Martin Jarmond Explains His Decision And Lays Out Plan Moving Forward
This morning under a blanket of snow in Conte Forum, AD Martin Jarmond met with the press to formally announce the firing of Steve Addazio and introduce new interim head coach Richie Gunnell.
"We look at the whole body of work. We evaluate throughout the year, but I started talking with Father Leahy at the end of the season and we connected and we just felt like the trajectory that we were on, I didn't feel like we were making the progress competitively that we needed to." Jarmond told the reporters. " We want to be more competitive in conference and nationally, and I just felt with the total body of work that we, that it was time to make a change."
What does that mean? "Our strategic goals in our strategic plan is to be a top-25 football program", Martin said noting that the recent Top 25 stint and BC's historical track record that included multiple trips on the Top 25. "This is not something that's a rebuild. This is a retool to go for greater heights and that's what this is about."
In terms of finding a replacement, Jarmond talked about the qualities he is looking for. Integrity and understanding the mission and values of Boston College were near the top of the list, along with being a teacher and educator of men, but he also said "Someone that wins. We want to win and we want to be competitive. And we talk about competitive excellence and that's something that we're going to look for." It was crystal clear during this press conference that Jarmond wants BC to take that next step and be more than just a six or seven win team.
With regard of the search Jarmond said that he is going to look everywhere "I'll be looking everywhere that we can find a head coach that's going to be great to lead our men. Whether it's Big Ten, whether it's Pac-12, whether it's whatever conference." Jarmond explained. He also explained that he hoped to have his decision made by December 18th, which is National Signing Day so expect this process to move along quickly.
Now that a decision has been made, Jarmond has arguably his biggest move in his young career. This hiring could define his time at Boston College regardless of all the other moves he makes.