Now What?

I hope no one construed my last post as some kind of evidence that I'm giving up on the quest to truly fix Columbia football and athletics and replace Head Coach Pete Mangurian and Athletic Director Dianne Murphy.

The point of the post is that while fans and alumni like us SHOULD matter all on our own, we won't get anything done without getting some of the powers that be at Columbia to see the truth and act.

To that end, several higher level meetings are being held this week and at least some of them, our documented and serious issues with Mangurian and Murphy will be addressed.

Dead Giveway

Whenever a person is being criticized and his or her first reaction is to try to counterattack his or her accusers personally... well, that's a dead giveaway.

In today's Columbia Spectator, Coach Mangurian decries people trying to "tear down the program", especially those who come from "inside the family."

Oh, and then we were treated to the following quote which lacks any specifics but is big on condescension:

"There’s a plan in place that’s based on empirical data, and a lot of knowledge and observation, and a great team of people that’s a lot larger than anybody realizes working to make this program and these kids successful.” 

Huh?

Where's the empirical data supporting the playing super-light linemen? Where's the empirical data on deliberately playing inexperienced freshmen when upperclassmen are available? Where's the empirical data that explains why in the 123 seasons of Columbia football, this team was by far the worst?

Nobody is trying to "tear down the program." What decent, non-sycophantic, sane people are trying to do is basically take the car keys away from the drunk. I don't know if any of you have ever actually tried to do that, but it's not like in the movies where the drunk gives up after a few jokes and the hero gets the girl, etc. Usually, you only succeed at getting the keys after the drunk has take a few slugs at you and called you every name in the book. And plenty of times, the drunk still gets away from you and drives away.

So now, we have the equivalent of Mangurian being the defiant drunk refusing to give up the keys and acknowledge what the rest of us can see so plainly.

But the obsession with WHO is criticizing him as opposed to the facts and details of the complaints is a trait all corrupt people with power share. Watch closely and the coming days go by and we still don't come close to getting any explanation for why this season went down the way it did, etc.

Letter/Petition Update

We now have over 65 former player signatories of the letter/petition calling for Murphy and Mangurian to be replaced.

A big name added today was Chandler Bockledge '00, who is one of Wall Street's most elite stock traders. Good traders know when to cut losses and this is one team we should be short selling, not holding into the new year.

But we need more players and former players to help us get the keys away from this losing, defensive, defiant, and harmful team.

It's true we don't matter right now, but that may change in the coming days.

IVY (CO) - CHAMPIONS/POWER RANKINGS

This past Saturday was filled with surprises in Ivy football,. Sadly, Columbia's blowout loss to Brown was the only thing that didn't surprise, (the full review of that game is due out later today).

Dartmouth pulled off the most significant win, beating out mighty Princeton in Hanover with a 28-24 victory over the Tigers.

There were a lot of reasons to be impressed with this win, but the fact that the Big Green did it by grinding it out on the ground, (51 carries versus 18 passes total), was a big part of it. The defense holding Princeton to 24 points was even more impressive, but that was only after it allowed the Tigers to erase a 21-0 deficit and tie the game.

That game and the Harvard rout of Yale, means we have a co-championship in Ivy football for the first time since 2008. By my standards, Princeton is still the only REAL champ since the Tigers not only beat Harvard but beat them in Cambridge. But officially, that's the way it goes.

The other big surprise was Cornell's 42-41 thriller win over Penn at Franklin Field. I did expect the Big Red to beat the spread, but not eke out a win. Congratulations to QB Jeff Mathews and company on closing out their season so well.

So here are the official final standings in the Ivies:

1t. Princeton 6-1
1t. Harvard 6-1
3. Dartmouth 5-2
4t. Brown 3-4
4t. Penn 3-4
4t. Yale 3-4
7. Cornell 2-5
8. Columbia 0-7

And here are my final Ivy Power Rankings, (with quick takes),  for 2013:


1. Princeton

Epperly and the offense just took it to another level this year. It's actually hard to say how good or bad the defense was because the offense was just so dominant... except for a few quarters in Hanover. Epperly comes back next year, and it's hard to believe much else will matter.

2. Harvard

The Crimson finished very strong and with RB Paul Stanton coming back for two more years, things are looking up for Harvard.

3. Dartmouth

My third place prediction for Dartmouth at the beginning of the season may be the only one I got right, but the Big Green really deserved it. I've always said that a QB who can execute the read option well is the #1 ingredient to winning in Ivy football. The two teams with two of the best read option QB's in recent Ivy history had a combined league record of 11-3 this season.

4. Brown

It's hard to pinpoint exactly what went wrong for the Bears this season. But maybe if RB John Spooney had been able to heat up sooner, this team could have gone 5-2 instead of 3-4.

5. Penn

Billy Ragone and the Quakers' luck finally ran out. The Penn offense and defense were really much weaker than expected. Perhaps 2012 really was a fluke. One thing though, this team still never lost its fight.

6. Yale

A real Jekyl and Hyde team this season. It's impressive the Elis were able to win as much as they did without a fully healthy Tyler Varga. But the blowout loss to Harvard to finish things out has to have a lot

7. Cornell

The Big Red was actually the only Ivy team that played exactly up, (or down), to expectations. Good luck to Jeff Mathews in his quest to make the NFL! Good luck to Cornell trying to field a decent team without him.

8. Columbia

This was the worst season logged by any team in the Ivies since the league was formed in 1956. The fact that anyone employed by the Columbia who had anything serious to do with this debacle is still employed is beyond disbelief.