How We Got Here

Many of the oldest fans of Columbia football and the most loyal readers of my Columbia blogs are asking the same question: How did we get back to rock bottom so fast?

The best answer is that not much of this should be a surprise. In fact, several serious red flags have been springing up for the nearly 23 months since Head Coach Pete Mangurian was hired. I documented them all pretty much as they happened. 

But I list them again below.

Red Flag #1:

-After saying she conducted a nationwide coaching search, Athletic Director Dianne Murphy announces that she’s made the decision  to hire Pete Mangurian on Dec. 8, 2011, a mere 19 days after firing Norries Wilson and a full week before her own publicly stated deadline to make a hiring decision. Alumni and fan favorite Tom Gilmore of Holy Cross is not interviewed, and neither is Greg Toal, standout coach of the Don Bosco high school powerhouse team.

Perhaps more disturbing, it’s learned that Mangurian and Murphy knew each other in the years when their tenures overlapped at Cornell. This raises questions about whether Murphy had just hired an old acquaintance as opposed to really entertaining a wider range of candidates.

Red Flag #2:

Less than three months after getting the job, Columbia offensive coordinator Ben McDaniels leaves to taking a coaching job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jaime Elizondo is hired as the new OC.

                                                                                                                                                              

Red Flag #3:

As Columbia opens spring practice, the Lions sole returning All Ivy offensive lineman – Scott Ward – is benched. Ward’s status is not changed as summer training camp begins and he is not used much as a starter through 2012. Why Mangurian makes this decision is never discussed or explained.

Red Flag #4:

As the Lion players prepare for summer training camp, Mangurian informs almost all of them that they will need to lose weight… even the offensive linemen. The result is an extremely lightweight team where Columbia ends up being an average of 30-40 pounds lighter than their opponents across the line of scrimmage. Mangurian never addresses questions about why he’s doing this until well after the 2012 season, where he insists he didn’t deliberately want a lighter team.

Red Flag #5:

Returning star QB Sean Brackett is told to stay in the pocket or else face extra discipline from the coaching staff. Brackett still runs occasionally, but the result of the pocket passing dictate from Mangurian is a massive amount of sacks and a physically severe weekly beating for Brackett. With defenses less worried about covering Brackett as a runner, he faces tougher pass coverage and barely completes more than 50% of his passes.  

Red Flag #6:

After playing competitively in the first two games of 2012 and achieving a 1-1 record, Columbia looks completely unprepared in a 33-6 runaway loss at home to Princeton.

Red Flag #7:

After blowing a 20-10 4^th quarter lead against Penn at Franklin Field, Mangurian verbally assaults the parent of a player waiting outside the team locker room.

Red Flag #8:

After a heartbreaking 21-16 loss to Dartmouth at Homecoming, Mangurian appears unhinged at the postgame press conference. At one point he tells a reporter that he could answer his questions, but he and the others in the press room wouldn’t be able to understand his answers. Those in room agree that Mangurian is clearly not all there, at least at that moment. Mangurian is never disciplined for this extreme embarrassment of the entire program in front of the news media.

Red Flag #9:

Columbia loses to Harvard 69-0, the worst loss in Ivy League football history. As the game cascades more and more out of control an aggressive passing game plan is not changed thus allowing Harvard to continue to run up the score.

Red Flag #10:

In the moments immediately following the season-ending loss at Brown, Mangurian gets into a nasty on-the-field public shouting match with Brown Head Coach Phil Estes. Later, it’s learned that the dispute was over Estes not allowing Columbia to film the game at field level. Mangurian is never disciplined for this.

Red Flag #11:

At the conclusion of spring practice, rising junior DL Chad Washington is arrested for assaulting another student. The arrest is later reduced to a disturbance as evidence becomes clear that there was no “victim” in the incident. But the altercation gives the Columbia Spectator an opportunity to dig into the social media/Twitter accounts of several players where a number of apparently racist and homophobic statements. While Mangurian and Murphy make a well-timed and very appropriate statement denouncing the behavior, the image of Columbia football as being a disciplined and mature program under Mangurian is shattered.

Red Flag #12

Super-talented WR Isaiah Gross, who made a splash in the first two games of 2012, leaves training camp and returns home. 

Red Flag #13:

In the 2013 season opener against a much faster, stronger and bigger Fordham team, Mangurian and Elizondo continue to put Stanford transfer QB Brett Nottingham in danger well after the game is far out of reach for the Lions. As a result, Nottingham breaks his wrist while running away from yet another pass rush and is lost for the season.  

Red Flag #14:

Despite continued poor pass protection and strong success in the running game, Columbia continues to primarily pass the ball out of the pocket in an eventual 37-14 loss to Monmouth in week two.

Red Flag #15:

Columbia is humiliated again in a 53-7 loss to Princeton.

Red Flag #16:

In a surprisingly close game against nationally ranked Lehigh, Mangurian makes the terrible decision to throw with just seconds left in the third quarter and Columbia down just 17-10. The resulting incomplete pass stops the clock and forces Columbia to punt into a stiff wind. The result is a short field for Lehigh and a game-icing TD.

Red Flag #17:

Columbia suffers the third worst loss in Ivy history, falling 56-0 to Dartmouth in Hanover.