By LENN ROBBINS
December 8, 2006 -- If Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo wasn't familiar with the phrase, "There's no honor among thieves," he is now.

DeFilippo will officially lose his football coach today, which wouldn't be major news at this time of the year except for the fact that he lost Tom O'Brien to a member of his own conference.

N.C. State is set to hire O'Brien and is working out final details of a contract, a university official said yesterday. The personnel committee has scheduled a teleconference for today.

There are many unwritten laws in this world and one of them is conference schools don't poach their own.

The Big East did wonders for B.C. All it takes is one look at the map to know that the Big East is where Boston College belonged. But DeFilippo saw dollar signs.

So when the ACC expanded, taking Miami and Virginia Tech, DeFilippo jumped at the chance to bring B.C. into the fold after Syracuse AD Jake Crouthamel refused to turn his back on the Big East.

Of course, DeFilippo's reasoning sounded wonderful to B.C.'s board of trustees and many boosters. Joining the ACC meant financial security at a time when the Big East had real concerns about its future.

The first hint that life in a greenhouse isn't as good as it looks from the outside came at this time last season. B.C. finished second to FSU in the Atlantic Division. The Eagles had an 8-3 record, better than FSU's 7-4 but both were 5-3 in the league and FSU won the head-to-head matchup.

So the Seminoles went to the ACC title game, upset Virginia Tech, and wound up in the Orange Bowl. N.C. State (7-5) ended up ahead of B.C. in the Meineke Bowl in Charlotte. Virginia (6-5) was invited to the Music City Bowl in Nashville. Clemson (7-4) went to the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando.

The 8-3 Eagles were sent packing to Idaho for the MPC Computers Bowl, where they beat Boise State, 27-21. The ACC assured B.C. that such an insult wouldn't happen again.

Yet this season the Eagles, despite having the fourth-best record in the ACC at 9-3, ended up with the league's least intriguing bowl matchup. The Eagles will play, not a Big East team, but independent Navy in the Meineke Bowl. Don't think this was lost on O'Brien.

So when N.C. State came calling, O'Brien was willing to listen. Today N.C. State's board of trustees should approve his contract. The dirty deed will be done and DeFilippo will have lost his coach to a team within his new conference.

Makes you wonder if the ACC was the right conference to begin with for B.C.

Who cares.

panite Wrote:Who cares.

Ditto.

Boston College whining about integrity and backstabbing!? lmfao