Well, it looks like Al Skinner is going to be fired as Boston College's Head Basketball Coach today. In fact, he already has according to reports. Skinner, who interviewed for the vacant St. Johns opening on Friday was notified late last night that he'd no longer be Boston College's coach. The quick report from the Boston Globe RIGHT HERE
The Globe also reports on BC's athletic director checking out his coaching options RIGHT HERE
((Al Skinner makes a point//Courtesy: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images))
We find this situation utterly fascinating for several reasons. BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo apparently does not want his coaches climbing aboard the carousel if they are under his employ. On several levels, that is kind of cool. When former football coach Jeff Jagodzinski went interviewing for a job with the Jets, DeFillippo didn't wait to see if he got the job, he just fired him. This sounds like a very similar thing.
The ironic thing is that Skinner isn't even the favorite to get the St.Johns job, Steve Lavin is. Skinner, who has had some success at BC will no doubt find a job coaching somewhere else but we just are amazed at the response in Boston.
In this era of zero loyalty and coaches just randomly jumping from one job to another for a little more money, it is refreshing that someone is taking a stand. Most schools just rollover and well, watch as their coach, in a lot of cases, the guy who improved the team and schools standing a lot, just walk out the door when a bigger school comes and courts them.
In this case, St. Johns isn't necessarily a better job and we do kind of wonder what Skinner was thinking. But he's a grown up too, and should have known that this scenario could have played out and it did.
Now DeFilippo will turn to the smaller school ranks and look for a new head coach himself. The negative part of his stand is that he may very well do the thing he is trying to keep his coaches from doing. While on one hand we admire the stand he is taking at BC, we also say that he is a bit hypocritical because he's doing exactly the opposite now in trying to find a coach.
In the meantime, here are some BC Highlights from ESPN, Courtesy: You Tube:
UPDATE.....UPDATE.....UPDATE:
OSG Sports contacted sources inside the Boston College athletic department who spoke on the condition of anonymity today and according to them Skinner is a goner. A press conference is expected this afternoon, probably around noon to announce that Al Skinner will be relieved of his coaching duties.
It appears that Boston College covets Cornell head coach Steve Donohue who led the Ivy League school to the sweet sixteen. Go ahead and pencil in Donohue at the top of Boston College's wish list.
Boston College has always been a enigma in the ACC during the Skinner era. There was talent but the effort to win seemed to be missing.
Quite frankly, this whole situation is a new twist for the Coaching Carousel. Normally coaches come and go and interview for jobs as they please, this is the first time we have ever heard of a coach losing a job for "Interviewing" for another. Though we don't necessarily agree with the tone of how DiFilippo handled this one. We do agree that there needs to be something in place to keep coaches from freely jumping from job to job whenever they feel like it.