Eugene Benard DeFilippo Jr. is an American sports executive and former college athletics administrator. He served as the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

at the University of South Carolina–Spartanburg—now known as the

University of South Carolina Upstate The University of South Carolina Upstate (USC Upstate) is a public university in Valley Falls, South Carolina, near Spartanburg and with a Spartanburg postal address.Compare to: (shows the university is not in the Spartanburg city limits)

—from 1984 to 1987, at

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinians in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Sa ...

from 1993 to 1997, and 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 1997 to 2012.

Career

DeFilippo graduated from

Springfield College Springfield College is a private college in Springfield, Massachusetts. It confers undergraduate and graduate degrees. It is known as the birthplace of basketball because the sport was invented there in 1891 by Canadian-American instructor J ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

in 1973. There he played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

, lettering for three seasons as a

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 ...

. In 1974, DeFilippo completed a master's degree in educational administration at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

. DeFilippo worked as an assistant football coach at

Youngstown State University Youngstown State University (YSU or Youngstown State) is a public university in Youngstown, Ohio. It was founded in 1908 and is the easternmost member of the University System of Ohio. The university is composed of six undergraduate colleges an ...

and at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

. He was an associate athletic director at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

from 1987 to 1993.

named DeFilippo as athletic director on September 16, 1997 effective at the beginning of October. During DeFilippo’s tenure as athletics director, Boston College won four national championships in men’s ice hockey, 11 national team and individual championships in sailing, and had 12 consecutive winning seasons in football. He also oversaw Boston College’s move from the Big East to the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

. In 2009 he fired head football coach

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 ...

after Jagodzinski interviewed for 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 ...

head coaching job. He was replaced by longtime defensive coordinator

Frank Spaziani Frank Joseph Spaziani (born April 1, 1947) is an American football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Boston College from 2009 to 2012, compiling a record of 22 wins and 29 losses. Prior to becoming head coach, Spazia ...

, who led the team to consecutive losing seasons in 2011 and 2012. In 2010 he fired men's basketball coach

Al Skinner Albert Lee Skinner Jr. (born June 16, 1952) is an American men's college basketball head coach and a former collegiate and professional basketball player. He was formerly the head coach of the Boston College Eagles men's basketball team and was t ...

after only his second losing season in ten years. Under Skinner, the Eagles made the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

seven times. BC would not return to the NCAA tournament under Skinner's successor,

Steve Donahue Steve Donahue (born May 21, 1962) is an American college basketball coach, currently the head coach of the Penn Quakers men's basketball team. He is the former head coach of Boston College and Cornell. Background Donahue is a native of Spring ...

, who had a 54-76 record in his four seasons as head coach, and they have not returned since. DeFilippo retired on September 30, 2012. After leaving BC, DeFilippo became the managing director of Turnkey Search, and executive search and consulting firm for college programs.

Personal life

His father, Eugene Benard "Gene" DeFilippo, was a quarterback at Holy Cross. His son,

John DeFilippo John Eugene DeFilippo (born April 12, 1978) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the New Orleans Breakers (2022), New Orleans Breakers of the United States Football League (2022), United States Football League (USFL). He playe ...

, is the current passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Chicago Bears.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:DeFilippo, Gene Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American football quarterbacks Boston College Eagles athletic directors Springfield Pride football players University of Kentucky people USC Upstate Spartans athletic directors Vanderbilt Commodores football coaches Villanova Wildcats athletic directors Youngstown State Penguins football coaches University of Tennessee alumni