Saturday, September 8, 2012

Avalanche of Info



There's been such a flurry of information coming from Head Coach Pete Mangurian in the last 24 hours from his blog and Twitter feed, that I just have to put the big news in outline form with quick comments below:

-The two-deeps will be released Wednesday night.

-Captains will be named today, "two from each class, one on each side of the ball. The coaches will pick two each week and the special team player of the week from the previous game will be the third." 

-In response to a question I asked him, Mangurian compared freshman WR Isaiah Gross to Joe Splendorio, the outstanding All-World WR who was his best player at Cornell. That's exciting. (You can search this blog for some more info on Splendorio that I provided months ago.

-There will be no players STARTING both ways. But players "will be moved around." That sounds like a situational substitution plan, which is more logical.

-In response to another question I asked about how he turned the Big Red around so quickly there, Mangurian said he saw a lot of similarities between this Columbia team and the 1998 Cornell team that was filled with players who really wanted to change everything in Ithaca. That's also exciting.

-The coach made yet another reference to how strong our defensive front seven is and how it will clearly lead the team. He didn't mention how deep it is as well, but you know that from reading about it here all summer.

-Freshman Daren Napier did indeed weigh 305, but his weight is down now.

-In his blog, Mangurian stressed the importance of preparation for both the players and the coaches. Hallelujah! As many of us have noted, LACK of preparation was the biggest reason the Lions underpreformed the last several years.

-The blog also cautioned fans not to expect too much information about individual players and schemes. But it seemed unnecessary to do that since we're already getting more straight info from this coach than all the other coaches in the Ivies combined! In other words,

I'm not complaining. I wonder if anyone has?

But the only thing we'd like from the athletic department is more profiling of the individual players from a fan's point of view. By that I mean pictures, anecdotes, etc. I'm not asking for the coaches to show me how the kids fit into the playbook.

This is basic "rah rah" stuff that's beyond any coach's responsibility.




5 comments:

jock/doc said...

Was it lack of preparation or basically BAD coaching when we had a healthy Ray Rangle run 9 times in the first half for over 100 yards and then we did not give him the ball after intermission a couple of years ago.
HOW ABOUT ALL THE POINTS WE GAVE UP IN THE THIRD QUARTER LAST YEAR?

Anonymous said...

Do you not understand that not giving information about individual players includes pictures and stories and all of that? Coach has said since the beginning that no one player is going to be highlighted. That's means pictures, profiles, stories,ancedotes,etc. Its a team. STOP asking for information/pictures/anything that has to do with an individual player. You're living in the past. We're moving forward, get on board.

Ungvar said...

A team is made up of individuals. As a fan I would welcome info about individual players if only to better understand the team's chemistry. The players seem to have bought into the 'team is all' philosophy. A few feature articles about the players won't derail that commitment on their part. And it will boost my enthusiasm for the total team.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Ungvar, I would like to see profiles of individuals as well as pictures, articles etc. of and about our team. I wish the Athletic Dept. would show a bit more interest and spotlight these guys. I do not know how much it matters to the team to see this, but I as a fan would appreciate it.
Also really liked Coach M's recent post "Do What is Right for the team" I feel he is an "old School" Coach and I like that about him. This team knows what is expected (and it's not a walk in the park).They respect him and know he will lead them to a winning season.Can't wait!! Go Lions

Anonymous said...

When i was a player the weekly football program covered a senior of the week. i have never heard that disturbed the concept of a team.
Seems to me that asking for general human interest information on players is not unusual or even detrimental to a team philosophy.