I could analyze the ins and outs of Columbia's 41-7 season-ending loss to Brown, but it's all so depressingly the same as all the 21 straight games the Lions have lost that I just don't have the heart to do it again.
The truth is, 90% of these 21 straight losses haven't been games at all. Columbia has been over-matched from the opening kickoffs, essentially a junior varsity team taking on opposing varsities.
The real news is that as of now, Columbia is saddled with Pete Mangurian as its head coach. And Columbia will never win another game with Mangurian at the helm.
Since President Lee Bollinger's infuriating announcement that he is hiring the excellent consultant Rick Taylor to assess the program but will not fire Mangurian, (what's the point?), there have been two interesting developments:
1) Mangurian is now boasting publicly that Bollinger is in his corner. This is hard to stomach.
2) The player attrition rate if Mangurian indeed stays on will be steep. I don't have any exact numbers, but we are likely to see more players leave the team in the coming days.
While we can hold out hope that Taylor will find a way to clean house, I just don't see how he can do that with Mangurian hanging around. And Bollinger's email last week really would make it hard for the school to do an about-face and let him go now.
The result is this: purgatory.
Columbia University technically has a football team. But realistically it does not.
Columbia University technically has hired someone excellent to fix the football program. But realistically he is unlikely to fix the biggest immediate problem.
Columbia University technically is the #4 ranked college in the nation and a tremendous prize school to attend for non-athletes and athletes alike. But realistically its football program is toxic to any potential recruits with this coach and this duplicitous administration in place.
Columbia University technically has very devoted fans and alumni who, on this very blog, have warned and begged the administration not to continue down this path for years. But realistically, those devoted fans and alumni have been ignored, threatened, and smeared.
I'm not prepared to shut down this blog or stop caring. But I am resigned to at least another year, and probably two, of not really having a real team to root for, write about, and discuss with my fellow fans.
You should be prepared too.
20 comments:
After having thought about this further over the weekend, It is really unfortunate that the timing of hiring the new AD seems to be the biggest issue with regard to PM. What new AD wants to be told that the top priority is to turn the football team around without having any influence or involvement on hiring the new coach? Those two are going to have work very closely together and their chemistry will be vital.
So I sure hope that the admin is not just starting the AD search. The longer that drags the worse positon we are in for next year and the more likely we are stuck with PM next year.
And if that is the case, what eager HS senior is going to want to come and play football for a lame duck coach with a 21 game losing streak and the personality of a stink bug?
What a mess....
Jake, we cannot hire a new coach until we have a new AD. Taylor will conclude that Mangurian is hopeless, I am sure, but he will likely also conclude the following: the new AD must be hired first, since no HC who is any good will take the job without knowing who his boss will be; the new AD must have a football background;and we will need to significantly enhance the compensation packages for the coordinators.
I have a game plan to resolve the situation.
Excellent, Al. You hit every problem perfectly, plus the additional mess Bollinger just created a few days ago by announcing that Mangurian stays.
The hard part is going to be keeping Moe's feet to the fire. If a consultant has been identified then that person should be getting things going shortly. The final report should also be transparent and acted upon in short order not a secretive document that has no impact.
Here is what I know about the search for the new AD: it is not being conducted by Ted G. A respect5ed search firm with a sports group headed by a former D1football player with an MBA is running the search. The candidate must have a background in football. The plan is to finish the search by January or February. I believe, from what I have been told, that Lee is taking all of this very seriously.
I have read everything that has been put up here lately and I agree with much of it. However, I do disagree with much of what is being written about Campbell as I think he has been painted as a willing participant and, even not knowing the man well, do not see him being the person that many suggest here.
On another note, why would Pete be concerned? Did the letter support or not support him?
To know Campbell well means you are on his team of yes men. Otherwise, he kicks you out of the clubhouse. He’s not a passive participant going with the flow. He’s an alpha, controlling personality and a manipulator (and a drunk one from i can see). It's obvious to me now he and whatever guy pals (maybe Kraft?) is/are calling the shots with the football program. Bollinger was happy to oblige since he cares nothing for football or sports in general. Now that the heat is rising (thanks to some good reporting from inside the University) we're seeing the threads unravel a bit.
I'd like to see an experiment. Eliminate Campbell's involvement and let the AD and coaching hiring process happen entirely without an iota of his influence.
It's curious that with all of Columbia's resources, including
an alum in tight with the football program who was a football hero, coach and Silicon Valley bigshot, plus an alum who owns the New England Patriots, that the program is so pathetic. We should have given a Donald Trump an honorary degree.
I just don't get the notion that Bollinger "cares nothing for football or sports in general." Winger, where is your proof of that, other than the deduction you may draw from the lowly state of Lion football? Certainly his recent statement doesn't reflect that, and we are undoubtedly doing quite well in a number of sports. Somehow or other our football star will rise and I believe Bollinger will be part of it.
You guys really speculate far too much. It is also unfair, in my opinion, to take personal jabs at Bill Campbell by calling him a “drunk”. I spoke with an “inside” guy and OldLion is spot on. OL is deeply connected, so heed his words.
They anticipate that a new AD will be in place by January/February. The only flaw in OldLion’s reporting is his assumption that no “good candidate” would apply for the job without an AD in place. Although that may be the case with a current Head Coaches, there are Head Assistant Coaches Perry, Kelleher, etc. who would jump at the chance to elevate their stature (and compensation). Once you get to that level, you are in a whole new ballgame. Look at Teevens who was HC at Dartmouth, which got him the jobs at Tulane, and Stanford before coming back to Dartmouth. Conversely, Tony Reno, as Head Assistant at Harvard, was dying for a head coaching position. He would have taken the Yale job with/without an AD in place. The same goes for Columbia. By waiting, we are just telling ourselves that 365 day from now we will be in the same position we were last year; except the Streak will be 0-31. Do we all realize how idiotic that sounds? I say act NOW!!
BTW, Bollinger is personally committed to fix football only because somebody threatened to withhold substantial funds for the new medical building unless he fixes things; otherwise he could care less… just like when he was at Michigan.
Okay gentlemen here is my conspiracy theory... As Jake mentioned previously Taylor is a no nonsense consultant. Mangurgian will likely be frustrated by being pushed around. Jake expressed hope that he may get fed up and leave, my theory is that Lee shares that hope, I don't think he is that invested in Petey but doesn't like the idea of paying 2 years of salary for a a fired coach. If Petey quits he doesn't have to pay the contract, or they negotiate a settlement. I think it is an awful short sighted plan but that is my speculation. Christine
#1 Lion, just to set the record straight: the administration has concluded that its options for a new HC are limited without a new AD in place. If we agree that the university president is generally not the best choice to hire the head football coach, then it stands to reason that we want the new AD, who must have a strong football background, to hire the next HC. And what good candidate will consider the job without knowing who his boss is going to be. So to paraphrase the ever vigilant Big Dawg, we have already accomplished a major objective with the Rick Taylor retention. By the time Taylor finishes his study, we will have the new AD in place. Between the two of them we shold be able to hire the right HC and coordinators, buy out Pete's contract, pick up a few transfers, salvage some recruits, and move forward.
Pete won't quit. He's as stubborn as a mule. A savvy solution would be to come up with a settlement proposal and let the lawyers hash it out. Only they know the contract language of course and only a really bad AD would hand a dope like Pete an airtight contract. Every knowledgeable AD in the nation knows to protect the school from this kind of blowback with either a buyout clause or firing with cause. They just don't want to cut their losses yet.
Pete's performance the past three years may render him unemployable and thus unwilling to resign or accept a settlement to leave. Who would hire him? The best course of action for him personally is to force Columbia to fire him, so he gets paid in full. Unless some NFL team has a desire for more false starts, there isn't going to be much demand for his particular skill set.
BTW - what is the over/under on days until Danny White shows up again to explain that Jake has it all wrong and the program is moving in the right direction, lots of good recruits coming, kids hitting the weight room, etc.
Old Lion and #1:
I here what you are saying about a new coach wqnting to know who their boss is going to be, but more importantly, I would think any prospective AD would want to play a significant role in hiring the new coach. Particularly when one of the primary requirements expected of the new AD is to turn around our pathetic football program.
I suspect the new AD is going to want to be a part of "picking their own groceries", or whatever it was that Parcells used to say.
Many years ago my mom was a professor at Syracuse. One of the custodians there was like the rainman. He knew every stat, every play the football,basketball, tennis, soccer, etc team ever had dating back years. I am wondering if Danny is kind of like a custodian jr level rainman at Columbia. One of these guys in the background that stalks everyone in the building so they could record events and feel part of what is going on.
Reply to WOF: Parcells used that quote to explain why he wanted to be both the coach and the GM. That's why he left the Giants after the '91 SB. When he went to three successive NFL teams he was always able to pick his own groceries. And while he had some success he never achieved the success that he achieved with the Giants, where George Young picked the groceries, including LT, Phil Simms, Carl Banks, Mark Bavaro, Joe Morris, etc. But the point about the new AD wanting to hire the next HC is obviously correct.
oldlion, I know why Parcells said that and that he was more successful when he didn't pick his own groceries, just thought it was an easy analogy as to a new AD wanting to pick their own coach if football's success is going to be the #1 priority.
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