This has been a terrible season, and I have no doubt changes are needed. Can we get better as a program? Yes. It will take commitment from all: University leadership, athletics department leadership, coaches, athletes, alumni, students, fans, and donors. In the aftermath of a horrible and unacceptable defeat last night, hyperbole starts flying in the emotions of the moment. Is this a very bad season? Yes. Is it the worst season of all time? Recency bias says yes, but the real answer is no. We've had much worse in our long history.
The early history of Boston College football is not a winning tradition. We had three winning seasons in our first 14 seasons that we played. Those 14 seasons were played over 20 years (1893-1912)--we didn't field a team for six of the seasons (which itself is a major problem).
On the other hand, programs can be turned around. 1913-1944, BC came into its own, blossomed into a national power, and had only one losing season in that 32 season stretch (early, in 1915). There were legendary coaches: Frank Cavanaugh, Joe McKenney, Gil Dobie, and Frank Leahy. My point is, turnarounds can and do happen. We've done it before we can do it again.
And we've come from much worse places. What follows are the worse seasons in BC history--and we've come back from all of them:
1. 1902 (0-8): Football alumnus Dr. Arthur White (a physician and later hospital administrator) coached us for one season: this one. We scored 11 points all season (including six shutouts, granted scoring was different back then), and gave up 134. All of our games were against New England foes, losing to Bates, UNH, UMass, Holy Cross, and Tufts (twice). But perhaps the worst losses were being shutout by both Andover Academy and Exeter Academy (yes, the high schools). In reading press clips, the biggest problem was the team was its small size. Also, this team only had two home games. I guess up to date facilities has always been a problem for BC. This team was so bad that BC disbanded football for the next five years.
2. 1978 (0-11): First year head coach Ed Chlebek led the squad to the worst finish in Boston College history. There were LOTS of bad losses. We lost to Holy Cross, Army, Navy, Air Force, Tulane (9-3 score), Villanova, and 1-AA UMass. We capped it all off with a loss to Temple in Tokyo. The best attended home game (28,109) was the rivalry with Holy Cross. We had six home games, four road games, and one neutral site game.
3. 1911 (0-7): Coached by Joseph Courtney (his only season as BC head coach), every game was on the road. We scored eight points all season and were shut out five times. Losses to Holy Cross, Colby, UNH, URI, Saint Anselm, Cushing Academy, and Dean Academy (now Dean College, though I think it was a high school at the time). Coach Courtney would become head coach at Norwich in 1915 and go 0-8 for an all-time 0-15 coaching record.
4. 1910 (0-4-2): Head Coach Jim "Hub" Hart played football at Boston College before transferring to Georgetown where he played both starred on both the football and baseball teams. After three seasons playing for the Chicago White Sox, Hub coached BC in his only season as a head coach. All games were on the road, and BC lost to UNH, Holy Cross, and two high schools (Andover and Dean) and tied another (Cushing). This was also one of the years we tied UConn, in Storrs.
5. 1950 (0-9-1): Former Chicago Bear and Iowa alumnus Denny Myers (appointed to replace Frank Leahy in 1941) coached his seventh and last season for the Eagles (he went 35-27-4 in that stretch which included an interruption for his Army service in WWII). To be fair, BC had a tough schedule that year, including Oklahoma, Clemson, Ole Miss, Georgia, and Penn State. The only tie was in the opening game against Wake Forest. There were losses to many Catholic teams: Georgetown, Fordham, Villanova, and Holy Cross. This was Myers' only sub-.500 Boston College team.
6. 1894 (1-6): This was the second season ever in BC football history, under one-year head coach William Nagle. One win: against Marlboro YMCU. We lost to Brockton YMCA, Whitman Athletic Club, BU Medical School, Andover, and Saint Anselm (twice). Again, it was pointed out that BC was "light" unlike their heavier opponents.
7. 1901 (1-8): After BC didn't field a team in 1900, Coach John Dunlop came back for his fourth and final season. The only win was at UNH (17-0) and that was also the only game in which we scored. Losses were to all New England teams, including Exeter and Andover. All games were on the road except the final against UMass (also a loss).
8. 2012 (2-10): Frank Spaziani's fourth and final year as head coach was a disaster we all remember. The only wins were against Maine and Maryland, which earned us last place in the ACC Atlantic. The worst loss to me was the Army road game where the team just looked horrible. Those who were at that game know what I am talking about and that was his equivalent of Hafley's UConn game.
9. 1989 (2-9): Jack Bicknell's second to last season at the helm. Lost to Navy, and a 9-7 loss to Rutgers. Wins against Temple and Army.
10. 2015 (3-9): There were 2-win seasons in 1898, 1908, and 1912. But I think this one (Steve Addazio's third season) is worse. Two of our three wins came against FCS schools (Maine and Howard). The other was a 17-14 win against Northern Illinois. This was the year of the infamous 3-0 Wake Forest loss. And yes, there were other close losses: Duke (9-7), Louisville (17-14), Notre Dame (19-16), and Syracuse (20-17). But this was also the year we went 0-8 in the ACC, the only time we've ever finished 0-for conference play (we joined the Big East in 1991).
Where will the 2022 season stack up? Under the 2-10 worst case scenario, probably eighth or ninth worst season of all time. If we squeeze out another win, probably not quite in the top ten but in the top 15.
The good news is that most of our horrible seasons were over 100 years ago. Only 5 were in the last 100 years and only 2 were in the last 20 years. And the better news is that our history demonstrates we will get better--if we all work at it. We will need strong university leadership, strong athletic department leadership, coaches, athletes, alumni, students, fans, and donors.
bostoncollege.rivals.com
bostoncollege.rivals.com
