How to Spread the Wisdom

Brett Boretti

Columbia Baseball star Jordan Serena Tweeted this on Sunday:

Two great weekends in a row for @CULionsBaseball and not a peep out of @GoColumbiaLions #wheresthelove #IvyChamps #wewingames

The official CU Athletics Twitter feed did have some Tweets a little later on, but Serena’s point is well taken when it comes to the most important part of his Tweet: “We win games.”

Anyone who has watched the baseball team has to be impressed with the stunning depth on the roster and the way Head Coach Brett Boretti has simply reloaded instead of rebuilt the squad year after year.

As I said in the comments section in an earlier post, it’s no surprise that a warm, engaging and consistently strong communicator like Boretti is the best coach Columbia athletics has seen in at least 25 years. It’s no surprise because a person like that is going to be a great recruiter, and recruiting is everything.

Compare that to the barely acceptable-in-polite-company behavior you get from football Head Coach Pete Mangurian. I’m sure he turns on more charm when he meets with recruits and their parents, but that’s the thing: a genuine good coach and good person doesn’t have to turn anything on. He or she is very transparently a quality person.

There’s no way Mangurian is fooling some of the more discerning players and their parents with whatever sales pitch he’s using. He doesn’t have it in him. Anyone who makes private calls to big donors like Bob Kraft to trash his own players doesn’t have the class. And he also doesn’t have the brains if he thinks calls like that won’t become public, which they did.

Boretti should be made the de facto “Dean of Athletics” at Columbia. I usually hate more levels of bureaucracy, but the best performing coach for the longest period of time should be given some kind of added advisory role within the department, (and that includes advising admissions in general as well), to counterbalance the administrative types who are too far removed from game action and results.

Because, as Jordan Serena Tweeted, we all want to be able to say: “we win games.”

Jacked for Jaclyn Tradition Continues

Here's a chance for some more positive visuals and a nice good deed too:

On Friday, April 25th, Columbia Football is hosting its fourth annual "Jacked 4 Jaclyn" Lift-A-Thon to help raise money for the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation. 

Bench presses will be set up on campus as players attempt max repetitions of 225 lbs. Each player has been asked to seek out at least 5 sponsors to pledge or donate on their behalf, no matter the amount, big or small for each rep.  Every dollar and every rep counts. Our goal is to raise $10,000. 

Donations can made via this link..  Simply click the "Donate" link on the front page.