Honeymoon At The Heights Is Over

Maybe the days of Tom O'Brien, 8 wins and a victory in the Toilet Bowl should have been enough for Gene DeFilippo and the Boston College football program. Word out of Alumni Stadium is that new BC coach Jeff Jagodzinski, who replaced O'Brien when he fled to ACC rival NC State, is not making a good name for himself. Jagodzinski, who got the job after former UMass-Amherst coach Mark Whipple declined the job due to differences about how many coaches had to stay on, has already lost one assistant coach and has seen that coach replaced by a potential successor. Jim Turner, the captain of the 1987 BC football team and a 1988 graduate of the school, resigned last week. The official reason for Turner's resignation has been listed as "difference in philosophy in the direction of the program." That is slightly true. Turner, hired to coach the offensive line, was enraged when Jagodzinski yelled at him in front of the team and recruits during spring practice. Supposedly "Jags" was calling plays that had not been installed yet and was upset at the line's inability to run them. Turner went to DeFilippo to air his frustrations and was told to leave the program. In his place, DeFilippo has reached back into BC's past. Replacing Turner will be former Eagle center Jack Bicknell Jr. as assistant head coach/offensive line coach. Bicknell, the son of former BC coach Jack Bicknell -- who he played for from 1982-1985 -- has been the head coach at Louisiana Tech (where he went 43-49 in eight seasons and scored wins over national powers Alabama, Michigan State and Oklahoma State) and was most recently the offensive line coach at Texas Tech. Bicknell reportedly received $200,000 to come to Chestnut Hill, a remarkable salary when one considers that O'Brien left in part because he was one of the lowest paid head coaches in the ACC. Two other alarming tidbits on Jagodzinski... When DeFilippo flew into Green Bay, where Jags was the offensive coordinator for the Packers in 2006, Brett Favre himself reportedly met the BC athletic director at the airport and rode with him to the interview. Interpret this as you want; I see it as Favre doing whatever possible to get away from Jagodzinski. Knowing he was at the end of his career, I'm sure Favre would have pushed for him to stay if he wanted him calling the offense. I could be totally wrong but that's just how I feel... The Turner incident is not isolated. Jagodzinski is getting the repuation as a blowhard, something that will not go over well with the players or coaches who are used to the Marine Corps discipline of O'Brien... This isn't made up, fantasy world BC bashing. I am a BC season ticket holder and I support the team. This information is coming from people in the know. Hopefully it is just the mistakes of a rookie coach and he will correct everything by August. The Eagles have a lot of players returning from a 10-3 team that won the Meineke Car Care Bowl, including senior quarterback Matt Ryan, and expectations are very high for 2007. But if Jags doesn't have his house in order he will be in for a very long fall; Bc opens with Wake Forest (2006 ACC Champs) and NC State (the Tom O'Brien Bowl) before going to Georgia Tech. The Eagles then get the easy part of their season, games against Army, UMass and Bowling Green at home. They better be at least 4-2 at that point or the consecutive bowl game streak will end abrubtly. Starting October 13, BC's schedule looks like this: at Notre Dame (Charlie Weis and Jimmy Claussen), at Virginia Tech (they will not lose a home game in '07), Florida State at home (Seminoles are primed for a return to the top of college football), at Maryland and Clemson (two very tough ACC road opponents) and then Miami at home (a team they haven't defeated since 1984 with Jack Bicknell Jr. snapping to Doug Flutie). The Eagles are a talented team so the brunt of a losing team -- and looking at that schedule doesn't give me a 8 or 9 win feeling -- will fall squarely on the shoulders of Jeff Jagodzinski. Consider yourself warned.