiting is the wildcard with spaz. We know what we are on D, and he will probably defer much of the offensive responsibility to the OC. He spent a long time under TOB and don't be surprised if much of those strategies a reimplemented (big OL, dropback passer, bigger RBs...)

Big Jack Krack said...

Vincent - 8 ACC wins will likely pit us against Florida or USC in the National Championship Game (if we're that good we should get 3 or all 4 of the non-conference games)

Now wouldn't THAT be something :-).

Big Jack Krack said...

Brookline - having an eye opener at Mary Ann's, aka "The Jungle" prior to 11:00am may be a sign that you need to consider turning yourself in to the alcohol abuse counselor at your job. What a dump! :-)

BeantownBC85 said...

I can't tell whether Dane Cook wearing a Boston College tshirt is good publicity or bad publicity.

Click the above link, or paste this:

http://coedmagazine.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/dane-cook-unfunny-lead.jpg?w=600&h=366

eagle1331 said...

For the record... MaryAnn's isn't open this early

eagle1331 said...

And I'm alright with the free Publicity for Dane. His parents live in Arlington about 10 miles from campus... when I was training for the Boston Marathon, you always could tell if he was around because there'd be a silver bentley out front.

bc1900 said...

This is the real bravesbill.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=18234388

Thomas said...

since when is dane cook unfunny? :/

eagleboston said...

Harrow,

Can you find my real mother?

I hear the FBI is on a big hiring binge. They could use an agent with your detective skills.

CT said...

Bravesbill...my new hero. I think I wrote that profile.

Boston Legal? Abhorrent show.

Didn't get to see Wake dominate us tonight. What's the story there?