Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Typical Boston... College
This has been one of the busiest two-week periods in the last decade of the college basketball coaching carousel-- and the Final Four hasn't even tipped off yet.
However, yesterday's news from Chestnut Hill announcing the firing of longtime Boston College hoops coach Al Skinner was shocking. That is, only if you haven't followed BC athletics before.
Before defending one of the most dignified coaches in the game, let's give you a brief history of the Eagles' athletic department's track record.
July 1, 2005: BC decides to move to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), joining Miami and Virginia Tech in their defection from the Big East. The former two made sense geographically, but in that trio, Boston College is definitely Fredo Corleone. A coalition of Big East universities came together to sue the college, but it didn't do enough damage to offset the financial benefits the Eagles received in the switch.
You have to admire how quickly a founding member would jump ship-- that's classy stuff.
January 7, 2009: After hiding in relative obscurity due to lack of success on the playing fields, BC made another splash in the form of a back-stabbing move a year ago. Jeff Jagodzinski was 20-8 in two years at the helm of the football program, with 11 conference wins in that time span. He was unceremoniously dumped for interviewing for the vacant New York Jets job without AD Gene DeFillippo's permission. So much for exploring the market without repercussions...
March 30, 2010: Al Skinner has been at Boston College since 13 years ago this month. During his reign, he posted seven 20-plus win seasons, eclipsed the illustrious 25-win plateau three times and made seven appearances in the the NCAA Tournament. He has a National Coach of the Year award and the most wins in school history to add to that list as well.
Now, according to the school, they've had a "mutual" parting of ways. Let's be honest-- the fact that his name was circulating around the St. John's job was enough for BC's athletic department to have its feelings hurt.
Maybe BC should look in the mirror. Hopefully, a coach will someday burn them before getting the hook first.
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