I wasn’t able to get free enough to ask any questions on the
Ivy Football Media Day conference call today until the very end of the event,
(I asked Princeton’s Bob Surace about RB DiAndre Atwater and Yale’s Tony Reno
about WR Chris Smith. Both coaches said their guys should be ready to play).
But we didn’t get much more than the usual “coaches’ speak”
and platitudes that you usually get on media day anyway.
For Columbia fans, the more telling event today was the Ivy
Media Poll.
We can say it doesn’t mean anything on game day and that’s
100% true, but what it does mean right now is that the Lions have zero respect
in this league right now.
We didn’t just come in last in the poll, we came in dead
last.. the next highest finisher received double the number of votes.
That means that of the 17 people polled, only five at the
most didn’t pick us for last.
That also means that last year’s wins over Yale and Cornell,
the play of Marcorus Garrett and Zach
Olinger, the arrival of Stanford QB Brett Nottingham, the recruitment of QB Kelly Hilinski,
didn’t really impress anyone as much as
the 69-0 loss to Harvard.
And you know what?
How can you blame anyone for feeling that way?
A lot of us, including our last few coaches, have made the
point that only the way the team performs on the field matters.
But we SAY that, and then we find ways to get excited about
3-7 seasons.
We see an offensive line that’s dozens of pounds lighter
than every other line in the league, and we say things like, “coach knows what
he’s doing.” And then have a season where the team gives up 40+ sacks in 10
games.
Let’s put our money and coaches’ money, and our athletic director’s money where our mouths are.
Let’s not get angry at others for our position in this poll,
but angry at how the team’s play on the field warranted this lack of respect.
Let’s NEVER FORGET that 69-0 loss, which was so unacceptable
that Head Coach Pete Mangurian should
have been forced to defend his job a Hell of a lot more than he did after that
debacle.
Let’s stop praising an athletic director who in her long
tenure has NEVER overseen a football or men’s basketball season with a better
than .500 Ivy record.
Let’s stop making excuses for the close losses.
Let’s demand success and nothing less.
9 comments:
Jake,
I disagree with putting the season down because of the beating we took at "H". We won three games and I think that we won the next week.
Don't be such a Debbie downer!
Give the new coach a break.
We had a fat overstuffed offensive line the year before with an All Ivy tackle who got drafted by the NFL and we won only ONE f---ing game.
This is exactly what I'm talking about: giving failure a break.
I'm not saying we fire Mangurian, but heaping praise on him is crazy.
Giving him a break is also not acceptable.
Let's see what happens this year, but as of now we all have to admit we have no evidence we're turning it around.
Until we do, no one gets a break.
We have to stop giving breaks.
This is why we fail.
Here we go again... Jake ,you are something! You never have any positive comment about anyone or anything!. don't you think they all want to win every year? They are working so hard to turn this program around. I can't wait until we show those poll people how good we really are!!
I think the coach demands excellence ! Have you ever been around him?
I'm talking about what we fans and alumni are demanding. Can anyone with a straight face that most of us demand excellence? Come on...
"Demanding excellence" and demanding wins are two very different things.
I agree with Jake. Mangurian is all hat and no cattle.
1980's Alum
well the cattle are all us so ???
Have you ever met a coach whop didn't want to win?
Have you ever met a coach that didn't want to win?
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