A JERSEY GUY: IS BC Ready to Deep "Six" Addazio?

BC football coach Steve Addazio may have his immediate future sealed with what happens at Notre Dame on Saturday.

The chatter all week at Boston College has been about how the Eagles can again become bowl eligible--for the sixth time in seven years they will tell you proudly-if they beat Notre Dame in South Bend on Saturday afternoon.

It will be major challenge for the Eagles (5-5) who close their regular season next week at Pittsburgh.

Of course, BC could lose to ND--they are 3 TD underdogs-but come back next week and win at Pitt and also become bowl eligible with the magic total of 6 victories.

But that may be too late for both BC and coach Steve Addazio, whose 7 year stint at The Heights has included 5 seven win seasons and few signs of forward progress.

Here's why. And as is usually the case at BC, it is a complicated situation.

BC athletic director Martin Jarmond has a chance to hire former Rutgers and Tampa Bay Bucs coach Greg Schiano. But Schiano is being heavily courted by Rutgers to come back and fix a program which has been perpetually broken since he left in 2011.

That job has been open for almost two months and Schiano appears to be Rutgers first (and, right now, only choice).

BC is a better job than Rutgers, primarily because the BC program than Rutgers with a much greater chance to succeed.

Schiano, who took a year off to spend more time with his famiy, which includes two of his children, who are still in high school, wants to return to coaching, but he also wants to make this his last coaching job, so he is taking his time in deciding his next move.

The problem is that the BC job is NOT open right now. And almost everyone concedes that if the Eagles upset the Irish, it will NOT be open even if the Eagles lose next week at Pitt.

Conversely, the consenus opinion among BC insiders is that a loss to Notre Dame will allow Jarmond to make a change if he tells BC president Father William Leahy that he has the right coach to take BC to the next level---more than 7 wins in a season.

Jarmond and Schiano worked together at Ohio State, where Jarmond was an assistant athletic director and Schiano was on former Ohio State coach Urban Meyers staff.

There is a connection.

But Jarmond is working against the inertia of BC. No matter the situation, BC NEVER makes a coaching change before the end of a season, which would mean an evaluation and a decision after the Pitt game.

It is doubtful if Schiano will still be available by then, since the pressure at Rutgers is increasing on an hourly basis to make a decision and bring back Schiano--he had a winning record there (think about that).

So the time line for BC football over the next few days should something like this.

1. A BC win over Notre Dame ends the drama regarding Addazio. He will be back next season, BC will play in a bowl game and life will go on at The Heights.
2. A BC loss, however, puts Schiano into play if the Eagles decide they really want to make a change. Jarmond knows that if wants Schiano, he must fire Addazio and work out a deal in the next few days to bring him to The Heights.

Technically, they could have a handshake deal, but not announce it for a week, but that would be difficult to keep quiet.

1. Father Leahy could also end the drama by saying that BC does not want to pay out the remainder of Addazio's contract ($2.6 million a year) which runs through the 2022 season AND a new coach's salary. The Eagles make no move, even if BC finishes with a 5-7 season.

So stay tuned, it should be an interesting few days at BC and for Steve Addazio, especially if BC loses to Notre Dame.

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