BC Interruption, a Boston College Eagles community

Coach Donahue, along with the rest of the staff, was the main attraction for me. The system they play fits my playing style, too. Once I had made a connection with the staff and saw where I would fit into the offense, it was an easy decision for me - especially when I finally came to campus and met the guys and saw what the atmosphere on campus was like. Choosing BC was a no-brainer for me.

Thanks to all our fans who came tonight. We really appreciate the support. Stay with this young team - there are great days ahead.

The issue, instead, is the charisma of the coach. Teams adopt the personality of their leader. Donahue is energetic, dynamic, and innovative. Those attributes are evident on the basketball team. The Eagles play an exciting game at a frantic pace, launching 3-pointers and diving for loose balls. They'll undoubtedly make mistakes, but it will be fun watching them grow collectively.

The football team, by comparison, reflects Spaziani's defeatist mentality. The Eagles play not to lose, or at least to minimize the final deficit. Consider their final drive of the game, with 10:16 left in the fourth quarter. Down 31 points, they ran 13 plays for 37 yards, wasting 7:01 before punting from the FSU 43. Those 13 plays broke down as 11 runs and two passes. Needing to maximize time to mount any sort of a comeback, the Eagles threw in the towel. They had nothing to lose by going for it on fourth down in FSU territory, yet they punted to the Seminoles and basically begged for mercy.

With that kind of coaching, get used to losing in the foreseeable future.

Boston College coach Steve Donahue is starting over. He doesn’t have one player left from the Al Skinner era, and that was two seasons ago. Yet, Donahue showed no fear with a team that might struggle to win one ACC game due in large part to its youth, inexperience and lack of star talent. Freshman Ryan Anderson has a shot to become the next hidden gem for the Eagles, but he’s not close to breaking through yet.

Lonnie Jackson, a 6-foot-4-inch guard from Valencia, Calif., will join Boston College and Coach Donahue's team this fall. In this Q&A, Jackson gives some insights to his game as he looks forward to arriving on campus on June 23.

Reggie Jackson likely is going to stay in the draft. He'll be a workout wonder and a first-round pick. If he does depart, Steve Donahue will have to completely overhaul his roster in his second season, building the Eagles from the ground up.

Reggie Jackson may be the best player in the ACC next season, but he’s not going to have much of a supporting cast. BC’s four other starters from last season are out of eligibility and that group combined for 43.8 points a game. Steve Donahue’s first full recruiting class includes six players that mostly flew under the radar of teams from the power conferences.

"I try to do it like I did it at Cornell," Donahue said. "You just can’t get caught up in those things. The things that matter most are the things that you do in the practice facility. We had to basically win every game in the Ivy League to get to the NCAA tournament, which I feel the same way here. We have to play really well. We’re excited to play in the ACC tournament. I think you focus in on that and try to advance rather than all the other things that can cloud your mind."

There are a few contenders. One is Steve Donahue, who took over a Boston College team that finished 15-16 overall last season with essentially the same personnel as he has this season. But contrary to expectations, BC isn’t a .500 team this season. This season, Donahue has turned BC’s so-so offense into Cornell on steroids, and the Eagles have turned into a possible NCAA tournament team, albeit one very much on the bubble.

When I first came here I tried to analyze really if they’re good shooters or not," Donahue said. "Even my bad teams at Cornell, I’ve always recruited shooters. I just thought Biko (Paris), in particular, was a very good 3-point shooter. I thought Corey Raji had a great stroke."