Athletic director Brad Bates, who was hired in October as successor to Gene DeFilippo, made the first significant decision of his tenure by announcing Sunday, less than 24 hours after the Eagles’ season-ending loss to North Carolina State, that Spaziani would not return after four seasons as head coach.

In dealing with a 2-10 team that lost the second-most games in the history of the program, Bates’s most pressing challenge will be finding the right person to stop a slide that now has lasted four years.

“We want someone that oozes with integrity,” Bates said. “Secondly, we want someone that genuinely and sincerely cares about the students, particularly their intellectual development, and who will engage in facilitating their maximum development as scholars, as athletes, as leaders, and servers. And the third is, we want someone that is going to win.

“We’ll move as quickly as possible but we will be very, very deliberate. This is an incredibly significant hire relative to the leadership of our department and our program. So we’ve got to make absolutely sure that we make the best choice for what this program needs right now.”

Bates will sift through candidates who could include Miami coach Al Golden, Notre Dame defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, and Kent State coach Darrell Hazell.

Golden has spent two seasons at Miami trying to pull a proud Hurricanes program from the rubble of an NCAA investigation. After going 6-6 in 2011, the ‘Canes are 6-5, including a season-opening victory over BC, but face a self-imposed postseason ban for a second straight season.

Diaco has headed the top-ranked Fighting Irish defense, which held the Eagles to 6 points earlier this month.

Another candidate could be Cleveland Browns quarterbacks coach Mark Whipple, who has local ties going back to the Division 1-AA national title he won with the University of Massachusetts in 1998, was thought to be a candidate six years ago when Tom O’Brien left Boston College for North Carolina State. After leaving UMass in 2003, Whipple served as an assistant with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles, took a job as offensive coordinator at Miami, and jumped back to the NFL as a quarterbacks coach for the Cleveland Browns.

Other possible candidates include Sean McDonnell of New Hampshire, who has had success at a lower level with minimal backing from the university; Temple’s Steve Addazio, who was an assistant to Urban Meyer at Florida; Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen, another former Florida assistant who could be looking for a less grueling league than the Southeastern Conference; and Tim Murphy, who has succeeded at Harvard with players who adhere to its tough academic standards.

None of the assistant coaches under Spaziani, not even offensive coordinator Doug Martin, who overhauled the team’s offense, will be considered, Bates said. He said he wouldn’t limit the pool to candidates with previous experience as a head coach. He was also mindful of the competition with other universities for potential candidates.

“Any athletic director in the country is prepared for any change that takes place,” Bates said. “Does it mean that people on the list will ultimately be the ones that are hired or interviewed? Of course not. But we’ve got to perpetually be prepared for any attrition that takes place.”

Before burying himself in the coaching search, though, Bates lauded the 16 years Spaziani spent at BC going back to his time an assistant. Spaziani left with a 21-29 record as head coach. 

“Spaz clearly is a man of integrity,” Bates said. “He genuinely cared about his students. The performance, obviously in the last couple of years, has struggled. Ultimately our responsibility is to do what’s in the best interest of the students and the program and the team. That was clearly our focus all along.”

For all the stress the season brought him, Spaziani was steadfast and dignified in the face of the ever-boiling frustration of the fan base.

Linebacker Steele Divitto said, “Obviously when you’re under a lot of scrutiny it does [take] a toll on you. But you didn’t really see it. If anything, we saw him get more fired up throughout the season. He kept caring more and more and wanted to win more and more.