Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Speak Up... Somebody!

Hoops Win

It was truly a great win for the Lions men’s basketball team last night in double OT at Colgate.

This blog celebrates success, and when our teams win they will be celebrated. When they lose, they will be questioned.

Any questions?

Anyway, the win was special because the Lions came back to win it and surged down the stretch. That’s been the one key thing missing from Kyle Smith’s resume at Columbia so far. Now he needs to do it when Ivy play starts in 18 days.



Still waiting and listening


Fan/Alumni Promotion for Mangurian Falls Short

The silence remains deafening as I continue to ask for some actual positives Head Coach Pete Mangurian has contributed to the Columbia football program so far. Even when given 100% free reign to support him, no one seems to be able to say anything at all.

So let’s ask some of our leaders to speak up.

Where’s Mangurian’s year-end message explaining the season and why there should be hope for 2014? How about a statement from Dianne Murphy? Bill Campbell, who wields more power over the program than any other single person, should speak up too.

And when they speak up, we want something more than clichés, platitudes, and overly general messages. How about some specific goals for 2014? How about the number of wins in football they would deem acceptable for this upcoming season?

Isn’t it funny how we never even get promises? Even an empty promise would be better than the bunker mentality, the pushback against any criticism, and the outright disdain for the fans this administration shows us year after year.

How hard would it be for these people to just say that they will demand a winning season by 2015? Will they be arrested or fired if we don’t get it?

We don’t even seem to merit lip service.


But we demand some kind of communication and soon.  

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jake,
The proof of PMs chances of turning around the program will not be evident until early in the 14 season. If his new recruits and second year guys can step in and contribute early, than we may be able to compete. If not it's the same old, until new top management comes on board. Look back at the Bosox history of years of decent players, decent managers, same conservative owners, no winners, until aggressive management turns everything around. You're on the right track, but the big $ guys have to join in.
hashttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Qr-bATF535w/UrRvfBwlCzI/AAAAAAAAEYk/JULZcmOG5-E/s1600/RIPPON_CHRIS_CT_05150.JPG

Anonymous said...

Jake ,
Please explain tail attached to my recent comment. My last was join in.
Very fishey!
GP

Jake said...

no idea

Anonymous said...

Could CR be monitoring the blog?
GP

Anonymous said...

I guess what I want to know, is can someone other than you determine who is contributing?
GP

oldlion said...

Jake and others, the silence of PM and his staff is part of the old "it's us against the world" strategy. Rightly or wrongly, "the blog" is now regarded as the enemy. This gives Pete a motivational tool which he and his staff will try to use to pull next year's team together. So don't expect a public statement, or a mea culpa, or the return of the long lost Mangurian blog. From my standpoint, I want to see the results on the field, and all of the rest is becoming white noise. I would be surprised to see any outreach on Pete's part, even to the immediate football family of former players.

Jake said...

Old Lion:

I have no doubt that you're right, but just consider the craziness of all that. Outreach is a very important job for a college coach and these guys are using a blog as an excuse for a bunker mentality? Norries considered this blog his enemy from day one too, but he didn't hide from the fans.

I'm sorry, but I think Pete is just not suited personally to this job or any other one that involves relating to living humans. Maybe he can become a pathologist.

Al's Wingman said...

Who would Pete communicate with? That is the question. The man does not make friends. He has some old school football guys that may offer a job reference out of professional courtesy but seriously, is there a single pro or college player that cares if Pete reaches out with a happy new year?

oldlion said...

Ray used to do a write-up after every game. Norries also communicated with people on what he called "the list". Norries also made his email address public, and he would actually answer his emails. Most of us cared about both those guys, whatever shortcomings they may have had as coaches. Pete did a 180 on us this season. Last Spring he actually did a write up on each player going into camp, and on each new player. But once the season started slipping away he began to take the criticism personally. He could have helped himself with some sort of explanation, but obviously felt that he owed the fan base nothing.

WOF said...

I was nothing special as a player at CU but I am still extremely insulted with how he has ignored us. It makes no sense to me, he should be trying to get us to rally behind him. It reeks of incompetence.

In fact, it would be fittingly ironic that if/when we ever did finally have success the former players would not fully enjoy it because the coach has done such a terrible job of including us.

oldlion said...

Note to WOF-- anybody who played for us is hardly "nothing special". MIT is a badge of honor, regardless of the coaching.

WOF said...

Thanks oldlion

Anonymous said...

PM should be congratulated for being able to recruit ANY athlete with bonifides to a program that has lost consistently for 100 years. Nottingham, Hilinsky, Pace, Kenyon, Cahal and others were standout high school football players with multiple offers to play at other programs for FREE and other Ivies. Give credit where credit is due.

Anonymous said...

Jake
Why all of the personal attacks on Coach M? You have NEVER met the man . NEVER!
It sounds like you really have a weird thing against him. Maybe he should seek protection from you legally?? Kinda like fatal attraction or something??? You make all of these untrue statements day in and day out. You are trying to ruin recruiting and give all of the other schools a great tool against us ,our own alumni?? What is with you ?

Anonymous said...

You are wrong about Mangurian not communicating with you . If you email him and ask him a question ,he will get back to you. What you won't get are private answers that are not public knowledge from him. It is none of your business or anyone else's business and he is bound by privacy laws from giving out such information. Not what you wanted to hear but the TRUTH!

Anonymous said...

Dear Assistant Coach or Administration Flunkie- I would like to hear/read a PROGRESS REPORT on the team that shows that the program is going in the right direction (insert sarcasm here). We get NOTHING!!! No "State of the Union", nothing. See, that doesn't violate any privacy laws...

Al's Wingman said...

It seems more to do with who really cares and what obligations he is under. I don't suspect he is inclined to reach out other than to the people who sign his checks. It's not like any media outlet asks Pete for an off season update. If the Spectator is interested they should go ahead and get his statements.

On the flip side to that Pete was a lot more active on social media, offering his rah rah baloney before the 0-10 collapse. He has since bunkered to avoid attacks and questions. I bombed <a href="https://www.facebook.com/PeteMangurian:>his facebook page</a> (my comments were unexpectedly removed without response) so I know he knows where I stand. If his silence bothers you go ahead and do the same.

Mitch S.'68CC said...

Some here may be familiar with the series called ESPN AllAccess, which is available on youtube. A series of documentaries on different big time college football programs. Obviously those schools are night and day compared to CU, but it's interesting to see head coaches who are totally knowledgeable, fantastic managers, and also with an deep force of will that communicates itself to the players and other coaches.

I was especially impressed with Fisher from FSU. Sort of a screamer but never abusive and he obviously knows what he's talking about. When it comes to recruiting I was a bit disappointed that the first thing he mentions is "size," but there you have it. You can't fight city hall.

There's no question that major college football is corrupt or even rotten in many ways. Still, these coaches are still amazing.

But perhaps our coach is also amazing in his own way...

Al's Wingman said...

Meant to say unexpectedly removed. Link is here. There used to be a way to edit blogspot posts but I don't see it any more.

Al's Wingman said...

damn auto correct: expectedly

Anonymous said...

I have met the man and was less than impressed. He certainly did not possess the traits I would think make a leader, which a coach is. We have no answers and wont until we see the product put on the field next year.
To those suggesting that nobody has been able to recruit to Columbia you insult every player that came before (Wilfork, Wiley, Witkowski, Martin, etc.)