The "here we go again" mentality from those who say Columbia can never do anything right and it doesn't matter whether we fire Pete Mangurian are all wrong.
Here are three big reasons why:
1) The Columbia administration has NEVER hired the fans' choice.
Did anyone here clamor for Ray Tellier, Bob Shoop, Norries Wilson or Pete Mangurian? Of course not.
It's an outrage that the administration and its blind supporters continue to ignore our specific demands, and then act like they gave us what we wanted. Yes, we wanted Wilson out, but NO ONE asked for Mangurian. I feel guilty for being as nice as I was at the time of his hiring and calling him a "good hire," but I was trying to be somewhat welcoming. Nevertheless, I certainly never lobbied for him or anyone like him for the job. Neither did anyone else.
The only time where the administration and the fans were somewhat in sync was when Shoop was fired and Chuck Priore was offered the job as our first choice to replace him in 2005. Most fans and alums in the know that I spoke too really wanted Priore too. But Priore turned us down.
2) The administration is always secretive, defensive and dismissive of the real fans
This is not just about coaching search committees. This is about an athletic department that never gets it right because it never works with the real alums and students who give a damn about winning. The same coterie of drinking buddies has made or rubber stamped the key decisions for CU sports for 40+ years. Enough is enough.
3) The most woeful sports franchises and programs CAN change
Northwestern, the Red Sox, the Arizona Cardinals. All three were perpetual losers. All three, we were told, had unbeatable structural problems that could not be solved with a few good hires here and there.
Turned out all it took at Northwestern was a new A.D, All it took in Boston was a new GM. And all it took for the football Cardinals was the owner's sons to take over. Suddenly, those impossible, unfixable problems were solved and fixed.
Here's what needs to happen now:
-Give the real fans/concerned alumni a seat on both search committees.
-Keep the search process as public and open as reasonably possible. We have to have accountability this time.
-Do not allow anyone who had a major hand in the Mangurian or Dianne Murphy hires to participate. Give someone else, a new generation, a chance.
8 comments:
Does anybody know if the new Chairman of the Board, Jon Schiller, cares enough about athletics to help,get in right? As a former basketball player one would hope so. But I had the same high hopes for Bill Campbell. David Stern, their predecessor, couldn't have cared less despite his NBA background.
CC'66 is already savaging you, Jake, on the Ivy Board for your very reasonable statements above. As ever, '66 is the patron saint of perpetual losing.
Old Lion, Schiller's first act was to heap praise on Bolly and EXTEND his contract as prez until 2018! I expect more help for CU football from Foehi and Al Bagnoli than from our new Trustee president.
Hey guys..u got norries fired....and now what???
To this point, Schiller has been as unresponsive to direct communication as the rest of them.
There was an event in Silicon Valley where Bill Campbell was speaking about a completely different subject and someone asked him a question regarding Columbia football and his involvement. He mentioned he has a passion for it and he enjoys throwing his wholehearted support into it (amounts to time and money). That was all and he moved on.
I would love to dig deeper into this and get an answer as to how he and others do not see what everyone else sees. I just can't imagine the reasons for throwing money and emotional ties as well as time on leadership issues if you flat out see the direction being taken for decades on end is not working. How is it possible to not acknowledge that serious corrective measures are needed? Is it that even the mighty BC can't break down the wall of blindness within the administration and he just does what he can? I do not get it. It's irresponsible.
If we got Norris fired that would suggest we had a say in the hiring process as we'll, which obviously is not the case. So, Tony, I may rethink your position if I were in your shoes.
Al, from your lips to god's ears. He certainly can impact the decision making process and perhaps he has, but all for naught regardless
I clamored as far back as 1970, after Buff Donelli retired, for Allie Sherman (who, let us remember, literally used to quote the likes of Aristotle and St. Augustine on his weekly TV show). Since Columbia didn't listen then, why would they listen lately?
That said, I remain convinced Norries Wilson was a good coach(as well as a very nice man). He may have had some temperament issues, but they'd have quickly been forgotten if he'd ever gone at least 6-4.
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