Boston College Football: Players Rush To Frank Spaziani's Defense

As we get closer to the end of the Frank Spaziani era, the mustached coach has publicly gained support from the men in the trenches -- his players. A rash of "Spaz is a nice guy" posts came out all over the Boston Media on Wednesday. The Boston Globe, Boston Herald, MetroWest Daily News and even -- surprise -- Mark Blaudschun all came out with posts singing his likeability. Nothing new, as the ship has continued to sink, these merrymen have been almost unwavering in their support of the current regime.

Along with this Spaz "is a great guy spin" comes the players who are rushing to his defense. Guys like Emmett Cleary and Chase Rettig have spoken publicly saying that Spaz is a good coach, and the faults of the team are on them.

This isn't anything new. Players usually always come running to the defense of their coaches. They have to believe in the system, otherwise they have wasted years of their athletic lives. Rettig went as far as to say that social media has been unfair to #FireSpaz, but honestly would you expect any less from one of Spaz's soliders?

One of the more interesting comments came from lineman Emmett Cleary, who talked to The Heights about how the attrition issues of his recruiting class:

"Honestly, I think it was – we were winning when we showed up. The year we were recruited we were in the ACC Championship game and then our freshman year we were in the ACC Championship. I think a lot of guys from our class didn’t immediately understand what it took to get there, and expected to play right away, expected that it would be easy in a way. Guys who maybe weren’t playing a lot their second year or weren’t starting by their third year took that as either a shot at their self-confidence or just that they somehow weren’t being treated fairly. When you look at the teams that have been good here – like Jamie Silva didn’t see the field until his fourth year in the program. For us to be good, guys need to marinate a little bit, and I guess my class didn’t buy it so they all took off and this is what you get."

Cleary's point is right on when it comes to a few players such as Josh Haden and Justin Tuggle -- both who admittedly transferred due to playing time. However the "waiting to you play until your fourth year" excuse is completely invalid if you just look at the entire roster, most of whom are freshmen and sophomores. True, many have been forced into playing time early but again that is on Spaz and his atrocious roster management.

In many cases situations such as Spiffy Evans (Colin Larmond Jr.) and David Dudeck (Rolandan Finch) have gotten opportunities to play over upperclassmen, even when the junior/senior is clearly the more talented player. Heck, even look at the quarterback situation. Chase Rettig took over as a freshman when he started over Dave Shinskie.

Clearly the issue runs deeper than playing time and Emmett hits on it when he queries whether players left because they weren't treated fairly. This understated assessment hits on exactly why players have left, transferred, or have been dismissed. Documented over and over again, Frank Spaziani has been atrocious in player management and retainment. That isn't on the players. That's on him.

An integral part of the coach's job is to manage the roster, work with players to keep them on campus, keep the roster stocked with talent and put the position in the best possible chance to succeed. Working with a player like Montel Harris to ensure that a guy that has given his heart and soul to the team stays on the team, or Max Holloway, who clearly decided that Boston College's football future under Spaz was awful.

On field and off, Spaz has been asked to manage his an 85-man scholarship roster to win football games and keep players satisfied with their experience at Boston College. He has failed at this time and time again and is a big reason why he will in all likelihood be out of work on Monday.