The Girls are Alright
Of course the biggest sports news on Columbia's campus this year has been the spectacular women's basketball team and its berth into the NCAA Tournament.
Tonight is the big play-in game against Vanderbilt, and I'm betting most of the readers here will be glued to the game.
The women's team success is not totally unrelated to football, as I believe Athletic Director Peter Pilling hired new football head coach John Poppe in hopes that he would follow in the model set out by women's hoops head coach Megan Griffith. I believe the two of them are even personal friends.
Subway Save
Getting back to football, late last month during the teams' weight room preps for spring practice, rising junior WR Edan Stagg was involved in the rescue of local man who was trapped between the subway car and the gap in the platform at the 215th Street Subway station. The conductors were oblivious to the situation, but Stagg alerted them as he worked to extricate the man and keep the train car doors from closing.
Stagg has NOT been seeking any publicity for this heroic act, so I kept it a little quiet for these last few weeks. But I think it's okay to give him credit for it now.
Big Spring Practice Question
I'll do a longer form preview of spring practice in the coming days. But I think the big question is who will take the most snaps at QB. As part of that question I am also unsure if Northwestern transfer QB Cole Freeman is already taking classes and if so, does that mean he can participate in spring practice?
Brave Man of the North
Back to the shout outs: Finally, I want to acknowledge the news out of Hanover that the great Bruce Wood of Big Green Alert announced that he will be ending his extensive paid-site coverage of Dartmouth Football for a number of logistical and personal reasons. He will, however, still be frequently updating his free blog.
Bruce has quite clearly been the best journalist covering Ivy League Football for five decades. I have also been really grateful for his encouragement and friendship.
67 comments:
A huge salute to Edan Stagg for his heroism in saving the man's life. Columbia and/or the City of New York should honor him to his his heroism that apparently saved a man' life.
I will be watching the Columbia Women's Basketball Game this evening and rooting for the Lions to defeat Vanderbilt. Has any Columbia Basketball Team, men or women, ever won an NCAA Tournament Game? My prediction is Columbia will win by five points>
This is the 1st NCAA tournament for the women. The men have appeared 3 times, the most recent in 1968. They are 2-4 overall.
The idiotic Far Left Radical Riots of the late 1960's destroyed possibly forever Columbia's great plan to construct in Morningside Park a world class sports facility for Columbia and the Harlem Community. We can only imagine how many thousands of people in the Harlem Community and elsewhere in New York City would have benefitted over the last 50+ years if the Far Left had not prevented Columbia from building the gymnasium on that piece of rock that still stands there at the edge of the park. We can only imagine how many Ivy League Sports Championships Columbia would have won if that gymnasium had been constructed.
Zip it, you old fool. You're posting old news just so you can see your words somewhere. Get a journal.
I understand the Lions played a great game vs Vanderbilt, but the Commodores bottled up Hsu, just as Princeton did. Best of luck and sincere gratitude to Aby Hsu, and the rest of the team. Onward and upward, oh you Lions!
We played a great game against a very talented team. Abbey had open looks but just couldn’t hit from outside. That should not detract from a great career for Abbey and a fantastic season.
My understanding is that she may still have another college game as she is a finalist for the All-America contest in Cleveland.
you zip it you commie......he's correct
They did not play a great game. They played poorly. They were talented enough to win but underperformed. The coaches and team would have a unanimous opinion in favor of that. Don't say they played well.
Old news. Nobody cares.
Meg herself said that they did not play well, and that Abbey did not have a good game. Meg said that they unravelled in the second quarter but clawed back yet still came up short. Kitty was very hard on herself even though she had a great second half. Abbey had lots of great looks but missed 9 straight 3 pointers. so yes, it was a winnable game, we did not play well although we had the talent to win, and yet we still had a memorable year and were privileged to witness a great season from Abbey.
Great program. Great coach. Great staff. Great team. Great players. Great girls. Bad game.
Women. (Only thing i didnt like about Bags was his referring to players as the kids or boys)
We should be very proud of our women's basketball team. They had an amazing season.
Coach Griffin believes Columbia will one day be the National Champion, and I believe that under her leadership this will happen.
After losing several talented players from last year's team, this season was meant for rebuilding. This year's team had more depth but less experience.
I understand that it is very prestigious to be selected for March Madness, but some of the key players weren't quite ready for prime time. Several, though excellent players, were new to the program and realistically at best the team might have made it to the second round.
Would the team have been better off long term if it went to and won the WNIT giving the rookies five or six tough tournament games to improve their skills for next season?
Even without Abby Hsu, next season's team has the potential to be the best that Columbia has ever fielded.
Meg has anointed first year Riley Weiss as the next great Columbia scorer. I assume that she will slide into the SG position. the other starters are Raifu, who has potential as a front court player, Collins and Kitty as returning 2nd team all ivy players, and the very excellent Fliss. Page is the first swing player off the bench. So we will need another front court player and more size in general.
Please explain to me why Pilling doesn't actively recruit the Colgate coach and turn Levien into the center of student/athletic life it was in my undergraduate days when Alton Byrd, Rickie Free, Juan Mitchel, Shane Cotner, Gene Bentz, Elmer Love, Jeff Coombes and Mike Wilhite held forth, guided by Tom Penders, and we were a threat to beat anyone... and did beat #4 ranked Rutgers at the old RAC (I was there), Carneseca-led St. John's featuring Wayne McCoy, Seton Hall, Penn (a Final Four team that year, no less), Carril-led Princeton at Jadwin (in what the NYT called "a masterpiece of tactical basketball"). If the Colgate coach (a former Penn star when Penn dominated the IL) can recruit and mold players into a consistently winning program in the middle of nowhere in upstate New York, why couldn't he replicate that success at an elite university in the greatest city in the world? Double his salary, double the recruiting budget and watch the wins pile up and huge pent-up Alumni support explode. The potential ROI, not least in positve publicity for the university, would have VC firms beating down the door if CU were run like a business, and not a flea-bitten non-profit.
He's done a great job at Colgate and might have come to Columbia a few years ago but not now. His name came up for Georgetown last year and even Stanford now. He will get a better job. Georgetown pays Cooley around $6mil as a point of reference, over 10x what we pay.
Also, there's no chance we are paying MBB coach a million bucks. It's a nice idea but not in the realm of possibility. I wish it was but it's just not.
I think we need to recognize that there is absolutely no chance that Pilling is going to replace Engles. And in fact, the success of the women’s team gives Pilling some cover for avoiding the glaring deficiencies in the MBB program. A number of theories have been bandied about, and here’s a few: Schiller loves the attention and fawning over that he gets from Engles: Sherwin left a large bequest which had strings attached relating to Engles’ tenure; Pilling doesn’t know anything about MBB and actually thinks Engles is a good choice with a streak of bad luck; or Engles has been convinced that he can’t do any better than Engles. I suspect hat there is another reason but frankly haven’t a clue as to what it might be.
The comments on my question about hiring the Colgate coach are no doubt apt, but the shortsightedness of not spending the money necessary to have a consistently winning MBB that alums, students and regular old New Yorkers could rally around is patent. MBB has the greatest ROI potential because it can be done, and done quickly, as Penders and Kyle Smith showed. Unlike IL football, which I happen to love, but which has low visibility and little upside ROI potential, coupled with staggering obstacles, including super-sizing of everything, from size of the squad, to equipment, to number of coaches, not to mention a field and practice facility five miles from campus, basketball is a veritable bargain: a handful of good recruits a year with top coaching can make a consistently winning program. It's a value proposition long-embraced by the Catholic schools that used to comprise most of the Big East, schools with modest endowments, very little reach beyond the Northeast, and nowhere near the prestige of CU. It's so painfully obvious it's a wonder Pilling has kept his job, never mind the coach he can't seem to fire. In the business real world, if a company's division with the highest potential was mired in a fixable slump, it's EVP and the CEO would be gone but quick.
So why is Pilling keeping Engles?
If Columbia paid its MBB Coach $1mil, do they need to pay Meg more too? She'd probably be making less than half that amount.
I dont see the Colgate coach moving to Columbia and NYC- Stanford maybe as that is a whole different league.But Matt and his family love the Colgate community and have been there for almost 15 years but Obviously the Stanford Job would be huge very different from Ivy League or coaching at a top liberal arts college in the Patriot league . In the meantime, we go thru the same thing every year about Engles, and i agree that a coaching in NYC should be draw but then again outside of Jack Rohan, Tom Penders and Kyle Smith no coach has had success in 55 years.
my guess is Pilling is going to make a change but is taking his time making sure he has someone lined up before doing. I would also note the Cornell job is now open and i am thinking maybe Engles goes for that job seeing the handwriting on the wall. I know he has not had success at Columbia but he did at Nj Tech so i am thinking Cornell might be interested in poaching him but reasonable people may disagree given his lack of sucess at Columbia.
Princeton's women's basketball team just lost, so both Ivy ladies' teams went one and out.
As long as the Ivy League doesn't allow graduate students to play, as all other leagues do, our teams will never be competitive on the national stage.
We spend a lot of effort developing players so that when they are at their best, we get to watch them play for other teams in March Madness.
Any chance you've watched the men's tournament last March or yesterday?
My basketball questions are 1. What does it mean that none of the returning players on our men's basketball team have entered the Transfer Portal? 2. Why did Coach Brian Earl leave Cornell for William and Mary? 3. Did we try to hire Earl? If not, why not?
I'm in the Pilling knows nothing about basketball camp and is too vain to admit he made a mistake in hiring Engles.
The 3 seniors who have entered the portal do not have any more eligibility. They have graduated in 4 years. Josh and Zay have their Covid year and are the last class in all of college sports to have this extra yea. Liam has his Covid year and also this year because he did not play and was injured. The Ivy League does not allow graduate students to play varsity sports, while other leagues do.
When the best player on your basketball team barely makes "honorable mention all Ivy," you know that the basketball world doesn't think your players are very good. That's why the Lions are likely to finish seventh or eighth in the Ivy League next year. With hindsight everyone realizes now that whatever success Engles had at NJIT had nothing to do with him. He just had some very good players. That's the way it works sometimes.
Why do you think "he just had some very good players"? You're on to something here.
NJIT's highly publicized big upset of Michigan in 2014 was due to a great shooting performance by his players, who hit about 58% of their shots. He had some great outside shooters. Some of the New Jersey schools like NJIT, Fairleigh Dickinson and St.Peters have pulled off similar upsets in the NCAA in recent years with some very good players. Of course, the academic standards of those schools are not quite the same as the Ivy League schools.
They were one of the worst programs in the country. Are you saying that their success was simply due to lower academic standards which allowed them to get very good players?
Pilling is not fitting Engles. Why is the question. He moved out Fabish after one year as acting HC, even though Fabish on a relative basis outperformed Engles. So there is some sort of factor at play here. Theories abound here—Schiller loves Engles; Sherwin left megabucks to assure that Engles would stay; Pilling thinks Engles is an excellent coach with lots of bad breaks; the players love Engles; or Pilling basks in the glow of WBB and hides behind that glow to avoid dealing with WEngles.
Nobody has bothered to look at his contract. Initial length, when specifically he was extended and for how long. The talk about Jerry and Schiller is silly. Also, it's very unlikely that a Columbia coach is getting fired with time left on his contract unless it's "for cause". Nobody is getting bought out of a contract at Columbia unless something really bad is happening and wins & losses aren't it. Nobody is giving a coach $800k to leave. Its just not going to happen here.
What you are saying is insulting to every Columbia player and fan. If you really believe that losses are unimportant, then you should be permanently barred from Columbia athletic events. We don't need losers. Try telling a Columbia athlete to his or her face that you can't terminate a lousy coach because he or she has a written contract. Better still, try telling that to his or her parents. Again, it is unheard for any athletic director anywhere to say that you cannot fire a lousy coach because he or she has a contract.
It's fact, you old fool.
You've missed everything. Losses do matter and you can fire a coach with a contract. But you have to pay for it. That's the point, you have to pay and you can act insulted and overly emotional but Columbia isn't likely to do that. It's just a fact and your $100 donation every year is meaningless.
Ah yes, big talk about winning from the small checkbook crowd
Big hat, no cattle
I'm new here but this is a school that tolerated a 44 game football losing streak. Losing is part of the Columbia culture.Why do you all have your panties in a bunch all of a sudden?
That was 35 years ago. It's not part of the culture any more. Columbia has success in many sports. Women's hoops, tennis, soccer, baseball, rowing, fencing, wrestling off the top of my head. Football and basketball have struggled for many years. Each have had periods of success but it has been hard to maintain. People want to see those sports do better, similar to others in the Ivy League.
So, let me, like others who follow Columbia sports, let me try to understand how a major global research institution allows itself to field one of the worst men’s basketball teams in national history….a little poetic license here but not too far from the truth.
How does this happen ? Let’s begin with a VERY UNLIKELY POSSIBILITY….our current leaders are ignorant to the situation and don’t understand the embarrassment to our brand. Our stewardship has been guided by people who have always been the smartest in the room and they are the opposite of ill-informed. Stupidity on their part is not a possibility..no way.
Another thought….mentioned in this blog before is that our leadership may actually believe ADDS to our academic allure. “We’re Columbia, we are too academic to care about sports ….we’ll field some teams on the cheap and care nothing about results….too intellectual to care.”
Perhaps more likely….more concerned about global nutrition, malaria and floods in Bangladesh, our leadership would rather drop athletics altogether. Wouldn’t it be easier for us to follow our so-called sister school the University of Chicago and become the think tank that we actually are. Who needs annoying undergraduates, secret societies, hand shakes and songs with white shoe prep boys with letters on sweaters…morons we don’t need.
Anyway..I’m done. I rooted for Chet the Jet versus Wilt the Stilt but I plan to take the advice of another Columbia blogger…”If you don’t like it..root for someone else” and our local high school did get to the States this year. Alway a “low hat”….now just an old man with a fat bankroll….perhaps, just one last pop in the Kerouac booth at the West End. Oh, the West End doesn’t exist anymore…I think replaced by modern cuisine.
Columbia can go scratch.
You should be playing dominoes at Del Boca Vista.
New season for the Columbia Football Team. Going to be a great season. IVY Champs!!
Boom!
I would give Engles millions to leave and never return
All talk
Thank you for contributing exactly nothing to the conversation with your “all talk” cleverness.
Pilling’s tenure forever tarnished by keeping Engles as long as he has.
The ageism is strong with this one.
Has anybody on this board attempted to engage either Schiller or Pilling on the question of our basketball ineptitude, and if so, what was the response?
Their contact info is readily available.
Bueler? Bueler?
Every responsible American
and Columbian cares.
You apparently arre happy to
have Hlllary Clinton as a
University Professor instead of
Mark Van Doren.
Pilling has made five major coaching changes in his tenure. Perhaps six, not sure.about baseball. Three football, men’s and woman’s basketball.Each time on day one he promised us a” national search” and every time he dropped a dime in the first or second day and made a hire. Indolence and ignorance disaster . Some national search but sometimes you get lucky. Football prospects great.
Pilling’s legacy will be the academic .
accomplishments of all Columbia athletes. He has the right to be proud.
With Engles still at the helm, Pilling has a big stain on his record. Unless and until Lucky Jim is removed, Pilling’s time as the AD cannot be considered successful.
Ridiculous. Women's basketball, Bagnoli getting football on track, baseball, rowing, fencing and wrestling, soccer is solid, tennis, better facilities, increased cash for several sports....just off the top of my head. They just built one of the nicest tennis facilities in the country. And 99% of graduating student athletes get jobs or go to grad school. Come on, man. You're a buffoon.
Has anybody on this board had a direct conversation with Pilling about Engles, and if so, what did Pilling say?
Ask yourself if the Ivies that are consistent winners (e.g., Princeton, Yale, Harvard) would tolerate this level of ineptitude from their men’s basketball coach and inaction from their AD. The answer is an emphatic no.
So what is the explanation? Other coaches have been fired or given a short leash.
No
Meg mentioned as candidate at Miami. ACC women's hoops jobs typically pay 700-900k. Thoughts?
Test
My brother, the great sports philosopher, likes to say average players make average coaches and great players make great coaches. Belichick wasn't so great when he no longer had great players. Saban can't assure the retention pipeline for great players that he had because of NIL and the portal so he retired. Wooden isn't Wooden without Jabbar and Walton. Where is Auerbach without Russell? 1968 CU men's BB isn't what it was without MacMillan, Dotson, Newmark.
If CU men's BB has an overriding problem it is in recruiting outstanding BB players. If they come CU will be fine. If they don't come CU will trudge along. The question for Piling is why they aren't coming to CU. The coach? The facilities? Perceived culture by the recruited? Some? All? I don't have the answer. I just know hope isn't a plan and continuing to do what has only brought mediocrity isn't going to change anything.
I saw the women's Vanderbilt game. I coached some BB and from that experience I thought they were too hyped, too many players trying to do too many things. In an evenly matched game, the big spurt often wins it and Vanderbilt had one that CU couldn't overcome. I felt badly for them but happy to see them and CU get national exposure. The NCAA tournament is an unbelievable school marketing opportunity. CU misses out on that with the state of its men's BB program. Too bad it accepts that situation.
Earth to Pilling... Come in Pilling....
We are hearing a weak signal from the AD's office... It appears that someone in Men's hoops is blocking the signal! EARTH TO PILLING come in Pilling!
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