Disproving the Mangurian Lie Part 4: The Linebackers

Waller #21 makes the tackle

It’s time to return to the egregious lie Head Coach Pete Mangurian is still peddling about how he took over a team with the “cupboard bare” when it came to talent in December of 2011.

Mangurian even made this case to Bob Kraft in a personal phone call not too long ago.

Actually, he just takes almost every opportunity to tell everyone that this year's senior class especially was terrible and that's why this season was so bad.

Step back for a second and realize what an incredibly awful human being this is. Just to avoid the accountability he supposedly welcomes, (see the masthead above). Mangurian actually TRASHES our most committed student athletes to anyone who would listen.

Listen up current frosh and sophomores, this is what you have to look forward to. 

Well, I hope Kraft reminded Mangurian that players like Sean Brackett, Josh Martin and Marcorus Garrett, each of them the best in a decade at their positions at CU, were on the roster when he took over.

We wanted Norries Wilson ousted because he failed to get enough wins out of this talented group. As a punishment from Dianne Murphy and the athletics-hating bosses she works for, we were given someone who dared to deny there was even any talent to work with.

But the list of very talented and effective Lions Mangurian was lucky enough to inherit was long.

Today, I want to focus on the three starting linebackers Mangurian found in the cupboard for 2012, the best of whom was even around for another season after that.

The combination of Zach Olinger, Ryan Murphy and Mike Waller was as good as it’s been for Columbia at linebacker at least since the days of Rory Wilfork and company in 1996. Olinger was an excellent field general at MLB and often drew double teams. Murphy was a speedy pass rusher from the outside who often turned games around on his own, as he did in the 2011 finale against Brown. And Waller was the consummate gamer, often saving his best efforts for crunch time. His forced fumble absolutely saved the game against Yale in 2012 and he made a number of key plays in the opening win against Marist earlier that year.

In addition to those starters, there were some very good backups led by Brian East, who stepped it up even more this season in a starter’s role.

Longtime Columbia fans know how special these players were. They were All Ivy guys who were also leaders in the locker room. Ignoring them or trashing them is the exact opposite of the accountable behavior Coach Mangurian claims to embody.