I don't think we are doomed forever, but I do think that this has exposed Christian. Do elite coaches go winless in conference play? Probably not. He may get us back to respectability, but he's not special. He's not winning it all and probably not winning the ACC. I can say that because a great coach would not have let things get this bad.
The losses are on Christian but having Addazio and Christian fail like this in the same year is on Brad Bates. He hired two mediocre coaches. You can give them friendly schedules, good assistant budgets and more recruiting resources, but you can't coach the game for them. Both of Bates' picks have shown major limitations in how they run their teams and the ACC records echo those limitations.
Bates can't get these teams out of their respective holes. It is too late for that. Both coaches need (and will get) time. And if they don't improve, Bates won't be hiring their replacements.
I think things will get better and will spend the offseason writing about it. I hope the embarrassment of this year creates a stir within BC's Board and Senior leadership. We cannot fire Bates, Addazio and Christian tomorrow, but we can address how we can improve BC sports and what our plan should be if the coaches don't improve.
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35 comments:
Why can't they be fired? All three should be. The Board and leadership at BC should not stand for the failure. Alumni should not. This hurts the whole school on nearly every level. Failures such as this would not be tolerated in any industry in the world, why should BC overlook it? A buyout is just another reason to fire Bates tomorrow. Terrible coaching hires and terrible contracts ( OR EXTENSIONS! !!!) given. He is a disgrace to athletics and our school. His hires are worse.
And it is fully on fire....
I wish I could be as bad at my job and still expect to be employed when the dust settled. That being said, it isn't Christian's fault that Daz did not win a conference game. And it isn't Daz's fault Christian did not win a conference game. However, when you combine it together and also factor in no other school has ever gone winless in all of their conference games in basketball and football in the past 70+ years, someone ought to go....
just reposting a comment from before the acc season... i cannot believe i was right
december 22nd: http://atleagle.blogspot.com/2015/12/teenagers-are-flaky-example-697.html
JERZeagle said...
We may not win one game in the acc for hoops this year. Not even one game.
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Sure things will get better. The only reason is they cannot get worse. They may reach as high as mediocre. That seems to be all we can expect with such horrible coaches.
Oh things most certainly can get worse. BCs game plan in all of this has been to pocket the ACC money and not invest it in our athletic programs. This past year was entirely predictable and not a fluke -- we are way, way, way behind the curve. And in typical BC fashion the Administration is keen to look down upon the festering corruption of big time college athletics while lining the university budget with money derived from it.
We have as our 2 major coaches a guy who acts like a gym teacher on cocaine and a guy who tried and failed badly at his last major conference rebuilding job. All the wile, we are nearing a decade since either basketball or football was ranked for more than a few weeks. Let's face it: there's a better chance that we are in the Patriot League by 2025 than there is that we win a conference championship in basketball or football.
This is what happens when BC throws its commitment to athletics in reverse while the rest of the major conference world doubles down. Ever to Ecel becomes a joke. As it has been in BC sports for years.
I watched my first college basketball game of the season yesterday. It was Arizona versus Stanford. Ryan Anderson was all over the court, dunking, rebounding and playing confidently.
As Bob Lobel used to say, "Where can we get players like that?"
Something is wrong at the school level and the lack of intrinsic fan support is at the crux of it. Yes, if the team wins then people will come to support the team. However, playing in a morgue has a negative impact.
I really don't care anymore about basketball. Mainly because of the type of player we recruit. Can we get some players who want to win games and not just reach their individual goal of playing in the ACC? We have a bunch of Mitt Romney's playing hoops. "Good" guys, hot wives, 37 kids but cannot close the deals that they should because they don't really want to close them. Don't like to bring politics here but that is the first analogy that came to mind.
Hire MAC level coaches, get MAC level results. Brad Bates stuck with his comfort zone when he hired coaches he was familiar with and the results speak for themselves. This approach doesn't work in ACC.
When you go winless for an entire season in the two major sports you are deluding yourself if you think "bad luck" was a factor. The sample size is too big.
The saddest thing of all is that for BC the ineptitude has mostly bred apathy rather than anger. No one cares as witnessed by the crowds at the basketball games throughout the year (and in recent years) and the football games late in the season. I never thought the apathy would set in for me but this is the first season since I was a kid in the 1960s that I did not follow BC basketball. Did not watch one conference game. I have no intention of following the football team next fall.
The worst thing for the future is that apathy never triggers change. It will allow those responsible for the current state of affairs to continue on. Unfortunately I think BC football and basketball are in the proverbial death spiral. Wake me up when there is a new AD - and new coaches.
Has nothing to do with Brad Bates's comfort zone. Has everything to do with the resources BC is willing to spend. They could have had Jay Wright (no joke, no speculation, he affirmatively reached out) but they wouldn't meet his price. Instead, we hired a proven failure at the major conference level. And, let's face it -- while we may have deluded ourselves before -- Christian faces a tougher rebuilding job here (by A LOT) than he did at TCU.
Just wait until JY retires and the school refuses to spend what it takes to hire one of his longtime assistants. We are like one of those small market teams at the outset of MLB revenue sharing --- pocketing other people's money while trotting out uncompetitive teams. Except neither draft picks nor Billy Beane is walking through the door.
It's going to take a major university wide assessment plus like x3 what we are currently spending. And there's no appetite to do either. If things don't change we should stop playing holier than thou (while taking thoust's money) and join the Patriot League where we will stop embarrassing ourselves.
Even though I was completely underwhelmed with their selections by Bates, I do not advocate firing either of these coaches for a whole host of reasons that have been posted here many times by others. Having said that, there needs to be consequences for a year like this and they should fall where they belong - on Brad Bates. We need a serious top down assessment of BC Athletics, changes should be made and a new smart aggressive hands on AD with a proven track record of success needs to be hired. Its not the end of the world - we can gradually dig our way out of this mess as long as we bring in good people. And if BC doesn't get that - then I frankly won't give another shit about BC.
The Five,
What do you mean by resources?
The school increased the amount allocated to the football headcoaching position 150%. They also have committed major dollars to well known assistant coaches and are building a practice facility.
The basketball program signed two high profile and high paid assistant coaches as well.
Both programs suck.
Nobody(BOD)in their right fucking mind would invest an additional penny into into either program other than what is already budgeted because there has been negative ROI from both programs for the last three years.
Spend more money that will fix it, right? Fucking stupid.
The Five,
Jay Wright reached out for the job two years into being at Villanova after being at Hofstra. Not recently.
Jim Calhoun wanted the BC job in the 80's. The school denied him because he is a motormouth scumbag.
Jay Wright ain't running an even moderately clean program on the Main Line either.
Ask him about telephone calls and term paper fixing.
Make your voice known to the school, not just a message board...
In case you were wondering who is currently on the Athletics Advisory Board at this juncture..
To serve until June 2016 (terms expiring):
Michael Cassidy (Law School) michael.cassidy@bc.edu
Kathy Bailey (Political Science) kathleen.bailey@bc.edu
To serve until June 2017:
Michael Malec (Sociology) michael.malec@bc.edu
To serve until June 2018:
Stacey Barone (CSON) baronest@bc.edu
Tracy Regan (Economics) tracy.regan@bc.edu
To be elected by the entire MCAS faculty to serve July 2016-June 2019:
One member from MCAS (excluding the Economics Department)
To be elected by the entire professional school faculty to serve July 2016-June 2019:
One member from a professional school, excluding CSON
Nominees for this board include:
Sharon Beckman (Law) elected sharon.beckman@bc.edu
Michael Naughton (Physics) elected naughton@bc.edu
Knucklehead,
Your semi correct about Wright. I don't know for sure, but I doubt money was the issue back then when he apparently reached out after being at Nova for a short time and 2 years off of Hofstra. However, when he was in the mix prior to BC hiring Christian, the money issue is a real thing that shut the door on Wright.
As to your point that BC increased the FB HC position 150%, that doesn't matter. You can't compare what BC has done to itself, it only matters where they are in relation to other programs, which is middle of the pack. Because BC increased the salary from a shit asst in Spaz who did nothing right, to a middle of the pack salary, isn't anything to point to in terms of commitment, just the way that building an indoor facility needs to be looked at with a grain of salt. It's bringing BC to the middle of the pack but it's nothing that differentiates the school from anyone else
Joe,
You have heard of leverage in negotiating right? Do you really believe that Jay Wright is going to leave Villanova where he make 2-3 million to come to Boston College and MAYBE make 2-3 million? Or do think he floated that to get an increase in compensation from Villanova.
You are making my point with regards to financial investment. The school increased its compensation of the headcoach 150% from 1.1 to 2.5 million which puts the program in the middle of the pack - where it belongs by the way. The Board also extended the headcoachs' contract. At the same time the number of wins has decreased and the future prospects of the program have diminished. So the ROI has decreased. Are you also suggesting throwing more money at the problems?
One way to increase the attendance at the football and basketball games would be GIVE tickets to some students. Meaning make attendance free for some on the students. That would create some type of relationship between the administration, the student body and the athletic teams.
Spending more money has not worked. Explain to me realistically how spending more money(and following NCAA rules)is going to make the program more successful. I don't mean "Hire Jimbo Fisher from Florida State to coach football" and hire Roy Williams to coach basketball.
Are you Brad Bates?
Jay Wright wanted the job when we hired Christian. And we wouldn't pay him what he asked. Bill or whoever else can weigh in on that; it's not a joke. We chose to go the Dollar Store route, and it has shown.
Also, increasing the football head coaching salary from the salaries paid to Jags and Spaz -- well, that's great. I'm glad the cheapest school in the Power 5 decided to pay a bit more. But the comparison should not be to what BC has done in the past; it's to what its peer schools are doing. And we are not even in the same league --- though, of course, we're in the same conference...and that explains the current state of the athletic department.
Swear and complain and moan and do whatever you want. But get your facts straight. Also, the salary that your citing for Addazio includes his Temple buyout; he makes quite a bit less than you think he does. For what it's worth, though, I wish you were correct --- I wish BC could compete with its half-assed investment into athletics. Because the level of that investment is not changing.
USA Today says the school is paying him 2.5. Along with a fucking loan for 500k he took from the school. No mention or indication of Temple payments being included anywhere. Those are facts.
Plus Temple doesn't pay shit to Rhule so whatever they owe Addazio(if anything since he got a new job. a lot of the contracts rescind the payout if the coach leaves for a better job) it would have minimal impact on the annual 2.5 figure.
Jay Wright talk is just that. Talk. Again, it was chatter to create leverage . . . at the most. Kind of like the bullshit written here about Chip Kelly floating his name for the football job. He probably did say he wanted the job so then the Augustinians flip out that they are losing their coach to the Jesuits and agree to pay him what he wants.
You obviously like Jay Wright and so do half the teams in the NBA who cannot get him to leave Villanova. He ain't leaving Villanova that he re-built into a top 10 team in a city with built in talent to come to Boston College. Fucking pipedream.
The biggest problem is not Bates or Christian or Addazio; Its the Jesuits and Father Leahy who have driven the Boston College Athletics to this place we are at right now. The bottom line is that Leahy does not care enough to make the necessary changes to get Boston College to respectability and does not care about Sports at Boston College. He is an academic first and views Boston College in the same light as Harvard and MIT. He does not want to compromise Boston College's ethics and as long as he is getting money from the ACC and just fielding a team, he doesn't care about how competitive they are.
I laugh when people say that "BC can get Shaka Smart" or "BC can get Chip Kelly" because these coaches talk and they hear the whispers about BC. That the admissions department will not cut athletics any slack, that the administration will not pay for top level assistants nor will they invest in the product, and that they won't pay top dollar for coaches. Its been proven and its a shame.
The only hope is that the Donors and board get so embarrassed that they force the Jesuits to either make big changes or BC leaves the ACC.
I don't get the argument that BC is a rudderless ship after a 200 million investment. I'm as critical as anyone and this season has been beyond the pale. But they appear to be making a huge investment in the future precisely because they know what their peers are doing. Criticize Leahy and the BOT all you want, but 200m? Really? All my buddies here in Atlanta are SEC through and through and even they were like, "why would BC do that?"
To keep up, maybe?
I'm not plugged in to any internal politics and I don't think any here are either, but....whatever. I feel like a Nirvana song.
Most with sane minds expect football to be vastly improved next year given the fact that we should have at least one if not two competent QBs. It's fair to expect the defense to take a step back but a vastly improved offense should create reasonable expectations of a 6 to 8 win season. Anything less should cost Daz his job. Anything more should be applauded. In that range, gets him another year. I don't think anything from the current staff will lead to BC taking a step down on a longer term basis. Even if this coaching staff doesn't last for more than another year or two, we can still contend for a division title when things go right. I don't think qualified candidates will be scared off by anything that has happened over the past few years. With a modicum of success, I would expect the fan support to be strong.
Basketball on the other hand is in a structural downturn that may not have a near-term solution. We play in one of the best, if not the best conference in the nation. We are 7 years from the last tournament team and about 10 years from the last great team. That's an eternity for basketball. I have no idea where the Jay Wright talk is coming from. As I recall, Bates couldn't find any takers for the job from the likely candidates (Syracuse assistant, St. Bonnies coach, Cooley, etc) before turning to Christian as a last ditch effort. Does the guy deserve to get canned two years in when the three best players from the team he inherited have transferred or left school? I don't think so, but I understand the argument. If he does get fired, who is taking this job? Who is taking a bottom of the ACC job at a school where football is the top sport and even hockey draws more fan support? What over the past 6 years would lead the administration to commit major resources to this program? It's a shame. The solution is probably to move mountains to get fan support up which can boost recruiting/revenue, and lead to a virtuous cycle of success. How to make that happen is anyone's guess.
It would be an absolute shame if nobody has reached out to Tom Coughlin about some sort of role with the football team or the Athletic Department. I don't know if it truly makes sense to have him as the full AD, but it couldn't be any worse than right now. It surely would boost fan support, donations, and bring a level of excitement to athletics that has been missing since Matt Ryan left.
I want BC to win, I also want my degree not to be debased by embarrassing scandals and lax standards. We used to be able to do both. Let's find people who can do both again. I am a sports nut, but if I have to choose BC academic standards vs. BC athletic success, I go for academic. I worked too hard to get into BC, too hard at BC and too hard after BC to have my BC degree worth less. But it's not zero-sum game. Stanford, Duke, and yes, BC of old prove that.
ATL
I agree w/ the premise of the post in general, although it's unfair to lump Daz In w/Xtian when he followed the Spaz nightmare w/ 2 winning seasons. Any chance you could put up some kind of flow chart as to how and whom decides on a coaching hire in the 2 big Monet sports?
To try to find some positivity and search back for greatness...
Here's a Petition to have BC Retire Troy Bell's and Craig Smith's jerseys next season...
www.facebook.com/tbellcsmith
Let's find something we can actually celebrate. Please "Like" the page if you support...
The author of this article pretty much said what must be said. John Fish is the chair of the Board of Trustees. He is CEO of Suffolk Construction which is highly successful and actually one of the top 200 businesses in the entire country. He would not tolerate such total ineptness in his place of business. The president of the university is now responsible to the Board of Trustees. I do not like that a priest should be responsive to a group of lay people. However, that is the way that the Church has gone. He has to make this right or be removed as president. He is close to retirement. All of the 28 Jesuit Colleges and Universities are moving toward "civilian" presidents. Again, I don't like it but that is now a fact of life. The Board of Trustees is no longer responsive to Father Leahy. The shoe is on the other foot. Father Leahy needs to step it up a notch.
BC is not a "loser" for its terrible conference records in football and men's and women's basketball this season. It will be rightfully tagged a "loser", however, if it does not take diligent, meaningful, intelligent and focused steps to understand its problems and do everything it reasonably can to correct them.
BC Athletics are a national laughing stock right now.
Whether you are a BC Alum that doesn't care about sports, a casual fan, or a diehard, it affects you, whether you are post-grad or still in school.
The student experience depreciates without that sports that bind us bringing the school together to celebrate or even just tailgate. That will affect their post-grad views of the school and their time at The Heights, and thus their donations when BC Alumni continues to fail to nurture relationships with blue collar grads and only calls to ask for more money.
For grads, casual sports fans the nation round that watch ESPN or any sports program now know of our ineptitude this past year and the dismal outlook on our future. It isn't just the passionate fans who pay attention all year round, through thick and thin, that are going to hear about how bad BC was. Water cooler conversations today will poke fun at BC Alumni whose coworkers just found out about our new claim to fame.
Once famous for Flutie and Matt Ryan, we are now infamous for Brad Bates' terrible hires and their inability to win a conference game.
Ever to Excel is now Never to Excel.
The Heights needs change. It needs a savior.
I'd love to see Father Jack or Tony - both passionate Jesuits who are intricately involved in all aspects of the university, from academics, to student life, to church, to athletics - become the new President of Boston College.
I agree with the above post - Tom Coughlin should be contacted and offered some sort of Athletics oversight position, if not the a new AD position. He has the credentials, the no BS attitude, he will steer the ship in a winning direction and make sure there is no slack given to academic performance. He knows what it is like to lead an organization, and to coach at BC.
Since every post seems to revert back to Daz...we did get two early commits today.
This school will never beat out CU and FSU. Maybe William Green?
Wow are you boring.
He may be boring, but a 3 star and a 0 star that no other program wanted is nothing to hang your hat on.
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