Boston College: Where The Only Good Coach Is The Next One

Note: This gchat happened over a week ago, but neither of us even considered posting the conversation because our excitement for this blog matches our current attitude towards BC's football and basketball programs. 

timstwrt: i've decided to be mildly optimistic

  because, why not?

  if he sucks, there'll be plenty of time to be pissy about it

percdm: yeah, i generally agree

i'd say the one thing i found out from bates was that addazzio had been on his list for years

  things had changed for bates and addazzio

  so was this really about the right fit for bc

  or the right fit for bates, and if so, maybe that's ok

timstwrt: that's the part that troubles me

  this would be a great hire for miami of ohio

  we're not miami of ohio

percdm: right

  but, i'll say this, he was an oc and a head coach

  which i think are things we wanted after dealing with a career dc as our head coach

timstwrt: a much-reviled OC, but yes

  and he

  s enthusiastic, which doesn't matter a ton, but more than nothing

  especially after spaz

i think i'm just tired of hating our football program, so hoping for the best is a pleasant alternative

percdm: yeah, i'm not riding high, but i'm fine with this choice

i believe that was my attitude with the jags hire

and that worked out well until it didn't

timstwrt: and, if nothing else, EDSBS will pay attention to us

percdm: true

  the media did a great job covering this coaching search

  media and blogs

timstwrt: is this the last time anyone has to pretend that bladschun knows anything?

percdm: we should have known better before

  but yeah

that means i can stop reading his typo-riddled blog

about half of his salary at the globe should have went to his editors

timstwrt: gone, if we're correcting usage

eagle in atlanta can resume his boyhood crush on ryan day

percdm: yeah, i noticed that

  but let it go and hoped you missed it

timstwrt: i started getting mopey about us running an unimaginative offense again, but i guess i kinda feel like that's the only way we'll ever win

percdm: i'm a little disappointed that way, there may be a lack of fresh blood

timstwrt: my mild optimism will start to leak if day and rogers and mcgovern are all back in town

percdm: i don't know why that would be the only way we'd ever win

timstwrt: because we can't recruit the skill position players to execute a high powered offense

percdm: but our most memorable seasons involved talented quarterbacks throwing the ball

timstwrt: one talented quarterback, and it was an anomaly

percdm: flutie and ryan

timstwrt: i'm not going to pretend that 1984 is similar to 2012 in the college football world

percdm: and with ryan, we didn't have a really good running back

callender was fine

  and a good receiver

  whitworth, as your remember, was an ok change-up back

timstwrt: i'm not saying don't recruit quarterbacks, i'm saying that marquise lee isn't walking through that door

percdm: what about jordan lynch?

timstwrt: we took the offensive line for granted, and now we know what it looks like when you don't even have that

 i have no idea what offense NIU runs

percdm: its a spread with designed qb runs

timstwrt: and although i'm delighted that they're in the orange bowl, i'm not sure we can learn applicable lessons from the MAC

 because we're competing against teams that will always attract more talent

percdm: i think a lot of offenses can win

timstwrt: kent state isn't a recruiting behemoth

percdm: i guess i'm not convinced the strategy to beat better talent is to line-up and go straight at 'em

timstwrt: if you can execute line play, it eliminates a number of variables

  i don't know what you're arguing for....i'm dealing with the reality of our football program for the forseeable future

  addazio isn't going to hire steve logan as OC

his offensive approach is a known quantity....and that quantity is "DIIIIIIVVE"

percdm: i'm arguing because you said that an unimaginative offense is the only way you can see bc winning

  i'm just saying, i dont think that's the case

  but, i do think you are right we will probably have an unimaginative offense

so it is super important that we try to re-sell O-line U

timstwrt: ok, i guess i mean that the foundation of a boring offense

  is our best path to success

  as always, i think the ceiling for BC is to be super-competitive most years, and then maybe once a decade get some breaks and crash the national title picture

like 2007

  which, fundamentally, i'm ok with

percdm: basically, a return to the pre-spaz era

timstwrt: i don't want to sell everything out for football

  which is what you have to do to be perennially relevant nationally

i'm fine with running a relatively clean operation that, if everything clicks, can make a run every once in a while

percdm: agreed, you have to look the other for academics, or for transgressions like sexual assualt

  other way

yeah, i agree with you. a quality team that is always competitive and occasionally relevant

timstwrt: the terribleness of the basketball team is far more troubling to me, because consistent basketball relevance is an easier path

  all you need is a good coach, which we don't have

percdm: i'm sorry, are you talking about the don?

his enthusiasm is contagious

  i know he is a good coach because he works the sideline with vigor

i'm not ready to can him, but i'm close

  he doesn't seem to be able to recruit enough talent

  and he can't keep talented guys on his roster

  remember how boring it was to watch skinner's teams win basketball games consistently?

timstwrt: yeah, i hated watching the flex, and going to the NCAA tournament every year

  that was the worst

percdm: watching a team play hard and compete all game long

timstwrt: if i were anyone playing BC in basketball, i would press for the first ten minutes, build up a 20-0 lead, and then coast the rest of the way

percdm: yeah, well, we will have to see what happens against good competition

  i don't think they'll have to press to build a lead like that

timstwrt: i'm saying, why leave it to chance?

  you get to practice your press, embarrass your opponent

  win/win

did you read the thing about donahue in the house organ, BC magazine?

percdm: i did not

timstwrt: he talks a great game...i can see how he'd be an awesome interview

  the only problem is that he doesn't seem to be very good at improving basketball players

it'll be interesting to see how hanlon develops, because i think he's good

percdm: he definitely sucks at coaching defense

  its hard to tell who is good on the team

  some guys show flashes

hanlon, clifford, anderson

but nobody stands out as awesome

  a lot of times, you can tell a freshman is going to be awesome...reggie jackson is a good example

timstwrt: i think anderson's pretty awesome

it's going to be sad when he transfers after BC loses 22 games again.

percdm: true, everyone does transfer

i think some of the sentiment regarding donahue is changing

the combination of the bryant and harvard losses seemed to have move some people

  until now, all we've heard about is how young the team is, and how he was left with no talent

timstwrt: it's been lonely work banging the "donahue sucks" gong, but someone's got to do it

percdm: its odd how much slack everyone seemed ready to give him

  as if bc was a broken program

timstwrt: in honor of the fifth straight loss to harvard, and in order to pat myself on the back, i found an email from the day he was hired

  where i said

  "Yeah, I mean, it's not hopeless or anything....his teams got better at Cornell. But he was still the coach the first seven years. It's sort of like the "There were no terrorist attacks under Bush after 9/11" argument. My point isn't that this is the worst hire ever or anything, I agree that we don't know. But this is the sort of hire I feared when we were talking about change for the sake of change. I hope he's a guy on the rise, who with major conference tools can make a jump. But with a slightly-over .500 career record and one tournament run, I'm skeptical. This is hardly an exciting hire."

percdm: bully for you

  i do think really good coaches turn programs around quickly

  in basketball

matt painter took a purdue program that had been to the tournament once in the previous 5 years and had them back in the tournament in his second season

  and every subsequent season

and he started nobody older than a sophomore in that second year

  meanwhile, donahue is in year 3 and can't beat harvard in 3 tries

timstwrt: the sophomores all stopped improving in like february of last season

  for a while, i thought and hoped i was wrong about donahue, because there was improvement from november to february last season

  but now, yuck

the one thing he had comign in was that he had just been successful at cornell. recruits now don't care about that, it was forever ago.

  all they know is that he loses all the time and everyone transfers

bring back al....he's not doing anything, since BC totally firebombed his reputation on his way out the door

percdm: that was a bullshit way to get rid of skinner

  but i don't think he'd come back

  i know he is still interesting coaching, but if i was him, i'd have no interest in coming back to bc

  i guess we have to give donahue through the end of the season until we have a fully informed opinion of him

  i think everyone else will give him through next year

timstwrt: i think you're right, but a change in AD always changes the expectations

percdm: yeah, we should be looking at successful mac coaches right now

  just so we know who bates will be considering

timstwrt: maybe there's a hot NAIA coach we can offer an eight year contract to

Hiding In Plain Sight: A BC - Florida State Preview

percDM: donahue tweet: It was great meeting with Donahue's Disciples (@bookofdonahue) this morning. Look forward to working with them to increase student support!
i hope somebody suggested winning more

timstwrt: "so, coach, about team defense...are we going to play any?"

percDM: i really hope they're competitive this year

timstwrt: a comment on eagle in atlanta says that we're going to be wearing camo jerseys against FSU
which sounds awful

percDM: it sounds like we are trying to find as many ways as possible to be completely embarrassed on saturday
it's going to be a beatdown of epic proportions
maybe the camo uniforms will help
people in bars will not be able to recognize bc in the highlights
maybe we should play the rest of the season in non-distinctive uniforms

timstwrt: you may have stumbled into a brilliant idea....a way for us to actually camoflage the football team
it'd be like football movies where they don't get licensing from the NFL
like any given sunday
with believable color schemes for teams that don't exist
or
we could hew closesly to another team's uniform scheme

percDM: like a team we tend to recruit against

timstwrt: for FSU we should just copy oregon's uniforms
 "whoa, how did oregon get so slow and out of shape?"

percDM: i think that may be a bridge too far

timstwrt: assistants could hold signs on the sideline that have our actual plays diagrammed

percDM: i don't think it would matter this saturday
fsu is going to dominate the game completely

timstwrt: i think it'll be similarish to the clemson game for a while, where we move the ball at times and don't get completely smoked until the second half
it'll never feel like we have a chance to win the game, but it won't get embarrassing until late
and no one will be watching, because the nation's eyes will be on stanford-notre dame

percDM: in the clemson game we kept it a game, but i don't think this will ever feel like a game
but i agree that it won't get out of hand until late
i'm just worried that army exposed yet another hole in this bc team
and that's that the offensive line can't pick up a blitz
to keep the game close, bc is going to need to score, and to do that rettig will need to throw 40-50 times

timstwrt: well, as bears fans, we know that that's something that can be mitigated against
i've been moderately pleased with martin so far, so i think he can make some adjustments there
the problem is going to be the five straight super-conservative possessions to start the game before FSU goes up two scores and we start to air it out

percDM: how can you not understand that the run game is completely fixed?

timstwrt: i think spaz scripts the first fifteen offensive plays, and they're all counters

percDM: counters are a little tricky for spaz
that's martin's influence on him
and he has to lobby so hard just to get that

timstwrt: but then, we get down a bunch, and spaz wanders the sideline puffing on a cigar and listening to the new james patterson book on his iphone
and martin gets to throw deep

percDM: that's the dream
i've noticed just a bit of rumbling that martin is the interim head coach to get this team to 3-9

timstwrt: so chase will end up 28 of 55 for 311, two touchdowns and two picks
i think the interim head coach should be assigned on a game-by-bame basis, and should include contest winners

percDM: that's a much better plan than handing it to martin

timstwrt: might not be in the best interests of the "student-athletes," but neither was hiring the current staff
can't be worse

percDM: i don't think spaz will get canned until the end of the season, but if he does, i don't want martin in the mix for the new job solely because the team saw slight improvement

timstwrt: he won't be, no matter what
this isn't west virginia
bates is going to want a clean break with the past

percDM: i hope so
i don't even want a coach with a mustache

timstwrt: if we lost the next four in a row, i think spaz gets fired before notre dame
in a desperate ploy to rally the troops for one big W

percDM: that would make at least 1/3 of our fan base content with the season

timstwrt: it would make me content with our season, if ND is undefeated at the time. bad enough to get a terrible coach fired, good enough to ruin someone else's dream season? sounds like my ideal 2012 season in review
spaziani's awful. had he somehow stumbled into 8 wins this year, it would have set BC football back a decade
now he's only set it back like five years

percDM: yeah, but if he could have stumbled into 8 wins, he would be an entirely different coach
he is bad at most aspects of head coaching, maybe all aspects

timstwrt: is visor-wearing an aspect?
 he's good at that
i can't wear a visor, so he's one up on me there

percDM: and it is one hell of a mustache
that's very football coach

timstwrt: i can send the punt team out in a timely fashion on fourth and four from my own 8, so we're even

percDM: i would love to know how that happened
where the thought process or communication broke down
because it's almost impossible to understand how you could screw that up

timstwrt: god forbid anyone ask him at the press conference....instead it's a bunch of not-so-subtle "what's it feel like to be about to be fired?"

percDM: i'm sure he would have said that the punt unit just needed to execute running on the field better
he uses lack of execution to explain everything

timstwrt: yes, he would have said that. and i would've said, "but, coach, i was sitting about twenty yards directly behind you, and i saw you standing with the punt team on the sidelines, not telling them to run onto the field"
and he'd say "i was telling them to execute. they chose not to. it's their team. whatever."

percDM: maybe he cares too much
and that's why he puts up the wall of indifference

timstwrt: because his heart is breaking?

percDM: the man has a huge heart
i don't know if you know this
but he once brought lunch to the staff
i forget what staff, maybe the maintenance crew

timstwrt: yeah, i believe it was the janitors

percDM: nick saban sleeps 1.5 hours a week and does so in the video room
spaz brings lunch to the janitors

timstwrt: shit, i don't want nick saban either
can we just get a respectable human being who isn't afraid of a passing attack and knows how to manage a game effectively?
this shouldn't be so hard

percDM: i'd take 2 of those 3
mainly, i'd prefer an offensively minded head coach

timstwrt: a lament for another day. what's your prediction?

percDM: 45-17

timstwrt: i've got 45-17 seminoles
wow
uncanny

percDM: fsu comes out angry and we shrink against superior talent and coaching

timstwrt: is that all they have on us?
let me revise my pick

percDM: it should be tough to watch

timstwrt: but at least our players will be hard to see