Soaring Rhetoric: The Soaring to Glory 2012-13 Season Finale

With our season wrap-up now complete, today is the last day for Soaring to Glory to cover the 2012-13 Boston College Eagles season across all sports. Starting tomorrow is the BC football summer series as we launch the 2013-14 year on this parcel of internet real estate.

My associate editor and I wanted to fit in one more riveting discussion before the big transition to the summer. In it, we weave from Boston College football to baseball to Kyle’s forthcoming road test and sitcoms we don’t like. How can we go wrong?

Joe: My best and worst sports moments of the 2012-13 Boston College academic year are out in the open, but what were your one or two favorite moments of the year?

Kyle: I really gotta think my favorite moment was the whole hiring of new head football coach Steve Addazio and the recruiting process that followed it. There is renewed excitement on the Heights about football. The coaches are engaged in recruiting and aren’t waiting ’til the summer to do it like our previous mustache in charge. Marcus Outlow and now Connor Strachan are BC recruits who will make instant impact at RB and ILB, respectively. Plus, DE Harold Landry just picked up an FSU offer, but is solid on BC. I can’t believe it, honestly, as I REALLY wanted Bob Diaco, but Addazio is earning his paycheck in a big way.

Next best memory will be from BC basketball, and no, it is not the Olivier Hanlan game against Georgia Tech. Rather, it is the one-point loss to Duke. Despite the fact we lost, coming close is representative of the improvements the team made through the second half. The team at the end of the year is not the one that achieved embarrassment against Bryant, but instead is an ACC team on the rise with a young backcourt and a late first-round pick at the 4. Plus, the transfer from Notre Dame (Alex Dragicevich) looks like a solid prospect at the 3.

Joe: I think Addazio has gotten most BC fans on board at this point. Before we get to the next obvious area of discussion, let’s get into the recruiting for a moment because this is an important topic.

I will not say anything bad about the guys we have here now or the kids coming in this year; they wear maroon and gold so I support them. Make no mistake, however: recruiting was very difficult under Spaz, especially towards the end, because the program was getting tired and stale, and what up-and-comer would want to hitch their wagon to a meteorite burning up in the atmosphere? With years of recruiting neglect and poor player development, I would have said that it might take several years at least just for BC to return to respectability. Spaz decimated the program and it seemed like it would be a long time before we were “back.”

Now, we’ve got a 2014 class that’s tracking Top 25/30 if this keeps up, and I think there’s at least a shot BC sneaks into a bowl this year. If Addazio’s recruiting stays at around this level in upcoming seasons, BC might be respectable again sooner than expected. Your thoughts on that?

The conversation continues on the next page