Monday, February 9, 2015

A VERY Good Sign

Maybe someone is listening to us at long last...

The long-awaited February 18th event where President Lee Bollinger and football consultant Rick Taylor discuss the state of the program will be available to ALL via conference call!

You can read about the details and get the access code here.

This is exactly the kind of improved openness Columbia needs to re-engage the alumni and build support behind the new Athletic Director Peter Pilling and the eventual new head football coach.


18 comments:

oldlion said...

this is the best news I've heard about football in years. Will questions be entertained?

Anonymous said...

Pretty cool though it would be easy to just set up a laptop in front of them and broadcast via Google hangouts so they have video as well. Hmmmm, do I really want to wake up at 6:30AM PST for this or just read about the aftermath?

Coach said...

Jake: good work! We are going to find out if our new AD is a good recruiter if he can sign a top coach!

Jake said...

Old Lion:

I'd be surprised if questions from the live audience aren't allowed, but who knows?

Callers questions are anyone's guess too.

Coach said...

At this meeting , we are going to hear that the culture of the University, as it relates to football, must change.
I would certainly like to hear specific recommendations, and especially want to hear the admissions and financial aid ideas.
Can also throw in facilities.

Big Dawg said...

When the upcoming meeting was announced, CAEC responded with a suggestion to the AD office that CU provide a web cast or some other method of access to remote parties. Whether this was the result or was previously planned anyway, it is a refreshing and encouraging development.

Additionally, a Q&A occurred at the last Taylor meeting, so I would expect the same this time. FYI, most attendees then were CFPC members, and their questions were as pointed as any of the contributors' here would have been. We are all on the same page.

Finally, we met Peter Pilling last week, and have since had email dialogue. He appears very open and approachable.

WOF said...

Great stuff, BigDawg.

I thought you only dealt with negative stuff, Jake?

Anonymous said...

Awesome idea for an all senior citizen coaching staff.

As the young man of the bunch Mack Brown (age 63) would be the head coach.

Ralph Friedgen (67) OC
Jim Fassel (65) (OL coach)
Monte Kiffin (74) (DC)
Paul Hackett (67) QB coach

DOC said...

OK -so if everyone got one question
what would yours be?

Fishy Writing said...

Looks like Western Michigan has provided a road map for Columbia.

http://www.si.com/college-football/2015/02/05/pj-fleck-western-michigan-recruiting

Granted, there are slightly different pressures/concerns than at the Ivies, and $800k is a hefty package in Kalamazoo, but hell, after reading this I wanted to run through a brick wall for him.

DOC said...

Mine would be : "Is this conference call an example of the future intention of your department of making alumni and friends of CU Athletics feel involved and informed
about progress made towards the pursuit of competitive excellence"?

Coach said...

The focus on the meeting should be on the university and what will be done by the University. Doesn't matter who is the coach, as we have seen in the last 55 years, until the school lets more players in. That should be the focus- strategy for getting better football players. That was also the conversation among many coaches at the American Football Coaches Association.

Columbia_Fan said...

I fear we are being thrown a bone. Time will tell. How fast can we dump the out of conference power houses ? we play now?
Starting the year with 3 wins would be nice.

oldlion said...

To me, the better example is Brett Boretti and the transformation in baseball to the premier program in the Ivies. A charismatic, smart coach who can recruit is a good part of the battle. The university administration needs to put up the money, act as a cheerleader, instill a positive atmosphere on campus, reach out to the players and their families, and take proactive steps to make the players feel as if they are a part of the Columbia family.

Coach said...

Absolutely! We have been scheduling our out of conference games against scholarship schools.

Coach said...

I thought at Columbia always had a respectable baseball program-weren't they competitive under Paul Fernandez? Don't see how one can make the comparison to Columbia Football, or think that a change of a Head Coach is going to make any difference without a total transformation of attitude by the administration.

oldlion said...

Our baseball program was mediocre; we hadn't won the league in decades as I recall. And our facilities were awful. Boretti raised money for what is now the best field in the league, recruited to the point where he reloads every year instead of having to rebuild, and has made Columbia baseball a destination for gifted high school players who know that they have a chance at the post season and OOC games against scholarship schools every year. Pilling must prioritize the retention of Boretti and Kyle Smith as soon as he hires a new football coach.

Anonymous said...

I forgot to add Dick Tomey (age 76) as special teams coach.