Year number two will be telling for BC coach

By Robert Rousseau  |   Thursday, April 03, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

College Football
Got something to say?

Sign Up and be the first to comment on this article!

Remember Larry Coker? You know, the former head football coach of the University of Miami of Florida Hurricanes? He started his Miami career with a 24-0 record and won a national championship in his first season at the helm.

But then Ken Dorsey, the outstanding quarterback that his predecessor had groomed, left. And suddenly Coker’s once near unbeatable club put up an 11-2 record. The next season the Canes went 9-3, which at the time was downright terrible for them. Then came another 9-3 record, including a 40-3 loss to LSU.

Soon after a 6-6 record the following season, Coker was fired.

Anyway, the point is that Larry Coker took over for an excellent head coach in Butch Davis that had built his club up. So when the talent and parameters that Davis had brought to life began to dwindle away, so did the reputation of a coach that had started his career at the helm on such a great note. Such is the trap that many fall into; the fact is that a coach’s first year leading a team has as much to do with his predecessor did as anything else. Along with this, you have to wait for the big time players that other guy recruited to leave before knowing how good your new coach really is.

Matt Ryan, Andre Callender, L.V. Whitworth, Gosder Cherilus, DeJuan Tribble. . .

Sure, we’re talking a little bit of a smaller scale here. The Boston College Eagles are not going to be mistaken for the Hurricanes of that era anytime soon. That said, they sure did have an outstanding season in 2007, compiling an 11-2 record in former head coach Tom O’Brien’s absence. And yes, their new head coach Jeff Jagodzinski played a role in this. Further, the big time players O’Brien recruited will be gone as of next season.

So guess is that over the next two years we’re going to find out what kind of a coach Jagodzinski really is. Still, this wouldn’t be a real sports article if we didn’t give a guess as to his true talent.

Guess is that the man affectionately referred to as Jags truly is a good one.

First, he’s got the pedigree to be a good coach in that he learned a lot about coaching the offensive line from Alex Gibbs, the former architect of those great Denver Broncos lines. Let’s face it: The offensive line is as important as any position to know if you want to be successful in college. Second, he’s been an offensive coordinator and successful coach at multiple stops in the NFL as a whole, which isn’t a bad learning ground at all. And last, he served as offensive coordinator at Boston College back in 1997-98, so he knows the place.

Regardless, it’s the next two years that will tell us the real story on Jeff Jagodzinski. Again, you’ve got to think he’ll do very well. Looking forward to seeing if that assumption is accurate.








Got something to say?

Sign Up and be the first to comment on this article! (0)

About Robert Rousseau

Robert Rousseau is a sports writer that has been published in a variety of print and online venues. He’s been writing for RealFootball365.com for almost three years now. When Rousseau isn’t writing about college football he tends to be penning mixed martial arts pieces for MMAFighting.com or...
read more
Article Tools Share!   |  RSS  |  Bleacher Report About Bleacher Report