Boston College Should Be Ashamed

Luke Murray reportedly wanted every connection to the old program erased. So Boston College casually discarded two broadcasters’ careers.

I am furious about this.

According to a report from Awful Announcing, Boston College has fired longtime men’s basketball broadcasters Kevin Collins and Josh Maurer because new head coach Luke Murray reportedly did not want anyone associated with the previous regime remaining around the program.

What an absolute disgrace.

Collins and Maurer had worked together calling Boston College basketball for nine seasons. Collins had been part of the broadcasts for 13 years, surviving three head coaches and five athletic directors. They were not assistant coaches. They were not responsible for recruiting. They were not designing the offense, managing the roster or deciding who played.

They were broadcasters.

Yet, according to the report, Murray wanted a “fresh coat of paint” and no remnants of the past around the program. The broadcasters were reportedly treated as part of the previous program’s “losing mentality,” even though Murray had never bothered to meet either man.

Give me a break. What a complete clown!

Imagine being so self-important that you walk into your first head-coaching job and apparently decide the voices who have faithfully served the school must be purged because they remind you of the past.

Does Luke Murray need to sage the radio booth, too?

Should Boston College repaint every hallway Collins and Maurer walked through? Should it remove every fan who attended games during the previous coaching staff? What about the ushers? The equipment managers? The people selling concessions?

This is ridiculous.

More importantly, it is cruel.

These are human beings with careers, families, responsibilities and bills. Full-season broadcasting jobs are incredibly difficult to find, especially this late in the calendar. Collins and Maurer were reportedly informed only days before August 1, leaving them almost no opportunity to secure comparable work for the upcoming season.

That matters.

This is the part people in power too often forget. They make a decision in an office, call it a “new direction” and move along with their lives. Meanwhile, the people on the other end have just lost income, security, identity and a job they may have spent their entire careers pursuing.

(Yes, that is a direct shot at radio programmers who say this to hosts all the time)

Broadcasting is not some interchangeable service performed by whoever happens to be holding the microphone.

It is an art form.

It requires preparation, storytelling, timing, chemistry, knowledge and trust. Great broadcasters become the connection between the fan and the team. They are there for the long bus rides, the ugly losses, the rebuilding seasons and the games nobody else wants to watch.

They give those games meaning.

Kevin Collins grew up a Boston College fan and described calling the Eagles as something close to a childhood dream. He reportedly handled engineering, play-by-play and color responsibilities, sometimes working road games alone, while providing the value of multiple positions on a limited budget.

His reward?

He was discarded by a coach who apparently would not even give him 15 minutes.

Collins and Maurer repeatedly tried to introduce themselves to Murray. Collins reportedly even offered to provide a catered lunch for the staff in exchange for a brief meeting. They never got one. Collins later offered to remain only as an engineer, without an on-air role, and was still rejected.

That detail tells you everything.

This was apparently not a decision based on performance. Murray did not listen, evaluate, meet with them or attempt to establish a working relationship. Based on the account given to Awful Announcing, he simply wanted anybody but them.

That is not leadership.

That is arrogance.

Real leaders do not walk into a new organization and immediately treat every person who came before them as contaminated. Real leaders evaluate people individually. They listen. They ask questions. They respect institutional knowledge.

They understand that human beings are not old furniture to be thrown onto the curb during a renovation.

Boston College’s athletic administration is just as responsible.

A first-time head coach should never possess the unchecked power to remove longtime broadcasters who do not report to him and have no control over the team’s performance. An athletic director’s job is not simply to surrender every time a new coach makes an unreasonable demand.

Someone needed to say no.

Someone needed to say, “These men have served Boston College professionally for more than a decade. You will meet them, work with them and evaluate them fairly before we consider replacing them.”

Instead, the school apparently allowed Murray to have his way.

Boston College has not even announced a replacement team. According to Awful Announcing, the school is conducting an open search without specific successors already in place.

So what urgent problem was being solved?

There wasn’t one.

Two experienced broadcasters lost their jobs so a new coach could feel as though every trace of the previous era had been erased.

Boston College should hire Kevin Collins and Josh Maurer back immediately.

If the athletic director and administration are unwilling to stand up for employees who faithfully served the university, they should seriously reconsider whether they are qualified to lead it. Their responsibility extends beyond satisfying the latest coach occupying an office.

As for Luke Murray, he should reflect on what leadership actually means.

It is easy to preach culture when you hold all the power. It is much harder to demonstrate character when dealing with people who cannot do anything for you.

Murray had an opportunity to meet two broadcasters who loved Boston College, learn about their work and decide for himself whether they could help promote his program.

Instead, according to this report, he had their livelihoods taken away without ever sitting across from them.

I hope Collins and Maurer land somewhere that appreciates their talent and loyalty. Broadcast jobs like these do not grow on trees, and neither do broadcasters willing to devote years of their lives to one program.

Boston College took them for granted.

The school should be ashamed.