Boston College Fires Brad Bates

BC announced today that athletic director Brad Bates will step down at the end of the academic year in May. This firing has been long-rumor, but the announcement came after signing day, but before a decision has to be made on Jim Christian’s job. While Bates made numerous achievements, including the announcement of the new baseball stadium and the new football practice facility, the major 2 sports have struggled.  The football team has gone 18-27 against D-1 teams in 4 seasons, while the basketball team has never finished over .500 under 2 different coaches.  Each of the sports has shown no signs of moving into championship contention in the ACC. 

What this means for BC Football: Steve Addazio’s next season will be the biggest of his career.  New AD’s like to have coaches they hired, and Daz may need to win 8 games to keep his job.  Even if Daz wins 8, he will be on the hot seat for the first few years of the new AD’s tenure.  Daz has not built up the job security where people will be begging to keep him if he has one more down year.

What this means for BC Basketball: Jim Christian’s job was going to be up in the air at the end of this season.  While the team has improved in talent, with Jerome Robinson and Ky Bowman, the results on the court have not changed.  The Eagles are looking at another last place finish in the ACC.  Christian’s job could be saved for one more year depending on when the new AD gets hired.  Most likely, it will take a few months to hire Bates’ replacement, and it will be too late to fire Christian.  If he does survive for another year, he will need to make the NCAA tournament to save his job.

What this means for BC Hockey: Jerry York has coached under 3 different ADs so far, and has dominated under all of them.  His job his here for life.  However, he is getting older, and his health has been deteriorating over the last few years.  His replacement will most likely be hired by the new AD.  This should be an easy choice, with longtime assistant Greg Brown the likely choice.  As few schools have big time hockey programs, it is unlikely the new AD will have a hockey background.  This will make it more likely his sticks with Brown as the new coach.