Yes. You can win at a place like Boston College, as the new football head coach declared at his introductory press conference.
But how? The University is competing as what Ethan Ott rightly described as a “mid-tier” program in one of the nation’s elite conferences.
A steady winning record will remain elusive until University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., and the Board of Trustees accept the fact that they are striving to maintain parity against schools that have a 50 year plus record of signing blue-chip athletes.
“Recruiting at BC is not recruiting at Alabama,” Ott wrote in his Feb. 11 Heights column. “The Eagles do not have the resources, money, or reputation O’Brien benefited from while with the Crimson Tide.”
Individual players like quarterback Thomas Castellanos might help the University snag a six-figure spot on national television. But a star quarterback needs great players on both sides of the ball to produce a winning record in the ACC.
Look how beautiful our men’s hockey team struts its stuff playing against teams in which there is competitive parity.
BC has lots of star teachers and students in the classroom. I “shep naches” from that reality more than I do from the performance of our athletic teams.
Bruce Feldman of The Athletic agrees with Ott.
“The Boston College job is a tough one and has fewer resources than most power conference jobs — it doesn’t have anywhere near the same access to talent that others in the ACC, most notably FSU, Clemson, and Miami, have,” Feldman wrote on Feb. 1.
That is why BC will remain at the bottom of the ACC—a punching bag for power schools like Duke and North Carolina.
Being in the ACC is a self-defeating exercise. This Ignatian experiment has failed. It’s time to get out.
Gene Roman
NYC BC’ 82
To shep nachas is a Yiddish phrase one hears regularly in NYC. It means to reap joy or take pride in the achievements of others especially one’s children.
