I've written a few times on this blog about how it's hard to figure out how Harvard doesn't win the Ivy football title every single season.
The Crimson have such a recruiting advantage simply because of the Harvard name, and Head Coach Tim Murphy long ago learned how to make the most of it. That's in sharp contrast to his predecessor, Joe Restic, who's crazy on-the-field strategies and offensive game plans scared a lot of talented players away.
If you didn't already know that Harvard has a stacked class every year, you do now because a whopping four graduating seniors on the Crimson have signed NFL contracts this week! That's an amazing achievement for many FBS teams, let alone a non-scholarship FCS program.
We get excited, rightfully so, when even one member of the Lions gets invited to an NFL camp. Usually that happens every other year or so. Right now, we're all very proud of Josh Martin '13 who remains on the roster for the KC Chiefs after making an impact late in the 2013 season.
But Harvard just sent four guys from ONE CLASS to the pros! Even if none of them remain on a roster, that's super impressive.
In other words, THAT'S a great recruiting class folks. Don't start the hype about anything until you think you're incoming class has three or four NFL-bound guys.
But if you think this is some kind, "Harvard is so good and we'll be that great," laments, you're wrong.
One thing I do like about Head Coach Pete Mangurian is that he never publicly gives in to the loser mentality. He at least publicly says Columbia can compete with anyone.
My belief is that if Harvard is recruiting four NFL-bound kids per class, there's no reason we can't do that too. We have a super product to sell and we should stop negotiating against ourselves by talking about anything other than Columbia's amazing exclusivity and proximity to the greatest jobs in the world inside the greatest city in the world.
But until we actually do grab those top recruits, then someone has to be held accountable for why we aren't. And the coaches aren't the only ones likely to share the blame.
The thing is, we can't make excuses and we also can't fix the problem by declaring we "have a great class" and hope for the best.
We want results. We want wins. We want what Harvard has and more.
This is New York, we can do it.
8 comments:
Fantastic story in today's WSJ about men's tennis.
Yes. Here's the link:
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303851804579558293617879938?KEYWORDS=tennis&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303851804579558293617879938.html%3FKEYWORDS%3Dtennis
I liked Joe Restic but yea, his offensive system was over the top. I saw Harvard play a few times in the Restic era and they always had a solid team (I think Joe Azelby was involved in EVERY defensive stop for the Crimson).
Azelby, BTW, lasted with the Buffalo Bills a season or two on special teams.
Jay Fiedler was a much better QB than Ryan Fitzpatrick yet, Fitzpatrick had the luxury of being drafted (and way overcompensated through his career). Fiedler had to battle his way through several NFL camps before becoming the guy in Miami.
Josh Martin went to the combine. That is a huge help to give scouts something else besides a college career to notice a player (even though Martin was standout, lots of lower division teams have those types of guys).
Harvard has tradition on their side and players who go there want to be a student first. Many have pedigree before even getting to campus. Many of them also have NFL type size (same is true for a few linemen here and there from all teams).
Players have to want to be noticed and then have the apparatus to help them get noticed. It's not like Columbia players have not been noticed before. Witkowski had his shot as did Jonathan Reese, Steve Cargile, Jeff Otis among several others.
Jake, with all due respect, please don't clutch at straws like thoughts of Boretti giving seminars to the other Columbia coaches. He wouldn't do it and they wouldn't listen. Does Boretti want a lecture about baseball, or even recruiting, from the swimming coach? Or from the football coach?
I think you're understandably skeptical about the AD and CU Admin rising to the challenge of correcting the football morass. But they must be persuaded to do just that. Gimmicks won't work.
Then let's just give him more money. He deserves it.
If nothing else the success of men's basketball and baseball (and whatever other small programs people feel obligated to pay attention to) puts football in the crosshairs to deliver.
I agree about paying Boretti more, Jake. He deserves it.
And if he continues to win titles, it'll raise pressure to improve football. I've said that the success of other sports makes football look even worse than it already is, by comparison. Al makes the same point above. It applies to women's basketball too, which is woeful while men's basketball is improving.
I am tired of reading about Harvard. Those guys can't lose enough.
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