SHREVEPORT, La. — Boston College had just wrapped up its first bowl practice in full pads at Loyola College Prep's Messmer Stadium on Saturday when head coach Steve Addazio called over his team.
The Eagles hustled to form a semicircle around him. The players removed their helmets, took a knee, and focused their attention for the message Addazio was about to deliver.
It's a scene that has played out at the end of every BC football practice this season.
This time, Addazio's message was about balance. BC's first-year coach stressed the importance of striking a balance in the Eagles' first bowl trip in three years, a reward for their hard work in a 7-5 campaign.
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Addazio told the players it was OK if they had a little fun in Shreveport. But he reminded them it was important to balance that with the work needed to prepare for Tuesday's clash with the University of Arizona in the AdvoCare V100 Bowl at Independence Stadium.
The Eagles listened with rapt attention as Addazio spoke. All eyes were on the coach. Everyone was dialed in. There was no mistaking his message.
"Everyone has a ton of respect for him and a ton of respect for what he has to say,'' said senior right tackle Ian White, a cocaptain from Conway, N.H. "It makes it a lot easier when you really respect somebody and are really interested in what they have to say and the message they're trying to get across.
"It makes you want to listen and not feel like you're forced to listen.''
Getting the Eagles to listen to his message, and to buy in, was only half the battle for Addazio after taking over a program that won just two games the previous season under Frank Spaziani.
But the Eagles fought their way to a seven-win season in large part aided by the will of their indefatigable 54-year-old head coach.
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In making sweeping changes to the program, Addazio could cite a championship pedigree from the pair of national titles he won during his seven seasons as an assistant at the University of Florida under then-head coach Urban Meyer. So after spending two seasons (2011-12) as Temple's head coach, Addazio brought to Chestnut Hill those same exacting standards, along with an unbridled passion for the game and a genuine compassion for his players.
It's what drew BC offensive line coach Justin Frye, who played for three years under Addazio when Addazio was an offensive line coach at Indiana, to follow him to Gainesville, Fla., in 2009 as an offensive line graduate assistant.
"When I played for him, you knew this guy was a real guy,'' Frye said of Addazio. "I knew he was a guy you wanted to stay around and keep in contact with, which I did. When I had the opportunity to go down to Florida and be around him, it was a no-brainer.
"It gave me a chance to be a part of a really great program and be around really great coaches, but, ultimately working for him, knowing that really, really good O-line coaches are hard to find and he was one of those guys.''
When Addazio took his first head coaching job at Temple in 2011, the assistant coach Frye had known as a player did not deviate from his modus operandi as a head coach.
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"I've always been that way,'' Addazio said. "I love coaching. I love kids. I love competing. I love everything about it. This job gives me an opportunity to meet a lot of different people and I love visiting with people and meeting with people, so I guess that makes me sort of a people guy.
"The amazing thing is a lot of coaches don't enjoy that piece of it, but I do.''
That aspect of Addazio's strong personality made his vision for the program an easy sell to BC's success-starved players, particularly the seniors, who bought in and helped spread the message to the rest of the team.
"Everything I said we'd do, we did,'' said Addazio, who set some modest goals for the team in his first year: Win the opener against Villanova and become bowl-eligible.
"I told them we would really work 'em hard, we'd drive 'em, we'd love 'em, we'd care about 'em, and do everything we could to take care of 'em,'' Addazio said. "Whether it was family dinners, going out for victory meals, changing the training table, the countless things we did here.
"One thing is we work hard on the field and when we get off the field, we're together. I think we saw that the preseason camp was set up for them to have success in terms of keeping them healthy. We were never on the field just to be on the field. I always tried to take care of the players and I think they know that.''
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During the games, the team responded, feeding off Addazio's high-energy approach on the sideline. That often left the coach feeling "emotionally, physically, completely blown out,'' he said, but it helped result in BC's first bowl appearance since Jan. 9, 2011.
"I've had some really great moments, with the confetti coming down and holding the crystal ball,'' Addazio said, recalling the celebration following Florida's national titles in the 2006 and 2008 seasons. "That's the pinnacle of college football.''
Those moments were supplanted, though, following BC's 38-21 triumph over North Carolina State, a victory highlighted by Andre Williams's Atlantic Coast Conference and school-record 339 rushing yards. After cementing its bowl eligibility, the team was swarmed on the field by students and fans.
"It was pretty cool here when this student base, this alumni base, they were just loving on our team,'' Addazio said. "It was a great show of support and appreciation and a feeling of lifting this program back up.
"I would say it's been one of the more gratifying seasons of my career, because of watching these seniors buy in, develop, scratch and claw to bring this program back. And to watch them play their finest football at the end of the season was really thrilling for me.
"Just the look on their faces, the joy and the great feeling of accomplishment. They wanted to leave a legacy and they did.''
Was it the most rewarding coaching job he's ever done?
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"Yes,'' Addazio replied, without hesitation. "We had so many things stacked up against us. Again, certainly not slighting any other great moments, because I've had some great moments and we were in line to have those great moments, but this was a grind.
"Every week for us was a grind, but we kept fighting. I kept telling the team that faithfulness and loyalty will always be rewarded. I believe that with my heart. We just have to keep going and any time you can validate that — because the outcome doesn't always match it — but we were able to get the outcome to match it this time. And that's important.''
It made every word Addazio uttered to his team this season every gesture he made — whether it was to pat the players on the back or spank them on the backside — worth its weight in gold.
Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.