Not a lot of respect earned this year in the ACC except in soccer. No credit unfortunately for solid hockey and sailing programs.

Baseball - 17 and 33 (ACC 7-22)

Mens Basketball - in progress - 7 and 16 (ACC 2-7)

Women's Basketball - in progress - 5 and 18 (ACC 0-10)

Football - 4 and 8 (ACC 3-5)

Men's Ice Hockey - in progress - 17-10-1

Women's Ice Hockey - in progress - 18-8-3

Men's Soccer - 14-6-1 (ACC 4-4)

Women's Soccer - 12-6-3 (ACC 6-4)

Field Hockey - 10-9 (ACC 1-4)

Women's Lacrosse - 12-7 (ACC 1-4)

Softball - 15-31 (ACC 5-14)

Volleyball - 7-24 (ACC 3-17)

[Ed. note -- Bumped, and Go Giants!]

So, its about 2 1/2 hours before the kickoff of Super Bowl XLVI and unlike most of my fellow New Englanders I am not yet parked in front of the television or at some party. Yes, come 6:30 I will watch the game and enjoy the homemade chili and assorted munchies I have put together, but in all honesty, to me..it's just another game.

I am a college sports fan and in particular a Boston College sports fan and although I am proud of the fact that no school will be better represented in today's game than BC, what I know even more is that this game and the continued success of the vast majority of the Boston professional sports teams, will only serve to push the teams and the sports I love the most further into oblivion.

It hurts me to say this, but in my heart I know it's the truth, Boston College athletics and college athletics in general in the northeast and in Boston specifically are no more than a niche market. I don't believe it was always that way, but since 1993, despite unparalleled success on the fields, BC athletics has slid the way of Pro Tennis and the Tour de France. You can find it on TV, but no one cares. It has been relegated to internet web sites, ESPNU and other non-national network venues.

What changed in 1993? Well Boston College football was in the midst of one its greatest seasons ever. It had just knocked off #1 Notre Dame in what arguably was one of the greatest college football games ever played and had narrowly missed out on a Sugar Bowl berth, dropping a heartbreaking 17-14 decision to undefeated West Virginia a week later. Tom Coughlin (yes, that Tom Coughlin), had the Eagle program soaring. Ticket demand was at an all time high and the expansion of Alumni Stadium was all set to be completed for the fall of 1994.

Down the road in Foxboro, there was also a revolution taking place. Bob Kraft took over the Patriots and hired former NY Giant Super Bowl winning coach Bill Parcells to resurrect what was arguably the worst franchise in the NFL.

Unbelievably, BC owned the Boston area football market at that time. BC had more season ticket holders than the Patriots, demand for tickets was higher and more BC games were available on TV than Patriot games, because of the NFL blackout rule.

All the major television news stations and newspapers not only had BC beat reporters, but they attended and reported on both home and road games and even practices. BC-Notre Dame in both 1993 and 1994 dominated the media airwaves, even WEEI, spent significant time covering BC athletics.

Think of how absurd that all sounds now.

Boston has become a two sport town, with the Red Sox and Patriots completely dominating the market since that time. WEEI, since 1993, the driving force behind Boston sports talk, went out of their way to push BC off the cliff, doing everything possible to discourage any discussion of BC athletics, including open ridicule. Since that time the television and print media have followed, offering virtually no coverage of BC athletics through their mediums. It was unheard of that a BC football game was not on the front page of the Sunday Boston Globe, now that is almost always the case and when was the last time there was a weeknight television sports report which contained anything on the Eagles?

The fall out from this has been that an entire generation of potential fans have little or no knowledge of what BC has to offer and as was shown from the Reddit post of the other day (Map of College Football Fan Domains), BC has not just become irrelevant in the landscape of Boston sports, but actually despised and these are from the few people who actually are into college football. I believe it can be argued that Boston is the single worst college sports town in America. The Northeast has typically been looked at as a pro sports bastion, but in the other major cities, there is at least some area of college sports that has a foothold in the culture, most notably basketball in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC. Here, outside of college hockey, which is a classic niche market, there is downright scorn and if you don't believe that this impacts the perception of recruits, ultimately the life blood of all programs, think again.

The people who work in my office, those I share a commuter rail ride in daily, have no knowledge or interest at all in what BC is trying to peddle. I mention going to the game over the weekend and they ask what game. I bring up the Beanpot or the NCAA basketball tournament coming to town and they honestly either don't know anything about them or ask when they are. A former co-worker lived within 2 miles of campus and had no idea games were played there, he only knew that there seemed to be a traffic spike for some reasons on Saturdays and forget about getting people to go with me to a game. My stepchildren, all of whom are in their mid 20s, have never shown one bit of interest in attending a game and if they do come to the house on a Saturday will go out of their way to avoid watching college football, but they will never miss a Patriot Sunday.

Still don't think its the case, look at the dwindling attendance at home football games and home basketball games. The anticipated bump from the move to the ACC just has not materialized. Even the 2007 football team or 2005-06 basketball team, both of whom had big runs in their respective seasons, were met with a less than lukewarm response. Who can forget the Florida State game in 2007 when rain was to blame for the #2 team in the country not being able to sell out a home game? Both Alumni Stadium and Conte Forum have turned into a place where a family can take in a cheap night out, where the kids care more about getting on the video board than anything else. I never recall there being that many small children at games at least when I was in school, the demand to see a Georgetown at Roberts Center for instance, was just too great.

So how does it all change, or can it change?

Continue reading this post »

As a WVU alum excited to enter the Big XII conference in 2012, I tried to think of a school that portrayed the "when expansion can be bad for a program" model. To be honest, I couldn't think of any until I realized that Boston College was still around. You guys were always solid in b-ball and football and had quite a history w/ Flutie, Ryan and others. Obviously things haven't worked well for your 2 major athletic programs. Also, you are in relative geographic isolation from the rest of the ACC.

These are a couple of things that COULD face WVU in the coming years. I wanted to get your take on a couple of things. Are you happy you made the switch to the ACC? Is holding a warm spot in both sports in the soft underbelly of the ACC standings better than being a top program in a really, really, really bad conference? (I truly am wanting to know....don't read into my snarkiness)

This is something that WVU could face in the coming years and wanted to get the take of a school where it clearly hasn't worked out from an on-the-field standpoint (but likely has worked out in terms of $$). Any input would be appreciated?

The point of this post is not to defend Spaz, but to seriously consider objectively what ails BC recruiting and how do you fix it. So here is my question. What do you pitch to these 4 and 5 star, heck even 3 star recruits, that choose to play elsewhere? Or is the problem something else...for example, lack of recruiting experience or a limitation on where BC recruits? Let's hear your best pitch.

Will be updated!

This week’s brackets

St. Paul >>>> 16 RIT vs. 1 Minnesota-Duluth >>>> 9 Minnesota vs. 8 Michigan

Green Bay >>>> 14 Denver vs. 4 Ferris State >>>> 12 Notre Dame vs. 5 Boston College

Bridgeport >>>> 13 Northern Michigan vs. 3 Massachusetts-Lowell >>>> 11 Miami vs. 6 Merrimack

Worcester >>>> 15 Union vs. 2 Boston University >>>> 10 Maine vs. 7 Ohio State

Conference breakdowns

CCHA — 6 HEA — 5 WCHA — 3 ECAC — 1 AHA — 1

As we have seen in the Giants trips in 2007 and 2012, BC Eagles have played well in the frozen tundra and now it's iced over!

Again, I may have been 1 year early with scores and scores of posts on the defunct and dead Eagle Insider, but the angry alum handwriting is now in ink on the Towers walls. Maybe even carved in stone?

I was right about the word being out about BC recruiting and Spazoo being Clownshoes in September and we have witnessed the very low end, 11th out of 12 ACC ranked classes, and 63rd out of 68 BCS conference schools, and all the rest discussed here.

What was disturbing was the calls from HS Football star's parents in the beginning of the 2011 season with regards to the Kevin Rogers fiasco and Spazoo which I posted when I went for a September road trip and heard the deal!

When our little GDF Napoleon ignored most calls back then about will Spazoo be there, I figured Spazoo was a dead duck with the horrible start, (as predicted before the season and even before the Duke game), and I went with my gut projections which were again all wrong, but with all the great Coaches who switched and were hired this year, wow did BC and GDF screw the Eagle Aerie pooch!

I also posted about BC donors in general and the "In Like Flynn Fund" check writers that had stopped sending in large sums and some of these irate alums were ticked not only with the football team's performance, but with the overall image and persona of Spazoo and the Rogers deal and the whole high profile BC image presented by this mumbling clown!

To make a long very boring post end, I think that barring a miracle comeback season, Frank Spaziani will be paid off and sent packing. Hopefully a nuclear enema and entire staff purge since this CFA Football is a tens of millions of dollars revenue stream and Spazoo and crew are bad for business.

I just can't see the BC Money Trolley being stopped like it has and that not having a huge impact with the "Sleepers" that run BC, or Leahy and the lazy Trustees.

As I posted a few weeks ago, do not be surprised if the mastermind of this cluster fubar disaster GDF, the self-appointed BC Hall of Famer, is not forced out or the usual "seeking new life challenges crap" to make him save face.

I hope it's this June so a new AD can nuclear flush these losers out of Yawkey and GDF has nothing to do with the new hire like in 2008! Even if still there, GDF may be told to sit this one out!

In any event, this season will be very challenging and with BC's lack of team speed and skilled position talent and the coaching staff changes and their shortcomings....only a perfect gameplan storm and slow down strategy can hope to muster over 7 wins, but our new offensive coordinator is bringing the Spread Offense?

I got nuthin' left but a future season record prediction.

I am so glad the Spazoo presser spent all that time about the 6 guys we have playing in the Super Bowl.

How embarrassing and pathetic was that for some parent to listen and wait to hear how their son worked from Pee Wee Pop Warner to HS for 9 years pumping iron and working, to hear about former players rankings?

Just incredible!

Make no mistake, we all want a 14-0 season and the Glass Crystal Football, but do you see that happening with 3 years of a 1-11 performance versus TOP 25 AP season ending ranked teams?

[Ed. note -- Promoted]

No, not moron, more on.

As I've posted before, my colleague's son goes to HS with Akeel Lynch. Last week, I passed on the story of Omar Easy to the colleague to relate to his son, and ultimately to Akeel. Today, my colleague came in and told me Akeel's reasoning and thought process with the de-commit from Boston College and verbal to Penn State.

It's an interesting look into the mind of a 17/18 year old and the effects of negative recruiting.

First, he was informed by Penn State that BC's entire coaching staff will likely be gone within one year as BC is in a death spiral (my words, not their's).

Second, he was told that he could be assured of a pro-style offense and emphasis on the running game at PSU, whereas at BC, with the impending coaching change, he would not have that assurance. The other interesting tidbit - he was advised by his HS coach that he should look at the schools as if he was not a football player and should determine what school would be his best choice academically as far as the doors / job a degree from that school might open. His answer: still BC. So that tells me, the negative recruiting, and perhaps Akeel's own belief that he will be a NFL player someday (what HS "blue-chip" doesn't think that?), overcame the fact he acknowledges BC would be the better school were he not a football player.

Finally, as many know, Akeel is from Toronto. The son of the family he is living with, a HS classmate and also a teammate on the football team, is going to Penn to play football.

So there are a variety of factors working against BC, chief among them is Penn State's negative recruiting vs. Spaz. Which is, of course, why mega-programs can just keep extending coach's contracts, even if the coach is on the hot-seat. Tennessee and Dooley just lost one of the best LB recruits in the country, probably for the same reason.

At least we can all look at the NBA boxscores and see 3 BC Hoops players getting tiempo!

The NHL is scattered with loads of Eagles but last night Jared played like 42 and drained some clutch free throws!

Reggie is starting to get a consistent 10-15 minutes a game whihc is really good for a rookie and the injury to the Thunder Point Guard helped.

Craig Smith is also getting consistent minutes and if you look at his production numbers he is solid!

GO EAGLES!

BR wrote an article on Harris saying he was gone. About half the article discusses how sad it is the way Montel Harris ended his collegiate career, and how he will be the only skill player BC will be missing next year. Apparently, their writers do no research and have absolutely no clue what they are talking about. This is not a minor mistaken statistic, this is whether perhaps the most talented player on the team is returning or not. Very sad, but not surprising.

[Ed. note -- Bumped]

Several caveats for this post. First, this is not an endorsement of Spaz. I honestly think that much of any improvment that occurs next season will be because of the players, Jim Bollman and Doug Martin. Second, this is not an endorsement of the Bleacher Report for their usually inaccurate analysis. Third, I am honestly not that optimistic but I have to look for hope somewhere.

With all of that being said, check out this article.

Point 1: We did get some decent recruits in 2011

As sophmores, these players will make a much bigger contribution in 2012. Specifically, I'm eager to see what Brian Miller can bring to the table. IF Doug Martin can effectively orchestrate a higher octane offense, IF Chase Rettig develops and continues where he left from the Miami game, and IF Spaz doesn't screw it all up like he did with Kevin Rogers, we could have a good year. We're returning 19 starters next year I believe. Our defense began to look solid especially in the latter half of the season against Notre Dame, N.C. State and Miami. The potential is there to have some good success next year. This is a where a good head coach figures in. These pieces will fall into place with a good coach, or we could be just as crappy next year in spite of all the potential. Much of our success also rides on Chase Rettig's shoulders.

Point 2: We still have to face a lot of talented teams next year

Even if we play well we're going to have a tough time with Notre Dame, Clemson, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and N.C. State. Even with a good team that is clicking, we face the possibility of losing to many teams who simply have better players and better coaches.

Point 3: This is more of a question than a point. What happens if we do somehow succeed next year and achieve perhaps a 7-8 win season?

It seems evident from Rivals and Scouts articles that Spaziani is focusing heavily on the 2013 recruiting class. There are dozens of articles about recruits who are coming to Junior Day and about high level recruits who are seriously considering BC. Would a moderately successful season, put us back on track in the recruiting department? Can we land these recruits? I don't know, but I sure hope so.

Conclusion

A lot of pieces all have to fall in place and go perfectly in order to rebuild the program. Doug Martin has to be an offensive genius. Chase Rettig has to seriously improve. The defense has to be stellar. Spaziani has to recruit his ass off in 2012 (to make up for this season). If I was a betting man I would bet against us. What I think most fans agree on, is that 2012 is a do or die year for BC football. If we succeed, good on Spaziani and crew. If not, cut bait and pray there are as many good HC candidates next year as there were this year.

P.S. Boy was David Solar wrong on his conclusory remarks in the article.