Following Boston College's 24-17 win over Miami, the Boston Herald's Dan Duggan Tweeted that Gene DeFilippo will retain the services of Frank Spaziani as head football coach for the 2012 season.
Gene DeFilippo on Frank Spaziani: "Spaz is coming back next year and our future here is really, really bright."
It's clear that DeFilippo is banking on a boost to football ticket sales in 2012 based on the strength of the home schedule alone. The home Notre Dame game is sure to be a sell out, while DeFilippo will also get a better turnout for home games against Clemson, Virginia Tech, Miami and Army. Whether BC will be competitive in these games is another question entirely.
Duggan added this quote from GDF [updated full quote in the Herald]:
"It doesn't matter," DeFilippo told the Herald. "I'm with Spaz every single day. Spaz is the best coach that we've had in the 15 years that I've been here."
We've gone from the questionable to the downright insulting here. Spaz the "best coach that we've had in the last 15 years?" Let's not let silly things like W-L record, bowl game performance or home attendance figures get in the way of this evaluation. Let's level here. Tom O'Brien (75-45), the winningest coach in program history, was a better coach. So was Jagodzinski (20-8), who finished with the highest winning percentage of a BC football head coach since Frank Leahy.
Here's what I wrote back in December 2010 when Spaz was given the very unnecessary "must keep up appearances on the recruiting trail" contract extension:
Spaz is 16-10 through two seasons as BC's head coach, though ultimately he'll be judged on how his teams fare in ACC play, against Notre Dame and in our bowl games. Through two seasons, Spaz is 9-7 in ACC play, 0-2 against Notre Dame and 1-1 in bowl games (though his one win came as interim head coach in 2006).
Updated for the 2011 season, Spaz is now 20-19 through three season (.513), including:
-- An even 12-12 in ACC play (.500)
-- 0-3 against Notre Dame
-- 1-2 in bowl games (though his one win came as interim head coach in 2006)
-- Presided over the first losing season since 1998 (I'm sure we'd all love to have that final drive against Northwestern, the entire second half against Duke and the final two minutes of the first half against Notre Dame back, now wouldn't we?)
Indeed, this is the resume of the best coach we've had on the Heights in 15 years.