Welcome to 2010!

Coach Poppe's Twitter profile pic

One of the major adjustments we're going to have to make in the Jon Poppe era is that now we have a coach who is personally active on social media, in particular Twitter/X. 

This is hardly a new medium for college coaches, even in the Ivies. But Columbia has never had a football head coach who maintained his own active account.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm NOT complaining that Al Bagnoli didn't have his own accounts. At his age, it would been kind of transparently pathetic had he chosen to do so. AND I am aware that Mark Fabish was active on his account, both as an assistant for years and last season as interim head coach.  

But Poppe is a next-level social media guy, as he even reposts statements by recruits and makes it clear that he's watching. 

One of those Poppe reposts is an extremely promising looking QB recruit from Northern Calitornia. This tells me Poppe has his priorities straight. 

Okay, I know this is all old news for almost anyone else, but I applaud this bold leap into the last decade! 

Penn Exposed?

Speaking of things everyone's known for a long time, we know that offering coveted slots at Penn's undergrad Wharton program has long been one of the most effective recruiting tools in all the Ivies. 

But according to one disgruntled Penn donor, the Quaker athletics department has been doing more than offering slots. Saul Rosenthal is suing Penn for allegedly using some of his donations to improperly fund scholarships for athletes. 

As if Penn and all the other Ivy schools weren't under a lot of justified donor scrutiny as it is, this is the first instance of the recent Ivy controversies potentially touching athletics. 

Au Revoir Augie

We still haven't seen the official announcement that Seitu Smith will be the new offensive coordinator. But we have learned that Augie Hoffmann is leaving the pride to return as head coach of St. Joseph Regional HS in New Jersey. 

So, in addition to the official announcement on Smith's appointment still on the table we also await the names of our new defensive line and tight ends coaches... among other things. \

Post-It to the People

 

This pic snapped this weekend, would indicate that my sources have been correct with their reports to me that former Harvard star WR Seitu Smith has been hired to be Columbia's new Offensive Coordinator and QB coach. 

Since graduating in 2016, Smith has coached at Dartmouth, Brown, Yale, and with the Cleveland Browns. Smith's most recent work has been with the Elis, where he's worked as the assistant head coach and running backs coach. 

He is considered a serious up-and-comer in the coaching world, and rounds out what is definitely the youngest coaching staff in Ivy football history. 

Tall Receiver

A commitment I missed from two days ago is Xavier Phipps, a 6-5, 190-pound WR from Dekaney HS in Houston. 

Phipps had offers from Fresno State, East Carolina, Penn. and UT Rio Grande Valley (are we stealing their offerees or are they shadowing us?).

He will be the first Dekaney grad to come to Columbia Football. 

So the list of known commits grows to 11:

1) Rodrigo Diaz-Martorella DE/TE 6"4 255 lbs. Miami Palmetto HS Miami, FL 

2) Liam Donagher DB 6"2 200 lbs. Grafton Memorial HS/Choate (PG Year) Grafton, MA

3) Jeremiah Douglas DB 6"2 185 lbs. IMG Academy/St. Paul's HS Brooklandville, MD 

4) Miron Magee DB 5"10 160 lbs. Lake Highlands HS Dallas, TX

5) Carter McCray DB 6"0 185 lbs Cornerstone Christian HS San Antonio, TX

6) Emanuel Nazy OL 6"4 280 lbs. Hackensack HS/Don Bosco Prep Hackensack, NJ

7) Casey O'Sullivan TE/DE 6"3 245 lbs. Seton Hall Prep West Orange, NJ

8)Sam Pearman K 6"0 180 lbs. Los Gatos HS Los Gatos, CA

9) Xavier Phipps WR 6"5 190 lbs. Dekaney HS Houston, TX

10) Benny Sasso OL 6"3 270 lbs. Wall Township HS, Wall, NJ

11) Caleb Solomon DB 6"1 180 lbs. Miramar HS Miramar, FL 

Taking Shape

Before we get updated on the coaching staff hires, let's look at some recruiting news. 

The good news is 6-0, 185-pound CB Carter McCray from Cornerstone Christian HS in San Antonio has committed to Columbia. 

McCray had offers from Army, Dartmouth, Penn, Brown, Fordham, Colgate, Texas State, North Texas, and UT Rio Grande Valley. This appears to be a pretty big "get."

McCray will be the first Cornerstone grad to come to Columbia Football, according to my LionFeeders Historic Recruiting Database.

The bad news is that RB Brodey Berg has decommitted, saying in a Twitter/X post that he is opening up his recruitment again because of the coaching change at CU. 

So the list of known commits remains at 10:

1) Rodrigo Diaz-Martorella DE/TE 6"4 255 lbs. Miami Palmetto HS Miami, FL 

2) Liam Donagher DB 6"2 200 lbs. Grafton Memorial HS/Choate (PG Year) Grafton, MA

3) Jeremiah Douglas DB 6"2 185 lbs. IMG Academy/St. Paul's HS Brooklandville, MD 

4) Miron Magee DB 5"10 160 lbs. Lake Highlands HS Dallas, TX

5) Carter McCray DB 6"0 185 lbs Cornerstone Christian HS San Antonio, TX

6) Emanuel Nazy OL 6"4 280 lbs. Hackensack HS/Don Bosco Prep Hackensack, NJ

7) Casey O'Sullivan TE/DE 6"3 245 lbs. Seton Hall Prep West Orange, NJ

8)Sam Pearman K 6"0 180 lbs. Los Gatos HS Los Gatos, CA

9) Benny Sasso OL 6"3 270 lbs. Wall Township HS, Wall, NJ

10) Caleb Solomon DB 6"1 180 lbs. Miramar HS Miramar, FL

YOUNG GUNS

I can report that Head Coach Jon Poppe is very close to announcing his choice for offensive coordinator, which is clearly the most highly anticipated hire for this staff considering the Lions overall offensive performance in 2023. 

So far, we've had the announcements of a number of young coaches to fill Poppe's staff. They include, (as I reported) Justin Woodley '21 as the Linebackers Coach, A.J. Gallagher as Wide Receivers Coach, and the previously-reported news of Greg Skjold returning, this time as the Offensive Line Coach. 

The CU Football Twitter/X feed also announced the hiring of Kenneth Tinsely, the running backs coach from Georgetown, (which enjoyed a very good season on the ground this fall), to assume the same role here at CU. Tinsley has also served as the running backs coach at U. Maine. Tinsley will be one of the "older" coaches as he is over 30 years old! 

Speaking of older, and definitely wiser, the CU Athletics website still lists Augie Hoffmann as the Tight Ends Coach, which would be a big positive to balance out the overall youth in the staff. Hoffmann also impressed just about everyone in his first year at Columbia this fall and his New Jersey recruiting ties run deep. Here's hoping he really is staying on.

Of course, the defensive staff is still headed by DC Justin Stovall and CU coaching veteran Andre Kukesh, who is staying on as DB's coach. That still leaves the defensive line coach slot open in addition to the as-yet un-named OC. 

But this will definitely be the youngest coaching staff in Ivy football history, by far. If anything, it will be an interesting experiment for everyone to watch as the league has seen most of its older coaches move on. 

 

A Kafkaesque Lesson for Jon Poppe

Everyone who knows new Columbia Head Coach Jon Poppe also knows he's a very energetic man on a mission. I'm excited to see what his energy and experience will produce for the Lions in the years to come. 

But one of the things Poppe is going to face, like every CU head coach before him, is a chorus of naysayers and scolds who stand in the way of any new approaches and even calculated risk-taking.

I know this is a football blog, but it's also an IVY LEAGUE football blog so I ask you to indulge me as I use a hardcore literary reference to make my point. 

One of the most important works for any goal-oriented person to read is the short story "Before the Law" from Franz Kafka's book, The Trial. 

I'm sorry if I spoil the story now by saying that it is an elegant narrative explaining how we often handcuff ourselves by listening to the naysayers and scolds in life who are either ignorantly or intentionally providing us with incorrect advice. These are the voices who play a huge role in impeding bold changes, even for the people or organizations who most need that change.

As I've been saying here all year, Columbia Football is not in need of a significant rebuild thanks to what Al Bagnoli, Peter Pilling, and many others have achieved over the last eight years. But there is still bold innovation needed, especially when it comes to Columbia's current recruiting needs in the context of all the new rules in place for college football. 

To be more specific: COLUMBIA NEEDS TO BRING IN A QB!!! And Poppe is going to need to ignore any weak-minded or weak-willed naysayers who may discourage him from taking some bold steps in the face of that need. 

For example, you know there are going to be people who tell Poppe NOT to aggressively explore the transfer portal, NOT to scour the country for guys with preferred walk-on offers from bigger programs, etc. 

One prime example of the former is a recent Cardinal Hayes grad who got offers from Princeton and other Ivies, chose an ACC program instead, but is now in the transfer portal. I can just hear the usual naysayers telling Poppe not to bother with someone who already rejected the Ivies in the past. That's baloney of course. 

All head football coaching jobs are hard, but it isn't the workload that waters down the passion of obviously passionate coaches like Jon Poppe. Like a challenging workout, he'll likely be even more energized by that work. 

I also don't think he'll be overly discouraged by honest criticism of what happens on the field, whether it comes from the fans or anyone else. 

But our job as fans is to make sure those discouraging, scolding, and narrow-minded voices stay as far away from Poppe as we can keep them.