Boston College has fired head football coach Frank Spaziani, so as I have done previously let's take a look at the Boston College Eagles during Spaziani's four year tenure as BC's head football coach using my FBS college football production model. In Spaziani's first year (2009) BC went 8-4 in the regular season and finished 8-5 with a 24-13 loss to USC in the Emerald Bowl. Boston College's most impressive win was against #13 ranked Central Michigan and their least impressive outing was a 16-20 loss against #54 Notre Dame. Boston College played a much tougher schedule than the average FBS schedule during 2009, with a strength of schedule (SOS) of 53.23 as compared to the average of 63.27. In terms of overall productivity, BC finished as the #51 ranked team overall, with the #67 ranked offense and the #34 ranked defense.
In Spaziani's second year at the helm, the BC Eagles finished the regular season at 7-5 with a loss to Nevada in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl finishing the season at 7-6. BC had a tough schedule again as compared to the FBS schools, having a SOS of 51.15 vs. the average of 62.92. The Eagles finished ranked #59 overall, with their offense ranked #95 and their defense ranked #7. Thus from the previous year, the team's overall performance (in terms of productivity) declined slightly with a big drop in offense and a large increase in defense.
The Boston College Eagles had a large drop both in winning percent and in terms of on-field production in 2011. BC finished 4-8 (bowl ineligible) with their most impressive win against #70 ranked North Carolina State and their less impressive game resulting in a one point loss to #113 ranked Duke. BC's on field production left them ranked #97 overall, #110 in terms of points scored and #84 in terms of points given up, all worst than the season before. Coupled with an average SOS relative to the rest of the league, I would sum up this season as a disappointment to Eagles fans.
This season was basically a repeat of last season. While the Eagles had two fewer victories finishing 2-10, the team's overall on-field production left them currently ranked as the #102 team in FBS football, with a slight improvement (currently) as the #106 ranked offense and a slight decline in terms of defense as the currently ranked #86 defense. Again, BC's strength of schedule was average as compared to the FBS "league" overall.
Given a steady decline in terms of winning percent and on-field production, BC has decided to move in a different direction in terms of leadership for their football team.
Analysis of NCAA FBS coaches fired this season:
Auburn's Chizik,
California's Tedford,
Western Michigan's Cubit,
Tennessee's Dooley,
Kentucky's Phillips,
Idaho's Akey.