Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Steve Addazio is focusing on the wrong things

Since he's arrived at BC, Steve Addazio has always been overly sensitive to criticism. Now, as the ACC losing streak continues, he's really losing sight of the big picture. During his radio show this week, Addazio took "social media" and "twitter" to task for the negativity. Much has already been written about this, but I want to hammer any last point home so that the next time Addazio starts ranting to Meter or Cronin or any other BC staffer, they can respond, "let it go, Coach."

A tweet has never made a tackle...
Regardless of what is written or said by me, or any other BC blogger, fan, talking head, whoever, none of it impacts what happens on the field. We don't tackle. We don't call plays. We certainly don't call timeouts. Our impact is nothing. Addazio just needs to focus on football and ignore the chatter. He can't blame us for the negativity. It is purely a response to what is happening on the field, not the other way around. 

Addazio can't have it both ways...
Remember the glory days of #beadude? Or how about when Addazio went viral on Vine? That was all social media. So in those cases is social media okay? You can't delve into that world for your program's benefit and then criticize it with such broad strokes when the tide turns on you. Either Addazio is a hypocrite or he fails to realize that "social media" is just a forum. It can be used for good or bad.

Who are we to criticize, we've never been on the field...
Addazio hasn't said this exactly, but it is often trotted out in the coaching profession. While I do think perspective and experience does validate some criticism, you cannot dismiss all criticism simply because the critic can't or hasn't performed the task being criticized. Addazio criticized plays on national television for ESPN during the Auburn-Florida State National Championship Game a few years ago. He's never been the head coach in a National Championship Game, but that didn't make his comments less insightful. Sometimes that outside perspective is even more valuable. We've all been deep in the weeds with our own problems in life with work or relationships or whatever, and someone will come along and capture the issue so simply and succinctly. Meanwhile you've been pounding your head against the wall trying to fix whatever is wrong. It is hard to admit that the outsider is right, but it happens. 

Opinion and criticism is not unique to sports...
Any business, any school, any work of art, any person (really), is always open to criticism. That is human nature and technology has only made it easier. Does he realize that every professor at BC is exposed to online criticism? Or that the restaurant in which he was whining about social media deals with it every day too? Or that one of BC Football's biggest sponsors deals with it too? Get over yourself, Coach.

Recruits read this stuff...
Like my first argument, the kids you are recruiting will respond to wins, losses and the relationship they build with their recruiters before the pay attention to random social media. If recruiting is suffering, it is not because of negative tweets. It is because our team is losing and looks lost and unprepared. Nothing that is said or written online even compares to what rival coaches are saying to our recruits right now. They are saying "Addazio is done," "he can't win" and "why would you want to play there?" Addazio can pretend to take the high road, but our staff uses negative recruiting too. Everyone does.

Coaching has changed, fans have changed, blah blah blah...
You know what's changed in coaching between now and when Addazio started back at Chesire High? His paycheck. I don't know Addazio's exact experience coaching high school thirty years ago, but I know enough about youth sports to know that he faced criticism then. "Johnny should be starting" or "why can't you beat _____" or "your behavior on the sidelines is a bit much." He didn't have twitter then, but there are always armchair quarterbacks and parents and fans who think they know better. Always. At every stop. At every level. 

Pressuring the critics won't stop them...
Addazio has indirectly sent messages to media outlets who call him out. It is a waste of his time and BC's time. Even if you silence one, it doesn't take much for someone else to fill the void. The only way Addazio can silence anyone is with better play. That should be his focus. He needs to stop wasting his own time and those around him.

25 comments:

Am19 said...

How has addazio indirectly sent messages to media members? I believe it, but this isn't the first time I've seen this referenced

diabetic tackle said...

Bill
Let it go
Cheers!
DT

notfadeaway said...

Amen - good post. most importanty, this guy needs to go. Not because of his rant about tweets, because he can't perform and his team doesn't perform on the field. Nough said.

TheFive said...

In the four years he's been at BC, there has not been one shred of evidence that Addazio has engaged in a critical self assessment and made changes as a result. He has never managed a game well -- and that's something that should be incredibly easy to fix. But he hasn't.

I wouldn't mind Addazio's thin skin in public were he actually taking steps toward fixing the issues that plague his approach. But I do mind it a great deal when one season after the next features the same recurring problems. For example, our HC's background is in offense, and specifically the OL -- how is it that we have an O that cannot score and an OL that cannot block for 2 straight years?

Mostly, though, his excuses are laughable because the slights he perceives are so minimal. The HC at BC receives less media and quasi-media (e.g., reported blog) attention than just about any P5 school. Were his meltdown on 12 straight conference losses happening in Ann Arbor, Gainesville, South Bend ... or, hell, even Starkville, Chapel Hill, or Lexington ... he would be subject to critical news articles and columns on a daily basis. Here, there might be a negative blurb stuck in a rambling Shaughnessy column once per month.

He's making $2.5M, living in suburban Boston with a mortgage covered by the school, inhabiting the most prominent job at the university ... and wants to be accountable to nobody. That's no more reasonable of an expectation than is his weekly hope to win by 3 points by running 70 percent of the time. It's laughable. He asks for more accountability from his unpaid players than he permits to be asked of him. That tells you all you need to know about Steve Addazio.

mod34b said...

Meat is a really stupid guy and a bootlicker too. His mere voice makes me cringe.

why does he persist as the voice of the Eagles....


He's gotta go too -- #firemeat #go.veggie.no.more.meat

Daz is not much different than Spaz. Spaz did not like social media either.

Here is something Daz could have said, buyt Spaz said in in 2012

----------------------------------------
Boston College coach Frank Spaziani said he’s not worried about losing his job right now; he’s more concerned about beating Maryland on Saturday and earning the program’s first FBS and ACC win of the season.

“Nobody sheds more blood, sweat and tears on Saturday than I do,” he said. “I know what our situation is, I know what I’m doing and I know problems we have to work through. That’s what I’m worried about. I’m worried about getting a victory on Saturday, to be honest with you.”

BC has yet to win a conference game and is 1-6 overall, its lone win coming against Maine on Sept. 8. The Eagles have since lost five straight and have hit rock bottom -- or at least equaled it -- under Spaziani. The Eagles won three of their last five games in 2011 after a similar 1-6 start, but that’s going to be a tall task this year with road trips to Wake Forest and NC State, and Notre Dame and Virginia Tech still on the schedule.

“I see a lot of positive things going on,” Spaziani said. “Now, what’s going to happen in the remainder of the games? That’s why we play them, but the players are working hard. We’ve got good coaches. We’ll see what happens.”

“I think as a head coach you understand exactly what the problems are and you’re trying to manage your way through,” he said. “I think anybody that looked at our roster or has looked at it over the last four years and takes a look at it would understand the challenges we had. We haven’t been able to manage our way through that. ... We just haven’t done a very good job of it, to be honest with you.”

Shabby1011 said...

Great post ATL and comment TheFive..his complete inability or refusal to take any responsibility is ridiculous..Further his bravado to call out the fans when he hasn't won an ACC game in two years and his team look lost and embarrassingly unprepared speaks volumes..This fiasco shows BC leadership as a whole and it is not good

Hario said...

Have to give Mod credit for calling out Daz as a complete fraud as a person before I certainly did.

Daz could have said a million things in that interview that would have been cliche but better than whining about his critics. Daz is 0-12 in your last 12 ACC games -- he is lucky he coaches in a media market that allows him to skate by with such a record for the most part.

Not to mention - thefive is spot on that Daz has not sense of self critique and adjustment. Tough for players on this team to develop when the coach isnt developing himself.

ATL_eagle said...

diabetic tackle:

By any chance are you from New Hampshire?

diabetic tackle said...

No sir

eagleboston said...

This whole sequence is interesting as when I listened to the post-game of Meter, Cronin and Mutryn, they were highly critical of the direction of the program, much as many of us were on the blog. When I watched the radio show, Meter and Cronin started defending Addazio with Meter referring to us as "sitting in our boxers" posting criticism on social media. Not sure how they can criticize the direction of the program and not hold the coach accountable. I did not listen to the entire show so I'm curious if they asked him about the penalty that should have been declined.

dixieagle said...

Right on the money. Addazio is a whiny, incompetent buffoon. So in character for him to blame everyone else... players, bloggers, Twitter.

eagleboston said...

Correction, it was Cronin, not Meter that said we were sitting in our boxers.

bceagle93 said...

Daz, "Ever to Excel" is our motto. It isn't "Ever to Excel except when you are being criticized."

TheFive is right on. You take the big contract and ask for the spotlight, you need to deliver. Be a big boy and deal with it. Funny thing: the criticism is coming from a relatively apathetic fan base.....maybe HC at an ACC school is not for you, Daz.

You know one guy wouldn't whine like this? Tom Coughlin.

TC for AD & HC in 2017.

JBQ said...

Spaz was an above average d.c. He advanced beyond his level of capability. The Dazzler was very good at Florida as the o.c. I believe. He too advanced beyond his level of capability. There has to be a guide somewhere at the library or on the internet which profiles characteristics for a head coach. Actually, you can just use Tommie C as the litmus test. He too advanced beyond his level of capability in the pros. He was successful with the Giants to be sure but he made lots of mistakes on that level. Two Super Bowl wins may say that I am wrong. Whatever the truth, bring him in to sort out and "sweep up the mess".

marcos said...

Good post, ATL.

The most ridiculous part about him whining about criticism - and TheFive already hit on this - is that BC is a CAKE WALK in terms of media pressure and fan criticism. Gimme a break, Daz. Wake up!

knucklehead said...

You want to know how mutryn feels about dazzler? Go back and watch the first 2 minutes after the first half against Syracuse ends.

Mutryn,doing field reporting,goes to put his hand on dazzlers back to build some camaraderie. He looks and dazzler then holds back.

Dazzler is a horses ass. Especially if mutryn is Leary of him.

Heydad said...

I agree with everything that has been posted but Eagleboston the ACC admitted that the refs blew the call on the sack and holding penalty and never gave Daz the option to decline the penalty.

Cventer55 said...

BC football media scutiny is closer to Harvard than it is to Ohio State, or even Pitt or Syracuse. The local community doesn't care and the sports journalists are more focused on the Sox and Bruins. The negativity does have a toxic effect on recruiting, but there is little than can be done at this point. We are looking at a 5 year rebuilding project, just to reach ACC mediocrity.

Unknown said...

Hire Tom Coughlin as head FB coach, Jim Calhoun as head BBall coach, promote York to AD and bring Fr. Jorge Mario Bergoglio S.J. in from Rome to take over for Leahy and we will be back to our old winning ways in no time!

eagleboston said...

Heydad, thanks for the clarification. So we need to retract our criticism on that point. That is unconscionable that the ACC refs would blow that.

knucklehead said...

Jim Calhoun makes Hillary look respectable.

I am not with him or her.

CT said...

The warning signs were there at Florida. Let's just say he didn't leave too soon.

Geezer eagle said...

Jim Calhoun makes Hillary look like Mother Terrassa. No way we should lower standards to bring in that dirt bag.

mod34b said...

Sad. http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/17900881/former-boston-college-de-max-holloway-26-dies-car-accident

EL MIZ said...

hilarious for a guy who spends the vast majority of the game yelling and screaming and losing his temper at the refs or the players to be so thin skinned. win more games daz.