Frank Joseph Spaziani (born April 1, 1947) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

from 2009 to 2012, compiling a record of 22 wins and 29 losses. Prior to becoming head coach, Spaziani served on the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

' coaching staff for 12 years, the last 10 as

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

. He also served as

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's tw ...

from 2016 to 2021.

Early life and playing career

Spaziani is a native of

Clark, New Jersey Clark is a township in southern Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 15,544 an increase of 788 (+5.3%) from the 2010 census count of 14,756, which had in turn increased by ...

and a graduate of Arthur L. Johnson High School. Spaziani played

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

and

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interco ...

from 1965 to 1968. He was a member of the teams that went to the 1967 Gator Bowl and the 1969 Orange Bowl. He was the subject of one of

Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football, Penn ...

's notable early quotes: the Nittany Lions' coach said of Spaziani, "Don't get the idea that I like him because he's Italian. I like him because I'm Italian." Spaziani was also a starting

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the Penn State baseball team.

Coaching career

Canadian Football League

Spaziani coached in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL) as a defensive coordinator for the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

(two seasons) and

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-old ...

(three years). He helped to lead the Blue Bombers to the

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

and

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

s and the Stampeders to the

83rd Grey Cup The 83rd Grey Cup a.k.a. The Wind Bowl was the 1995 Canadian Football League championship game played between the Baltimore Stallions and the Calgary Stampeders at Taylor Field in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Stallions won the game by a score of 3 ...

in 1995.

Boston College

In 1997, Spaziani left the Calgary Stampeders for a position as

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

s coach for the

Boston College Eagles The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams that represent Boston College, located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivisio ...

. Coached by Spaziani,

Mike Cloud Michael Alexander Cloud (born July 1, 1975) is a former American college and professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football for Boston College, and was rec ...

was a consensus first-team All-America selection and a finalist for the 1998

Doak Walker Award Since 1990 the Doak Walker Award honors the top running back in college football in the United States. It is named in honor of Doak Walker, a former running back who played for the SMU Mustangs from 1945 to 1949 and in the National Football League ...

. Cloud also set a

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

and school single-season rushing record with 1,726 yards in 1998. In 1999, he replaced

Tim Rose Timothy Alan Patrick Rose (September 23, 1940 – September 24, 2002) (unofficial website by long-term correspondent of Rose's) was an American singer and songwriter who spent much of his life in London, England, and had more success in E ...

as defensive coordinator, becoming Boston College's seventh defensive coordinator in the 1990s. In 2001, the Boston College defense ranked 12th nationally in passing defense, 10th in pass efficiency defense, 19th in scoring defense and 25th in total defense. In 2002, they were ranked 13th nationally in passing defense, 25th in pass efficiency defense, 23rd in scoring defense and 37th in total defense. In 2003, they were ranked second in the Big East in total defense and second in rushing defense. In 2004, they were ranked first in the Big East. The Eagles ranked second in the Big East and 31st in the country in total defense and first in the Big East and 12th in the country in scoring defense.

Mathias Kiwanuka Mathias Kagimu Kiwanuka (born March 8, 1983) is a former American football defensive end. He was originally drafted 32nd overall in the 2006 NFL draft. He played college football at Boston College. He earned two Super Bowl rings with the Giants ...

was the 2004 Big East Defensive Player of the Year. Spaziani was named interim head coach for Boston College twice. In December 2006, after the departure of Tom O'Brien, he coached Boston College to a win versus Navy on December 30, 2006, in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. However,

Jeff Jagodzinski Jeff Jagodzinski (born October 12, 1963) is an American football offensive line coach and former player who is the offensive line coach for the Philadelphia Stars of the United States Football League (USFL). He was previously the offensive coord ...

was hired as the permanent head coach. Spaziani was also named interim coach after Jagodzinski was fired on January 7, 2009, for interviewing for the open head coaching position with the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

. Known for concocting elaborate defensive schemes, "Spaz" was given an honorary PhD from the school in 2008. On January 13, 2009, Spaziani was officially hired as the Eagles' permanent head coach. Spaziani was fired on November 25, 2012, following a season in which Boston College went 2–10, the worst record since 1978.

New Mexico State

On January 8, 2016, Spanziani was hired to be the

for the

New Mexico State Aggies football The New Mexico State Aggies football team represents New Mexico State University in NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football as an independent. Although New Mexico State is a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC ...

team.

Personal life

Spaziani is married to Laura Spaziani (''née'' Heikel); they have two sons and one daughter. They reside in

Hingham, Massachusetts Hingham ( ) is a town in metropolitan Greater Boston on the South Shore of the U.S. state of Massachusetts in northern Plymouth County. At the 2020 census, the population was 24,284. Hingham is known for its colonial history and location on B ...

. He is a brother of

Sigma Pi Sigma Pi () is a collegiate fraternity with 233 chapters at American universities. As of 2021, the fraternity had more than 5,000 undergraduate members and over 110,000 alumni. Sigma Pi headquarters are in Nashville, Tennessee. The fraternity ...

fraternity International.

Head coaching record

Notes

References

External links

New Mexico State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spaziani, Frank 1947 births Living people American football linebackers American football quarterbacks American people of Italian descent Arthur L. Johnson High School alumni Baseball pitchers Boston College Eagles football coaches Calgary Stampeders coaches Coaches of American football from New Jersey Navy Midshipmen football coaches New Mexico State Aggies football coaches Penn State Nittany Lions baseball players Penn State Nittany Lions football coaches Penn State Nittany Lions football players Virginia Cavaliers football coaches Winnipeg Blue Bombers coaches People from Clark, New Jersey Players of American football from New Jersey Sportspeople from Union County, New Jersey