"Let's talk more about ways to insult our most committed alumni!"
One alum sent me this very well-reasoned analysis the other day and I think it very clearly states why athletics continues to matter and should matter even more than it does... yes, even at Columbia.
Read on:
"Although I attended the College and the Law School, I’ve had no real contact with Columbia over the years other than attending football games. I didn’t even attend either of my graduations. Accordingly, I’m not very familiar with alumni-college interaction. For example, I don’t know how many alumni attend graduation. I should think very few other than parents of graduating legacies. The same goes for alumni attendance at these five-year reunions, I assume. God knows I never attend them.
Football averages 5,600 per home game and, I suspect, that 4,000 of the attendees are alumni (with 8,000 alumni among the 10,000 at Homecoming).
Even if you assume that the same 4,000 attend every game, football must constitute by a HUGE margin the most significant nexus between alumni and Columbia. Does any other alumni activity, on or off campus, come even remotely close? People talk about the lack of interest in Columbia football. In absolute numbers, that may be true, but compared to every other alumni function, football games OVERWHELMINGLY dominate alumni affairs. Frankly, in light of the numbers alone, I don’t understand why football isn’t a PRIORITY. At the very least, the administration should be heavily represented at EVERY game.
As I say, I know little of non-football alumni activities. Perhaps there are thousands of alumni attending student theatricals, university-sponsored “fun runs”, etc. I wouldn’t know. Are there?"
The rhetorical questions at the end of his message are pretty easy to answer.
Football IS the #1 alumni-drawing event even in the WORST of times.
And no matter what "confidence" President Bollinger says he has in Dianne Murphy and Pete Mangurian, the total embarrassment that was the 2013 season should be getting a lot more of his personal attention. Rubber stamping letters written for him by Murphy's staffers isn't going to cut it.
An up-and-coming Patriot League assistant coach who strongly impressed the few Ivy coaching search committees has flown the coop.
Lehigh OC Dave Cecchini is taking the head coaching job at Valparaiso.
This guy is a hot commodity that Columbia could have grabbed two years ago, or this year if our administration came to its senses and removed Mangurian.
12 comments:
Just got my form letter response from Bollinger. Took a month to get mine. Can we infer that the flawless PR machine run by Bollinger is so overwhelmed with letters and emails demanding that Murphy and Mangurian be fired that it takes this long for an answer? At least Bollinger is responding in a non-discriminatory fashion, in which alums providing consistent support for the annual cc fund drive are getting the same mindless, knee jerk response that everybody else is getting.
Devide and Conquer. Trying to get both problems solved at once will not work. Set sights on # 1 problem. Other problem will resolve itself. Fortune cookie advise.
Rich Forzani '66C
A couple of thoughts:
I can understand an exec office being overwhelmed with correspondence to the point where individual notes can't be answered (unless you are a huge donor). But the corollary to that should be that with such a quantity of correspondence, that same office should somehow realize that there's a serious situation and possibly attempt to alleviate things. Don'tcha think?
Similarly, numbers do speak loudly, if one listens. The comment re game attendance is significant. Discounting the one-time events such as graduation, what recurring scenario produces as much repeated alumni and student attendance as sports?
NOTHING. (This was, you all understand, a rhetorical question)
So then, what events provide the greatest opportunity to engage, to build loyalty, to encourage financial support? Go ahead, your turn now.
There is a dichotomy within our admin in terms of how they see improvement vs. how the rest of us do. Buy that's a story for another day.
It's pretty obvious why a personable, winning coach has not been hired in any of the major sports. Take a guess.
Last comment beginning "It's pretty obvious, etc..." is bogus. Basketball's Smith is personable and by next season should compete for the title. While it may be debatable if baseball is a "major" sport, we have a winner of a coach there, too. Football is just snake-bit, period, although I feel certain that Ms. Murphy, Bollinger, etc., felt confident about Pete, as did many of us. Don't forget we have had our big moments and some fine players, so anything's possible. We may view next season with trepidation, but the stage is being set for a new era.
What you're saying is DM has done a fine job?
Is Smith the next AD?
The snakes biting football are the two legged kind.
Unless I'm way off base, it's the successful FB coach that usually moves up to AD not the basketball coach or baseball coach.
Yes, they're insulting the current alums but if you think about it they're alienating approximately 100 future alums too! "Sure, we will give the athletic department some of our hard earned money for their fund raiser because they cared so much about us as student athletes - NOT!" Go ahead, put them in the stands and don't give a flip about their football team or what they have to say about the program. Good luck in getting a return on that investment...
No, I'm not saying DM has done a fine job, but she's had some winners. What AD at Columbia has ever had more winners than losers?
Okay, time to change that, I'm all for it. Won't be easy, that's fer sure, but hopefully it's starting with guys like Jake and Rich.
The profile view makes him look like Donald Trump. Too bad he isn't. Trump is a football guy and would not stand for subpar.
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