2016-17 Boston College Basketball: Maybe They're Not So Embarrassing After All

berniecarbo1

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OK, you all know I have 0 (zero) nada knowledge of college hoops. But I do observe things. One observation is that Villanova won the national title in hoops this year. It is Northeastern catholic college in an upscale suburb of a major sports city. It is member of former P5 conference but the league is still an upper level hoops conference. They have an on campus facility that holds 6500 fans and also has a downtown arena that is the home of local NBA franchise that holds 21,600. it is ranked in top 100 academically. It has about 10,000 students, 6500 or so are undergrads. Since 1985 they have won 2 national titles and 3 final four appearances in tat time. IN addition they have been to 2 Elite 8's and been to the Sweet 16 2 other times. Overall they have been to the dance 20 times in that span including every year since 2005 (except 1-2012).

In all seriousness, how have they been able to maintain that level of consistency over the last 30 years and especially in the last 10-12 years while a place like BC (which has a similar demographic but IS a Member of a P5 conference) has a season or two of hope and is relegated to at best an NIT appearance, and lately record setting bad, losing seasons. They seem to fly in the face of the axiom that to be consistently good and go deep in the tournament you need to be a P5 school. Gonzaga ia a perennial Sweet 16 opponent and that is to be commended but they have reached their ceiling. It appears Villanova has not and is an upper tier program. Any comments??
 

gingerbreadmann

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Not sure how I missed this until now, but a group of players from the Al Skinner golden days is forming a team in The Basketball Tournament this summer playing to raise money for Pete Frates and ALS. Yes, that includes Tyrese Rice, Craig Smith, Sean Marshall, John Oates, Joe Trapani, Brady Heslip (strange), Marquez Haynes, Akida McLain, Steve Hailey, and Kyle Casey from Harvard. Wish they could track down Sean Williams, Hinnant or Bell, but this is an awesome collection nonetheless. Here's the link to the team (apparently they need votes to be able to compete but are currently leading the voting) -- I will for sure be keeping track of this as it progresses; it's already a lot more fun than the current team. Love to see these guys continue to represent BC 10+ years later.

Edit: Podcast with Oates discussing the team's origin; some fun reminiscing of the mid-2000s included
 
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BigMike

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Sammy Barnes Thompkins has left BC. Not a huge loss in my opinion, he had some good qualities, but was an undersized 2 guard.

BC has added Jordan Chapman as a 6'5 shooting guard. Chapman is a 23 year old law student who has 3 years of eligibility left. Chapman was a former Washington St player of the year, who spent a few years on a Mission in Taiwan before showing up at BYU last year. Chapman is expected to be a role player to help add some leadership to a young BC backcourt

Still waiting for the long promised Senior transfer to help out a bit at C.
 

BigMike

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BC finishes out their roster by taking graduate transfer Maurice Jeffers from Delaware.

Mo should start and probably play 20-25 a night for BC. I don't expect huge numbers,e but he is a quality vet

Leaves the Roster Looking like

PG
Tyler Graves Fr
Kyran Bowman Fr

SG
Jerome Robinson So
Jordan Chatman So

SF
AJ Turner So
Ervin Mezniaks So

PF
Connar Tava Sr
Garland Owens Sr
Mike Sagay Sr

C
Maurice Jeffers Sr
JC Reyes Fr (medical redshirt last year)
Nik Popovic Fr

Some flexibility, Owens may well spend more time at SF than PF (I hope), who knows with Mez, he has apparently added 20+ pounds of muscle. Sagay is a complete wildcard to me
 
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BigSoxFan

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Much better team from a physical and athletic standpoint but I don't see a whole lot of shooters on this roster.
 

BigMike

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Much better team from a physical and athletic standpoint but I don't see a whole lot of shooters on this roster.
Yeah, it's not the strength of the team. Chatman is a shooter. Graves has a nice shot (can he get it off against ACC opponents?). Robinson and Turner, and I assume Mezniaks, have all been working really hard on that part of the game. It is an area guys can get better, so we'll see
 

berniecarbo1

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Bates actually just gave 0-18 Christian a contract extension.
Like his predecessor, he is extending the coaches so they are taken care of. Dazzler has $2.3M in the bank every year till 2020 and now Christian has a retirement fund as well. He knows he's gone so he will take care of his guys as he walks out the door. Since BC has a BOT and president who don't really give a $h!t about sports, it won't turn any heads at the Heights. Ever to Excel??? I think not.
 

mauf

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Bates actually just gave 0-18 Christian a contract extension.
It's just a one-year extension, through the 2020 season. Unless you're ready to fire Christian now (and there's a case to be made for that), this is something you had to do.

OK, you all know I have 0 (zero) nada knowledge of college hoops. But I do observe things. One observation is that Villanova won the national title in hoops this year. It is Northeastern catholic college in an upscale suburb of a major sports city. It is member of former P5 conference but the league is still an upper level hoops conference. They have an on campus facility that holds 6500 fans and also has a downtown arena that is the home of local NBA franchise that holds 21,600. it is ranked in top 100 academically. It has about 10,000 students, 6500 or so are undergrads. Since 1985 they have won 2 national titles and 3 final four appearances in tat time. IN addition they have been to 2 Elite 8's and been to the Sweet 16 2 other times. Overall they have been to the dance 20 times in that span including every year since 2005 (except 1-2012).

In all seriousness, how have they been able to maintain that level of consistency over the last 30 years and especially in the last 10-12 years while a place like BC (which has a similar demographic but IS a Member of a P5 conference) has a season or two of hope and is relegated to at best an NIT appearance, and lately record setting bad, losing seasons. They seem to fly in the face of the axiom that to be consistently good and go deep in the tournament you need to be a P5 school. Gonzaga ia a perennial Sweet 16 opponent and that is to be commended but they have reached their ceiling. It appears Villanova has not and is an upper tier program. Any comments??
P5 is a football designation. The Big East is as good a basketball conference as any in the country.

More than perhaps any other big city in the country, Boston is a pro sports town. Even when the Eagles were making regular NCAA Tournament appearances under Al Skinner in the '00s, B.C. basketball wasn't as big here as Nova basketball is in Philly. Not surprisingly, therefore, B.C. isn't in the consideration set for the most talented high-school players, and obviously talent trumps coaching in basketball to a much greater extent than in other sports.

Nova has had great coaching, and more than their share of luck, but it's also structurally a far better situation than B.C., for reasons that are mostly out of the school's control.
 

gingerbreadmann

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It's just a one-year extension, through the 2020 season. Unless you're ready to fire Christian now (and there's a case to be made for that), this is something you had to do.
Jesus, how far down the rabbit hole have we gone? I can totally see this being Bates' thought process, flip flopping back and forth before finally convincing himself this is something that "has to be done." Good God are we fucked.

More than perhaps any other big city in the country, Boston is a pro sports town. Even when the Eagles were making regular NCAA Tournament appearances under Al Skinner in the '00s, B.C. basketball wasn't as big here as Nova basketball is in Philly. Not surprisingly, therefore, B.C. isn't in the consideration set for the most talented high-school players, and obviously talent trumps coaching in basketball to a much greater extent than in other sports.

Nova has had great coaching, and more than their share of luck, but it's also structurally a far better situation than B.C., for reasons that are mostly out of the school's control.
While you are obviously not wrong about Boston, this is a total cop out that has been repeated enough times by enough different people that is has become the de facto caption for BC sports, for better and mostly for worse. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy at some point, which is (was?) probably around the point when we start using it as an excuse for sucking. Yes it is too late to become Villanova, but those paths diverged well before Al Skinner.

Looking towards the future, it doesn't do any good to be defeatist about it. Good BC Basketball does just fine here; no it won't ever be the Celtics or even the Wildcats, but even with the ramshackle program we have left on our hands, there is so, so much within the school's control to make it successful again.

I'm not even sure we're disagreeing here, I have just heard that talking point one too many times to not speak on it. BC's ceiling is perfectly good and structural limitations do not explain how we got to where we are today.
 

4 6 3 DP

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Exactly what Gingerbread said.

And for the record, the full BC spin is exactly what Maufman said - can't compete in D1 at BC. I have gotten that from people who know people.

Which is why the well has run completely dry from myself and my family's giving and I am seeing that copied by many long term, generous supporters of the school.

Academically the school is in fine shape and ultimately that is what BC is, an academic institution. But athletically, screwed.
 

mauf

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There's no question that B.C. can compete in men's basketball; the Al Skinner era wasn't that long ago. I was only responding to the Nova analogy -- the Wildcats have had more than their share of luck, but that's also a sneaky-good situation (i.e., it's not as obviously a plum job as Georgetown is, but it's more like G'Town than it is like B.C.).

Jesus, how far down the rabbit hole have we gone? I can totally see this being Bates' thought process, flip flopping back and forth before finally convincing himself this is something that "has to be done." Good God are we fucked.
With the talent on hand, a terrible 2016-17 team is a given. The only reason to give Christian another year is to see if he can finally attract a decent recruiting class. Without the extension, it's a foregone conclusion that he could not -- the sort of players B.C. recruits (i.e., not high-school All-Americans who only plan to stay a year or two) aren't going to choose a school where the coach's contract is up after their sophomore year. I never thought Christian was a good hire, and I would have been content to see him fired, but assuming the administration wasn't ready to eat his contract after just two years, extending him for one year and giving him a good-faith chance to succeed is better than standing pat. Giving him three years to succeed might also help B.C. in recruiting a successor if they decide a year from now that Christian needs to go, and they won't be worse off financially than if they cut him now.
 
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BigMike

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P5 is a football designation. The Big East is as good a basketball conference as any in the country.
.
Well, I think that is a bit of an overstatement (It's not as good as the ACC), but on the other hand it is a far better basketball conference than the SEC

With the talent on hand, a terrible 2016-17 team is a given. The only reason to give Christian another year is to see if he can finally attract a decent recruiting class. Without the extension, it's a foregone conclusion that he could not -- the sort of players B.C. recruits (i.e., not high-school All-Americans who only plan to stay a year or two) aren't going to choose a school where the coach's contract is up after their sophomore year. I never thought Christian was a good hire, and I would have been content to see him fired, but assuming the administration wasn't ready to eat his contract after just two years, extending him for one year and giving him a good-faith chance to succeed is better than standing pat. Giving him three years to succeed might also help B.C. in recruiting a successor if they decide a year from now that Christian needs to go, and they won't be worse off financially than if they cut him now.
I don't think the team is terrible this year at all, but I guess we will see. They are young

If you are counting on the 2017 recruiting class to make or break Christian's fate than he should be fired now. This is not a big recruiting class for this team. They are likely looking for a PF, and maybe one more Athletic wing/big. In this class.The staff has been targeting the 2018 class since they've gotten on campus
 

4 6 3 DP

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This is the Steve Addazio story all over again (Not saying it's your excuse, BM). Keep pointing at the future and then never take responsibility for the present.

The optics on this are crazy. Bates has been told he's free to pursue new jobs. They went 0-26 last year, their ticket sales are nonexistent, they can't raise money, and you reward part of the 0-26. It's crazy.
 

gingerbreadmann

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I have to agree with the above. Maufman, you move logically from one point to the next, but I can't help but zoom out and look at this situation through a wider lens. This has been the trajectory of the athletic department more or less since 2009; it's hard to make an argument for this being a cooler heads should prevail kind of thing because the cool heads in charge are totally fucked.

Getting into specifics, I have checked out as much as I can from following recruiting and all that, but like DP said, who is accountable for the present? I don't even hate Christian, but we are already bleeding players from recent recruiting classes. The 2018 class will roll around and it will be the same story as this past year because everyone who went through that experience and had a chance to grow from it and guide the next iteration of freshmen will be gone. How do we eject from the negative feedback loop? Lock down the man in charge of operating it?

I can buy that there is a case to be made for this move, but I will not buy that anyone involved in making it could articulate it convincingly. Reality for the BC Eagles right now is insane.
 
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Was (Not Wasdin)

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This is the Steve Addazio story all over again (Not saying it's your excuse, BM). Keep pointing at the future and then never take responsibility for the present.

The optics on this are crazy. Bates has been told he's free to pursue new jobs. They went 0-26 last year, their ticket sales are nonexistent, they can't raise money, and you reward part of the 0-26. It's crazy.
When did this happen? I'm not questioning you, I'm genuinely asking-I must have missed this.
 

kenneycb

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I read it on one of the message boards last week. Blauds may have also mentioned that as a rumor but I can't exactly recall the specific source.
 

Dave Stapleton

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This is the Steve Addazio story all over again (Not saying it's your excuse, BM). Keep pointing at the future and then never take responsibility for the present.

The optics on this are crazy. Bates has been told he's free to pursue new jobs. They went 0-26 last year, their ticket sales are nonexistent, they can't raise money, and you reward part of the 0-26. It's crazy.
No it's not. He got a one year extension but we have no idea what the payout is for early
termination. It is not a given that they term and severance match up.

Christian and his staff have shown some momentum on the recruiting front so it's important to do this. If he flames out this year we will know and this will be a small price (maybe none). Spinelli particularly has been generating good buzz.
 

BigMike

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This is the Steve Addazio story all over again (Not saying it's your excuse, BM). Keep pointing at the future and then never take responsibility for the present.

The optics on this are crazy. Bates has been told he's free to pursue new jobs. They went 0-26 last year, their ticket sales are nonexistent, they can't raise money, and you reward part of the 0-26. It's crazy.
I am not 100% judging them on W/L record this year, but I expect this team to be a lot better this year, and if they aren't then yeah the HC deserved to be fired. This group they have in place has to be a group that takes BC back to the NCAA tournament. Again I am not expecting it this year, but I think they should strongly challenge for it next year, so we need to see Robinson take the next step. Turner become a good player. Something shown by the young big men, and at least 1 of the 2 PG's show he can be an above average ACC starter.
 

Dave Stapleton

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I am not 100% judging them on W/L record this year, but I expect this team to be a lot better this year, and if they aren't then yeah the HC deserved to be fired. This group they have in place has to be a group that takes BC back to the NCAA tournament. Again I am not expecting it this year, but I think they should strongly challenge for it next year, so we need to see Robinson take the next step. Turner become a good player. Something shown by the young big men, and at least 1 of the 2 PG's show he can be an above average ACC starter.
This is where I am as well. I think the extension is a nonevent.
 

mauf

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I have to agree with the above. Maufman, you move logically from one point to the next, but I can't help but zoom out and look at this situation through a wider lens. This has been the trajectory of the athletic department more or less since 2009; it's hard to make an argument for this being a cooler heads should prevail kind of thing because the cool heads in charge are totally fucked.
I don't think anyone is saying we should accept the extension on "In Bates We Trust." Few (if any) Division I athletic programs have declined as much in football and men's basketball over the past decade as B.C. has; neither Bates nor his predecessor (DeFilippo) deserves any benefit of the doubt.

In this case, however, I think the reasons for the extension are self-evident. It's simply not tenable to ask a D-I men's basketball coach to recruit players to come play for him when his contract doesn't extend beyond what would be those players' second year on campus. The alternative to extending Christian was firing him, which would have presented problems of its own; besides the buyout, it's not at all clear that any sought-after men's basketball coach would agree to become B.C.'s fourth coach this decade, succeeding an outgoing coach who was sacked after just two years of coaching a talent-starved squad that was mostly assembled by his predecessor.
 

4 6 3 DP

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I'm told the Bates rumor (which yes, is on the message boards) is accurate. He's in the last year of his deal and theres no movement towards extension.

If you're saying the extension is a non-event I obviously take your word for it but the optics suck.
 

berniecarbo1

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Great discussion above. I agree that the extension was done for a number of reasons, none of which is a reward for work well done. Maufman is right that from a recruiting context, you need to have 3 years if you plan on having any shot at bringing in a reasonable class. Stape is right that we don't know what the buy out severance will/would be if Christian was fired before 2020. What we do know is that Donahue was was being paid ~$800K after he got fired (not sure where that stands now that he is the Penn coach), and Christian is getting $1.2M to run the program now. So in the first season or so under Christian, the hoops HC position was being paid ~$2M per year, not to mention any severance for assistants, etc. That's a lot of coin with little/no ROI. That can't go on forever so the idea that you would cut Christian loose and do another hire with 2 years left on his deal (assuming if Donahue is any indication, the deals are close to guaranteed and I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict that JC's deal is guaranteed, given who was negotiating the contract on the BC side). With that as a backdrop, the extension is granted for one year, the HC position from a financial perspective is stabilized with only one payout on the books, JC has a chance to recruit another class, coach a year without a financial threat and see if he can turn it around. All good, sound business moves (after I had a chance to digest things and read everyone's thoughts).

Look, BB is entering his last year on his contract. It is up in October, 2017. Blauds had the column that he was a candidate for the Mizzou job, and that Leahy and the BOT told him he is free to explore other opportunities. Whether that is true or not is subject to debate but I would say it is totally plausible something like that is going on. Assuming they don't renew him and he leaves in June, 2017 (as many times ADs do) they will bring a new person on over the summer ( this time next year) and this is what they will have in front of them:

1. A basketball program that is (hopefully) on the uptick but, according to the hoop guys on this thread, of which I am not, still a few years away from Big Dance consideration (in other words "rebuilding") with an HC getting $1.2M in salary through the summer of 2020;
2. A football program that is flat with a mediocre coach who is getting $2.3M per year through December 2020 and a horrible OOC schedule at least until the early 20's;
3. A hockey coach who is the greatest of all time but will be in his early 70s and a cancer survivor, likely retiring sometime between 2017 and....yup, 2020
4. A hoops/hockey arena that is currently 30+/- years old (built in 87-88 thereabouts) with no major upgrades since its construction and no AC, as we all know if you have been in there in Sept, May or June; ( BTW Conte is the same age today as McHugh and Roberts were when they were replaced.)
5. A football stadium that holds 44,500 but has not seen a significant facelift (i.e. seats rather than benches for example) of any kind since the remodel 35 years ago;
6. The baseball/softball fields and the new Plex will be under construction, but the Indoor Practice Facility is still years away;
7. Ticket sales to revenue producing sports are at all time lows, donations are down and still, after 5 years and promises, it is the WORST game day experience anywhere in P5 and many G5 facilities nationwide.

That's where this program is on Bates' watch. IMHO, he should be gone next year. But who is his replacement and can they move the needle? The same people that hired Bates will hire his successor. Clearly, as Moose has stated many times, Leahy is not a sports guy and the university is not run by BC people ( other than Jerry, no other person in charge in athletics or in the president's chair is a BC alum/ally) so all of them are using their position to ultimately better themselves. I think until we get folks in administration positions who are BC people and think of the BC job as the pinnacle rather than a pass through (you have it in hockey but not with the AD or president) the commitment that is needed to make the athletic department competitive again will be missing and there will be just more of the same. If I were king for a day I would go out a hire the best CEO or former CEO with strong BC ties who would come in and overhaul the athletic department top to bottom. That individual (think a guy like Mike White, former CEO of Direct TV and former EVP at Pepsi, or some other person like that) would hire strong athletics people to oversee the revenue sports and he/she would do all the fund raising marketing, scheduling, big picture stuff and turn this thing around. It's that kind of bold change from the top that you need in order ratchet this program back to reality.

End of rant.......football starts in 2 1/2 weeks. Thank God/Can't wait!!.
 

mandro ramtinez

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I think until we get folks in administration positions who are BC people and think of the BC job as the pinnacle rather than a pass through (you have it in hockey but not with the AD or president) the commitment that is needed to make the athletic department competitive again will be missing and there will be just more of the same.
To be fair to Leahy (who probably doesn't deserve it given his neglect of BC athletics), the BC presidency will almost certainly be his last significant higher education post, much like Father Monan. Given his age and his 20 year tenure as President, I do not think Leahy views his post as a pass through. Still, he has bungled the management of two once strong athletic programs and that sucks.
 

mauf

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I am not 100% judging them on W/L record this year, but I expect this team to be a lot better this year, and if they aren't then yeah the HC deserved to be fired. This group they have in place has to be a group that takes BC back to the NCAA tournament. Again I am not expecting it this year, but I think they should strongly challenge for it next year, so we need to see Robinson take the next step. Turner become a good player. Something shown by the young big men, and at least 1 of the 2 PG's show he can be an above average ACC starter.
I think you're too optimistic. Last year's team was, if anything, even worse than its record -- only 4 of their 25 losses were by 8 points or less. When you root for a team like that, you cling to reasons for optimism; we remember the close game against UNC, and forget the double-digit losses to Wake Forest and UC-Irvine.

They won't go 7-25 again, but I'll be surprised if they're any better than second-worst in the ACC (and the only reason they're not a prohibitive favorite to finish last is because NCST will be awful without Barber).
 

mauf

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To be fair to Leahy (who probably doesn't deserve it given his neglect of BC athletics), the BC presidency will almost certainly be his last significant higher education post, much like Father Monan. Given his age and his 20 year tenure as President, I do not think Leahy views his post as a pass through. Still, he has bungled the management of two once strong athletic programs and that sucks.
I'm no fan of Leahy for reasons apart from athletics, but his first decade on the job wasn't bad for the athletic department. He got a lot of flak for pushing out Jim O'Brien, but I think he was vindicated; he set the right priorities for the school, Al Skinner was a fine coach, and the '00s were a good time for B.C. basketball. The football program bounced back nicely after the gambling scandal of the late '90s. The men's hockey program also became a powerhouse during Fr. Leahy's first decade on the job, but I'm not sure I'd give him any credit for that -- Jerry York was hired a couple years before he arrived.

(Edit: I forgot about the move to the ACC until I read mandro's reply below. On this one, Fr. Leahy was probably more lucky than good, but he did make that happen -- the game of conference musical chairs could have ended very, very badly for us.)

Nobody should serve as the President of a major academic institution for 20 years -- that's probably twice as long as an ideal tenure. I'd still have a problem with Fr. Leahy if he had stepped aside in 2006, but not because of his stewardship of the school's athletic programs.
 
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mandro ramtinez

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I'm no fan of Leahy for reasons apart from athletics, but his first decade on the job wasn't bad for the athletic department. He got a lot of flak for pushing out Jim O'Brien, but I think he was vindicated; he set the right priorities for the school, Al Skinner was a fine coach, and the '00s were a good time for B.C. basketball. The football program bounced back nicely after the gambling scandal of the late '90s. The men's hockey program also became a powerhouse during Fr. Leahy's first decade on the job, but I'm not sure I'd give him any credit for that -- Jerry York was hired a couple years before he arrived.

Nobody should serve as the President of a major academic institution for 20 years -- that's probably twice as long as an ideal tenure. I'd still have a problem with Fr. Leahy if he had stepped aside in 2006, but not because of his stewardship of the school's athletic programs.
I agree with everything you said but Leahy's stewardship of those programs since the move to the ACC and, more importantly, his oversight of DeFilippo's management, has been decidedly less than stellar and seemingly trending further downward. I live in Brighton, I wish BC would give me a reason to buy the hoops season tickets I used to have when Skinner was there.
 

berniecarbo1

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Nobody should serve as the President of a major academic institution for 20 years -- that's probably twice as long as an ideal tenure. I'd still have a problem with Fr. Leahy if he had stepped aside in 2006, but not because of his stewardship of the school's athletic programs.
No one should serve as the CEO of any organization for 20 years. Things get stale, fiefdoms develop and the possibility of change and innovation evaporate. I agree that he should have left after about 10-12 years, not just for athletics but for the university as a whole.

I am not privy to the inner workings of BC as others may be, but I think it is a good guess he doesn't carry the admiration and respect in the community that Monan does. Something tells me there won't be any buildings or academic chairs named after Leahy ( having said that St. Mary's is probably going to be renamed for him soon...) , whereas Monan could reasonably get Gasson renamed for him down the line. When my brother went back to BC for his reunion a few years ago they had a mass for all deceased alumni in his class over alumni weekend (he's only 51 but there were about 10 or so alums from his class that had passed away since graduation). The mass was celebrated not by Leahy (who was on campus and made a walk through at the reunion) but by Monan. After the mass the crowd all gathered around him outside of St. Ignatius and shook his hand and he took time to talk with them. Leahy was no where to be found the balance of the weekend. And this was alumni reunion weekend on campus. Its on the calendar every year. Just an example of how he is detached, or is perceived to be detached, from the people that actually care about the place.
 

LeftyTG

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I think you're too optimistic. Last year's team was, if anything, even worse than its record -- only 4 of their 25 losses were by 8 points or less. When you root for a team like that, you cling to reasons for optimism; we remember the close game against UNC, and forget the double-digit losses to Wake Forest and UC-Irvine.

They won't go 7-25 again, but I'll be surprised if they're any better than second-worst in the ACC (and the only reason they're not a prohibitive favorite to finish last is because NCST will be awful without Barber).
NC St brought in 5 star center Omer Yurtseven and 4 star guard Markell Johnson and Dennis Smith, a former top ten prospect coming off an ACL injury. They aren't going to win the ACC or anything, but I think NCSt. has significantly more talent than BC.
 

BigMike

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Shocked and very disappointed. I really had expected more. Christian has a ton of work to do this season, and he will be judged on it. Nobody expects or expected the tournament this year, but come spring this team needs to look like a group that will compete for middle of the pack in the ACC next year.

I am completely on the Fire Daz bandwagon, because he has shown no ability to recruit or develop players and of course is one year deeper into the mess.

I am not yet on the fire Christian bandwagon, but I expect a ton of player development this season, and if it doesn't happen than he should be gone
 

BigMike

Moderator
Moderator
SoSH Member
Sep 26, 2000
23,244
Third game was today, second with on the season. They played a fantastic first half against Stoney Brook, and apparently their awful FT shooting made it close in the second half .

Very nice performance today from Niko Popovic, who threw in 13 points, 5 rebs, and 2 blocks in 13 minutes. 3rd game this year, and in each game the best freshman has been a different player.

BC did sign a PF at the end of the early signing period. 6'9" Luka Kraljevic, a Slovenian who had come over this year to the US to find a college
 

BigSoxFan

Member
SoSH Member
May 31, 2007
47,038
Nice win. Really annoyed about that Nicholls loss but at least they've recovered nicely. Nice test coming up against K State. I fully expect a double digit loss in that one.