The Columbia football program needs to be put into
receivership by the Ivy League. This
needs to happen immediately.
The reasons why this takeover is necessary are clear:
The team is completely out of control and without competent
leadership at the coaching or the administrative level. With a lame duck A.D.
and an unusually disinterested academic administration, the usual safeguards
and first-line defenses against total breakdown are absent.
A pitiful situation on the field has now turned into a potentially
dangerous situation for everyone who plays for or against Columbia in the coming
weeks.
An undisciplined football team can lead to serious injuries
on the field. This is a violent game as it is.
I have not been very impressed with the job Robin Harris has
done so far as Ivy League Executive Director. But this is a chance for her to
step it up and prove she is able to protect the players first and the brand as
well.
Harris, of course, would need the Ivy presidents to approve
such an action. So perhaps, just calling for a meeting or vote on it will spur
Columbia President Lee Bollinger to finally do something.
But bottom line, the league needs to take over day-to-day
control of the team, appoint an interim coach and full staff ASAP and remove
outgoing Athletic Director Dianne Murphy from any contact with the team or the
program.
If you think this is too drastic a move, you just haven’t
been paying attention.
It didn’t take a prophet last year to predict the Columbia
football would not be remotely competitive this season. But I did insist that
would happen and it did.
And now it doesn’t take a prophet to predict that something
very bad on or off the field is about to happen unless the football team gets
new management immediately.
18 comments:
Traditionally, doesn't bureaucracy move at a snail's pace? Unless there are rampant injuries out of the norm and proof of student athletes being endangered, is it reasonable the league would step in? They would probably hire a consultant to write a report which would take months on the fast track.
Is it the elephant in the room or do these academic bureaucrats confront the issues? Maybe there is some kind of agreement or understanding that allows this to go on unabated for decades.
Jake
I love the emotion and the spirit of your thinking.
But unless we get a Sandusky/Penn State scenario here, no one (and especially a bureaucrat so dependent on love and sycophancy to keep the paycheck) is going to suggest displacing King Lee's autonomy. Professional suicide, and we all know that.
No, I think that our most logical move is to escalate from FB and the AD to the true source of the non-movement; Bollinger.
He needs to be called to account constantly and forever, in every possible venue.
More to follow. What are everyone's thoughts?
Factoid: The Las Vegas Outlaws are owned by Vince Neil of Motely Crue. This could quite possibly be the first heavy metal connection between heavy metal and the Ivy league since Keith Elias played for Princeton. Elias was known for blasting Iron Maiden before games in the locker room (pre-ipod era). Though, Elias changed his music tastes after becoming born again Christian.
For the two cents that it's worth, I agree with Rich. No way the League steps in, or needs to. We've suffered four gruesome losses but no serious injuries that I am aware of. Nor did we suffer injuries out of proportion to anyone else last year or during the streak years. Correct me if I am wrong on that. We are not competitive and that embarrasses a few alumni who think the athletic experience should be a fun and respected part of college life rather than a source of ongoing ridicule, but there is no reason for the league to care if we go 0-10.
Would you think that Bollinger gets Campbell's advice?
The Daily News article is a BS PM plant - Nottingham and his parents need to tell their side of the story.
Ok seen it all now. OK bad situation: team is losing, shit happens. Coaches may not be handling it the way YOU might like it, shit happens. Kids may or may not be quitting, disturbing but that too happens. To have the gall to think a league office will step in on all of the above is preposterous. Grow up, put a tampon in, and bear it! NO league in the country would step in on these issues.
Option#1, Brett has 1 more year of eligibility. If he's smart, do what Seyi did and go to BC (grad school) to see if he can earn the QB slot there. The. Florida transfer, and current BC quarterback, will graduate. Brett will have a huge o-line that will actually protect his blind side and he'll have receivers who can actually catch.
Option #2, same as the above, except at Cal. He can go back to the Bay Area armed with an Ivy degree, BEAT Stanford, and give Shaw a big F/U.
Option #3, graduate and get a Pro tryout.
Wishing him well...
Actually the league "stepped in" once before during the streak when some relaxation in admission rules was granted to CU. I don't remember the details or how it worked though.
The league certainly should care if a school is consistently fielding a non-competitive team. No one benefits when there's a guaranteed blowout every week. It's obviously terrible for the CU players and it's also a drag for other players and coaches who have to motivate themselves for a completely uninspiring game. What a mess.
Hard to imagine a total breakdown like this in any other department of the university without the administration taking some notice, let alone action.
Mitch S. 68CC
My concern is that Bollinger couldn't care less about Columbia College, couldn't care less about being in the Ivy League, wants to turn us into the global university of the next millennium by dropping all sports and making us into a gigantic GS/NYU as part of his self image as citizen of the world. How else can you explain 6 billion for Manhattanville, bupkas for a new athletic facility on campus, the continued employment of stunningly incompetent athletic administrators and the worst HC in the history of college football? I have put my money where my mouth is for many, many years. I will find a better place for it if this doesn't get fixed now.
Mr. Gel: that is exactly correct - the league agreed to a lower Academic Index for Columbia football for a time- the problem is that the other football coaches and AD's in the league want to keep the Columbia game as a guaranteed win, and do not support Columbia getting any better. Spineless coaches in this league led by Murphy at Harvard, who, btw, has tried to get a big time job for 15 years, including Navy.
I don't understand how the league seems to have control on admissions standards but they don't have it on financial aid?
It seems like an uneven playing field when it comes to aid, is that correct?
Exactly! Why would other AD's help us when they get a guaranteed win and homecoming fodder to increase their donations? Speaking of which, like oldlion my checkbook is closed until they fix this debacle!
#1 Lion, from what I have seen of Nottingham he would not do well as a D1 QB. His body language is lackadaisical and doesn't move well in or out of the pocket. His biggest asset is his arm and (when on his game) accuracy. Whatever intangible qualities college coaches look for in QBs he does not have. NFL? CFL? Arena League? Please stop kidding yourselves.
If you have not seen Stanford lately play then you are not aware their defense would pulverize a QB that cannot escape pressure. It would be like an Adam Sandler movie.
As for Tim Murphy, he is very familiar with the grueling requirements of D1 head coaching. He did very well at U Cincy but has stated several times it took a lot out of him. Why would he want to do that again now that his health is an issue?
WOF- absolutely correct- Columbia has lost countless football players merely because the financial aid package has not been competitive with other Ivy School. I am sure that every Head Football Coach at Columbia for the past 20 years would agree. Amazing how the administration has allowed this travesty to continue.
Coach,
Is this something that Columbia can control and has chosen not to or is it something that the league controls?
There used to be a set formula for aid that all schools used. Certain schools will match tuition grants of others. I personally beat brown, cornell, and Dartmouth on kids after I showed CU what they were getting from those schools. CU came back and reoffered new packages beating those schools and we got those kids. I am also aware we will not match grants with harvard, yale, and princeton.
How does that inequality fit the socialist concept of ivy league sports? Big three not playing by the rules...
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