NEWTON, Mass. -- Asked what one word he would use to describe Boston College's season, football coach Frank Spaziani paused. Dressed in slacks, a blazer and a pair of white sneakers, Spaziani thought for a second, two, three.

“This was an interesting year,” he said, finally. “Interesting year in a lot of ways. And as I’ve said before the most disappointing thing about the whole year is that it’s over.

“We were getting better and would like to keep playing.”

In an almost hour-long interview in his office in the Yawkey Center, Spaziani expressed optimism for the future while acknowledging the obvious failures in the just-completed 4-8 season.

“Obviously we would have liked to have won more games. We’re all disappointed in that and frustrated a little bit, but once again there’s a lot of things to look forward to,” Spaziani said. “The record is what it is and it was obviously disappointing and frustrating in a lot of ways.

“It’s disappointing but it’s not discouraging, and there’s no reason for doom and gloom.”

Asked for a word to describe his feelings about the future, Spaziani didn’t hesitate this time.

“Oh, I think the prospects are bright,” he said. “I think the prospects are bright. I think we’re moving in the right direction.

“I know it sounds like a paradox: we go 8-7-4 [in wins per season], ‘What do you mean you’re moving in the right direction?’ I understand the frustration that people might have, and it’s real. But I know a lot more than just [the record].”

Spaziani was impressed by his team’s work ethic, saying he couldn’t tell the difference in effort from Week 1 to Week 12, regardless of the previous week’s result.

He says he feels good about where his third recruiting class stands, though he admits there remains much work to do. And as became increasingly clear as young players were thrust into the lineup in 2011, when the Eagles add prospects to the fold the process is just beginning.

“That’s what you do here at BC -- you develop,” Spaziani said. “You can be as good as anybody. We’ve proved it. In my 16 years here we built it, we got to a certain point. And then we -- pow, pow.”

Spaziani punctuated the point with a childlike gesture, making his left thumb and forefinger into an L to turn his hand into a gun and pointing it at his crossed feet as he spoke.

“It doesn’t happen overnight,” he said. “Things take a while. … At BC we don’t reload, we restock and redevelop.

“The success of this program has been guys that have been here, trained and learned the ropes, earned their stripes a little bit and then stepped up and did their thing. Not come in and [immediately] start doing their thing. That’s what we’re getting back to. Those building blocks are in place.”

Building blocks like sophomores Chase Rettig, Andre Williams and Bobby Swigert on offense and Kevin Pierre-Louis, Steele Divitto and Kasim Edebali on defense. Those six players will be juniors in 2012, and with another year of development under their belts they’ll be expected to take on bigger roles.

A number of freshmen also showed promise in 2011. Josh Bordner gave the offense a spark. Manny Asprilla, Spenser Rositano and Sean Sylvia displayed some ability in the defensive backfield. Dominic Appiah and Brian Mihalik got their feet wet on the defensive line.

“We’ve got a lot of young kids, a lot of young players that look like they have a lot of potential,” Spaziani said. “Now we have to get it out of them.”

BC also has applied for medical hardship waivers for seniors Kaleb Ramsey and Montel Harris, the latter the team’s all-time leading rusher and the 2011 ACC preseason player of the year, hoping the NCAA will grant the pair a fifth season of eligibility. If the waivers are granted and the pair can return to health, their presence should bolster the Eagles on both sides of the ball.

And, of course, the Eagles hope that junior tackling machine and Butkus Award winner Luke Kuechly returns for his senior season. The Cincinnati native, who’s projected as a first-round NFL pick, said at the team’s awards banquet on Sunday that he expects to use the Christmas break to evaluate his options.

This season was truly up and down for the Eagles. There were close losses to Northwestern (with BC within a touchdown late), Duke (a potential Nate Freese game-winning field goal hit the upright with time running out in the fourth quarter) and Notre Dame (an onside kick failed with the Eagles trailing by two with about two minutes to go). And there were blowout losses to Clemson, Virginia Tech and Florida State.

“We were 1-5 in what all the pundits and media and fans and everybody said was the quote ‘softer part of the schedule,’” Spaziani said. “And then the second half looked like, ‘Whoa.’ Well, think about it, you want to be positive? In the quote ‘harder part’ these guys went 3-3. So there’s a bunch of ways to look at things. Once again, I saw how they worked and how they practiced.

“Going 1-5 … as young guys they could have went, ‘Eh!,’” Spaziani said, throwing his hand up in mock indifference, “but they didn’t, and they kept working. That’s why I’m saying the most disappointing part of the year is that it’s over. I think we were a better football team when we walked off the field in Florida than we were earlier in the year. That’s positive.”

But the satisfaction the coach can take in his players’ work ethic and refusal to quit only goes so far, and he knows it.

“I say this all the time: We expect to go to bed on Friday night expecting to win on Saturday, and these guys do,” he said. “We need to be a little more proficient in those areas and get that done. We have a lot of things that we teach at this school, but we’ve got to win also.”

Jack McCluskey is an editor for ESPN.com and a frequent contributor to ESPNBoston.com. Follow him on Twitter @jack_mccluskey.