What's your grade for Bates thru 2.75 years

[commavegarage]

Breaking it down by sport:

Basketball:

No brainer firing of an awful coach. Replacement coach, TBD. Certainly doesn't look to be an "A" hire though. Verdict still out. Attendance at high school levels still.

Hockey:

Nothing. Let's keep it that way.

Which brings me to football...

1. Coaching: Hired Addazio, who has gone 14-12, 2 1-AA wins, 2 awful bowl losses. Obviously these next two years are gonna define his time here.
2. Scheduling: Absolute disaster. Last second fill-ins, 2 1-AA teams this year, no desirable OOC games scheduled. Still have considerable gaps down the road.
3. In stadium improvements: Solid. New video boards are nice, i thought he installed the brick around the field but could be wrong. Seems like there are decent new food options.
4. Gameday experience: Very poor. I've seen zero improvement on the tailgating situation, no additional time added, and obviously the nazification of shea field.

I give him a generous "C". Hockey hopefully he'll never touch, which leaves basketball and football. Christian has by no means impressed me (though I'll give him a few seasons), and Bates has done nothing (or has produced no results) on doing anything to improve the atmosphere, get more students to go, and get more people in general to games. On the football side, tailgating has gotten anywhere from the same to much worse, the schedule situation is awful, and we've gotten two mediocre season of football.

I'm curious because I get the sense that people think of him the way most think of Adaziani, they were so worn down by Spaz (and Gene) that anything seemed better.

As we get close to the end of his third year, I count very few pluses, a lot of neutrals, and some negatives on his report card.

Was looking at his bio to see how long he's been here, I think Greenarthur needs to add a s: to this

"Bates has instituted sweeping changes in football gameday parking, pregame hospitality, game atmosphere and customer service. The changes were based on feedback from current and former season ticketholders who attended "town hall" style meetings and more than 1,400 responses to a follow-up survey."


---------------------------------------


Also - this was the email I got about my shea spot.....

Thank you for your patience during this year as we have reviewed the Shea Field policies and procedures. The aim all along has been to maintain a family friendly atmosphere with the safety and enjoyment of our guests who hold Shea passes being paramount.

The following summarizes some of the broad changes associated with Shea Field in 2015. Please note that upon choosing Shea Field for the season your Parking Statement of Agreement will outline in greater detail some of the intimate details and operational aspects of this plan.

Shea Field will transition to a reserved parking area. Pass holders will receive an assigned numbered parking spot. This replaces the first-come, first-served policy of previous years. This also relieves the burden of meeting up with friends outside of campus to park near each other as we can assign spaces per your request.
Pass holders will receive 20 Shea Field tickets to distribute to their guests to gain access to Shea. The implementation of ticketed access guarantees that guests of pass holders will always gain entry, as walk-ons who do not have a ticket will not be permitted to access Shea Field.
The anticipated Flynn Fund contribution for Shea Field will be $5,000, and $2,500 for GOLD. Parking is assigned first-come; first serve at the GOLD rate once the full donation is made. Should demand exceed supply we will contact you with alternate parking options.
Gold alumni may pool gifts from up to a maximum of 20 individuals to qualify for Shea Field Parking.

Donors who make a qualifying gift and select Shea Field for the 2015 season will have the opportunity to provide their parking preferences to the Flynn Fund to assist in the allocation process. You will receive separate correspondence via mail from our office that will include information about the parking allocations process and how to provide our office with your parking preferences for next year.

We recognize the release of these policies comes at the end of our fiscal year and understand that many people chose to wait for final policies to be released for Shea Field prior to making their gift to the Flynn Fund. Our office is committed to assisting you with your football parking needs and will work to process gifts following the May 31st deadline. Should you wish to make the qualifying gift for Shea Field parking, please contact the Flynn Fund office at (617) 552-0772. Gifts can also be made online by using the link: www.bc.edu/giving/athletics. Regardless, a staff representative will be personally reaching out to you to ensure your personal situation is addressed.

Thank you again for your patience. Please know we are still working on alternative entertainment and game experience activities. We truly appreciate your ongoing commitment to Boston College Athletics in support of our student-athletes.


Sincerely,
Bryan


--
Bryan Amos
Assistant Director, Flynn Fund
Boston College Athletics
Conte Forum 320
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
Office: (617) 552-0145
Fax: (617) 552-8039
www.bceagles.com
www.bc.edu/athleticsgiving

[eepstein0]

That's a really generous C you are giving him. He's a nice guy and his coaching hires will turn out to be fine, nothing more. JC will be here for a while, have NIT level success and move on. I think people are going to get very sick of Daz when he gets stuck at 7 or 8 wins year after year. His in-game coaching isn't good enough to beat FSU, Clemson and Louisville consistently. The rest is pretty much a disaster.

[b0mberMan]

432

[b0mberMan]

I should add I'm grading on a 768 point scale

[b0mberMan]

Oh and I'm evaluating all college coaches across all d1 sports, and adjusting for a curve

[b0mberMan]

And tweaking things based on dr walrus' conference realignment scenarios.

[b0mberMan]

I hope that clears things up

[eepstein0]

I hope that clears things up

I think you're artificially trying to inflate your number of EO posts.

I like it well done.

[BCSUPERFAN22]

Ive been pleasantly surprised by Addazio to date. Maybe like the Spaziani/Gene effect, its a case of anything is better, but I think he will have success against the top of the ACC as he has proven he can hang with anyone at the top of the conference, even with a young team/spaziani's left overs. Much like many have eluded to with Christian, I honestly still think Addazio is too early to call considering the absolute disaster he was left with.

As for the gameday experience, I have noticed zero changes. We park in Robsham, and outside of slightly increased communication from his staff, there has been no change. The fact that he has done nothing to push back against the neighbors for some kind of changes is disappointing. Even something as small as letting cars onto campus slightly earlier to relieve traffic congestion and maximize the 3 hours we have to tailgate would be a mutually beneficial compromise, but we have seen nothing.

I dont know the dynamics of the administration and the master plan, but the inability to release something in regards to athletic upgrades is an embarrassment. At this point, who knows when we will see anything as it continues to be pushed back. The fact that there are no concrete plans for an indoor facility, something that Addazio is clearly getting upset about as he is mentioning it in public appearances with alumni, is very troubling.

I also think from a facility standpoint, his inability to push back on the use of Shea field has been ridiculous. It is the perfect plot of land to increase the FB footprint (indoor facility/outdoor grass practice fields all in a compact footprint) and the more we hear, it sounds like that wont be the case. Using Shea primarily for football has so much potential to create a great facility arrangement. Move baseball and softball somewhere offsite for a while to get started on an indoor facility, nobody will care.

I guess the answer in regards to facilities, is I just don't know what is happening behind the scenes, so its hard to say, but I think if Bates was more proactive, by this point he should have, at a minimum, released plans/drawings for fans and recruits to see, even if the actual finished project is a few years down the road. By this measure, I would give him an F in regards to facilities and transparency to future plans

[MattTheEagle]

C is about right.

Football scheduling has sucked. I'm hopeful it will get better but so far sucky. A few of the game day changes such as the video board seem nice, but a lot of the messes are still there. An immediate plan for an indoor football practice facility is a must. Unlike most of the board, I was relatively happy the with Addazio hire. So far I think he's been good, but it's still too early to tell. The question is whether we are contending for ACC championships in the next couple of years. What he's done in the short term has been impressive. He has made BC Football fun again, really fun. Watching Andre was amazing and heisman finalist. Adding Murphy the next year was huge and the win over USC was the most exciting in as long as I've been following BC football. Also, easily the best win since we were #2 over VTech in 2007.

I have been utterly unimpressed with basketball. Very disappointing hire with Christian, who has yet to prove he can hang in the ACC.

[DuchesneEast]

Pass holders will receive 20 Shea Field tickets to distribute to their guests to gain access to Shea.

Sounds like a fail.

[eepstein0]

Wrong board but John Wooden wasn't winning many games with that dumpster fire of a roster last year. JC gets an incomplete until we see his recruits this year.

[DomingoOrtiz]

Pass holders will receive 20 Shea Field tickets to distribute to their guests to gain access to Shea.

Sounds like a fail.

Given that BC was forced to come up with a solution to overcrowding on Shea, what is your solution?

[commavegarage]

Pass holders will receive 20 Shea Field tickets to distribute to their guests to gain access to Shea.

Sounds like a fail.

i love when the people who make the athletic department decisions aren't as smart as the students/alum who went there.

So there'll be assigned spots. Great.

Allow me to wonder what happens September 18th, friday night, biggest game on the home schedule. Tailgating will start at 430 or whatever. It'll be crowded and lively by 530. People who have "assigned spots" on the right field line are gonna do exactly what when they can't get there til after 6 given its a friday night? Weave through thousands of people, tailgate setups and drunk kids?

Great forward thinking right there.

(For the record, it makes all the sense in the world to have assigned spots in the mod lot etc etc)

Also, I'd love to know the reasons for increasing the price for the spot this year. 2 1-AA games, best game on a friday night. Is demand really that high for Shea?

[TobaccoRoadEagle]

Pass holders will receive 20 Shea Field tickets to distribute to their guests to gain access to Shea.

Sounds like a fail.

Given that BC was forced to come up with a solution to overcrowding on Shea, what is your solution?

who forced them to come up with a solution and why was the force necessary? i'm not being a dick this time, i really don't know and have interest in the answer.

however, depending on the answer, there might be a dickish response as a result.

lastly, shea field's price was $5k back in the good ole days of jags and playing in championships. the spazification of the program drove that price down but now that we have the greatest coach that we could ever hope for (tm bme) it only makes sense to bring the price back in line with our previous winning ways.

and before ponying up $5k for next year, you should ask what sort of tailgating space you'll receive in dublin

[DomingoOrtiz]

Pass holders will receive 20 Shea Field tickets to distribute to their guests to gain access to Shea.

Sounds like a fail.

Given that BC was forced to come up with a solution to overcrowding on Shea, what is your solution?

who forced them to come up with a solution and why was the force necessary? i'm not being a dick this time, i really don't know and have interest in the answer.

Fire Department.

[TobaccoRoadEagle]

Pass holders will receive 20 Shea Field tickets to distribute to their guests to gain access to Shea.

Sounds like a fail.

Given that BC was forced to come up with a solution to overcrowding on Shea, what is your solution?

who forced them to come up with a solution and why was the force necessary? i'm not being a dick this time, i really don't know and have interest in the answer.

Fire Department.

so in a field containing a larger square footage than the stadium itself the fire department determined you can't have as many people as are able to enter the stadium itself. i'd love to see that logarithm

[eagle9903]

Pass holders will receive 20 Shea Field tickets to distribute to their guests to gain access to Shea.

Sounds like a fail.

Given that BC was forced to come up with a solution to overcrowding on Shea, what is your solution?

who forced them to come up with a solution and why was the force necessary? i'm not being a dick this time, i really don't know and have interest in the answer.

Fire Department.

so in a field containing a larger square footage than the stadium itself the fire department determined you can't have as many people as are able to enter the stadium itself. i'd love to see that logarithm

I assume that shea field has a lot less exits, which might make a difference.

[TobaccoRoadEagle]

Pass holders will receive 20 Shea Field tickets to distribute to their guests to gain access to Shea.

Sounds like a fail.

Given that BC was forced to come up with a solution to overcrowding on Shea, what is your solution?

who forced them to come up with a solution and why was the force necessary? i'm not being a dick this time, i really don't know and have interest in the answer.

Fire Department.

so in a field containing a larger square footage than the stadium itself the fire department determined you can't have as many people as are able to enter the stadium itself. i'd love to see that logarithm

I assume that shea field has a lot less exits, which might make a difference.

probably, but it still seems dumb to me. the mod fence created less exits (and more nerds) for the mods... shouldn't they have to tear down mods as well (or does the nerdification reduce the risk of fire and cause everything to work out in the end).

i know this argument is dumb but i am bored and tired of bc tailgating suckiness and excuses... and i don't even like sports or go to games

[Supahfan99]

One thing I will say that bothered me last season was the attendance at the USC game and how they handled the pricing/tickets for it. Biggest non-conference home game in forever and they didn't sell it out. I was able to buy a ticket the night of the game. Now the atmosphere was great but a few thousand other fans would have been great and I guarantee any casual fan that showed up and attended would have been likely to come back as a repeat customer. Generally, BC needs to get people in the seats in whatever way they can and cannot be missing the mark on something like this. Having a few thousand empty seats vs. USC tells me they still have issues in regard to understanding the demand of a BC ticket and that is a fundamental problem that needs to be fixed.

Hopefully in a few years, BC will be rolling with Daz in front of sold out crowds and eaglekeeper will be standing in the corners of Alumni with a shovel for the groundbreaking ceremony of much-needed corner additions to Alumni.

[commavegarage]

Pass holders will receive 20 Shea Field tickets to distribute to their guests to gain access to Shea.

Sounds like a fail.

Given that BC was forced to come up with a solution to overcrowding on Shea, what is your solution?

who forced them to come up with a solution and why was the force necessary? i'm not being a dick this time, i really don't know and have interest in the answer.

however, depending on the answer, there might be a dickish response as a result.

lastly, shea field's price was $5k back in the good ole days of jags and playing in championships. the spazification of the program drove that price down but now that we have the greatest coach that we could ever hope for (tm bme) it only makes sense to bring the price back in line with our previous winning ways.

and before ponying up $5k for next year, you should ask what sort of tailgating space you'll receive in dublin

i heard from someone in bates' office that it was due to the police.

and i dont think fire exits had anything to do with it etc. i think it all goes back to that ND game a few years ago where you couldn't breathe on the field and im sure plenty of high rollers had some property/car/tailgate destruction/theft and complained.

[DomingoOrtiz]

Pass holders will receive 20 Shea Field tickets to distribute to their guests to gain access to Shea.

Sounds like a fail.

Given that BC was forced to come up with a solution to overcrowding on Shea, what is your solution?

who forced them to come up with a solution and why was the force necessary? i'm not being a dick this time, i really don't know and have interest in the answer.

however, depending on the answer, there might be a dickish response as a result.

lastly, shea field's price was $5k back in the good ole days of jags and playing in championships. the spazification of the program drove that price down but now that we have the greatest coach that we could ever hope for (tm bme) it only makes sense to bring the price back in line with our previous winning ways.

and before ponying up $5k for next year, you should ask what sort of tailgating space you'll receive in dublin

i heard from someone in bates' office that it was due to the police.

and i dont think fire exits had anything to do with it etc. i think it all goes back to that ND game a few years ago where you couldn't breathe on the field and im sure plenty of high rollers had some property/car/tailgate destruction/theft and complained.

It was in response to the ND game, and maybe it came from the Police & not the FD.

[eepstein0]

One thing I will say that bothered me last season was the attendance at the USC game and how they handled the pricing/tickets for it. Biggest non-conference home game in forever and they didn't sell it out. I was able to buy a ticket the night of the game. Now the atmosphere was great but a few thousand other fans would have been great and I guarantee any casual fan that showed up and attended would have been likely to come back as a repeat customer. Generally, BC needs to get people in the seats in whatever way they can and cannot be missing the mark on something like this. Having a few thousand empty seats vs. USC tells me they still have issues in regard to understanding the demand of a BC ticket and that is a fundamental problem that needs to be fixed.

Hopefully in a few years, BC will be rolling with Daz in front of sold out crowds and eaglekeeper will be standing in the corners of Alumni with a shovel for the groundbreaking ceremony of much-needed corner additions to Alumni.

I'd agree here. The ticket prices of that game scared people off. The weather also sucked which wasn't their fault.

The FSU game will be nowhere near a sellout

[claver2010]

I'll go C+ (insert TRE nerdification grade inflation comment)

Ultimately the biggest job is hiring coaches. I'll say Christian is too early to judge. There are some positives (he's a better gameday coach than he was billed coming in) and some negatives (inability to close on recruits, granted that's anecdotal).

I think Daz has had a successful first two years. He's taken kids from classes ranked at or near the bottom of the ACC and instantly brought them to middle of the pack and competitive against the top. You can say what you want about TGOSB's ability to evaluate hip fluidity of 15 year olds, there is still a strong corrolation to on field performance. Gameday, there's certainly room for improvement. His clock management at end of halves is bad. I was disappointed he didn't realize that our kicker can't kick an XP, we have a kick ass running game. If we go for it and make it 40 someodd percent of the time, it's worth it. You're telling me w Murphy, Hilliman, Willis, etc we can't get it in from the 2 40% of the time? Would've been nice to see some thinking.

Outside of the coaching hires, I agree it's been a disaster.

There has been zero improvement to the tailgating situation and in some respects it has gotten worse. The story went from:
"I was surprised at the restrictions as where I came from the RVs rolled in on Thursday" to "Now that we have alums in office in the city I'm optimistic" to no improvements.

I firmly believe at this stage there aren't improvements in the hours because BC doesn't want to push for it.

The price point remains completely out of whack as evidenced by the garages being 15% full.

The OOC / scheduling is terrible. What's been his big OOC win in nearly 3 years, a 2 for 1 with NIU? Everyone who follows BC to the degree that the w31rd0z on here does knew something would have to give with the NMST game and BC is the one with the thumb up their ass for months forcing 2 FCS teams.

And don't look now the '16 OOC schedule will be just as bad.

In the long term, BC has done nothing to satisfy the requirement of an OOC P5 game per year.

The "no one wants to come to Alumni cause we beat USC" is bullshit as well.
Taking 30 seconds looking at our "peer" teams in the ACC:

Duke: H/H w Northwestern & Baylor
GT: H/H w Vandy & Ole Miss (on top of annual UGA game)
Miami: H/H w Mich St & Nebraska
UNC: H/H w Cal & SC (in addition to neutral games w UGA)
Pitt: H/H w Ped State, OK State & Tenn
Cuse: H/H w LSU, MD (?)
VT: H/H w Ped State, Michigan, Wisco, shit even Rutgres
Wake: H/H w Vandy & Ole Miss

[twballgame9]

Bates is a B- so far. Nothing great, nothing bad, the tailgating whining is, to be generous, tiresome. BC's fans don't really warrant anyone listening to the complaints and most of the complaints aren't about things that Bates controls. If BC fans were showing up and entering the game on time, I might listen to the gripes, but there is still nothing he can do about it. If you are at the game to drink and see friends, save yourself the Flynn Fund donation and go camping.

Addazio is a strong B+. He'd be an A but for the bad taste of that bowl game. The idea that epstein is promoting that he is not a good enough coach to regularly beat good teams is laughable - he's already given FSU two scares with a terrible roster that had most of the talent as freshmen. He's also beaten a top 10 team in a national TV game. Bitching about clock management is boring - it is far preferrable to bitching about the recruiting classes having no talent. Whoever the coach is is going to have something wrong with him, or else he wouldn't be stuck coaching at BC

Not excited about the basketball coach, but unlike the last guy, he can actually coach and seems to be landing some good players. Jury's out.

Hockey is cool, but irrelevant in this discussion.

[dtwalrus]

Bates is a B- so far. Nothing great, nothing bad, the tailgating whining is, to be generous, tiresome. BC's fans don't really warrant anyone listening to the complaints and most of the complaints aren't about things that Bates controls. If BC fans were showing up and entering the game on time, I might listen to the gripes, but there is still nothing he can do about it. If you are at the game to drink and see friends, save yourself the Flynn Fund donation and go camping.

Addazio is a strong B+. He'd be an A but for the bad taste of that bowl game. The idea that epstein is promoting that he is not a good enough coach to regularly beat good teams is laughable - he's already given FSU two scares with a terrible roster that had most of the talent as freshmen. He's also beaten a top 10 team in a national TV game. Bitching about clock management is boring - it is far preferrable to bitching about the recruiting classes having no talent. Whoever the coach is is going to have something wrong with him, or else he wouldn't be stuck coaching at BC

Not excited about the basketball coach, but unlike the last guy, he can actually coach and seems to be landing some good players. Jury's out.

Hockey is cool, but irrelevant in this discussion.

This.

I would only add, and I'll preface this by saying that I'm a one-game-a-year-out-of-town'er so maybe the tailgating is less of an issue for me, a few things.

Football:
- Spaz firing: A+. That's right, I'll give him credit for it, especially for the unceremonious, unapologetic, GTFOOMAM type firing.
- Daz hire: A+. That's right, A+ motherfuckers. Given the dumpster fire of a situation, the reputation of BC, and a president that completely devalues athletics, Steve Addazio was a diamond of a hire. Drastically improved product on the field. Excited fans. National media attention. Much improved recruiting. Brings a football culture that I think we can all buy into, even if the Dude stuff is going to get old quick. A-fucking-plus hire. That doesn't mean Daz is an A+ coach or is winning us national championships, but that was a great hire given the circumstances.
- Fan Experience: Incomplete. The town halls and the effort is there, but the results aren't. It's still only been two years, maybe we need to give it time. And we can't even say how much the lack of progress is within Bate's hands. Leahy's still around, right? I'm assuming it would be Leahy going to Brighton and Newton pushing for change, right? Let's cut Bates some slack on this one for now.
- Scheduling: F. Unless there's some hidden story behind the scenes, like Bates has insider knowledge of drastic conference realignment that will lead to a 9 game schedule and last minute scheduling opportunities (oh come on please let it be a secret massive realignment!), the scheduling has been terrible. And I'm even ok with two FCS this year, given Daz's preference for cupcakes with a rookie QB and the last minute NMST drop. But the lack of exciting future home-and-home agreements is inexcusable.

Basketball:
- Donahue Firing: A+. Needed to be done and handled fairly well.
- Christian Hire: Incomplete but I'm skeptical. Maybe he was hamstrung by a tight budget, but this seemed like an uninspired hire to me.
- Fan Experience: B+. Good moves with changing the student section seating and implementing a loyalty program among the students to improve attendance. Only so much we can do with unexciting, bad basketball and nerdification.

Hockey:
- Hands off: A+

Overall: B+/A-. Again, the only thing I'm really bothered by is the scheduling. And even that may be explained by the impending additions of Notre Dame and Penn State to the ACC, the move to 9 conference games, the other 13 ACC teams needing to break current scheduling contracts, and Bates planning on scooping up some good leftovers to fill the OOC schedule moving forward. I think a lot, A LOT of our complaints have to do with just how badly Gene, Spaz and Donahue crippled our athletics program and the fact that Fr. Leahy doesn't give a shit about it.

[TobaccoRoadEagle]

i remember when beeker was a slam dunk/grand slam hire in the minds of people herein.

just saying...

[twballgame9]

i remember when beeker was a slam dunk/grand slam hire in the minds of people herein.

just saying...

I was okay with beeker, but that doesn't matter. You don't get fired for what you were when you were hired.

[Cadillac90]

i remember when beeker was a slam dunk/grand slam hire in the minds of people herein.

just saying...

Funny, I seem to recall that as well.

[Cadillac90]

i remember when beeker was a slam dunk/grand slam hire in the minds of people herein.

just saying...

I was okay with beeker, but that doesn't matter. You don't get fired for what you were when you were hired.

I tend to agree with 95% of the stuff you opine on, however, you were dead wrong with Beeker and the 25/12 thing on Anderson. Just sayin'