Sources: Boston College Baseball “On The Verge” Of Deal With URI Head Coach Jim Foster

A seismic shift might be occurring in the Boston College Baseball program.

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And no, those are not shovels hitting the uneven dirt at the stadium on Brighton campus.

According to multiple reports, Boston College Head Coach Mike Gambino in serious talks with Jim Foster, the head coach at the University of Rhode Island entering his tenth year, to become the top assistant for the Eagles baseball team.

Coming off a disastrous 13-40 record in the 2014 campaign after the URI Rams had previously made the Atlantic 10 tournament eleven consecutive seasons, Foster is looking for new job opportunities elsewhere.

Foster’s tenure at URI has been exceedingly successful with a 269-230-3 record over nine years, the 2011 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year award, and, according to the URI Baseball website, a school record of six straight 30 win seasons from 2008 to 2013.

What is so surprising about this news, first reported by Brian Foley of College Baseball Daily, is the fact that Boston College baseball program might be in the running to acquire one of the top coaches in the Atlantic 10 as a top assistant despite not faring well during the first four years of Coach Mike Gambino’s tenure(22-33, 10-20 ACC in 2014).

Later yesterday, Perfect Game USA’s Kendall Rogers tweeted reports about Foster and BC along the same lines as Foley, writing that the two sides were “on the verge” of a deal and that it “[would] be a huge coup”. As of today, nothing has more has been leaked.

When looking at this possible hire several interesting implications arise. First off, Jim Foster reportedly has a much more laid back coaching style compared to Gambino. Perhaps Gambino sought a difference of opinion as Boston College tries to assert itself as than a dweller of the ACC baseball doldrums in his fifth year at the helm. Foster developed a very strong program for URI in his nine years at the school and Gambino would not be a fool to lean on his shoulder for advice.

Obviously since nothing besides two reports of a possible deal between Jim Foster and Boston College has come out of the woodworks yet, there is only room for editorial speculation. Possibly it is not too far out of bounds to believe that if Coach Mike Gambino were to not live up to Athletic Director Brad Bates’ expectations for the 2015 season, Jim Foster would be a very suitable in-house replacement.

No matter what happens, one feeling must be addressed and that is that Boston College baseball in the ACC might be here to stay. Despite all of the varied rumors about Men’s Lacrosse and Title IX, the Eagles are about to convince a very solid coach in Jim Foster to hop onboard in an attempt to take the program to the next level, with or without the current head coach.

An ACC baseball program in the northeast is inherently at a recruiting and performance disadvantage as a result of the climate. One does need to look farther back than the beginning of the 2014 Eagles home schedule to prove that. Hopefully, if the Eagles are able to seal the deal with URI head coach Jim Foster, the program will have a boost recruiting-wise from the Providence alum who able to scrap together a formidable program for nine years in Kingston.