Institutional knowledge: McDermott made Director of Ops

Despite ties to the region via pit stops at BU and URI, Jim Christian was a complete outsider to Boston College basketball. He lacked ties to our past players or our history and what works. He helped fill that void by promoting Dan McDermott to Director of Basketball Operations. I applaud the move as McDermott has worked his way up through the program and was well liked by Skinner's staff, Donahue's staff and the Athletic Department. He's the type of guy and now in the type of role, that can help Christian navigate the early days and also help him build on what's worked at BC in the past.

But this isn't a hand-holding job or a hire to keep old-timers happy. McDermott is fairly progressive and was very influential in BC's ill-fated scheduling last year. The schedule -- while a factor in Donahue's undoing -- did involve analytics and a new approach to mastering the selection committees' ever-changing criteria. I am not sure how much influence McDermott will have initially with Christian's schedules or strategy, but you know he will bring a fresh approach.

The Director of Operations doesn't have the same recruiting duties as the other staffers, but McDermott will be involved in gameplanning and active on the bench. I am confident he'll do well and help BC basketball get back to winning consistently.