This post was written by Greg Johnson, Associate Director, Champion magazine/NCAA News.

Boston College Athletic Director Gene DeFilippo and Eagles' football coach Jeff Jagodzinski squared off Tuesday, and neither person blinked.

The Eagles fired Jagodzinski on Wednesday, after he was warned he would be dismissed if he interviewed for the coaching job with the New York Jets. Athletic director Gene DeFilippo said he fired Jagodzinski over a "difference of vision for the future." He said he wanted a coach who would stay at the school long term. Jagodzinski has been coach for two years and had three years left on his contract.

We can debate who's right and who's wrong, but the overriding theme taking center stage is how enforceable is a contract between a coach and institution? You always hear about buy-out clauses or a coach can only leave his current position for a certain job without penalty. There always seems to be a loophole for either party involved to end the contract.

We don't know all the details of the language in the contract, but there have been reports of a mutual agreement between the coach and Boston College that Jagodzinski wouldn't be a candidate for another job through the 2009 season.

There have been some messy divorces between athletic departments and coaches recently. Most notably Rich Rodriguez's departure from West Virginia to Michigan where a $4 million buyout was the main point of contention.

For those who haven't followed the Boston College saga, Jagodzinski set up an interview with the New York Jets to discuss their head coaching position, which apparently took place on Tuesday. He made the arrangement without informing his boss, Boston College Director of Athletics Gene DeFilippo, who was none to pleased.

DeFilippo became informed of Jagodzinski's interview by a member of the media. He then contacted his football coach and told him if he interviewed for the job he would be fired.

This entire scenario brings up a myriad of questions. Two of which are:

1. Is it really prudent to fire someone just for interviewing for another position?
2. Should Jagodzinski have informed his boss that he was going to interview for the Jets job?

Unless there is a specific clause in the contract, the first question can only be answered by DeFilippo and Jagodzinski. They are the only two who really know what type of agreement they have concerning interviews for other jobs.

I can understand an institution wanting some security in a coaching position, but in this day and age, it is unreasonable to expect a coach that is doing well not to be courted by others. It seems to be the price of doing business.

On the second question, you would think being a Division I football coach set to interview for a NFL head coaching position would be the kind of story hard to keep out of the media. It would be wise to inform your boss and not take the chance that a media member would find out and report it.

At the end of all this, I wouldn't want someone coaching my team if they really didn't want to be there.