Dear Bloggers:

The debt piece is becoming a major concern as was noted by a former member of the BC Board of Trustees. Additionally, the cost to attend Boston College is now approaching $60K. The Committee for a New Direction in Boston College Athletics is concerned not only with the high debt and the new cost to attend Boston College but we are very concern that President Leahy does not understand that students come to Boston College because of D1A athletics in addition to reputation and location. With respect to letting great coaches exit Boston College we would like to share the following:

· Good business men or women leave demonstrated success alone. The key question in all of this is the breakdown of this athletic director’s compensation.

· The Culture under this athletic director is met to make this athletic director shine not our athletes. You have a D3 former QB who wants to feel like he is a D1A player/athlete and that he has a larger national persona than the great coaches he either fired and or forced out. The Committee now knows that Head Football Coach Tom O'Brien departed BC because this athletic director would not pay the assistant coaches what they were worth. Additionally, the Committee knows that this athletic director called the AD at NC State to speak negatively about Coach O'Brien even after he left BC. So the question here is, "what is the culture like working under this mindset?

Houston We Have a Problem:

§ The steady decline of a historic and significant economic base for the university.
§ The steady decline of the football program.
§ Loss of BC Football Alum financial support for the university.
§ Loss of significant BC Football fan base.
§ Declining BC Athletics ticket sales (gives away free tickets for appearances sake).
§ A shifting away from a traditional Athletics Director’s role to that of fundraiser.
§ A self serving motivation to receive higher compensation on the part of the Athletic Director, i.e. surcharging.

Hard to defend this reality, here it is:

Poor business manager of Boston College Athletics with a self serving financial arrangement (compensation: role of athletic director and role of fundraiser- additional compensation); Current Boston College Athletics Director (Non-BC Alumni) hires at Boston College:

§ Former Head Football Jeff Jagodzinski (11 Wins vs. 3 Losses; ACC Div Champ; #10 Nat'l Poll; Champs Sports Bowl; the Eagles were ranked second in the Bowl Championship Series standings); a winning coach, fired.
§ Current Head Football Frank Spaziani, poor coaching record.
§ Current Women’s Basketball Coach Sylvia Crawley, Just got fired (another medical issue announcement, or is it?).
§ Current Men’s Basketball Coach Steve Donahue, poor coaching record.

Note: Our AD’s public statement - The current BC Football Coach (Frank Spaziani) is the best coach this AD has seen at BC in 15-years (4 Years, 20-19); Where does this leave national championship winning hockey coach Jerry York on his list? What does this statement tell our present student-athletes about Boston College’s commitment to excellence in athletics?

Respectfully submitted,

The Committer for a New Direction in Boston College Athletics