BC's winningest coach didn't go out with a bang, nor a wimper, nor on anyone else's terms. He just stuck with his announced plan to retire after UVA's season. His whole two years in Charlottesville was unexpected, so I always thought he might stick around a little longer. I guess I should have known better. TOB was always pretty transparent. He didn't like getting fired at NC State, wanted to help out Mike London and always loved UVA. Once Virginia announced that London would return for 2015, TOB probably felt he had done enough.
As we get further away from the TOB years, his legacy and those games become a bit of a blur. All our other modern coaches either had short tenures or such memorable high points (Flutie during Bicknell) that it is easy to recall or categorize. TOB's ten years had a predictable sameness. We had our highs and lows, but nothing as painful or exhilarating as the football that surrounded his era.
I don't know if getting fired by NC State and mentoring some bad UVA teams was what he envisioned when he left BC, but that's how it ended. Hopefully he enjoys his retirement.
Now that he is officially out of ACC football it is probably time for Brad Bates to honor him in some way. He also belongs in the Varsity Club Hall of Fame. He's still a BC parent and still responsible for a the most wins in program history. For that he's earned a respectful welcome back. And as we reopen communication, we can always hit him up for a donation...because he's always said BC needs better facilities.
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Let's face it. TOB was a good coach. He wasn't necessarily a good guy. The record book shows that he was a successful coach. Unfortunately, he had a zero personality, was a chronic whiner, and always gave the appearance that BC was somehow not sufficiently worthy of a coach of his own delusional and misperceived stature. It was never a really good fit. He was a good coach, had good assistants, and ran a successful program, but always was quick to take personal credit for BC's successes but consistently deflected his own responsibility when something went wrong.
It would be nice for BC to reach out and honor a coach who had the cumulative success that TOB achieved. If it were up to me, I would make that happen at some point. However, before that decision was made, I'd like to see TOB give a speech or an interview where he publicly thanks BC for giving him his first head coaching job, relates how grateful he is that his children received a free world class education at a great university, remarks how lucky he is to have coached at a school that had so many great players who distinguished the program with their top notch character, intelligence and love of he game, and relates how grateful he is to have had the honor to coach at a place where the values of the school reflected his own values. In short, TOB should say how sorry he was that he didn't take the time before he hopped that plane to Raleigh to express how proud he was to have been a head coach at BC and how being given the opportunity to coach at BC was the key point of his career. If it were up to me to make the decision, I'd be first in line to begin to plan the festivities to honor TOB, but only after he was gracious enough to express the things mentioned above - even if those sentiments came about 8 years later than they should have been made in the first place. A classy guy would have said these things years ago. There's still time to see whether TOB has the class to set the record straight once and for all.
Hail TOB!
He did a great job at BC, and owes no apologies to anyone at BC.
BC/GDF was downright miserly with TOB and effectively pushed him out (for a freakin' clown like Jags!)
From the 2001 Music City Bowl forward, TOB was 45-18 (.714) overall and 9-7 against the top 25.
TOB consistently beat ranked teams such as #16 Georgia, #12 Virginia Tech, #10 West Virginia, #4 Notre Dame, and #18 Clemson.
Under TOB, BC finished in the polls in 2001, 2004, 2005, and 2006. No other coach in BC history has placed BC in the polls three years in a row.
TOB righted our ship for sure after Henning. Talk about a failure - Henning was a pro coach, not a college coach.
Remember when TOB first arrived at Chestnut Hill, he brought a retired general to head up discipline and HR/personnel matters.
He was actually a very good fit for BC in many ways, and not a good fit in Raleigh.
But once a person becomes disgruntled, his/her performance falls off. That's my view of what happened with TOB.
As bad as his performance was since leaving BC - he's laughing all the way to Daniel Island, Charleston, SC with plenty of dough in the bank.
We should all have such a great retirement.
I'm fine with BC honoring him. He was coach for a long time and succeeded overall. However, nothing will be quite as painful as that 2004 loss to Diamond Ferri.
Maybe the best coach in the history of college football in developing NFL quarterbacks ( Hasslebacks, St. Pierre, Ryan, Wilson and Glennon). The best educated coach in BC history ( Naval Academy and an officer in the USMC ). Hired by the great Gladchuk along with York, Skinner and Inglese. His results speak for themselves. Eight straight bowl wins etc. Hope DAZ can come close to his achievements.
PJEagle:
I think TOB will say and do the right things about BC. If anything, he is methodical and knows what to say for the appropriate occasion. I think a lot of his frustration with BC was related to GDF. Now that Gene is gone and the proper channels are followed to rebuild with him, I think he will come around.
I agree with the frustration being GDF related. I also think that he'll eventually be smart enough to say some of the things I listed above. Better late than never. My point is that he should have had the class to have said the right things as he was exiting the premises. IMO, the impression of him would have been significantly better if he had shown a bit of class rather than a whiney bit of petulance.
He definetly should be honored. I don't remeber the exit issue's that PJeagle refers to. I think he did a good job for us, while having to deal w/ an egomaniacal GDF. I'm sure he would say all the right things. If they some day honor Gene on the otherhand, which they probable will do, I'll be sure to have my barf bag ready.
TOB was a good but not great coach. He reached his ceiling at BC and moved on. Great program rebuilder but was never going to get BC over the proverbial hump.
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