A week after firing Jeff Jagodzinski for interviewing with the New York Jets, Boston College has found its next head coach: Longtime Eagles assistant Frank Spaziani, who served as Jagodzinski's defensive coordinator the last two years.Spaziani, who has been at Boston College since 1997, is apparently being rewarded for his loyalty to the school -- loyalty that Boston College Athletic Director Gene DeFilippo thought Jagodzinski lacked.
But while BC knows Spaziani is loyal, no one knows whether he can run a big-time college football program. Spaziani has exactly one game of experience as a college head coach, when he was the interim head coach for BC's Meineke Car Care Bowl win over Navy in 2006. Other than that, his only head coaching experience is a couple of years at the high school level in the 1970s.
The bottom line is that DeFilippo has put his own reputation on the line by firing Jagodzinski and hiring Spaziani. If Spaziani turns out to be a coach who can lead BC to an ACC title, DeFilippo will be praised for this decision. But if BC goes in the tank in 2009, everyone will be asking why DeFilippo replaced a proven winner with a relative unknown, just because the winner had ambition.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-13-2009 @ 1:07PM
dave said...
The article is incorrect. The AD didn't replace the "proven" coach, the coach was fired for quitting on the team.
Good luck to Coach Spaziani!
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1-13-2009 @ 2:18PM
Brad said...
Dave...
How is having ambition to move to bigger and better things "quitting" on your team? Everyone who has any ambition has left a job for what they think is a better one. Last I checked, BC wasn't really a "destination" job in college football and it's a bit foolish for anyone to think otherwise at this point. Jagodzinski was a proven winner at BC taking them to two ACC title games in his two seasons there. That's just fact.
I think BC needs to get over itself and understand that if you have a successful coach at a non-football powerhouse they are probably going to be looking elsewhere at some point. It's the price of having a successful coach. The only coaches not looking elsewhere are ones at the top football schools (and even they leave occassionally), or the ones who aren't good enough to move on.
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1-13-2009 @ 10:47PM
ed said...
I disagree with the statement that BC is not a destination; Great school, 1 million plus a year, great town; kids go to BC on the cuff; good, and getting better program; I think you have to remember, that BC is an academic university first; I think Spaz will do a great job; The the university likes him, the kids like him, and he has a chance to shine........ God bless, and good luck
1-14-2009 @ 1:12AM
MrSapasos said...
Don't you think the school is likely to show Spaziani a lot less loyalty than they're expecting from him?
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1-14-2009 @ 2:06PM
Brad said...
It's not disloyalty when it's the school doing it. It's "moving in a different direction." See the difference? No?
1-14-2009 @ 2:12PM
Brad said...
Ed...
What I mean when I say it's not a destination school is that it's not one of the traditional football powerhouses. I'm guessing a lot of coaches from BC would leap at the chance to coach USC, Florida, Michigan, Ohio State, LSU, Oklahoma, etc. Those are places where generally speaking coaches don't leave unless they jump to the pros or retire. BC, while a good up and coming program, isn't to a place yet where their coaches won't jump to a program with a little better cache. Case in point, Tom O'Brien jumps to NC State and Jag looks to interview with the Jets. Good up and coming football program but it's still not a destination job for coaches who aren't alums.
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