Football Alum Adds To Growing List Of Criticisms Of The Boston College Athletics Director

How about a BCI exclusive interview with Lively? How about it?

uber EO poster, HJS, posted this on EO and seems to inedicate that he editted Lively’s prose.

January 16, 2012
Gene DeFillippo Athletic Director Boston College 140 Commonwealth Ave. Chestnut Hill, MA

Gene,
You asked me to meet with you many years ago at your office to "say hello!" I had just given BC a donation and you were at the incubator stage of what today is the Athletic Development Office under your administration. I was surprised when you told me you wanted me to pay back the full scholarship I had received from Boston College years earlier.
You told me I owed Boston College for what the university had done for me. You then opened a leather- bound binder containing the names of my parents, along with a commitment to endow a scholarship of $250K to the university (athletic department). You mentioned that the money I had given was not enough. I told you then that I thought you should not be in the business on fundraising. I told you I would not sign such a pledge, and as I was leaving, you suggested that I contact two other former teammates and ask them to give money to the program. Shortly thereafter you were successful in your process to begin a new revenue source to the Athletic Department when Dave Nugent committed a substantial pledge.

I think this is where the wheel came off the wagon for our athletic program. The genesis of what is outlined in this communication to you began many years ago. My thought leaving your office was, "Does Gene get a piece of this as part of his compensation?"

Martin Luther King, Jr. said "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Your tenure as the Boston College Athletics Director is a remarkable example of the point made by Dr. King. Boston College needs to correct an intolerable situation. It is time that either you leave Boston College as the Athletic Director on your own accord or be forced out.
You were offered the stewardship of an incredible sports legacy. What you have done is nothing short of tragic. You have created a culture of fear throughout the Athletic Department.

My findings:
1.You have misused power.
2.You are abusive to employees and alum.
3.You shifted away from a traditional Athletic Director’s role to a role of sports fundraiser.
4.You instituted $1,000 surcharges for the right to keep season tickets & ever increasing parking fees destroying an incredible fan base (you financially insulted the fan base of Boston College).
5.You came up with a phony alibi that Boston is a professional sports town and that it is hard for
BC to survive.
6.You have instituted budget cuts that resulted in quality issues in the Athletic Department.
7.You have fired successful coaches to either keep operating budgets down and/or because they developed a national persona.
8.You have poor relationships with head coaches.
9.You overwork and under pay important providers in your staff.
10.You have caused two major sports programs to decline: the big money makers.
11.You bullying & intimidate ("If I have to kiss Father Leahy’s ass you better be kissing mine!").
12. You forced coaches to be a part of your noon walks "to show loyalty to you!"
13. You need to feel empowered by stating that "I am a Father Leahy guy."
14. You need to ‘create’ an appearance of power using Father Leahy.
15. Your emotions result in your offering ‘Mea Culpa(s)’
16. You caused big donors to walk away from Boston College as a result of the profanity you directed at them in a face-to-face meeting
17. You placed a clear focus on money at the expense of reason and the well being of Boston College athletes.
18. You use of profanity.
19. You state: "I pay these coaches!"
20. You need to feel self empowered by stating "I will be here as long as I wish to be or longer than
you!"
21. You control the board that nominates and votes people into the Football Hall of Fame. You voted
yourself into the Hall of Fame.
22. What many say is your legacy as Boston College Athletic Director:
a.You tarnished Boston College’s public image.
b.You tarnished Father Leahy’s image.
c.You tarnished Boston College sports image.
d.You tarnished the Boston College brand.
e.You caused decline in the fan base of Boston College.
f.You created a revolving door of head coaches (no proper vetting and no prior head
coaching experience) (you make a fortune).
g.You have caused a steady decline in alumni financial support.
h.You have caused a sense of helplessness on the part of BC Alum, friends and families.
i.You have caused the sense that it’s totally about money!
j.You have caused a decline in staff diversity.
k.You caused the creation of a bureaucracy (Athletic Development Office) at the expense
of the staff, Student-Athletes and our fan base.
23. Propensity to personalize your emotional view to the detriment of Boston College, football alum and with relationships with former BC coaches.
24. Public Blunder – Source: http://communityvoices.sites.post-gazet … ports/bob- smiziks-blog/30394-despite-vendetta-by-bc-athletic-director-uconn-still-might-gain-acc- memebership :
 "Boston College Athletic Director Gene DeFilippo is clearly sorry he made the astonishingly candid quotes about why he kept Connecticut out of the ACC, which helped Pitt get in. But the comments stand, and in the end UConn still could gain ACC membership and DeFilippo could be out of a job."
 "On Tuesday morning, it also was clear either (A) DeFilippo stood as one of the great whistle-blowers in major college athletics or (B) he had de-filipped his lid. By late Tuesday afternoon, after he had apologized for saying ESPN told the league to add Pittsburgh and Syracuse, it was clear DeFilippo again chose (B)"
 DeFilippo said he “spoke inappropriately and erroneously regarding ESPN’s role in conference expansion.”
 "How do you miss so badly on such a big and important topic? Isn’t this a serious indictment of his judgment? Or is he backing down from the truth to save his job? The real powers in the ACC are not pleased with DeFilippo for agitating the giant
four-lettered beast of Bristol and they shouldn’t be for rubbing UConn’s face in his temporary triumph."
 "The shock is not that ESPN, which denied DeFilippo’s assertions, would exert some influence; it’s that one of the BC’S Athletic Directors would boldly announce his school is doing what ESPN tells him to. It introduces questions about collusion and business practices."
I http://www.bc.edu/clubs/thebc/commercials/therapy.mov. I had to ask myself, "what kind of university executive creates such a self promoting video?" It was like watching former presidential candidate Michael Dukakis riding atop the tank when he ran for President. The Dukakis video, as does ‘your’ video, raised significant red flags and a question, "do I want that guy to represent me?" The answer to so many BC Eagles is hell no ? time to go!

I recall being at a BC football game many years ago. I, along with other BC football alum, was in President Leahy’s box. I was standing next to President Leahy when you ran over to me and placed your head on my chest and said "I love you!" I asked you to take your head off of my chest. Today, many years later I see that it was all about theatre to President Leahy, your video is proof of that!

This is about your record, Gene, and what is documented and what else is going to come out of what will happen in the next few days and months. People are going to feel empowered and protected because for so many of us this communication is liberating. There are protections for employees at the state and federal levels. Once employees hear of these protections they can speak freely knowing that a growing chorus will tell of their experiences working under your leadership!

What I loved about BC was its incredible sense of loyalty to its employees and the people of Boston spanning out across New England. It was a place where you could bring your family and feel a part of something larger than one’s self. You moved the focus from the teachings of Christ and fellowship to ‘it is all about money!" You, Gene DeFillippo, brought in an era of profound self serving behavior and greed at the expense of a historic sports legacy and its athletes.

I see someone who knows he has wronged people around him and in the greater community including our athletes, their families, our sport alumni, our cherished Golden Eagles fan base, our students and former coaches. Former Men’s Basketball Coach Al Skinner, with a record of 210-137 (.605 in 11 years), was fired, Women’s Basketball Coach Cathy Inglese, with a record of 359-225 (.627 in 20 years) was fired. And we all know what Head Football Coach Tom O’Brien accomplished. Then there was the firing of Former Head Football Coach Jeff Jagodzinski was it a "difference of vision for the future" or was it "disloyalty?" All these winning coaches gone!

These coaches are people of impeccable credentials and yet you have done an injustice to them all. You have made seriously hurtful comments to people in an attempt to show you have power. You wish to belittle those who are helpless because they need a job or their children may one day wish to attend Boston College. You have abused your power in a way that has left a significant trail ? one that is verifiable.

Gene, did you make the comment that you always have to ‘keep one in your back pocket’ in reference to the hiring of an African-American women’s basketball coach? Was this why Al Skinner was fired…..a private policy of only one African-American head coach at a time? Is/was there diversity on your staff? What was it like for the former African-American BC football alum working with you to diversify your staff? There are so many issues and, because of these issue, there are numerous BC football alum who no longer associate with BC.

saw this video and thought to myself how tragic:
By the way Gene, Al Skinner is not lazy. He was focused on winning and high graduation rates (like Cathy Inglese and Tom O’Brien) for his athletes. Like many coaches past and present, they do not want to have to treat you like you are a deity. Coach O’Brien did your ‘walks’ to get exercise, not to support you like you were the president of Boston College. Al Skinner was the wrong guy to slap that stereotype on! The ‘lazy’ story was concocted by less than a handful; then pushed into the media. I will deal with the Board of Trustees directly on this. Watch yourself in this video, your body language tells a far different story than your words:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEui_sxB-Fs

You blew up the basketball fan base with your donor seating plan. You financially insulted a population focused on Boston College basketball. The question I and so many have is, how are you compensated? Do you make money ‘personally’ from the Athletic Development Office operation above and beyond your base pay? I feel this along with what I have stated above is why you fired these great coaches. If these coaches had received new contracts, would you have made less because operational costs would increase or would you continue to push out the Ferna Phillips of the world and hire cheap labor to offset the increase?

To protect the interest(s) of African-Americans at Boston College and ‘all’ those of prospective student athletes under consideration from the various sports programs, I am corresponding with organizations that are motivated to have the truth revealed about your lack of effort regarding diversity.

Your intent was to show President Leahy that you could bring home the bacon, but in so doing you stepped outside the bounds of integrity.

CC:
Boston College Board of Trustees
President Leahy Boston College
WHDH Boston
Diana Morris, President Black Student Forum Boston College
NECN
Nwando Ofokansi AHANA Caucus Representative Director of Social & Political Action Black Student Forum Boston College
The Boston Globe The Boston Herald
Dr. Ines Maturana Sendoya Director, Office of AHANA Student Programs Boston College
The Boston College Chapter of the NAACP BOSTON COLLEGE
The Boston Herald ESPN WFSB (CT)
Michael Caprio Editor-in-Chief The HEIGHTS Boston College
Paul Sulzer Sports Editor The HEIGHTS Boston College
Jason Whitlock Sports Writer
Brenda Henry-Brown & Andy Petigny, Co-chairs Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial Committee Boston College
Dr. Akua Sarr & Carolyn Jupiter- McIntosh, Co- Chair’s Black Faculty, Staff, Administrators Group Boston College
Dan Bunch, Director Learning- to- Learn Program Boston College

I see someone who knows he has wronged people around him and in the greater community including our athletes, their families, our sport alumni, our cherished Golden Eagles fan base, our students and former coaches.

Glad to have you with us, JDuds.

why did you publish this. just becuase ATL published this and EO published this. You are a big knucklehead

OMG. like gosh.

people are going to take Lively seriously now.

BCKnucklehead74 I WAS BEING S-A-R-C-A-S-T-I-C duh?

Bus rides to San Diego, Boise, Dallas and Houston are quite costly.