Thursday, August 10, 2023

BREAKING: D'Orazio named OC, new TE coach Hired

 






Columbia Football has announced that Joe D'Orazio will move up from his RB coach position to interim offensive coordinator. D'Orazio is a unique persona in the coaching ranks, who specializes and delights in finding and developing good young men as people as much as developing their athletic side. He's a perfect fit for a lifetime as an Ivy coach and if he can succeed at the coordinator level this year, the sky is the limit. 

Augie Hoffmann (note the two "n's") comes to us after three years at Rutgers, the last one as offensive line coach. Before Rutgers, he was the head coach at St. Joseph Regional HS in New Jersey, the same school where rising star sophomore LB Jack Smiechowski played. The just-graduated Fara'Ad McCombs '22 played under Hoffmann at St. Joe's. 

Hoffmann also played three years as an O-lineman for the New Orleans Saints from 2004-06. 

No offense to the assistants we have that tend to come from smaller schools in D-III or the NAIA, but it's cool to get a guy with Big 10 and NFL experience who still presumably has some connections to fertile HS recruiting ground.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had predicted it; great choice!

Anonymous said...

D'Orazio is the right hire - one of the smarter coaches when it comes to game planning & all offensive positions. He was a TE/RB position coach but had a much larger part in game strategy and what plays got called on gameday

Anonymous said...

Former center—knows all clocking schemes

Anonymous said...

Meant blocking schemes

Anonymous said...

Angie Hoffmann was not retained by Rutgers as OL coach when a new OC decided that he wanted his own OL coach. That’s no knock on him, and his North Jersey roots as a former HC at St Joe’s should pay some recruiting dividends.

Anonymous said...

Northern New Jersey is Columbia Lion Football Country!!!

Anonymous said...

Outstanding choices. As said Columbia is in great hands.

Anonymous said...

Our revamped coaching staff gets an A+++ rating in all respects. Just amazing how quickly the necessary actions were taken.

Anonymous said...

I suspect that Al as the stand up guy that he is had always made clear after his major surgery in February that it was a possibility that he would not be in a position to coach this Fall. I have no doubt that Al played it straight and wanted to return, just like I have no doubt that he would not do it if he felt he could not give 100%. So I assume that Peter, Mark and a few others knew from Al that he might have to step down, thus facilitating a contingency strategy.