Andrew Aurich
If you read Friday's Wall Street Journal piece on alumni anger over the hiring of Andrew Aurich as Harvard's new football head coach, you can't help but feel like instead of learning from Columbia's mistakes of the past, the Crimson are emulating them.
This is NOT to say Aurich won't be successful for Harvard. For all we know, this could be the beginning of a new dominant era in Cambridge. But the alumni complaints about his hiring and his previous experience are very reminiscent of a number of periods in Columbia Football history, and I don't think I need to lay that out in detail to prove my point. Anyone reading this blog over the years knows exactly what I'm talking about.
If I had to guess why this has happened at Columbia, Harvard and many other schools over the years I'd say it's really indicative of an American university system that rarely feels any pressures of accountability. This is especially true for Ivy schools, who until this year almost never saw scrutiny from any groups other than the far right in this country. This habit of not being forthcoming about the hiring process was inevitably going to spread to athletics, and it has.
If Harvard had a fan blog, I wonder how nasty the anonymous comments would be!
The good news is that this story proves you don't have to be the fan of a program going on 63 years without a championship to be angry about being treated like garbage by your alma mater. I think Ivy Football has a long future ahead of it when even Harvard's alums/fans can get this angry.
Based on what we learned in the WSJ article and what I've heard from others over the last few months, one winner in all of this is new Columbia Head Coach Jon Poppe. It seems like he got out of a vipers nest of assistants at Harvard determined to edge out their peers for the top job only to see all of them spurned. Poppe's "demotion" to head coach at a D-III school lasted just one year and now he's in a better position than everyone who stayed with the Crimson waiting Tim Murphy out.
Well played Jon, here's hoping you have the same keen strategic skills for the Lions on the field this fall.
22 comments:
Well-stated, Jake, but nothing will ever change at Harvard until Elaine Stefanik is elected Vice-President of the United States.
Read The Identity Trap, by Yascha Mounk, a Hopkins Professor, to see how most of the Ivies have rushed headlong into their current abysmal state.
Columbia Women's Basketball Team triumphed over their Harvard counterparts today in Cambridge. Exciting game, two outstanding coaches and two tremendous basketball teams. Somehow Ivy League sports seem to be surviving despite the horrors bestowed upon us by radical left-wing politicians
Jake, do you have any inkling what type of offense the new coaching staff is planning?
The kind of offense that scores touchdowns.
Anyone notice the pathetic tee shirts the harvard girls basketball 🏀 team was wearing in warm-ups against our team yesterday. Almost as revolting as 'Eight Against Hate' from last year. I suppose they couldn't recycle ♻️ those again 🤔.
I was surprised myself to read before Harvard made the hire that the AD wanted to bring someone outside for the role, which I thought was odd and would not go over well with the team, who were pushing for one of the assistant coaches.
Agree. Nobody wants to hear the politics here.
I take some personal pride that “asshat” is coming into general use here on this fine forum.
Carry on jagoffs!
Jake, I assume you are working to flush out the wise alec who has flooded this great football forum of yours with all kinds of uncalled for weird comments and obscenities during the last two months. My guess is that the person doing so has no connection whatsoever with Columbia Football and is just taking advantage of the anonymous nature of the blog. Perhaps a personal plea from you will get him to go away
Does anybody know how to blog here with something other than “anonymous”?
Are you referring to the person who frequently talks about campus politics?
Yes.
So not a Fabish offense, then?
Fire Engles.
Former corner back Bryan Bell Anderson was recently diagnosed with Leukemia. Would you mind sharing the gofundme link so that it is shared about the CUFB alumni community.
Video of his dad here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3jd7thNaHN/?igsh=Z3Y0eTBiOXVwYzlv
Fire Engles.
Who is likely to be our left tackle this season? For whoever plays QB, if he is a righty we will need somebody new to protect him.
Soph who played after BG got injured did fine. 4 returning starters back on Oline. (Sorry i forgot his name, you can find it in the game notes for last 3 games)
Lol...good one...oh wait, we're you serious?
What's with all the politics here.. ? Keep this a football/sports only space
I'm with you...keep this space about sports...and leave the politics at home
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