Boston College coach Frank Spaziani met with his new boss Tuesday, but was not in much of a mood to discuss how their first face-to-face interaction went.
"It went fine," Spaziani said on the ACC coaches' call Wednesday.
You can hardly blame Spaziani for eschewing colorful descriptions in favor of a three-word answer. After a 1-4 start, there is no question Spaziani's job security remains a huge question. Add into the mix a new person in charge of the athletic department, and there may not be much security there at all.
Not surprisingly, new athletic director Brad Bates told reporters in Boston he will not make any coaching changes now. But he will re-evaluate the program at the end of the season.
"Just like any sport, we will assess it at the end of the year,” Bates said after his introductory news conference, according to The Boston Globe. “We will look at the body of work rather than the emotional roller-coaster every week.
“Quite honestly, I’ve been an outsider looking in. There are a lot of data and statistical numbers and research that you can do about it, but until you really immerse yourself in the program, you don’t really know what’s going on.”
There is no question that a good working relationship between head coach and athletic director is essential for any program to function properly. Spaziani knows this.
"You have to be a team,” Spaziani said. “In order for a lot of things to happen in a football program, it has to go from the top to the bottom level in your program, that’s the relationship. Everybody has to be on the same page because there’s not much of a margin for error in any program going anywhere. I think that’s in any successful organization.
“What has changed is there’s a lot more finances involved and obviously that changes the dynamics, but the relationship still has to be the same.”