Expect The Unexpected In The Coaching Search

Welcome to what is sure to be a wild few weeks full of “what I’m hearing out of Chestnut Hill is...” and “sources close to the situation say...” out in the Twitterverse.

There’s going to be plenty of impatient speculation ‘round these parts until Martin Jarmond gets behind the podium again later this month to announce who will be the successor to Steve Addazio. There are obviously already a ton of names being floated out there as being either in the running or high up on BC’s list, but keep in mind that a lot of this stuff is either intentional interference out of Chestnut Hill to keep things under wraps, or coming from the other direction entirely as potential targets try to make themselves look desirable.

Here’s the main thing, though: Remember that the minute you think you know how this is going to shake out is the minute you’ve lost your way.

Let’s hop into the DeLorean back to 2012 when BC hired Steve Addazio (and If that feels like an eternity ago, it is — at least in coaching years. Of the 130 FBS programs, Addazio was the 18th longest-tenured coach, which is remarkable given how low his ceiling ended up being). Blogfather Emeritus Brian Favat had Steve Addazio on an initial list of coaching candidates, and this is what he had to say:

Steve Addazio, Head Coach, Temple -- In Addazio’s first season with the Owls, he led the program to a 9-4 record with a win over Wyoming in the New Mexico Bowl -- the program’s second ever bowl win and first since the 1979 Garden State Bowl. Dive Master Addazio knows the Northeast well growing up in Connecticut and having made career stops as an assistant at Syracuse, Notre Dame and Indiana. Imagine if BC hires Addazio and he brings back OC Ryan Day and QB coach Kevin Rogers?

But here’s the kicker — by the time Addazio was announced as head coach, the hiring was completely out of left field. You may or may not remember it now (I certainly do, because I remember angrily pacing and yelling in my living room when the announcement came out), but Addazio’s name had mostly faded into oblivion as the process went on. That mostly came from Boston College being tied with some bigger names — Bob Diaco (LOL dodged a bullet with that one!) being the main guy most of us had our eye on.

Brian’s post on the Addazio hire largely said the same thing:

A lot of the negative reaction to this hire is related to the Eagles’ fanbase feeling once again left at the altar. When names like Notre Dame DC Bob Diaco and Miami coach Al Golden were linked to the search as far back as, oh, a few hours ago, the Addazio hire coming out of left field took everyone by surprise.
...
Expectations are a real mother.

True!

That’s not to say that whoever BC ends up hiring hasn’t already been tied to the search. There were “Here are some potential candidates for the BC head coaching job” articles all over the place this morning despite the move just being made last night, and I would definitely bet on one of these guys being the new brass over “The Field.” But that’s only because people on the internet tend to leave no stone unturned, and anyone who’s been halfway decent at their job and looking to move up is going to be tied to a Power 5 opening — especially if it’s someone like Brown or Washington or Reed who have ties to the school.

But almost all of that speculation is not coming from people in-the-know. BC has a reputation for being tighter than the Vatican when it comes to leaks and official news, so make sure to keep that in mind when dorks on Twitter are posting ridiculous stuff like this. Until you see white smoke coming from the Yawkey Athletics Center, you might just be getting put off the trail.