http://www.bcinterruption.com/boston-college-football-coaching-search-frank-spaziani/2012/12/2/3719364/boston-college-football-coaching-search-notre-dame-defensive-coordinator-bob-diaco-to

Could Diaco's BC be a Kelly's Cincy? In the ACC, I think it definitely could be.. This situation scares the Kiff out of me.

The difference with this job and jobs like Toledo or bowling Green are twofold.

 

At a MAC level school, most everyone has roughly equal talent. Therefore, great coaching wins games. You learn while you win, then you move up to a mid-level job with experience. At that poi t you are good enough to win with lesser players like Saban, Meyer and Kelly all did at their mid tier job. Then you get a Big Time gig.

 

The problem with starting at a school like BC is you are trying to learn to coach with bad players. BC is never foot to have the talent of 2/3rds of that conference. Trying to learn to coach with inferior talent is a losing proposition. Then you fail at a school like BC and may never get another chance.

I'm sorry but I think you're really over-stating the attractiveness of the BC program here. Yeah, you can win some games but you will always lose the ACC championship to one of the southern teams like Clemson and the Florida teams. Their most successful coach of the last 25 years happens to be a HOF football coach who wins big wherever he goes. You have no natural recruiting base and a questionable fan base, none of which is helped by the teams you play in your conference. Facilities kinda suck too. I have not seen any evidence that ACC membership has elevated that program at all. Hell, O'Brien left BC to take the NCST job! Not a "destination" school at all not to mention it's in the same bloody conference as BC!! That there should tell us all we need to know...

 

I guess the disconnect is you seem to think he is looking for a destination job his first time out and others are looking at a stepping-stone situation.

 

Bob's 39-year's old for crying out loud.

 

I doubt very seriously he's looking to hit a grand slam right now.

 

But if he goes to BC and does well - which he absolutely can - he'll set himself up for a major step up.

$2,000,000 per year!!!

 

You take the job...

The difference with this job and jobs like Toledo or bowling Green are twofold.

 

At a MAC level school, most everyone has roughly equal talent. Therefore, great coaching wins games. You learn while you win, then you move up to a mid-level job with experience. At that poi t you are good enough to win with lesser players like Saban, Meyer and Kelly all did at their mid tier job. Then you get a Big Time gig.

 

The problem with starting at a school like BC is you are trying to learn to coach with bad players. BC is never foot to have the talent of 2/3rds of that conference. Trying to learn to coach with inferior talent is a losing proposition. Then you fail at a school like BC and may never get another chance.

 

Again, everyone's talking like BC has never won games, period. That's just not the case:

 

2008: 9-5

2007: 11-3 (finished #10 in the AP)

2006: 9-3 (finished #20 in the AP)

2005: 9-3 (finished #18 in the AP)

2004: 9-3

2003: 8-5

2002: 9-4

2001: 8-5 (finished #21 in the AP)

2000: 7-5

 

BC has clearly shown that with the right guy at the helm, they can win some games. They can recruit the Catholic schools in Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and they have picked some kids out of Florida as well. BC is an attractive option for academically-focused recruits that aren't necessarily studs coming out of high school, but can play solid football (think Luke Kuechly).

 

I'm not saying that it's a dream job, but it's a solid place to start for a guy who's never coached before, and putting together one 10-win season probably gets the big boys noticing him. Just look at Charlie Strong at Louisville -- a hyped coordinator rarely is going to just jump into jobs like Texas, OSU, LSU, etc. (the only examply I can think of is Muschamp off the top of my head). Boston College is a program that clearly hired the wrong guy in Spaziani, but before that they were a very, very solid football program. There's no reason to believe they couldn't return to their previous ways with the right guy at the helm.

Edited December 4, 201212 yr by Katzenboyer

I'm sorry but I think you're really over-stating the attractiveness of the BC program here. Yeah, you can win some games but you will always lose the ACC championship to one of the southern teams like Clemson and the Florida teams. Their most successful coach of the last 25 years happens to be a HOF football coach who wins big wherever he goes. You have no natural recruiting base and a questionable fan base, none of which is helped by the teams you play in your conference. Facilities kinda suck too. I have not seen any evidence that ACC membership has elevated that program at all. Hell, O'Brien left BC to take the NCST job! Not a "destination" school at all not to mention it's in the same bloody conference as BC!! That there should tell us all we need to know...

 

The problem with your sentiment is that BC HAS beaten the Southern teams like Va. Tech, Clemson, and FSU within the past few years. 2010's 7-6 campaign included a win against Clemson, they beat Florida State in 2009, and beat Va. Tech and FSU (both games on the road) in 2008.

 

Again, some of you are making it seem like Diaco's looking at a school that has NEVER won. Maybe it's because I'm from the Boston area and remember the days when BC was good (and beating ND on a consistent basis) but Diaco has succeeded at building a world-class defense at a small, private Catholic school, and now he's being interviewed for the head position at a school with a similar profile (albeit without the tradition of ND). If he can be half as successful building a team the way he has been building a defense at Notre Dame, that will be enough to get to 8 wins in a pretty weak ACC.

 

I know some of you guys are really attached to Bobby D, but don't just brush off the BC interview like it's nothing. If he wasn't interested, he wouldn't have set up the interview -- he's got some pretty large things on his plate upcoming, so the excuse would have been there.

Edited December 4, 201212 yr by Katzenboyer

The problem with your sentiment is that BC HAS beaten the Southern teams like Va. Tech, Clemson, and FSU within the past few years. 2010's 7-6 campaign included a win against Clemson, they beat Florida State in 2009, and beat Va. Tech and FSU (both games on the road) in 2008.

 

Again, some of you are making it seem like Diaco's looking at a school that has NEVER won. Maybe it's because I'm from the Boston area and remember the days when BC was good (and beating ND on a consistent basis) but Diaco has succeeded at building a world-class defense at a small, private Catholic school, and now he's being interviewed for the head position at a school with a similar profile (albeit without the tradition of ND). If he can be half as successful building a team the way he has been building a defense at Notre Dame, that will be enough to get to 8 wins in a pretty weak ACC.

 

I know some of you guys are really attached to Bobby D, but don't just brush off the BC interview like it's nothing. If he wasn't interested, he wouldn't have set up the interview -- he's got some pretty large things on his plate upcoming, so the excuse would have been there.

 

Beating Clemson while going 7-6 is missing my point. They would not beat whomever they may face in an ACC championship game if they ever got there again amongst those southern teams!

 

Your Boston roots are clouding your judgement. You brush right over the fact that O'Brien left there to take a job at a crap football school in the same conference! That speaks VOLUMES.

 

I'm sorry but BC is a dead program. Their facilities aren't good, their fan base is small and doesn't travel.

 

BC would've finished 5th in the MAC this year.

Beating Clemson while going 7-6 is missing my point. They would not beat whomever they may face in an ACC championship game if they ever got there again amongst those southern teams!

 

Your Boston roots are clouding your judgement. You brush right over the fact that O'Brien left there to take a job at a crap football school in the same conference! That speaks VOLUMES.

 

I'm sorry but BC is a dead program. Their facilities aren't good, their fan base is small and doesn't travel.

 

BC would've finished 5th in the MAC this year.

 

We'll just have to agree to disagree.

 

As for your O'Brien argument, I went to school with a few kids who played under him, and know a few boosters in that program. O'Brien would have stayed at BC if they wanted him to. When NCSU came calling, the athletic department granted permission to interview, and when he told them what they were offering, they said sayonara. There was no one screaming for TOB to stick around the Heights, and him leaving was more a reflection of the program's frustration with their coach than him jumping a sinking ship (and Jagodzinski won 20 games in the two years following O'Brien's departure).

He should keep in mind that at BC, they will fire your a$$ if you try to interview for other jobs.

 

Just ask Jeff Jagodzinski...just sayin', not too good of a situation for a "stepping stone" job.

Again, everyone's talking like BC has never won games, period. That's just not the case:

 

2008: 9-5

2007: 11-3 (finished #10 in the AP)

2006: 9-3 (finished #20 in the AP)

2005: 9-3 (finished #18 in the AP)

2004: 9-3

2003: 8-5

2002: 9-4

2001: 8-5 (finished #21 in the AP)

2000: 7-5

 

BC has clearly shown that with the right guy at the helm, they can win some games. They can recruit the Catholic schools in Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and they have picked some kids out of Florida as well. BC is an attractive option for academically-focused recruits that aren't necessarily studs coming out of high school, but can play solid football (think Luke Kuechly).

 

I'm not saying that it's a dream job, but it's a solid place to start for a guy who's never coached before, and putting together one 10-win season probably gets the big boys noticing him. Just look at Charlie Strong at Louisville -- a hyped coordinator rarely is going to just jump into jobs like Texas, OSU, LSU, etc. (the only examply I can think of is Muschamp off the top of my head). Boston College is a program that clearly hired the wrong guy in Spaziani, but before that they were a very, very solid football program. There's no reason to believe they couldn't return to their previous ways with the right guy at the helm.

 

You're not getting it. The reason BC was able to enjoy success during a short period of time in the mid 2000's is because Bobby Bowden had officially mailed it in. Look at FSU teams over that period of team...

 

Cory touched on exactly the correct point. No one uses Purdue or Vandy or Iowa State or Minnesota or Colorado or Boston College as a spring board. The level of competition isn't equal. Charlie Strong takes a job at Louisville and was getting the same level of talent as Cincy, as Rutgers, as UConn, ect. You take a MAC job, you are going to face other MAC schools 8 games a season, maybe one AQ team. With an equal talent pool you can flip teams in a hurry. But if you go to the ACC you will ALWAYS be middle of the pack and you'll never win big. Not when VTech is in town. Not when UNC and NCSU will out recruit you. Not with Clemson and FSU competitive again.

 

And please don't point to me Frank Leahy, who coached there for 2 seasons before the USA was even involved in WWII. That's absurd and pathetically dated. And don't bring up Tom Coughlin either, the guy bounced around the NFL for close to 2 decades as a coordinator in the NFL before coaching BC for 3 seasons

 

The Boston College job is a death sentance. Where is Jeff Jagodzinski? Dan Henning? Jack Bicknell?

You're not getting it. The reason BC was able to enjoy success during a short period of time in the mid 2000's is because Bobby Bowden had officially mailed it in. Look at FSU teams over that period of team...

 

Cory touched on exactly the correct point. No one uses Purdue or Vandy or Iowa State or Minnesota or Colorado or Boston College as a spring board. The level of competition isn't equal. Charlie Strong takes a job at Louisville and was getting the same level of talent as Cincy, as Rutgers, as UConn, ect. You take a MAC job, you are going to face other MAC schools 8 games a season, maybe one AQ team. With an equal talent pool you can flip teams in a hurry. But if you go to the ACC you will ALWAYS be middle of the pack and you'll never win big. Not when VTech is in town. Not when UNC and NCSU will out recruit you. Not with Clemson and FSU competitive again.

 

And please don't point to me Frank Leahy, who coached there for 2 seasons before the USA was even involved in WWII. That's absurd and pathetically dated. And don't bring up Tom Coughlin either, the guy bounced around the NFL for close to 2 decades as a coordinator in the NFL before coaching BC for 3 seasons

 

The Boston College job is a death sentance. Where is Jeff Jagodzinski? Dan Henning? Jack Bicknell?

 

I do not want Diaco to go, but I like to keep it real and simple no matter, and the reality is that a good coach can win anywhere. Even Northwestern. If Diaco works his ass off recruiting and convinces the administration to update the facilities, then, with and in front of that huge Boston market (not the chicken), together with his tenacity and the imposition of a good system, he can show the world that BC can still win and that he is a good Head Coach. He will be doing that in a very visible way and other bigger programs will be watching.

 

It is actually a perfect situation because, as has been proven here, people do not believe you can win at BC and so they do not except much. All he has to do is show improvement. BC went 2-10 this season, 4-8 last season, and 7-6 the season before. That's 13-24 over the last three seasons, and moving in the wrong direction. Just with good fundamental recruiting and coach, Diaco can show vast improvement. If he shows a winning record of, let's say, 23-15 over the next three seasons, those numbers will jump out at people. Year three only has to be a few games over 0.500, let's say 8-5, and the big boys will come calling. He gets them to 9-4, and he can fill out his own contract.

 

He should take the job, but only if he is ready. I am not sure, given his limited access and, frankly, poor handling of the press, that he is. Coach Kelly, I am certain has done the following: sat Bob down and worked out a plan to improve his PR image and increase his exposure while promising to coach him into being a better front man and administrator for an organization. IMHO, Coach Diaco will be as ready as he'll ever be to take over a Northwestern or Iowa in two years.

 

Will he wait that long, and will BC decide to take a chance on him now? That all depends on how Coach Kelly handles this situation, how impatient Coach Diaco is, and how his interview went.

Edited December 4, 201212 yr by 2lakes

Eww... What underwhelming competition for the job:

 

"Boston College down to Saints OL coach Aaron Kromer, Ball St. HC Pete Lembo, and ND DC Bob Diaco for head coach job."

 

Further cements my notion that Boston College is an awful job...

The difference with this job and jobs like Toledo or bowling Green are twofold.

 

At a MAC level school, most everyone has roughly equal talent. Therefore, great coaching wins games. You learn while you win, then you move up to a mid-level job with experience. At that poi t you are good enough to win with lesser players like Saban, Meyer and Kelly all did at their mid tier job. Then you get a Big Time gig.

 

The problem with starting at a school like BC is you are trying to learn to coach with bad players. BC is never foot to have the talent of 2/3rds of that conference. Trying to learn to coach with inferior talent is a losing proposition. Then you fail at a school like BC and may never get another chance.

/\ Agreed completely.

bob diaco is one of the hottest assistant coaches out there right now and im sure if he really wanted a head coaching job he could do better than BC. imo i think diaco is back next year.

According to Keith Arnold's twitter (@KeithArnoldNBC), BC has narrowed it down to Saints OL coach Aaron Kromer, Ball St. HC Pete Lembo, and Diaco.

 

Don't know much about the other two, but I'd think you'd have to be leaning towards someone with HC experience, no?