Brian: Height Sports' Austin Tedesco, in an article entitled Can The Bowl Drought End In 2013?, knows that the chances that Boston College offensive coordinator Doug Martin stays on in 2013. Still, Tedesco makes the case that Martin could be retained for another year.
There's only a very small chance that the new coach holds on to Martin as the OC, but Rettig and the offense would greatly benefit from another year in the system. Rettig has said that he's never had as much fun playing in a system than he did this season with the freedom that Martin gave him. Forcing Rettig and the rest of the offense into a new system might be good for the future of the program, but it won't help the Eagles become bowl-eligible next season.
Nothing against Martin, but I don't think this is a smart move. The next head coach should have the complete freedom to hire his own staff. While I feel bad for Rettig, staff decisions shouldn't be made solely because you are inconveniencing a senior QB by breaking the NCAA record for most OCs in a single college career.
I also think a lot of fans are mistaking Rettig's increased offensive output with actual improvement as a unit. Rettig did up his production in terms of total yards and TDs, but he seemed to regress as the year went on. Further, while the passing game was humming, other parts of the offense -- notably the run game and the offensive line -- were much, much worse this season.
Even one season with holdovers from the previous coaching staff is one season wasted when it comes to the next HC bringing in his own guys, wiping the slate clean and rebuilding what has been an anemic offense for four seasons.
Do you see any scenario where Martin stays on as OC in 2013? Would you want him to stay on as OC?
Jeff: First, let me say that if Doug Martin stays around for another season or ten more seasons, that sounds like it could be a good thing for BC and Rettig in the near future. Doug Martin definitely changed some things on offense this season and it at least finally felt like we could come back and win some games where in previous seasons deficits seemed impossible for our offenses to overcome. Rettig certainly put up better stats and that was with Pantale, Swigert and Larmond spending most of the season on the bench due to injury or otherwise. Also, the running game was atrocious most likely due to injury or other reasons beyond Martin's control. Had Williams and Finch been able to play all 12 games, I certainly think we would have won some more.
But every season you have to fight injuries and this team went 2-10. This team had more experienced players on the field than we did last season and still only be 1 FBS opponent and that was at home by 3 points when they had some serious injury problems of their own. 2 wins is just not acceptable. If the new HC does not want to keep Martin around, great! That at least indicates he has a plan for the future and agrees that 2 wins is unacceptable. The Miami game at the beginning of the season was at least a little more fun for the fans because the team did actually put up points and move the ball without too much struggle. As far as a loss goes, it was probably one of the more fun losses in recent memory especially for students like Austin.
But in the end, are we headed to a bowl game this season? No. Did we compete for the ACC Atlantic Division? No. Did we lose to an otherwise one win Army? Yes. This season there were no missed short FGs as time expired you could point to or other moral type victories. The team was just not very competitive in a lot of games and the record proves it. If everyone must go, then let's hurry up and get that process started.
Brian: If you could retain one member of the current staff, would it be Martin? And if not, who ya got?
Jeff: Martin is my first choice since he has seemed to have a positive impact on parts of the offense and no one seems to have anything bad to say about him. My second choice would be Al Washington, who is young with a promising future and is a former player.