Things Just Got Interesting

So what will the departure of Dianne Murphy mean for this upcoming football season?

If Head Coach Pete Mangurian and his staff come to their senses, it could really help.

The fear factor from the football offices in the Campbell Center is palpable.

Notice how some of the commenters on this blog who are mouthpieces for one or two of the assistant coaches have gone completely silent.

They are scared, scared enough to finally realize that trolling on a blog is a waste of their time when their jobs are at stake.

But it won’t save them.

Mangurian has two more seasons on his contract, but a new A.D. is a lot less likely to feel any obligation to honor that final year and Murphy herself has a lot less to lose if she jettisons Mangurian at the end of the season.

That means Mangurian needs the CU football team to start winning now.

Job security has been a funny thing for Mangurian throughout his career; it seems he hasn’t learned the hard lessons from the experiences that have cost him jobs in the past.

It’s been his ideological belief in lighter offensive lines that got him in trouble with the Giants and Buccaneers and made him a disliked figure just about everywhere he’s gone.

Here at CU, it’s that ideology and his belief that a purely drop back passing offense is appropriate in the Ivies, (it isn’t), that’s put him in a lot of trouble already.

But even if Mangurian suddenly snaps out of it now, it’s too late to suddenly hope the Lion O-line suddenly gets adequate size.

He can, however, make some changes to the drop back passing offense.

He can  run the ball more, especially with the right runners. Right now, I am only impressed with the freshman Chris Schroer. Cameron Molina and the other upperclassmen on the depth chart should be on a very short leash or lose their starting spots now if they don’t show something in the final week of practice.

He can also throw an H-back into just about every play – not to run or catch the ball – but to provide QB Brett Nottingham with one more emergency blocker.

On defense, he can move the darn linebackers closer to the line of scrimmage.

If Columbia doesn’t win three or more games this season, (and I have to admit I think three is an extreme stretch), I just don’t see how Mangurian keeps his job especially with a new A.D. on the way. 

There are a lot of Columbia fans who, even before Murphy made her announcement, assured me that Mangurian was a goner at the end of this season if we didn't win at least four games. 

They're delusional. 

Sadly, I think just ONE win would have been enough for the apologists in the department to make a case to keep Mangurian. 

But now, those people are leaving and the bar just got raised higher. 

Let me say for the 100th time that I hope I'm wrong and Columbia wins and wins and wins this season. But I just don't see it.