And I will be doing that in the days to come.
But for now, I think Columbia fans need to do these five things:
1) Remember where this program was just before Bagnoli delighted us with his surprise decision to come out of retirement and take over CU Football.
2) Remember than when he did arrive, most of us thought he would do a 5-year stint here, tops,
3) Remember than in most of our lifetimes (I was born in 1970) Columbia enjoyed just THREE winning seasons before Bagnoli arrived. Since he arrived, we've seen FOUR.
4) The program has more than just more winning seasons. It now has an indoor bubble practice facility, better amenities, and better salaries for coordinators.
5) Give interim Coach Mark Fabish ALL OUR SUPPORT as he undertakes this sudden emergency duty.
22 comments:
First thoughts are with Coach Bagnoli who brought excellence and competitiveness to our program. Regardless of what the future brings he will always have a place in our hearts for the work he put in here. Now it’s interim coach Fabish’s job to carry the baton forward.
I have followed Ivy football since the late 1950's and Bagnoli is as good a coach as anyone in that time. I thought he was nuts taking the Columbia job, but he proved what a great coach he was. I was hoping he would have one more winning season this year, before retiring. Stay well coach and God Speed.
For the moment, forget that Coach Bagnoli went 35-35 in his seven years. Yes, he beat Wagner, Marist and the like. Instead, focus on his record in the Ivy League over those seven years. He won 20 games. It took from 1974 until 1994 for Columbia to win 20 games in the league. That is Bill Campbell, Bob Naso, Jim Garrett, Larry McElreavy and into Ray Tellier’s second year. In the period from 2003 until Coach Bagnoli arrived in 2015, Bob Shoop, Norries Wilson and Pete Mangurian, collectively, won 19 Ivy League games.
In his 14 year tenure, twice as long as Coach Bagnoli’s, Ray Tellier won 27 Ivy League contests.
Ladies and gentlemen, I rest my case!
At the same time, I do not have the same faith in Coach Fabish. Nevertheless, in fairness to those who play, I think we all should vow to hold any criticisms of him until after the season.
Go Lions! Best to Coach Bagnoli.
I think Coach Fabish will be a winner. He is an Ivy guy through and through, knows Ivy football as a player and coach, is smart and hard working. A great local boy makes good story in the making.
Fabish is the real deal and needs everyone’s support. Surprised to already see posters in this board questioning his coaching chops. Just ridiculous
Too bad about Al and wish him the best. Of course i wish he had coached at least one more year and retired during the normal cycle. While there was no ivy title, Al did something no other Fb coach did in the last fifty plus years he won consistently including four winning seasons in the last five years! All in all it was a great run and we owe Al our gratitude. Mark is the first Fb coach in more than 60 years to take over when we our not rock bottom and we owe Mark all our support now! He has been around a long time and i am sure he is ready.
Mark is a Bergen County guy who played at Bergen Catholic, one of the best HS programs in the country. Our incoming class has two potential impact guys from BC, a WR who was the captain last season and a stud inside LB. If anybody knows powerhouse NJ HS football talent it is Mark. As far as creativity, I wonder if he can put in a package with both of our QBs in the backfield at the same time, which Princeton managed to do recently.
Columbia picks up a high school coach. Lots of luck with that.
Perhaps the Columbia administration asked Al to play some transvestite players to "woke" the football establishment?
Jake,
Re: EVZ
I thought that you asked posters to be respectful...
Coach Fabish is going to be an outstanding Head Coach and so amazing things for this program.
Tool
Coach Fabish is going to lead us to the Ivy Championship
My son is an incoming 1st year. We met Coach Bagnoli several times over the course of my son’s recruitment. We were immensely impressed by his coaching accomplishments but even more so with Coach as a genuine and thoughtful person. We believe that the culture Coach has ingrained in this program is evident throughout the coaches and staff. We wish Coach and his family the best and continued good health. We are thankful for his continued involvement in Columbia’s athletics.
My son’s recruitment began back with Coach Larsen prior to his junior year in high school. It continued with Coach Fabish prior to his senior year and then Coach Mornhinweg after he joined the staff. What distinguished Columbia in my son’s and my mind from other Ivies, eg: Harvard, Yale, Penn and Princeton was the quality, openness and sincerity of the coaching and support staff. They clearly set the bar higher than the others.
We are excited about this coming journey and confident that the program is in great hands!
Sorry for the long post.
I am always respectful but I clearly recall the countless posts here that called for Fabish’s
scalp for what appeared to be uninspired and
in effective play-calling.
Things did improve finally, perhaps because
Bagnoli stepped in or the recruiting improved,
but let’s not pretend that all was hunky Doty
with Fabish as OC in the first part of his tenure because it was not.
I hope he was part of the turnaround and can
maintain and improve the new momentum.
Exuse typo at end, should read
“hunky-dory”.
What AB accomplished at Columbia was a
football miracle. He's obviously the
best coach Columbia ever had but,
considering the previous coaches,
that's not putting it strongly
enough at all. AB was GREAT by
any standard. Will see his
like again?
Great note from parent of incoming player. Al would not have left the program with Mark if he had any doubts about Mark’s readiness for the job.
So who is going to be the OC? SM, our QB coach, certainly knows offenses, but he is awfully young. What about our TE coach, who was an all Ivy center at Penn?
My guess is that the Lions will go outside the program for the new OC. I assume that Mark knows who he wants already and it is probably someone he knows quite well.The new OC will have plenty of talent to work with this year
As a Dad, you need to ask a lot of questions right now. Things have changed.
Downfield, Throw the ball, Downfield! Junk the 5 yard special! Earth to Fabish...Come in Fabish
Bagnoli came in and brought the program to a decent level. No longer were we the laughing stock of the Ivies. 4 winning seasons in the last 5. But dig deeper and you see how... He built in 3 out of conference wins each year.. (Thank you Wagner, Marist, Central Connecticut,etc). What about the Ivies? Not so well 20-29 over 7 years. ONLY 2 winning Ivy seasons. We thank him for his hard work but reserve judgment on his successor who was left with a full cabinet.
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