BC turns attention to Florida's Addazio

Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo spent yesterday finishing the interview process in his search for a replacement for fired football coach Jeff Jagodzinski.

Sources close to the program say DeFilippo interviewed BC associate AD for football operations Barry Gallup Friday. Although Gallup has strong ties to the program, BC defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani remains the front-runner.

With his internal interviews concluded, DeFilippo focused on outside candidates yesterday, with Steve Addazio, Florida's recently named offensive coordinator, the primary focus, sources said.

After Florida's 24-14 win over Oklahoma in the BCS national championship game Thursday night, Addazio said no one from BC had contacted him. That has apparently changed.

Addazio, 49, has New England ties, having played at Central Connecticut State from 1978-81.

After a stint as a high school coach in Connecticut, he began a coaching odyssey that included stops at Syracuse, Notre Dame, Indiana, and Florida, where he has been since 2005.

When Dan Mullen, Florida's offensive coordinator, accepted the head coaching job at Mississippi State, Gators coach Urban Meyer promoted Addazio from offensive line coach.

But Addazio's goal is to become a head coach. In the past few months, he interviewed for vacancies at Yale and Syracuse and now, apparently, Boston College. He is regarded as an excellent recruiter, which is a key issue for BC officials, but the overwhelming sentiment is to bring in someone with BC ties.

A new coach could be in place by tomorrow or Tuesday.

Spaziani received a boost when the high school coach of one of the Eagles' prime recruits, outside linebacker Andre Lawrence, said Lawrence would honor his commitment if the staff stays intact.

"We've had contact with Boston College coaches and Andre's feeling is that as long as the defensive staff stays intact, Coach [Mike] Siravo, Coach [Billy] McGovern, and Coach Spaziani, the guys who recruited him, he sees no reason to change his commitment," Hartford Public High School coach Harry Bellucci told EagleAction.com.

If a new coach is brought in, the chance of defections from Jagodzinski's staff increases substantially, which could make Lawrence change his mind about coming to BC.

Other candidates from outside the staff include Richmond coach Mike London, East Carolina coach Skip Holtz, and former Minnesota and Kansas coach Glen Mason.

When asked if BC had sought permission to talk to London, who guided the Spiders to the Football Championship Subdivision national championship this season, Richmond AD Jim Miller was noncommittal.

"I do not publicly discuss personnel matters," Miller said.