Earlier this month I wrote that one of Al Bagnoli’s great attributes is that he always seems to adjust his
team strategy to match the talent levels of his current roster. Sometimes that
meant using a running QB set, sometimes that meant using a pro-style passing
attack. Defensive units under Bagnoli were more consistent in their looks
during the Bagnoli era, but we saw some radically different formations from the
Quaker “D” from time to time.
But you don’t have to be a long-time Penn fan to know that
the two priorities Bagnoli has always stressed for his teams have been a tough
defense and a strong offensive line. As long as Penn had those two things,
Bagnoli and his players always knew they had a good chance to win games, which
they usually did.
Now making that a priority doesn’t make Bagnoli a genius,
but the fact that he achieved it just about every one of his 23 years at Penn
does.
So as we now are just five days away from the start of
spring practice and the real beginning of the Bagnoli coaching era at Columbia,
the real question is can he meet those priorities here?
Long term, I think the answer will be “yes.” But can he do
it now?
As far as a tough defense is concerned, I think the chances
are better. Led by seniors Niko Padilla
and Toba Akinleye, I think the
D-line is the strongest unit on the team. There’s talent in the linebacking
crew as well and hard work should make the secondary good enough to not stand
out as a weak link. I’ll be really surprised if the Columbia defense isn’t
stronger than the Columbia offense in 2015.
Bolstering the offensive line and molding into a real strength
is going to be a lot harder. For one thing, creating a solid offensive line is
probably one of the hardest things to do in all sports. You need all five
players on the line to be good enough individually and in synch to do even a
passable job. Meanwhile, one really good WR or RB can make up for a lot of
weaker links at the position. You get the picture.
Making matters even tougher for Bagnoli, Offensive
Coordinator Mike Faragalli and
Offensive Line Coach Jon McLauglin
is the fact that the way the offensive line was managed under the Pete Mangurian regime was a case of
gross malpractice. Player weights were messed with in a way no other coaching
staff in the nation would ever do. The new coaching staff has a lot of damage
to fix and it’s probably just as much mental as it is physical. But there’s
reason to be optimistic here too. If we believe the previous coaches did such a
bad job with this unit, new management might be more than half the battle.
I don’t know how much evidence of real improvement for the
defense and the O-line we’ll be able to see at the two public scrimmages on
April 19th and the 26th at 4pm. But I do think we’ll see
some real joy and excitement on the field and in the stands.
9 comments:
Merely that the public is actually welcome to attend those scrimmages is a breath of fresh air. He's starting his tenure off beautifully, and it's the stuff of, well, a cover story in AARP Magazine.
Who is the rising junior OL whose older brother was a first team OL at Penn a few years ago? He was relegated to the bench under Pete (too heavy?), but maybe this group of coaches will find something there.
Anthony Bonadies
Just received a nice email from Bagnoli himself inviting me to open practices with several options. He also lays out his plan for using the practices to evaluate talent and formulate a personnel strategy going forward. This could not be more different than what the previous idiot was doing. Go Lions!
Was a summary of the Taylor report sent to the football alums by Peter Pilling?
Did I miss it in one of the Columbia newspapers?
Where's the transparency?
The Taylor report is likely to remain confidential, and for good reason. I would suspect that it is very critical of Coach Mangurian. My guess is that his departure from Columbia was heavily lawyered and that each party to the agreement committed not to publicly disparage the other. I would suggest that we move on and stop asking for its release.
Old Lion- Taylor stated the report would not be about Mangurian, but the real issues with Columbia football. No one is disparaging anybody.
Dartmouth had the guts to publish a summary of their Taylor study.
The window of time from when the alleged letter from the players was in the hands of Bollinger to when Pete resigned was really short, just a few days. If there was a lawyer-up then it was a rapid negotiation.
Whatever happened, I applaud Bollinger, despite his peculiar hair style, for recognizing the gravity of the situation and getting things done with Pete. As for Taylor's report, I think it was HOF who mentioned here, it does not take a lot of imagination to know what was in the report - everything is broken. It needs to be fixed. I'm fine with that "as is."
Peter Pilling called the Taylor report a "living document".
It seems that the document f has gone the way of the Clinton server.
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