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Big risk for BC
Submitted by ldecock on 01/07/2009 - 18:52
If Boston College athletics director Gene DeFilippo really did have an agreement with football coach Jeff Jagodzinski that the coach would not pursue any NFL jobs during his first few years at BC, then DeFilippo was completely justified in firing Jagodzinski — particularly after Jagodzinski was warned over the weekend, as has been reported.
But DeFilippo is certainly building quite a reputation. He has now disposed of two very successful football coaches — Tom O'Brien (who he cheerfully allowed to leave for N.C. State) and Jagodzinski — for reasons that had little to do with performance on the field (or in the classroom or on the recruiting trail, for that matter).
There are many schools around the country that would kill to win seven straight bowl games (as BC did under O'Brien) or go to back-to-back ACC title games (as BC did under Jagodzinski), including a whole bunch within the ACC.
DeFilippo, whose stewardship of BC athletics has been astute, is playing a very dangerous game.
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Luke DeCock
Luke has worked for The N&O since 2000. He covered the Carolina Hurricanes and the NHL before becoming a sports columnist in August 2008. A native of Evanston, Ill., he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. He can be reached at 829-8947 or luke.decock@newsobserver.com.
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Comments
Apparantly, DeFilippo
Sun, 01/11/2009 - 15:40 — atrioneApparantly, DeFilippo doesn't care about coaches breakiing contracts, if the reports that they're after Skip Holtz are true.
Either you have a contract or you don't. DeFilippo broke his contract at Villanova and now wants Holtz to break his. Jags didn't have a specific clause in his contract that prohibited him from interviewing but DeFilippo fired him anyway. That's fine...coaches are fired in the middle of contracts all the time. But let's not paint DeFilippo as the heroic AD that some are.
But did he lie?
Thu, 01/08/2009 - 20:43 — smithfieldsamEvery case is different. If your boss asks you point-blank if you're interviewing for another job and you lie about it, he has all the reason in the world to fire you. Did he simply walk out the door or did he tell the President that he had an offer than he couldn't refuse? It's doubtful DeFillippo lied to the President of Villanova.
How much credibility does
Thu, 01/08/2009 - 17:24 — atrioneHow much credibility does DeFilippo have on matters like this when he walked out on Villanova after the school year started in 1997? He was out the door and on his way to Boston in mid-September.
Fired for Cause?
Thu, 01/08/2009 - 20:44 — smithfieldsamDid Jagodzinski lie to DeFilippo? If the answer is YES, that's plenty of reason to fire him. It would have been more dangerous to keep the coach. What other lies will he tell? How about recruiting lies. Enough said.