Monday, April 21, 2014

SDLSS (Springtime Delusionary/Low Self-Esteem Syndrome)



Over the long weekend, the Athletic Department officially announced the football class of 2018. 

There were some changes to the class as of my last check on Feb. 14th.

Gone is Benet Academy linebacker Nick Surges, and added to the list are WR Landon Baty, DB Colin Early, and OL Benjamin Robbins.

There's no sign of the possible transfer from Minnesota.

I’m encouraged by a couple of the names on the list, specifically QB Anders Hill and DL Collin Breckinridge, but there’s nothing to tell us whether this class is better or worse than any we’ve had in the past. Anyone trashing these guys excessively, (other than noting that so many of them have absolutely terrible highlight videos), is going too far just as anyone praising them too much is also too removed from reality. There’s a reason the rest of the league’s fans laugh at us so mercilessly and it’s not just because the football team loses. It’s mostly because so many of the football fans at Columbia routinely cheer anything and everything other than wins and expect to be taken seriously. How any fan can get all excited about the football quality of this class before it plays one game, let alone wins one, after all that we have been through is stunning to me and laughable to everyone else.

But as I say every year, it isn’t wrong to say that all these young men are already winners. Why? Because they and their parents have made the wiser choice to go to an Ivy League program when most of them could have walked on, or at least tried to walk on, to a bigger football program.

Think Big: We're Selling Pure Gold

They're also winners because they’ve basically won the lottery. A friend of mine recently ran the numbers and found that non-varsity sports athlete applicants have less than a 1% chance of getting into Columbia or any other Ivy school. These kids are in, and most of them will do as well if not better than the non-athletes after graduation. Good for them for seeing the forest for the trees, but no matter how poor our football program is, I fear too many of the readers here are missing the fact that getting into any Ivy for any reason is a major achievement that a lot of players and parents are willing to forget about win-loss records to attain.

In other words, everyone here who thinks our recruiters are geniuses and Head Coach Pete Mangurian is doing something right simply because we pick up a few quality recruits is deluding themselves. Columbia, and all the Ivies, sell themselves simply with our name. The only thing we should look at is how badly Ivy recruiters do at selling something as easy to sell as an Ivy League education and diploma.

I say this as a general indictment of all the league, not just Columbia. I hope a lot of you got a chance to check out  this amazing story about the former UNC fullback Devon Ramsey who had an un-named friend who went to Columbia to play football. Ramsey was dragged down by an academic scandal at Chapel Hill, but he realizes that it would have been better for him to come to CU like his friend and get a real education for life while still playing ball.

Question: why doesn’t Columbia and the rest of the Ivy recruiters do a better job of getting this message across? I realize some players and their parents will forever be deluded about their chances of going pro, etc. But our “catch rate” for better basketball and football players should be higher. I would make the point that Harvard has made its move to the top in basketball based very much on honing this pitch to best of all recruits. It’s time for Columbia to do this too in football.

It’s time to shake off the low self-esteem we all have when it comes to Ivy sports and stop celebrating getting commitments from only the mid-major prospects.

We have something priceless to sell, let’s start selling it better.


Baseball Gets it Done

It was another thrilling weekend for baseball, as the Lions swept a tough four game series over a super-pitching Cornell team in Ithaca. The Lions are now tied with Penn for the Gehrig Division lead at 13-3 with the all-important four game home-and-home series with the Quakers beginning on Friday in Philly.

Men’s tennis also won the Ivy title this weekend with a win over Princeton.

I like this piece by Peter Andrews in the Spectator today documenting the strong spring for CU athletics after the terrible fall. But Andrews is also 100% right that this should do nothing to relieve the pressure on Mangurian and Murphy when football season comes along. He also makes the point that winning just one game this fall is not good enough to be considered an adequate improvement.


19 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't read all of the freshmen bios but a few of them I did read had other options at excellent schools, some of which were ivies. It's unfair to predict what percentage of this lot are taking advantage of the admission process to attend at ivy school. This lot also includes someone genuinely good players.

I am curious what happened to Surges as well as what turned Baty around. I read an article that he was sold on san diego but visits to a handful of ivies (CU included) didn't have the right fit for him.

RLB said...

no doubt FYs were cheered by the abbreviation on top here. Possible recruits, too.
Jake, why did you write it?

Big Dawg said...

I fully agree with Jake's underlying concept here.
It's always fun to speculate on the upcoming season with hope and optimism, but just like those long-suffering Brooklyn Dodger fans (and Chicago), let's temper it with reality. Hope for the best but expect the worst.

I doubly agree with the next point, which is that an admit to CU is gold. Unless a young man is truly capable of professional-level play, he is incredibly well-served by going Ivy rather than elsewhere. It should only be a matter of grades and recruiting. We need to see a lot more assertiveness in going after quality prospects. I know personally that a great many alums would help if asked.

RLB said...

BG: How about his overlying message?

Ivy coaches can't be happier.

oldlion said...

Incoming DB Cameron Roane is shown as having a 4.39 40 time. If that is true, he has NFL caliber speed.

Anonymous said...

Plenty of impact players have made it to the NFL from Ivy programs and plenty more would have the opportunity if they sought it out. You have to pursue it by applying to go to one of the post-season games and now with the combine. You can't just hope to be noticed. I have no doubt Paul Delaney would make it into an NFL camp if he went that direction. Marcorus as well. Just recent examples.

Maybe I am reading into it wrong but I take a little bit of an exception to the attitude that the degree is worth more than the athletic experience. While true int he long run, I don't think players do that as a goal out of high school. Or maybe I don't want to believe it. I would expect any player from any program at any school to go in with the approach that I am hear to help this team do well. Who wants to be a loser? Is it really ok to put in all that effort with the notion that we are losers BUT with an Ivy degree?

Anonymous said...

I hate autocorrect.

Big Dawg said...

Actually, I would prefer winners with Ivy degrees.

Ivies do get the occasional pro, but I believe we can all agree that those are rara avis. Hence, those that are serious about the pros typically look for a broader stage. Except of course in the highly paid world of competitive archery, where we are an acknowledged national force. But re FB, I do believe the value of the CU degree is overwhelming and hence I agree with Jake.

Anonymous said...

We all would prefer a winning FB program so I'm not sold on Jake's argument that they are winners just because of an Ivy education. They are going into a losing program hopefully with the mindset they will improve the team's chances - not just for the chance to go to an Ivy school.

Like I said, maybe I am misinterpreting the message but I think it's bunk for a high school age student to convince himself/herself that it's ok to join a losing program for the sake of the education they are receiving.

Is the end goal to feel prestige and secure job opportunities? You can do that with any degree from any school and make lots of money. Sure, degrees from Ivy schools open up doors on face value alone but I know first hand millionaires from less prestigious backgrounds. Smartest guy I know is from some school I never heard of and can't even remember the name.

I don't buy the elitism - and I am someone neck deep in higher degree people swarming around me every day.

Anonymous said...

Biola University and he's not even a religious nut. His millions tell me it does not mater where a person goes to school so long as they have a vision for what they want to accomplish in life.

oldlion said...

Bags is the big story today. Twenty great years for Penn and twenty not so,great years for us. Bags has said that he was offered the Columbia job and turned it down because he had concluded that the administration lacked commitment! Amazing irony. Had we hired Bags, he would have made a difference. This is a concrete example of how our incompetent do nothing except sell off land at Baker Field administration during the disastrous Cole Sovern regime caused disastrous results.

WOF said...

great post oldlion, I wish some people on this board would understand that many of our negative attitudes were well earned by the admin...

oldlion said...

Thanks WOF.

Jake said...

Source on Bagnoli turning down Columbia job: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1917&dat=19841227&id=FBEhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HHQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1146,2556935

WOF said...

Looks like he pulled out of the running before he got an offer but interesting nonetheless, he was one of finalists with Coach Garrett.

How many here think he would have achieved a similar level of success at Columbia that he did at Penn?

Big Dawg said...

Interesting question.

I'm a bit too cynical to buy into a messiah solution, even with a coach's hand-picked staff coming along with him. I believe the issue has to be addressed in a more systemic, organic method. So I have to go along with Bagnoli's thought process re CU.

Commitment from the top is the first step to fix things. Everything else is a band aid.

WOF said...

I agree, CU needs to try to set coaches up for success, not sure that has really ever happened, but suppose Norries had best shot at that.

Anonymous said...

A summary of my thoughts on this subject + a link back.

Anonymous said...

Well that sucked. Correct link