Boston Globe writer Dan Shaughnessy said it years ago: Boston College wants to be Harvard Monday to Friday and Texas on Saturdays.
It has been the case for years and a big reason why the program has been a perennially fringe bowl program the past decade plus.
The climate in college football has changed dramatically with the advent of NIL and the transfer portal. You need to spend money in order to win. Player don’t necessarily care about the value of your school’s degree. They want to know how much you are going to pay them and can you develop them to play in the NFL.
Boston College offers a great education. Once upon a time, the “40 year decision” mattered to student athletes. It still does to some but not all. The high end talent that enters the transfer portal wants the bag now, not over the course of 40 years.
The school’s administration has to make a decision moving forward. Do we want to be a school that invests in athletics or do we want to be an academic school that happens to play sports. You can be an academic school that is also good at sports, but you better invest in them otherwise you are no different than an Ivy League or Patriot League school. That is not a knock on those schools. There is a reason they are FCS and not FBS football programs. The academics matter more.
New Boston College President Jack Butler is supposedly an “athletics guy.” and wants to spend on football and the other sports. The school has reportedly pledged to invest more, but how much more? According to a source, Boston College spent $5-$6 million dollars on the football roster for this season. On the surface, that is a good amount of money but it is not on the level of a Miami or Clemson.
Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik is earning $3.6 million dollars in NIL money while Miami quarterback Carson Beck is reportedly making $4.7 million in NIL money. Boston College isn’t in that neighborhood and unless they make a financial commitment on the level of a Virginia (Virginia reportedly spent $12.7 million on NIL this offseason.), nothing is going to change. Like Virginia, the roster will need to be overhauled. Head Coach Tony Elliott and his staff brought in 32 new players including quarterback Chandler Morris.
Then there is the facilities piece. In a story in The Athletic last week, ACC schools are spending more money on athletics and football in an attempt to improve their chances of making the college football playoff. In the article, Pitt, Louisville and Georgia Tech all increased their football expenses by $10 million from 2019-23, according to figures reported to the U.S. Department of Education. Duke spent $19 million more on football in that same time period. The Blue Devils’ football spending for the 2023-24 fiscal year was $44.1 million which puts them in the same tier as Florida ($45.7 million). Wake Forest has invested $125 million into football facilities in the past 15 years, a school with a similar academic profile to Boston College. Virginia Tech, which currently has a head coaching opening has agreed to agreed to add $229 million to its athletic budget over the next four years. The financial commitment will make their head coaching opening even more appealing.
It is a reminder that if you want to be good in today’s college football world, you need to invest in your program. If you do not, you will fall behind.
I don’t care who the coach is next season, if the higher ups at Boston College don’t open up the school’s wallet and start spending, the program will fall further behind and become irrelevant.
The other issue is the admissions process. It is one thing to spend on NIL, facilities and coaches but can you get players into your school and will the admissions office work with you? Historically, the school has been rigid when it comes to their academic admissions and getting players in. It is a big reason why Bill O’Brien and his staff has targeted players in the transfer portal from schools like Merrimack, Dartmouth, Wake Forest and Michigan. Players like quarterback Dylan Lonergan and tight end Ty Lockwood transferred in from Alabama but they obviously met the academic standard and got in.
For O’Brien or any other coach to turn things around, they need more money and an admissions office willing to loosen up their standards and accept students athletes who may not qualify otherwise. If they do not help the football coach, it will be hard to bring quality talent in the portal.
The Boston College Football program has hit rock bottom this season. It can be fixed. Plenty of academic schools are winning at the FBS level. Just look at Vanderbilt. If the school cares about this program and wants it to succeed, they better invest in it.
Otherwise, Boston College Football will fall further behind the pack in the ACC. A place it can ill-afford to be in today’s ever changing world of college football.