Tiffany Ruffin Reflects On Boston College Women's Basketball Season, Crawley's Departure

There are some Interesting quotes in seacoastonline.com from Boston College women's basketball sophomore point guard Tiffany Ruffin. Ruffin reflects on the trying season the Eagles had and Sylvia Crawley's very sudden resignation. Here's what Ruffin had to say on BC's 7-23 season.

"Throughout the season we tried a bunch of different lineups, we had a bunch of injuries and we were just worn down physically and mentally. It was a very tough season. Very humbling," Ruffin said.

[snip]

"I had never experienced a season like this before," Ruffin said Monday afternoon. "It was very, very hard. It was one of those things where we all felt like we were working very hard and we're just not seeing the results."

More interesting were Ruffin's comments on Sylvia Crawley's resignation due to health reasons.

"Ruffin hesitated for several seconds when asked if Crawley's resignation was expected or a shock.

"I don't really have anything to say about that," Ruffin said.

Asked if she had known Crawley was dealing with health issues, Ruffin again paused before saying, "Personally, I have no idea about anything that's going on with all of that. I don't really have anything to say. I'm trying to stay away from that whole situation."

I've heard numerous conflicting reports on what really went down between DeFilippo, the team and Crawley. We all hope that Crawley gets well soon, but to me, Ruffin's "no comment" is telling. This is all water under the bridge at this point, but still ... interesting.

When asked whether Ruffin, a Crawley recruit, intends to stay at BC, she had nothing but positive things to say the school.

"I'm staying. This is where I want to be," Ruffin said. "I didn't come here just for basketball. That was a large part of my reason for choosing Boston College, obviously, but I love BC as a school. I have a great group of friends here and a great support system."

Bottom line is Ruffin is saying all the right things, and it's a good sign that she is sticking with the school and with the program. Not just for women's basketball, but for BC's other varsity sports like football who are suffering through a particularly bad stretch of coaching, recruiting and results. If the school can help sell BC's various sports programs in spite of our coaching deficiencies, then all is not lost.

But back to women's basketball, where it's a new era for this Boston College program. Hopefully we go out and hire a solid coach to run this program, because the athletic department's recent track record when it comes to hiring (and firing) head coaches has been extremely poor. Steve Donahue exempted for now.