If you want an example of the sorry state of BC basketball look at the case of AJ Turner's departure. Turner has been a frustrating disappointment who has never lived up to his recruiting ranking, yet the team will be much worse without him. Most view Jim Christian as a lame duck. But with a new Athletic Director coming in there was always the chance he would turn things around. Without Turner, things seem less likely to turn around. Maybe Chatman will get Turner's minutes, but there is no obvious replacement.Boston College sophomore AJ Turner told ESPN he will transfer. Has received his release.— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) April 10, 2017
Other than frustration, I don't know why Turner is leaving. While BC is losing, I doubt he will be an impact player at other elite program. Plus, he will have to sit a year.
Where does Christian go from here? Hopefully the returning players step up. Who knows? I think we are in for another long season.
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25 comments:
"Where does Christian go from here? "
I'd say he should get in his car and head south. . See the folks on Long Island Get some real pizza and a real bagel (essentials not available in MA) Then drive back to a MAC school in Ohio.
MAC school? The incompetent clown isn't qualified to coach at the community college level.
"Where does Christian go from here?"
South? West? Who cares? As long as it's not Chestnut Hill. Whoever the new AD is, he better make sure Fr. Leahy is willing to eat the last 3 years on Daz's contract and Christian's. Our $6.5 million cut of UNC's basketball run will take care of most of that.
Every time I think of Bates giving Christian a 1 year extension after going 0-18 in ACC play, I want to throw up. 6-48 in the conference since he got here. Other schools must be wondering what it takes to get fired from here. Let's hope there's white smoke coming out of Fr. Leahy's office after Easter and we actually get a competent AD.
All of this is beyond anything one could imagine in each of our basketball programs. What a total mess. Its amazing how much damage one person can do when you make a terrible hire at the top like we did with Bates. Our BOT's allowing Leahy to manage (i.e., by himself) our way out of a mess he helped create by himself - is troubling.
Can either program afford one more year with Christian or Johnson? Assuming the new AD is on board by the beginning of May - what can and should he do with these two coaches with respect to the following season, as a practical matter, with the time that he will have? Each coach knows he's not going to turn things around and will be gone the next season. That's a recipe for disaster.
None of us could have made this up.
Nap - You're 100% right. We actually don't need to talk about this anymore after your comment. That sums it up perfectly. But I'm going to do it anyways..
On a macro decision making level, I just don't understand how a FORBES Top 200 CEO could let this happen (the state of athletics). Do they not consider his input?!? Or if they do, well that's sad! I work in the same industry here in NYC and deal with general contractors all the time. In order to make it to his status, you need to make the right calculated decisions and often times you need to insert creativity when the going gets tough. Its not a luck game, you need to be efficient and effective. This is all about decision making and its translatable here IMO.
ATL exhibiting signs of Stockholm Syndrome.
"Maybe Chatman will get Turner's minutes" - Maybe??? Bill - we have SIX players on scholarship next year - JROB, Bowman, Chatman, Meznieks, Popovic and the incoming freshman. Meznieks hasn't been able to get minutes in the past two seasons - he shouldn't be on the team. Sagay is a preferred walk-on will get meaningful minutes.
"Where does Christian go from here?" - as a reminder, this team went 2-16 last year and 0-18 last year. we are going to "build" on that with basically 1.5 ACC caliber players, its essentially self-imposed sanctions. this isn't even a sinking ship - this program is DOA and needs a new coach and leadership today.
the point being - this team is so bad we cannot afford to have 4 transfers over the past 4 seasons. getting a bunch of re-treads from the lower level conferences as 5th years seniors is not a '"strategy" it is a bandaid to try to cover up the failings of the program.
what a joke.
you of all people ATL hold some sway in the BC world - you should be calling for Christian to resign or be fired.
Just fire Christian and be done with it. The incoming recruiting class is so underwhelming, it won't even matter.
This has been said before. But we all need to do our best to be vocal and contact anyone at BC and the Boston media and demand changes in how we approach athletics. It is a little tough with a new AD coming in, but it will help support them as any new AD needs to stand up, and do what it is necessary to make BC relevant again. This could be a 10 year project, or more. Lets face it, Football and both Basketball teams are 4-5 years away, if and only if we make the right coaching changes in early 2018. Then what do we do with other embarrassing non-revenue sports? (for fear of alienating anyone, I won't list them all, but if you really want to be depressed go to the ACC website and look at all sports and BC's records.) The new AD must review the approved and under construction facilities (Softball stadium, Baseball stadium, new rec center and IPC and make sure these are done correctly with some last minute changes, and lastly start planning to improve Conte and what is needed for Hockey and Basketball to compete. Plus other tasks, like fundraising, public relations, repair relationships with past coaches and players, the integration of athlete and student, proper travel, future of Alumni Stadium, etc... Bottom line is that since being a student and therefore a fan of BC Sports in 1988 I have never felt so hopeless in the direction of the entire program. I fear we are so far past gone, its going to be impossible to repair. Depressing.
Sad to say, TeddyE is on the mark. The move to the ACC is great for $$, but we can no longer compete in football or basketball. The other programs in the ACC are moving forward at a very different level than BC, and the new additions to the conference have made football and especially hoop even more competitive. The ACC of 10 years ago was very different for football. There is no fun watching Fla St. or Clemson (and now L'Ville) embarrass us at home. I don't see a viable path to success in this conference.
BC can be good again in athletics, and in the ACC. It all starts with a clear commitment from the top. BC leadership needs to show that athletics matter by upgrading its facilities across the board and going out and paying for top-level coaches. The field house is a long overdue start. The new baseball and softball fields are apparently inadequate even before they're built, so let's upgrade the plans for those facilities. Next, the Turner departure prompted this discussion, so let's build a high-quality practice facility for our basketball programs. Hiring better coaches will take care of itself with (1) more money and (2) the proof of a commitment to athletics in the form of better facilities. BC has the money and the ability to get these things done, but without leadership from the top, when will it happen?
I hope you are right downtown, but I fear that "good" years in the ACC will mean 7 or 8 wins in football (including a .500 conf record), and 16-18 wins in basketball (with a .500 conf record). The ACC is a dramatically better football conference than it was in the Matt Ryan days. Hoop in the ACC was always going to be a challenge, and the addition of Louisville, Syracuse etc to the conference has only made it worse.
If that is the ceiling, student interest and community attendance in these sports will continue to erode.
Cventer,
Sadly, your assessment of BCs sports future is most certainly accurate. under current circumstances, the best we can hope for is a five-hundred record in ACC play.
But what is the alternative? Do we obliterate our academic standards and become just another b-ball/football factory? What price victory, my friends? What price victory?
GE - with all due respect - we are thousands upon thousands of miles away from needing to worry about obliterating our academic standards or becoming a basketball or football factory. You really shouldn't lose any sleep over this. We can't beat Hartford, Fairfield or Nicholl's State in basketball and we are 6 - 18 in ACC football over the past few years. Give us at least say 5 - 10 consecutive years of actually winning more games than we lose and selling out our venues consistently before even worrying about such things. And if during those 5 - 10 years it turns out that we lowered our academic standards or even marginally looked like a factory - don't fret - just enjoy it - you're entitled for all of these bad, sad and lonely times. And if some godforsaken self righteous twit tries to ruin it for you by telling you BC has reduced its standards or is looking like a factory - please give me his name and I will have him killed.
Napoleon, you are cynic with a waspish sense of humor.
The issue is not what to do, but how to do it and, let's face it, how quickly to do it.
A team needs 2 good players in basketball and football needs more.
Make the full throated commitment and make it happen.
Team cannot play Wagner in football
Cannot lose to Fairfield or even Harvard in basketball .
Would Pitino win at BC ?
Would Saban win at BC ?
Make the commitment !
He will probably transfer to St. Mary's, start for three seasons, make three ncaa tournaments and get called useless by people here. Kind of like Rahon.
Anyone on this board, even CT, could recruit better, coach more effectively and win more games than has the current coach.
BC should give this a try . . . they can make money off of it. Recruit a coach like you recruit financial donors to the University(you are good at that). Find a donor who wants to donate $$ for the opportunity to run the program for two seasons. That way you can make for money and probably be more successful.
Giving Fish and Leahy a direct financial incentive will most likely lead to them hiring a successful coach. They know they are going to get paid right now regardless of results so there is no incentive for performance.
from BC247 site
http://bostoncollege.247sports.com/Bolt/Breaking-Two-Candidates-Emerging-as-Top-Targets-for-BC-AD-Job-52264606
"Boston College 247 has confirmed that two candidates have emerged as the top targets to replace Boston College Athletic Director Brad Bates after VCU AD Ed McLaughlin pulled himself out of consideration last week. The two top targets are current Memphis AD Tom Bowen and Seton Hall AD Pay Lyons."
BC better not hire a Seton Hall guy. it is like a diocesan high school in NJ. embarrassing that BC would look to Seton Hall AD. No........
yet ATL himself says this evening : "BC has had more than a year to plan this AD search, they hired a professional firm and it is still a cluster."
GE. Is that The ATL version of rage you've been looking for? Ha! Good to see some piss and vinegar from ATL about how misearable BC sports management is.
Oh good Lord. If it's really down to those 2, why the hell did BC pay for a search committee?
Yet if BC does hire the Seton Hall AD ATL will write that it was a good move.
Sounds like there aren't any good candidates who want the job. Which is understandable.
They ought to wait and hire a BC grad with a business background. The two mentioned above are not appealing.
Wasn't Bob Kraft on the board recently or did we run him off as well? His influence would be helpful at this point.
If they lose me then they are really screwed. Shit goes back to the potato famine on one side.
Fucking losers.
It would be great to have top notch or even improved facilities, but that's not the main issue. It's the coach. Villanova has horrendous facilities and then plays games away from campus at the Wells Fargo center and they are always competitive and have won a national championship. Plenty of other solid hoops programs manage to be competitive without state of the art facilties.
Leahy's lack of understanding of how sports contributes to a university was apparent the first year he was president and BC had several years of success despite him. But the killer moves were the hiring of Spaz and Donahue by JDF. It set this seemingly never ending downfall into motion and Leahy and the BOT seem not to have the sack to commit funds and make a big hire or take a chance.
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