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Vinny Marino in his UConn days
Marino Hired at Georgetown
Former Columbia offensive coordinator Vinny Marino, the most controversial assistant in recent CU history, has been hired as the new offensive coordinator at Georgetown.
I did my best not to publicly denigrate Marino over his years at Columbia, and that was probably not the greatest idea I ever had.
I realize now that I should have spoken up and taken the consequences.
The evidence I was given year after year of his inappropriate coaching methods was disturbing and his public record on the field was simply not good.
In short, I should have spoken up and taken the lumps the athletic department would have given me. They attacked me anyway for calling for Norries Wilson's ouster last season.
Several parents of former players have already written me wondering how Georgetown Head Coach Kevin Kelly could have done so little research before making this decision.
The only answer I can give is that Marino was a decent recruiter and perhaps that was what Kelly considered to be the top priority at this time.
I suppose anyone can change, but I can't see how this decision will help the Hoyas and I really think this is a bad thing for college football in general.
Running on Empty
Let me be the first to agree with those who have praised former Head Coach Norries Wilson’s recruiting abilities.
Overall, the talent level on the team improved greatly during his six year tenure, it was his inability to get an acceptable amount of wins out of that talent that was his downfall.
But I’m not going to give Wilson a complete passing grade on recruiting because of one major position where he failed to produce an impact player.
It was the one position that EVERY OTHER IVY team successfully fielded at least ONE top player during Wilson’s years at Columbia… and we did not.
If you didn’t guess I was talking about running back, then get acclimated with the stats.
In Wilson’s six years, not one Columbia player ever rushed for more than 516 yards in one season. And that “runner” was QB Sean Brackett in 2010.
To be fair, it’s clear that running back has become the toughest position to recruit in the Ivies and the rare breed known as “1,000 yard Ivy Rusher” is becoming rarer indeed.
But, there’s no excusing Wilson’s utter failure to get at least ONE 1st or 2nd Team All Ivy rusher when EVERY OTHER IVY TEAM has succeeded in doing so since 2006.
Let’s go team by team to just to make the point:
Brown, a pass-heavy offense every year from 2006 to the present placed RB Derek Knight on the All Ivy 2nd Team in 2008 and the Bears won an Ivy title. Zach Tronti made it to the 2nd Team in 2009.
Cornell placed Luke Siwula on the 2nd Team in 2007.
Dartmouth put Nick Schwieger on the 2009, 2010, and 2011 All Ivy 1st Teams and Schwieger was a co-winner of the Bushnell Cup in 2010.
Harvard’s 1st and 2nd Team All Ivy running backs since 2006 are too numerous to mention each one here, but they include top players like Clifton Dawson, Gino Gordon, Cheng Ho, and the current rising senior Treavor Scales.
Penn also has loaded up on top running backs including Joe Sandburg, Lyle Marsh, Mike DiMaggio, and Brandon Colavita.
Princeton has enjoyed the feats of Jordan Culbreath and Chuck Dibillio.
And Yale had Mike McLeod, Taylor Craig, Joe Fucillo, and Alex Thomas.
All in all, there have been 29 running back slots on the All Ivy 1st and 2nd Teams since 2006 and NONE of them have been from Columbia. Every other team is represented at least once on that list.
If you include the season before Wilson took over, that number stretches to 35.
That's 35 spots honoring Ivy running backs and NONE of them are Lions.
That's the new "streak."
The last Lion RB to get any All Ivy recognition was Rashad Biggers way back in 2004 when he made the 2nd Team. Biggers was talented but if you ask me, the last impact RB for Columbia was Ayo Oluwole who had 900+ yards in 2003 and was a reliable pounder with decent speed up the middle.
Eight years is a long time to wait for an impact running back and making sure that wait doesn’t stretch to nine, ten, or 11 years must become a top priority for Pete Mangurian and his staff
And it’s not something you can just blame on Columbia, because each and every one of Wilson’s three predecessors at the head coaching position at Columbia had much better track records when it came to getting top rushers on the field for the Lions.
Coach Larry McElreavy recruited and developed Solomon Johnson and Greg Abbruzzese.
Coach Ray Tellier recruited and developed Johnathan Reese, Columbia’s all-time leading rusher. He also brought in John Harper and Kirby Mack, who were top flight fullbacks.
And Marcellus Wiley, the best athlete Tellier ever recruited, was actually first brought to CU as a running back.
Coach Bob Shoop lured Ayo Oluwole back to the team in 2003 and guided him to that great season. Biggers’ strong 2004 year was also under Shoop.
Who’s Coming Back?
What does Columbia have on the roster right now that can help end the running back drought?
The previous coaching staff was very high on rising junior Marcorus Garrett when he first committed to the Lions and he has shown some flashes of brilliance in his first two years on the team. Last season he was injured right from the get go and we didn’t really get to see what he can do consistently.
Nick Gerst has been plagued by injuries the last two seasons, but there’s hope the latest procedure he underwent for his hamstring problems will unleash his best talents this fall. Gerst is also likely
to seek a 5th year for the 2013 season.
Rising junior Griffin Lowry was solid in emergency duty last season, but it’s still not clear if he’s All Ivy material.
Alec Fisher was the most promising freshman runner last year and he should get a chance to prove he can step it up this fall.
Who’s Coming In?
Looking at the incoming freshmen is a crucial part of this discussion as a big chunk of those 20 All Ivy runners since 2006 were either freshmen or sophomores when they first cracked the All Ivy team.
Columbia has two running backs and one fullback on our list of known incoming freshmen for fall 2012. One of them is Nick Gerst’s brother Mike Gerst who could give us a quick look at what an uninjured Gerst can do.
And fullback Mike Zunica seems like a very solid player with good fundamentals.
The best incoming freshman runner may be Cameron Molina who looks like he has the size and shape to be an impact player right away.
But no one seems like a slam dunk, definite good bet to change the trend that has really undermined Columbia’s chances for so long.
Super Schools… still working
I know I promised for today a full list of the high schools sending more than one class of 2012 player to Ivy football, but I want to make sure I do an accurate job on that list. So it will take a day or two more.
Please bear with me!
9 comments:
One major flaw in your analysis is that a strong running game depends upon a talented OL which is capable of opening holes. I don't care who you put back there if the holes aren't open. For me the key to a good running game starts with the offensive line. Last year we had an OL which averaged almost 300 pounds but really didn't get the job done. As far as a feature back, you can either have a cutt back runner like Schweiger or somebody like Scales who has the speed to turn the corner. Reese could do both, plus he had exceptional balance and an ability to make the first man miss. When he is healthy Gerst has the quickness to turn the corner. Garrett when healthy has some nice moves and the ability to be a good cut back guy. The best cut back guy we ever had was Greg A when healthy. The fastest RB was Solomon Johnson. Reese was the best all around RB in recent history, and he was especially effective when he was a junior, healthy and had his cousin blocking for him from the FB position.
That's not a flaw in Jake's analysis, but a different point. I do agree that you need a strong offensive line. However, Jake's point is that Coach Wilson never recruited well at the running back position.
Here are the stats from IvyLeagueSports.com.
Columbia ranked 7th in total rushing with 979 yards, 282 yeards behind Brown and 304 yards ahead of Cornell, who didn't run. Only Columbia and Cornell averaged less than 3 yards per carry.
Columbia was the only team with less than 3,000 yards of total offense, despite being 3rd in total offensive plays. It appears that both the running and passing game can be greatly approved. The common denominator is the offensive line.
Let's hope that we have a very good OL and RBs.
Our passing yards were down because Brackett was hurt all year. Our running yards were down because our RBs weren't very good. The OL wasn't great, but somehow Gerst averaged 5 yards per carry running behind them. Brackett ran great when healthy. Our biggest problem was play calling that put the ball in the hands of a hurt RB over and over.
Echoing concern with the OL and the play calling. Unofficially, how many times last season did we try to run it on third down when the entire stadium KNEW it was going to be Garrett up the middle for little or no gain because the opposition put everyone except the water boy in the box ??!!
i disagree with Jake's analysis and some of the comments. yes, the O line needs to be good to have a good running game, but Columbia has, seemingly, thought of itself as a west coast oriented team that looks to pass first and run second. if they want to continue along that path they need to find a scat back and not a true running back.
the analysis of past players is incorrect and hardly needed. Reese was the best back and the duo of Greg A and Solo were formidable. However, Wiley ws a non-athlete and never played running back and likely would never have been a good one because he ran high.
find a quick back that can catch out of the backfield and you will have a first team RB.
More ot the point, who cares, if the team is good and the running back doesnt make the all-ivy team does it matter?
Running back,Griffin Lowry, gave the offense a huge boost towards the end of the season. He's a very good running back who reminds me of Greg A. I would expect Lowry to be our #1 option for the inside running game.
What about Bruce Grant? Was he injured the whole year. If so, has he recovered from his injury?
With the new coaching staff, you can expect some position changes on both offense and defense. The coaches are undoubtedly looking very closely at the film of last year's games in an effort to determine which position is best for each player. I had the impression last year that a couple of the defensive backs belonged on offense. It will be very interesting to see what changes actually occur.
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