I did some research on the internet about Jeff Boals, focused on the idea of factors which might make it difficult for OHIO to hire him. I have stated here before that I want Boals to be strongly considered for the job, but I think there are a few aspects of this which could make that difficult.

The Stony Brook Athletics website says Jeff has a wife named Katie. Doing a Google search of Facebook pages for Katie Boals, there is one for a person who lives in Setueket, NY, which is right beside Stony Brook on Long Island. That Facebook page says Katie Boals works at Deloitte Consulting, and her Linkedin account says she is the Chief of Staff for the US Chief Risk Officer.

It's reasonable to assume she makes a pretty decent salary in this job for Deloitte, which is a large company focused broadly in areas of financial advising and consulting for businesses. Jeff's salary for his current contract is $375K, but you have her income and her professional career too. Can those aspects be satisfied if Jeff takes the OHIO coaching job? Don't know.

The Stony Brook Athletics website also says Jeff and Katie have children named Sydney and Chase. A Google search brings up what is likely a page for Sydney on a college swimming recruiting website. She appears to be a sophomore in high school and a pretty successful swimmer for a club in NY. Chase is also listed as a swimmer for this same club on this college swimming recruiting website, and it shows both of them swam previously for the New Albany Aquatic Club, which I believe is where the Boals family lived when he was at OSU.

Does the Boals family want to uproot their kids, at least one being in high school? Could their kids continue to pursue their swimming with him coaching at OHIO? Previously living in New Albany, and now Long Island, do they want to live in SE Ohio? Where do the kids go to school?

Now, I presume that OHIO likely will offer Jeff at least the $550,000 a year that I believe Saul's contract was worth. We all know that $550,000 a year in SE Ohio goes A VERY LONG WAY farther than living on Long Island (cost of living, taxes, etc.). The money aspect for the Boals family easily could be made up just from that. But there are other considerations I've outlined which might make it challenging to attract him. Maybe there is an understanding that Sydney would be offered to swim at OHIO if she decides she wants to swim in college. Who knows?

Again, I've posted here multiple times that I really want Boals to be given STRONG consideration for the job. I think he has the potential to be able to recruit players to OHIO which the Bobcats need to be strong year-in and year-out. That could allow him to either move on to a job at the next level, or allow him a long career at OHIO. But if he doesn't end up being the coach, unfortunately, some of these aspects could be a factor.

Should he be offered the job, I have my fingers crossed that (financially and otherwise) the Boals family comes to the conclusion that Jeff coaching at OHIO is a good thing for them.

Deloitte is everywhere. Maybe she could transfer to Columbus?

I'm fascinated by the obsession over Boals as coach. I'd bet he isn't even part of the conversation unless he or his agent initiate it.

I have always favored Jeff for our coach and for many reasons.
Does he have a buy out clause in his contract? if so that is a concern as making his availability more difficult.
JC had a clause while at Ohio, which actually helped us navigate Saul's $550k.
Whoever is the coach we should not give him more than a 4 year deal, as I believe we needed to live another year with Saul because of the 5th year.



GO BOBCATS

I'll just throw my two cents worth in here, being that I looked into Jeff Boals' situation two weeks ago when it became pretty apparent that coach Phillips would not be retained. My focus, though, was in another area--if Ohio named Jeff as coach, would there be any underclass players at Stony Brook who he could bring along with him.

In fairness, I haven't seen Stony Brook play either live--which I could, as I live here on Long Island, although more than an hour away--or on TV. But I must say, I didn't see anything in the high school bios of their players, or their current stats, that caught my eye. Seems to me like he made the most of under-the-radar and project types. I don't see that as a negative pertaining to Stony Brook's ability to get quality players. More about that later.

Obviously I'm making a projection, but I think it's highly possible that if you transferred the exact team Saul Phillips coached this season over to Boals playing for Stony Brook and against its scheduled--the likes of Vermont, Hartford, Albany, Binghamton, New Hamphire, Maine in the conference--there's a great chance they would be playing in the Big Dance this week, or in the NIT at the very least.

It seems to me Jeff may be doing a masterful coaching job. Can he recruit? Don't know. This isn't an easy area for Stony Brook to get all-state caliber kids; there are just too many options, both locally and nationally. But he does have connections in Ohio. And if he coaches the way he played, his teams will be mentally and physically tough, that's for sure.

As for leaving Stony Brook, I don't know Jeff personally. But you can't compare Stony Brook to not only Ohio's legacy, but its visibility as a MAC team. And I don't think Stony Brook would even think of matching the type of coin Ohio can offer. Plus, Jeff is from here. He's got long-standing roots among Ohio high school coaches.

So, we'll see...

Stalk people much?

This is the right way to look at it. The biggest thing accomplished by getting he and Dustin or Geno here to coach is to sell tickets to the older guard of alumni and local fans. Maybe that's a good thing short term, but if the results aren't there, it's just a stop gap solution.