Good morning from @HokieGuru and all of us at All Sports Discussion. We’re continuing our Ask a Blogger Series, but it will be modified as our Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Question of the Week. This will be a bi-weekly series for each of our blogger representatives from the Coastal and Atlantic Divisions until the season starts. Today, we interview six blogger representatives from the Atlantic Division. Their bios are below:
- @TerrapinNation: “self-proclaimed expert on Terps hoops. Creator of Terps Insider.”
- @saintwarrick: Jeff is a Florida State graduate (c/o 2000) who spreads his absurdity via Twitter, urban graffiti and airplane banners.
- @CUBOSCO: James Bostic, is a lifelong Tiger fan and 2005 graduate of Clemson currently residing in Virginia.
- @SpencerHardison: Spencer Hardison is the editor of The Wolfpack Report. He is also the NC State writer for ACC Sports Nation
- @BCHysteria: A.J Black. Boston College born and bred. Writer and editor over at a little blog called BC Interruption. Really doesn’t have much patience for Frank Spaziani.
- @BloggerSoDear: Jake is a 2009 and 2010 alumnus of Wake Forest University and is currently a CPA in the NC Triad area. He also manages the Wake Forest athletics blog, Blogger So Dear, Twitter Account.
Now that we’ve introduced you to our blogger panelists, let’s get started with the Question of the Week. Here is the question for our panelists: Which coach has the hottest seat in the ACC? For clarity, you can make your pick from either of the ACC’s Coastal or Atlantic Divisions. If you’d like to give us your top three, you can also do that.
@TerrapinNation: Frank Spaziani gets the nod for hottest seat heading into the 2012 season. Simply put, BC isn’t winning and they’re playing a boring brand of football in a city where they must compete with Gisele Bundchen’s husband and the Patriots. The Eagles have gotten progressively worse under Spaz and failed to make a bowl game last season after 12 straight bowl appearances. With that said, Randy Edsall has to be in the discussion. Recruiting has really taken off since the hiring of offensive coordinator Mike Locksley, but another 10 loss season and things could get rather ugly.
@saintwarrick: How can it not be Frank Spaziani? I didn’t think he would survive last season, but here he comes to deliver another underwhelming season to the Boston College faithful. BC’s program hasn’t been the same since the Jeff Jagodzinski fiasco, and the Eagles and Spaziani have delivered yet another chapter into the “Why it’s bad to hire longtime assistants” book. Hopefully BC opens its wallet for an upgrade with the 14-team ACC on the horizon. After Spaz, Maryland coach Randy Edsall should survive the season … unless Captain Bligh chases off his remaining two-deep roster and pairs it with another 10-loss campaign. The Coastal appears to be filled with cool seats.
@CUBOSCO: Tom O’Brien gets my vote. Though Spaz has to be feeling it up in Chestnut Hill. O’Brien has certainly built a lot of capital after closing out the season with a drubbing of Clemson, followed by a miraculous comeback against Maryland and a good win in the bowl game against Louisville. All of that will be forgotten quickly if the Pack goes to Atlanta and comes up short against a less than stellar Tennessee squad. The folks in Raleigh have been patiently waiting and the Pack need to make some noise during the 2012 season to keep O’brien from actually showing some emotion on the sidelines.
@SpencerHardison: The coach who has the hottest seat has to be Frank Spaziani. Spaziani has had ample time, and inherited a consistent winner from Tom O’brien and Jeff Jagodzinski. How Spaziani survived this past season, I will never understand, but if he doesn’t win this season he will no longer be the head coach at Boston College. Right behind Spaz, in my opinion, is Randy Edsall. A coach can not run off most of his roster, only win two games, and expect to be given a free pass. Edsall will probably prove to be the right guy for Maryland, but he better prove that sooner rather than later. Edsall and Spaziani are the two most in danger, in my opinion, but there are others who may be in their position at the end of the season. Tom O’Brien is in a good position right now, but if he limps into another bowl game, things will heat up again in Raleigh, guaranteed. Along with O’Brien, you can never rule out the head coach at Clemson getting some heat. Expectations are through the roof for the Tigers this season, and if Dabo Swinney falls short, he’s sitting on a really hot seat come November and December.
@BCHysteria: Frank Spaziani, a thousand times Frank Spaziani. If BC goes out and lays another egg like they did in 2011, Luigi is gone. In past seasons he has been given the benefit of every excuse in the book: turnover in staff, injuries, and inexperience. In the off season removed coordinators that weren’t loyal to him, and brought in new ones. If Doug Martin and Jim Bollman can’t fix the offense, BC will struggle and Spaz has gots to go.
@BloggerSoDear: Between Boston College and Maryland, I’m not sure which fanbase dislikes their coach more. Judging by twitter and skimming some forums, I’d say Maryland takes the cake there but if there is marginal improvement in College Park it seems that the AD will give Edsall time to install his brand of football (whatever that may be). On the other hand, Spaz is surely facing more pressure overall as the general BC population is not a fan of his and his hiring of new coordinators suggests that changes need to be made fast for him to keep his job beyond this season. If the Eagles struggle from the get-go, Spaziani may not even make it through the 2012 campaign.
We thank our panelists for their time Please stay tuned for further episodes of our Ask a Blogger Series – the Question of the Week.
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