Signs five-year contract to become BC's 33rd head coach
Boston College Director of Athletics Gene DeFilippo has announced that Jeff Jagodzinski has been named the Gregory P. Barber and Family Head Football Coach at Boston College.
Jagodzinski, who served this season as the offensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers, has signed a five-year contract to become the 33rd head coach in the history of Boston College football. He will be introduced at a press conference at 7 p.m. Wednesday on the Boston College campus; the conference will be closed to the public but will be streamed live on the BC Athletics Website, www.bceagles.com.
"Jeff Jagodzinski is a tremendous fit for our football program," DeFilippo says. "He has respect for the outstanding tradition of BC football. He understands the mission of Boston College and the importance of academics to our program. He brings great personal integrity to the position and will continue to recruit scholar-athletes who will represent our institution with class. He has proven that he is an outstanding football coach, and his energy, enthusiasm and passion are contagious. This is an exciting time for Boston College football."
Although Jagodzinski comes to BC from the professional ranks, he spent 14 years as a
college coach, most recently two successful seasons (1997-98) as offensive coordinator at Boston College. At BC, his offenses averaged more than 400 yards per game in each of his two seasons. In addition, during both years the Eagles allowed the fewest sacks in the Big East, going from last to first in 1997.
In 1998, Jagodzinski saw one of his pupils gain All-America honors as running back Mike Cloud earned first-team honors and ranked third in the country in rushing; Cloud subsequently was drafted in the second round by Kansas City in 1999. One of his linemen, All-Big East center Damien Woody, was a 1999 first-round draft pick of the New England Patriots, the 17th selection overall. Jagodzinski also coached Seahawks quarterback (and former Green Bay backup) Matt Hasselbeck during his 1997 senior season at BC.
Jagodzinski became Green Bay's offensive coordinator this past season, his eighth NFL season and 22nd overall year in coaching. He spent the previous two seasons with the Atlanta Falcons after five years with the Packers (1999-2003) as tight ends coach.
Jagodzinski served as Atlanta's offensive line coach in 2005, a promotion he earned after his first year in Atlanta, 2004, as tight ends coach. While in Atlanta, he worked with offensive line consultant Alex Gibbs, the architect of some of the best offensive lines in NFL history, including that of the 1997-98 Super Bowl champion Broncos.
Known as one of the NFL's most successful rushing offenses, the Falcons during each of Jagodzinski's two years in Atlanta led the NFL in both rushing yards per game and rushing yards per carry. As line coach in 2005, the Falcons' zone-blocking schemes led the way for RB Warrick Dunn's career-high 1,416 rushing yards, a Pro Bowl effort. In part behind timely blocks from the offensive line, Atlanta in 2004 set a franchise record with 2,672 rushing yards, a springboard to the team's berth in the NFC Championship game.
Alge Crumpler, Jagodzinski's primary pupil as tight ends coach in 2004, went to the Pro Bowl that season after catching 48 passes for 774 yards and a career-high six TDs. Crumpler's 16.1-yard per-catch average led all NFL tight ends in '04.
{sportsad300}Prior to joining the Falcons, Jagodzinski spent five years (1999-2003) as the Packers' tight ends coach and was instrumental in launching the career of three-time Pro Bowl tight end Bubba Franks. In 2002, Franks recorded 54 receptions, the first 50-plus catch season by a Packers tight end since Boston College graduate Mark Chmura tallied 54 in 1995. Franks' mark fell just two shy of Paul Coffman's club-record 56 (1979).
Prior to his coaching stint at Boston College, Jagodzinski served on coaching staffs at East Carolina (1989-96), Louisiana State (1987-88), Northern Illinois (1986), and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (1985), his alma mater.
Before becoming part of the UW-Whitewater coaching staff, Jagodzinski was a three-year starter and four-year player (1981-84) at fullback for the Warhawks. He earned a B.S. degree in education at Whitewater.
Jagodzinski attended West Allis (Wis.) Central High School, where he played football and baseball, earning all-conference honors in football and participating in the Shrine game, the state's all-star contest, following his senior season.
Born Oct. 12, 1963, in Milwaukee, Jagodzinski and his wife, Lisa, have five children: Josh, JoAnne, Jessica, Jacqueline and Jennifer.
