It’s hard to figure out which side to take on this Boston College-Jeff Jagodzinski situation.On one hand, you have to sympathize with athletic director Gene DeFilippo, who obviously isn’t looking forward to launching another search for a head coach so soon after he just hired one.Yet at the same time, Jagodzinski never struck me as a man who hid ambition ? meaning that it was unlikely, at the time he was hired, that he saw BC as the place to drop anchor.He’s certainly done a tremendous job at The Heights. This year’s team had no business finishing first in its division of the Atlantic Coast Conference – as evidenced by the ease with which Virginia Tech handled the Eagles in the title game ? not to mention the Music City Bowl loss to Vanderbilt, which lost six of its last seven games heading into New Year’s Eve.Jagodzinski took an absolutely green quarterback and somehow squeezed two wins out of him to qualify for the ACC title game. And whether you like what he’s doing now or not, you have to give him props for that.Therefore, it shouldn’t be a big surprise that NFL teams are interested in talking to him.On the other side of the coin, Jags seems to be afflicted by “College Coach Disease.” Writer Rick Reilly once asked, while still with Sports Illustrated, how you could tell a college coach was lying.”Easy,” he answered himself. “It’s when his lips are moving.”Allegedly, DeFilippo asked Jagodzinski whether the New York Jets had contacted him, and Jags denied it. If that’s true, it’s hard to understand, and harder to justify. DeFilippo is no dummy. Certainly, he understands that good college coaches are always in great demand when the off-season NFL coaching carousel begins. So yes, Jagodzinski owed DeFilippo the courtesy of being honest with him.But here’s where things might be tricky. DeFilippo and BC went through a messy divorce two years ago, and the AD, in particular, got singed with the suggestion that a struggle for control of the program led to the departure of Tom O’Brien. Were I him, I’m not sure I’d want to do this all over again ? and so soon, too.So, perhaps, DeFilippo’s initial reaction to any overtures by the Jets to BC and Jagodzinski might be an emphatic “NO!” And perhaps Jagodzinski sensed that (this is pure conjecture).It could very well be that Jagodzinski also understood inherently that he might not be on the so-called short list of candidates to replace Eric Mangini, yet was curious as to how much demand there was out there for someone of his coaching talents.It’s probably likely that, under that, Jagodzinski felt that the less DeFilippo knew about any feelers he was sending out, the easier it would be for everyone involved.But in any case, when he was found out, he should have ‘fessed up. And at that point, he should have made a move and been done with it. What’s going on now – this eternal waiting game regarding his status – is absurd.There’s a lot being written that Boston College is a stepping-stone school ? that no realistic AD can expect a coach to come to BC and become Joe Paterno or Bear Bryant ? and that rather than bank on a patriarchal figure to give the school credibility, BC should focus on the fact that it produces first-rate coaches (such as Tom Coughlin).Maybe. But if it’s your job to maintain stability in your program, you’re not going to do it hiring a different coach every two years. Even if he turns into Pete Carroll somewhere else down the line.Here’s the bottom line. If you choose to play in the big leagues with regards to college athletics, don’t be surprised when every coach you hire isn’t an Al Skinner clone. People who settle for a career at that level are few and far between.What’s going on with Jagodzinski now isn’t very surprising. It’s just unfortunate that it’s turned into this kind of a mess.Steve Krause is sports editor of The Item.