Boston College hires Temple's Steve Addazio

Boston College has hried Temple's Steve Addazio as its next football coach, Eagles athletic director Brad Bates announced Tuesday.

Addazio went 13-11 in his two years at Temple, overseeing the Owls' transition from the MAC to the Big East. He earned a reputation as one of the country's top assistants while at Florida, where he won two national titles as the offensive line coach for Urban Meyer.

Addazio will replace Frank Spaziani, who was fired after four seasons as BC's head coach, each of which was progressively worse. Spaziani finished with a 21-29 record.

Bates tabbed Addazio, in part, for his ability to recruit the Northeast corridor. As an assistant at Syracuse, Notre Dame, Indiana and Florida, Addazio developed a reputation as one of the elite recruiters of the Northeast. He lured Dwight Freeney to Syracuse and Aaron Hernandez to Florida. Addazio is a former Connecticut high school coach with strong ties in the Northeast, an area that can be notoriously difficult for outsiders to recruit.

He'll have a tall task replenishing the talent at BC, as the program has atrophied under Spaziani. The Eagles went 2-10 this year and are facing an increasingly apathetic fan base.

Addazio will bring a shot of energy to the BC program, which fights for the spotlight in professional-sports driven Boston. Addazio was a favorite of Tim Tebow at Florida because of his energy and enthusiasm, and his raucous pregame speeches became known as Vitamin Addazio.

The hiring of Addazio is the first significant move for Bates, who was hired this fall essentially to fire Spaziani and lead the search for a new football coach.

Addazio was strongly considered by Boston College for its vacancy four years ago, but emergency knee surgery after Florida won the 2009 national championship prevented him from interviewing.

This time around, Addazio won the job. Now he'll face the tall task of getting BC back into bowl contention.