Monday, December 15, 2014

Go Big or Go Home





Tim Pernetti 


Forgive me everyone, I’m still basking in the glow of what looks to me like the best chance in my lifetime to change the culture of Columbia football for the better.

The destructive coach is gone. The football-clueless, public relations-clueless, and defensively combative  destructive-coach-hiring Athletic Director is out.

A true non-politically correct football expert is currently assessing the Columbia program and will produce a no-holds-barred review in three days.

If Columbia didn’t already have a long track record of screwing up chances to do things right, I’d be a lot more optimistic to be sure.

But I am still optimistic, because so many of the usual administrative road blocks are gone. And the few alumni types who usually do nothing but serve as yes-men for the bad decision-makers have truly been shamed over the past year. They are unusually silent and withdrawn right now. That’s a good thing.

This is the time to be bold, because we’ve silenced the usual suspects who like to try to sound superior when they poo-poo the desires of true fans and alums.

Thanks to their silence, we can and should make a bold play for Joe Moglia as our next head coach. As great as he is, I don’t think he’ll ever get an honest offer from a big time FBS program like Michigan. Nebraska already passed on him, and that was very telling. Money is not an issue for him, he’s worth $150 million. What he wants and deserves is notoriety and he’ll get that here in NYC even if it is while helming an Ivy League team. And as one reader reminded me this morning, Moglia is a New Yorker through and through. Since money is not the issue with him, Columbia should be bold by offering him as much free reign as he wants to run this program.

Columbia should be similarly bold with the other excellent coaching choices out there. I’d hire Tom Gilmore away from Holy Cross in a moment, despite his recent contract extension. And there are many other great coaching names out there that could come to the Lions if given the right, bold offer.

The same goes for the Athletic Director search. I’d be bold and offer the job to Tim Pernetti in a second. Pernetti is the real deal and also worth giving a big salary and free reign to do his job the way he sees fit. I believe Pernetti was made into an unfortunate fall guy in the Rutgers men’s basketball coaching abuse situation a few years ago. He did make some mistakes there but his response was definitely more appropriate than the president of the university,  who I think did nothing until the media caught wind of the story. I also think that given that history, Pernetti may be the best guy to insure nothing like that ever happens at Columbia. He wants redemption on that score and I’d trust him to get it. More importantly, he’s a rain maker who knows how to win.


Moglia, Gilmore and Pernetti aren’t the only bold choices out there for our open jobs. But if we go out and just hire another pair of candidates who no one has ever really heard of with no real gravitas, it will again be evidence that President Lee Bollinger sees athletics as nothing more than an annoyance that needs to be kept out of sight. Losing too much is bad for someone like Bollinger, but bold and exciting winning would be too. However, if we get two nobody people to fill these slots I think the losing will continue and get worse. With that in mind, we might as well win! 

16 comments:

Chick said...

Amen. Columbia likes to think it's elite but the university plays the dweeb in athletic competition, and that's a drag on everything, including superior cultural leadership.

I won't name names, but we've sunk into a pathetic pattern in athletics: ignore football and do just enough in a few other sports to keep athletics on life support. No passion, no leadership.

Anonymous said...

There are plenty of candidates for both AD and football HC. The question is timing. Can they execute fast enough to get things rolling for a successful recruiting season?

Unlikely Moglia is going anywhere unless he gets enticed by a program that really wants him. In 3 seasons he has put Coastal in a great situation and seems content there:

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2014/12/13/4667996/moglia-says-chanticleers-have.html

When was the last time a HC at a scholarship program got a contract extension and then bolted for a rebuilding project at a non-scholarship program?

Jake said...

Al: I know you don't mean to, but you're starting to sound too much like the administration losers who for decades have told me that they didn't offer big jobs to certain top-name people because they didn't want to "look bad" if they were rejected!

How laughable is that? We already look really bad because we lose lose lose. Why not try and stop worrying about ego?

Al, I know you're not saying that CU shouldn't try, but let's not negotiate against ourselves for once! Moglia has a lot of good reasons to come here, so does Pernetti and Gilmore. We need to make the offers and campaign for the best people.

Anonymous said...

Apparently hotlinking does not work for the Myrtle Beach newspaper so the link is bad.

I would have no reservations about being rejected. I'm just curious why the fixation on Moglia when it is obvious he is doing great things at Coastal. They like him and he likes them. Why would he want to leave after such a short run? I don't know the guy personally but it does not seem to me he cares much about being a new yorker as much as he does having fun as a football coach. I say fun because as we know he is mega wealthy. Instead of yachting he is following a passion.

Columbia needs to find a coach who has not yet hit their groove. They aren't going to land a guy who is an established winner because those guys are all in jobs right now and it is going to take a lot of incentive for them to lure them away (not just money).

Pete's contract was a disaster but the dollars set the bar high for his successors. If I am a qualified candidate and want that job i am gong to say you gave a loser 500k. What do you have for me? Anyone worth their rep is gong to come into this ground floor rebuilding project from a position of bargaining power.

Don't mean to be a hard case but Gilmore and Moglia may as well be off the table.

Anonymous said...

The big problem right now is no one is on point making a run at the top candidates. The CU model is broken with the hot dog guys and Campbell or an AD who is incapable of making the right call.

Every other football program has a top decision maker, that person puts together a short list and moves quickly to gauge interest. Without that there is no traction and they end up with a shallow pool of candidates. No top candidates will abandon their program in recruiting season except for really good jobs with top pay (like a Michigan for example)

Coach said...

Every major football program uses a search firm, just as we are doing for the AD job. Why haven't we hired a search firm for the football position? We could have 3 or 4 names ready to go for the new AD. The AD should use a search firm, so why not get it going?

Chick said...

Exactly, Coach. Murphy did say she understands the coach search won't begin till after the AD is hired but that should mean a coach won't be hired before the AD is hired. There's no reason not to save time by having a search firm ascertain now who is available and willing. The new AD can get a quick startwith that list while he also spreads his own net. And I wouldn't use arbitrary criteria like no asst. coaches need apply. There are assts who might be THE guy.

WOF said...

Do the other ivies need search firms to find their football coach?

Anonymous said...

My fantasy short list

Jeff Tedford
Bobby Hauck
Mack Brown
Jim Fassel

Yes, I know some old guys in there but they are still gamers. Hauck resigned from UNLV after signing an extension. Couldn't make it work in Vegas but can't argue with his success at Montana and elsewhere. Tedford is the perfect offensive brain needed and would be godsend to Nottingham if he came back.

No one wants Brown or Fassel. Maybe people think those guys are washed up. I would disagree with that assumption.

Big Dawg said...

I think what Jake means is that we need to thinking outside the typical CU box, by going after top talent wherever they are.

Al raises a valid point when he describes having a decision maker with weight and smarts running the show. This just can't be a few old pals sitting around over a beer, talking about how much they donated, what buildings are named after them and who should be the next coach/AD.

People involved with this need skin in the game, such as their career. And that includes LBo.

Coach said...

It depends upon each situation . A good search firm can open up more possibilities, especially if the AD is not a football person. Why would a school not use a firm- dont have to hire their prospects. It basically gives an AD a chance to consult with outside football experts.

Columbia_Fan said...

I fear that if we do not get a coach with recent Ivy experiance, we will embark on a 2/3 year rebuilding program.
Several good youngsters on the roster. If recruits are decent, we could win a few next year.

WOF said...

We need to hire someone who has experiencing doing more with less and succeeding in spite of obstacles.

Hiring someone coming from a program that gave him all the advantages would be a mistake..

tbone55 said...

I think you all need to read about the turn arounds that were recently done at MIT and Univ of Chicago. D3 yes. But football is football And we are talking HC exper and track records.

Columbia_Fan said...

I'm hoping that Mr. LB get a visit this Christmas Eve from the Ghosts of Seasons Past and fixes the errors of Columbia's football programs. Or do we get the Bah Humbug again?

Old Lion said...

Why is Murphy still on campus? She should have walked the plank with Mangurian last month.