Friday, November 15, 2013

Last Ride

Day-to-Day work and updates on the Ivy football season will continue on this blog. But to make sure the emergency situation Columbia football and Columbia athletics are under remains on the forefront, the following extremely common sense demands will be posted on top of every new post on this blog until changes are made:

We must:


 1)    Replace Dianne Murphy as Athletic Director right away

2)      Replace Pete Mangurian as Head Football Coach the moment the season ends

3)      Bring in an outside consulting/expert group to make the replacement hires and evaluate the positions and effectiveness of everyone in the athletic department.

4)      Do NOT allow anyone who has had a leadership position or position of influence in any past hiring process to participate or interfere in any way with the overhaul process.

Please call President Bollinger at 212-854-1754 as soon as possible and asked to be connected to his office. Please respectfully ask that Murphy and Mangurian be let go as soon as possible.

You can also email: officeofthepresident@columbia.edu





Schoelkopf Field



Columbia Lions at Cornell Big Red


Empire State Bowl IV


Location: Schoelkopf Field


Kickoff Time: 1pm


Gametime Weather Forecast: 51 degress and sunny 


The Spread: Cornell by 21 

Columbia Game Notes


How to Get to the Game


TV/RADIO

The game will be broadcast live on Fox College Sports

Superior audio commentary from Jerry Recco and Sal Licata will be available on the Ivy Digital Network

The Columbia student station broadcast is on WKCR at 89.9 on your FM dial


Lead Stories

Last Chance for Both Teams

It may be week nine of a ten week season, but this feels like the last chance for Cornell get to an Ivy win this year and for Columbia to get a win of any kind. Both teams face markedly better opposition next week. 


Mathews Says Goodbye

This is the final home game for perhaps Cornell's greatest QB ever in Jeff Mathews. It could be an emotional day for him and I expect a game plan that will feature his talents even more than usual. 


Mangurian Comes "Home"

Pete Mangurian was the Head Coach for the Big Red from 1998-2000 and had a decent record for them. But even a cursory vetting of him would have yielded the easy-to-find facts that his players loathed him. I doubt Mangurian was ever vetted at all, but he won't be a popular face on the field tomorrow. The best win of his short career with the Lions was the 34-17 win over Cornell last season, and I expect the team to be looking for revenge.


Columbia Keys to the Game 


1)   Run the Ball

Cornell is just awful against the run, and remember that RB Marcorus Garrett had a career day against the Big Red last year. One problem: who knows if Garrett is even playing? Mangurian certainly isn't telling the great unwashed like you and me. But even if Cameron Molina and Alan Watson have to do all the running, they should do some damage. 


2)   Blitz Mathews

Cornell's pass protection has been almost as bad as Columbia's. Senior Day or not, the Lions need to make his life Hell and forget worrying about the occasional run. Go after him all day!


3)   Throw the Ball to Connors and Garner

Enough with the JV team for just one week; this is a game Columbia can actually win. Trevor McDonagh should start, stay in and throw almost exclusively to the guys who don't drop the ball. 



33 comments:

Anonymous said...

teacher mike 196

Read the sports section of today's digital NY Times. There's an article about Jags who sounds and looks like a human being of a football coach. I believe he might even rehire the morale building priest who was given the old pink slip.

I guy who never gives up with a wife who obviously sticks by her man might be just what CU needs
after the current ongoing nightmare.

Mitch S.'68CC said...

This guy seems really interesting and a good example of a certain type of indomitable football coach character. I believe John Pont, once coach of Yale and later the only coach who ever took Indiana to the Rose Bowl, sold cars for a while I think after being AD at Northwestern and then eventually returned to football by coaching in Japan for about ten years. After getting suspended from the Detroit Lions Alex Karras also sold cars and was a bartender although he himself hardly ever drank. But CU would never hire a guy like Jags in a million years. You can tell just by looking at him.

oldlion said...

Meanwhile, I liked what I saw from Kyle Smith's guys last night. He seems to get it.

Anonymous said...

Men's Basketball looked great. Men's Cross Country is one of the top ten teams in the NCAA. Men's baseball has been very good. A common theme? Smith, Wood, Boretti = all really good guys. Each are unique in their personality and the way they do stuff, but all are great people.

Anonymous said...

Men's Basketball looked great. Men's Cross Country is one of the top ten teams in the NCAA. Men's baseball has been very good. A common theme? Smith, Wood, Boretti = all really good guys. Each are unique in their personality and the way they do stuff, but all are great people.

Anonymous said...

Men's Basketball looked great. Men's Cross Country is one of the top ten teams in the NCAA. Men's baseball has been very good. A common theme? Smith, Wood, Boretti = all really good guys. Each are unique in their personality and the way they do stuff, but all are great people.

Chris said...

Bollinger told the Columbia Spectator last night he is disappointed in football but has no plans to change the leadership (Mangurian/Murphy). Oh well. The basketball team showed more fight against a far superior opponent last night than the football team has in 2 years under Mangurian. Agreed with the above poster about how players respect good people, not totalitarian wannabe leaders like PM.

Also: WKCR deserves some credit for their great broadcast of the basketball game last night and their consistently strong FB ones, too. Just a thought!

GO LIONS
Chris - CC '93

Anonymous said...

So nice, post it thrice!

oldlion said...

Does Pete have a four year deal? If DMD negotiated it, perhaps it is even longer.

Anonymous said...

Kyle Smith is a stunninlgy good coach..and by the Women's swim team just beat Harvard last week and this week just beat Yale! How about that!

Anonymous said...

Basketball is looking pretty good, I agree. But we maybe should also have beaten MSU last night given our control of the boards. Really, we never should have had two shot clock violations IN A ROW.

Nor is there any way MSU should be ranked no. 2 nationally. What we really have to do is shock St. John's at Barclays later this year. That would mke CU basketball a sudden hot ticket, although I'm already very happy I've had season basketball tix for the last 12 years.

Anonymous said...

Same drops. Why keep playing same guy? B comment bodes well as " suits" never tell the truth.

Anonymous said...

15 and 13 are costing us the game. They have not earned the right to be out there.

Anonymous said...

Red zone stats are pathetic.

Anonymous said...

Not their fault. Poor recruiting and poor play calling.
No pass blocking.
Wasting my breath,
Nothing will change.

Anonymous said...

Cornell is dogs hit without Mathews........but.......

Anonymous said...

This team is a JOKE!
PM must GO!

Anonymous said...

No Brock? These coaches are a joke.

Anonymous said...

300 yds no TDs.

Unknown said...

Why is Garrett, the third leading rusher in CU history, team captain, and Iron Lion not playing? Is he still suspended or is he injured? If he is suspended, I hope the Dean’s were involved in the decision.
PM’s O-Line experiment has failed. I appreciate that he needs mobile, fast O-Linemen for his “system”, but he has created a dangerous situation. Size is armor for an offensive lineman and the backfield he protects. Princeton has arguably the fastest, most mobile O-Line in the Ivy League, but their average BMI is 34.5, compared to CU’s 30.92. (also average 12lbs heavier and 2.4 inches SHORTER CU's.

Weight watchers is not a speed program and six pack abs don't matter in a football game. Running speed is not a factor for an O-lineman when the ball is snapped. If the O-lineman cannot survive the initial collision with the D-Lineman, he will not be able to complete his assignments. Tall, lanky O-lineman usually do not have the leverages or strength to dominate at the line of scrimmage. Fast guys get tired, big guys don't get smaller.

When the administration evaluates PM's system at the end of the year, I hope they use "football sense" and stop him before someone gets seriously injured. Injuries are part of the game, but they should not be caused by a coach’s negligence.

Hire Tom Gilmore or Galen Snyder for HC!

Bob Kent'92

Anonymous said...

Fire Manbozo. He is a piece of crap. Everyone knows it. Please move on.

oldlion said...

We are obviously poorly coached. In fact, we are the worst coached team I have ever seen. I am not just talking about game planning, or personnel decisions. I am talking about football fundamentals, like catching a football with your hands, wrapping up on tackles, fighting off blocks, sealing the edge, etc. Somebody on one of the blogs suggested that our basic problem is that our assistant coaches are very weak, and that this is a reflection of the fact that we don't pay them enough to live in the area. We have seen a lot of rotation with the coordinators, less so with the position coaches. But unless we either have a huge talent gap by this point, or we did a bad job of recruiting players with good fundamentals, it seems to me that the staff can't coach football. As far as today's fiasco, did anybody keep track of how many of our low BMI guys got injured? The sideline started to resemble an ER.

Anonymous said...

The guy needs to resign. Hopefully he is not so dilusional that he see's it's not working out. With your head held high, move on and help the University reclaim some recognition. It is becoming more of an embarrassment each week and it will be a miseable off season.

Anonymous said...

At least Columbia may have a few players on the Ivy Honor Roll this week.

Anonymous said...

T he
O only
A answer(for the)
L ions!

He has a record of something like 155-11.(and for you critics of Toal just read the article on the Baylor FB coach in the NY Times two weeks ago-who was a recent HS coach)

He is ready , Bollinger just has to pick up the phone and call him!

Anonymous said...

Very happy for Luke Eddy, glad he had some chances today as it's a tough way for a great kicker to be spending his senior year. He is one of the better kickers in the league and has really had no opportunities this season as we are always out of the game by the end of the first quarter. Finish strong guys, play for no one else but yourselves.

Anonymous said...

I could pick a few guys off the street and do a better coaching job then what I saw today and in previous games. I and others have sat by while watching the slow moving train wreck, but this is just wrong. Columbia needs to move on for their own self preservation. I know turning this thing around isn't going to be easy and may take time, but if the fundamentals and recruiting aren't there and we have a coach that seems to be obtuse and oblivious to his own short comings we are not going to succeed.
I watched my high school team today and they would roll over this team because they have superior coaching and a better game plan.
This is a disgrace.
Des Werthman

Anonymous said...

Someone already stated this, but needs to be repeated now. Something like this. "Definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result". I'm seeing
this same game over and over every Saturday.

Anonymous said...

what is Bill Campbell's email address so we can bombard him withthese comments?

Anonymous said...

Des-
I was there today and watched your high school team demolish one of the best high school programs in the state 35-0. The coach at your high school would turn this program into a winner in 2 seasons.

Anonymous said...

Great- our season has come down to highlighting a kicker making 30-yard chip shot field goals. Fire this bozo tomorrow

Anonymous said...

It was a glorious day to be a Rambler! To anonymous above, the loyola high school coach is much better...imagine a coach who is totally prepared, has a game plan, and kids that want to listen because they trust he has their best interest at heart...
At columbia, we get a totally different path. One that many of us have suffered through for too long. NO MAS

Des

Anonymous said...

I have a question. Where do we all stand on the Great Mangozo playing the seniors this week? The season is completely lost and how worse can they be than any lineup the Great Mangozo has put forth yet? ALERT: I AM NOT FINDING FAULT WITH THE NEW GUYS. However, this is the last opportunity for the seniors to be rewarded for their four years of dedication.

In response to a poster stating two players (referred to by jersey number only) were not having a good game, I went to check the online roster because I do not remember all of our players by number. I found myself surfing through the published stats and player commentaries by the Great Mangozo. I came away realizing the guys who were pushed aside by the Great Mangozo have just as good or even better numbers than the new crop and they do in fact possess some football talent.

So put yourself in a senior's shoes and consider his hope for this coming Saturday:

A) get some playing time and risk injury because your coach failed to even practice you

B) gulp down yet another Great Mangozo indignation and stand on the sideline if he even lets you dress

My heart breaks for these young men who do not deserve either choice. The Great Mangozo, Diane Murphy, Bill Campbell, you and your ilk utterly disgust me.