2014 College basketball coaching carousel thread...

Yeah ... problem at BC is it was the now-retired athletic director - Gene DiFilippo - who fired Al Skinner. It was a dumb move. But keep in mind this was the same lunatic who fired football coach Jeff Jagodzinski because he had the unmitigated gall to further his career by interviewing for the New York Jets' head coaching job.

DiFilippo is gone. There is still a big mess in Chestnut Hill.

 

To be fair, Jagodzinski has yet to leave a job under good terms and for a guy to go from being the HC at BC and interviewing for NFL HC openings to coaching in the UFL and is now the OC at Georgia State, you have to be a special kind of douchebag to fall that far that fast.

 

Jagodzinski might be all those things. Still didn't warrant DiFilippo firing him for interviewing for an NFL head coaching job. Maybe Jagodzinski knew he wasn't going to get it, but perhaps he wanted to go through the experience for any number of positive reasons.

 

Sam, I've lived in Boston for 40 years and covered BC for over 20. Through all that time, the school has always, always, always envisioned its sports programs as being about three weight classes higher than they actually are. Firing Skinner, and Jim O'Brien before him, are just symptoms of the disease.
Michael Vega in the Globe today wrote BC's going after Amaker. BC doesn't get that right now, Harvard is a better job.

 

Won't happen. Yeah, BC could money-whip Amaker, but I doubt he falls for it. He's done a remarkable job at Harvard - consecutive NCAA bids the last three seasons - and he knows what it takes and the caliber of kid he can get at Harvard will help sustain the Crimson.

Donahue didn't make that transformation going from Cornell to Boston College. What might work in the Ivy probably gets you fired in the ACC. Additionally, Amaker has been in that pressure cooker before and it didn't work in Ann Arbor. On top of everything else, you think he wants to bump heads with Mike Krzyzewski - his coach at Duke back in the '80s - 1-3 times every season?

Look elsewhere, BC. Seriously doubt Tommy Amaker's leaving ...

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Another funny BC story. When Tom O'Brien left Chestnut Hill to take the N.C. State football job, one of the things he openly griped about was that the school was buried in the food chain of the metropolitan area ... might as well have said that winning a national title wouldn't bump the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots or Red Sox off the front.

Came to Raleigh and got all the media he might have ever wanted. Careful what you wish for ...

 

The only person in my time in Boston who put BC ahead of the pros in public attention was Doug Flutie. No coach who ever lived could do it. Tom Coughlin couldn't. Gary Williams couldn't.

 

The last time BC hoops was a national story, the mob was involved.

 

True sad story of my former career. At the Phoenix, Charlie Pierce and I were working on a story on BC sports. Athletic director Bill Flynn met us for an interview believing we knew about the point-shaving investigation, and was prepared to admit it, giving us national scoop. We didn't know and didn't ask. Fortunately for our egos and sanity, we didn't find that out until years later. Still hurts, though.

 

Sounds like the PC administration did the right thing based on story now hitting
the national news. It was a rape charge.

Always heard that Providence was Cooley's dream job since he grew up in
South Providence. Also has a 7 footer signed for next year which should help
to keep him there.

 

BC has had some great stories of the years like the QB before Flutie, ( think his name
was Scala) who showed up falling down drunk at practice and was sent home. Think that was the year BC as 0-11 and lost to lowly Holy Cross at home.

Always thought that BC football players had an unwarranted high opinion of themselves in the 80's. Was able to observe them at their local habitat - Maryann's
in Cleveland Circle. You could identify them by their Adidas turf shoes and inflated
ego.

 

Sam, here's a PS on Tom O'Brien's complaint. It's a structural problem nothing can be done about. The world's biggest college town has too many colleges for any one school's team or teams to get real popular, as the town won't unify behind it or them. My kids went to BU. They wouldn't root for a BC team in the Final Four, BCS championship, or NCAA polo if it exists.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, doesn't the whole state get behind UMass though? I know it's not in Boston, but still...