Pathetic

Just to remind everyone that we’re all still Columbia sports fans first and foremost, I want to congratulate the Men’s Basketball team on its rout over Army last night. I listened to Jerry Recco and Sal Licata calling most of the game and it was a blast. I hope the team proves my fears wrong and keeps this going when the Ivy season starts in January.

Sometimes people ask me if I'd be okay with the Columbia sports teams starting to win more even if it meant never getting rid of Dianne Murphy as A.D. 

The answer is always simple: "in a heartbeat!" 

This is about winning, after all

Well, it’s been a wild 36 hours.

Less than an hour after I emailed a few people Tuesday about how the NY Post wanted to contact them for a story on Columbia athletics, Head Coach Pete Mangurian sent an email to the PLAYERS warning them no to talk to the Post even though my email was not sent to any players.

I was just going to let that go, but a few hours later someone decided to “prove” I had sent it to the players with the obviously doctored photo above and put it out on Twitter.

In the last few hours I’ve learned from my sources that even staffers in the Athletic Department are telling the players this was a doctored email/photo.

So, here are the questions we’re left with right now:

1)      WHO doctored the Email?

Obviously, someone I sent my email to forwarded it to the wrong person and that person tried to use it against me. I have no problem with anyone forwarding my email, because there was nothing wrong with it in any way. But trying to doctor the “sent” and “from” boxes to include a current player’s name is extremely weird and little bit sick.

I really don’t have a long list of suspects, but I would like to ask offensive coordinator Jaime Elizondo why he thinks his name appears as the recipient of the supposedly forwarded email. Did he take the picture of the document and then doctor it? When I openly asked in the comments section of the blog yesterday if Elizondo was commenting here or was responsible for this “Emailgate,” there was no response.

As far as the current player’s name on the email, I’d rather not get him any more involved. I am convinced he never even saw the email, at least not until the Mangurian warning went out later that night.

I realize there are a lot of people who could have pulled this stunt, but if it is anyone on the football coaching or support staff… well, we have a serious problem and a very big clue as to the kind of mania we’re dealing with.

2)      Who showed/forwarded the email to Coach Mangurian?

Whoever got the email to Mangurian’s attention did it very quickly. I didn’t send it to anyone in the Athletic Dept. or on the staff, so where did they get it? That’s an important piece to the puzzle.

3)      Columbia University is led by America’s #1 advocate for Free Speech. Why does Mangurian think that it’s okay to warn/threaten the players not to talk to the press?

I understand that during the season, the Athletic Department is very wise to insist that the sports media go through the dept. before talking to players. But when the season is over, or when the story is essentially a news and not a sports item, (and this case checks off all those boxes), I’m not so sure it’s ethical in any way to tell student-athletes they shouldn’t talk to the media. We know President Lee Bollinger signed off on that statement about athletics no questions asked, but I think he would be very reluctant to rubber stamp this kind of gag order policy from Mangurian. If he does, we’re talking a very high level of hypocrisy that I don’t think even Bollinger is capable of.

4)      If it turns out that someone on the Mangurian staff, or Mangurian himself, is behind the email inbox doctoring, will they be punished?

I’m not holding my breath, but the information I have about at least one A.D. staffer telling the players that she knows the email was doctored is very encouraging. Dianne Murphy has to be very careful here. We know this coaching staff is incapable of putting together a winning program, and Murphy apparently can get away with not doing anything about that. But I don’t think she can ALSO get away without disciplining someone from the department who’s putting out false information to smear an alum, a current player, and possibly a current coach.

5)      Is this what it’s going to be like for the next year?

Are we going to be spending more time and energy on the administrative mess that is Columbia Football, or will we ever just get to focus on recruiting and getting ready for 2014? Even if I shut down this blog tomorrow, I think this email incident proves that CU Football cannot even begin to function normally this offseason as long as Mangurian and his staff are in place. Even if his staff had nothing to do with this email thing, someone very close to them did and there is a culture of antagonism and defensiveness against the fans from Bollinger to Murphy to Mangurian on down. And that culture is so tainted right now, it’s clearly taking priority over more important things like the upcoming recruiting weekends on campus. Doesn’t it make more sense to cut our losses now and jettison this staff instead of looking over their shoulders day and night for the next real or imagined embarrassment? 

5 Open Questions for Ted Gregory '74

Ted Gregory

Ted Gregory, a great Lion All Ivy player in the early 70's, was the head of the search committee charged to aide Athletic Director Dianne Murphy hire a new head football coach in late 2011.

Gregory had some experience in executive search for Wall Street firms, but none in hiring head football coaches. 

And Gregory is a very, very close friend and devotee of Bill Campbell. 

Perhaps that should have set off some alarm bells right there.

But let's let Mr. Gregory speak for himself if he so chooses. 

Also any member of the Football Committee who participated in the search process is welcome to comment as well:


1) Did you make it clear to Dianne Murphy or anyone else in the administration that you had no experience in coaching searches? Did you make it a priority to fill your team with people who did?


2) How did Dianne Murphy present Pete Mangurian's name to the search committee? Was there any explicit or implied pressure to put his name at the top of the pile? 


3) What vetting, if any, did your team perform on Mangurian during the hiring process?

(this question has a few subsets)

-Was the reason for his 2010 firing by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers discussed or looked into? 

For example:

"Mangurian's hard-nosed, old-school coaching style came across as abrasive and didn't mesh well with the players and some of the other coaches on the staff. The Buccaneers are believed to be looking for more positive, energetic coaches in the mold of Morris, wide receivers coach Eric Yarber, quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt, secondary coach Jimmy Lake, etc.

Mangurian, who joined Raheem Morris' staff in 2009, went through two difficult years in Tampa Bay. In 2009, the offensive line play was sub-par, largely due a switch to a zone blocking scheme that former offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski implemented before he was fired. The unit underachieved and Mangurian's personality rubbed his offensive linemen the wrong way and didn't help."

See the full report here.

-Were his run-ins with NY Giant, (and later NY Jet), Jumbo Elliott and Brian Williams known to the committe?

For example:

"There are times when a coach and a player get into an argument and normally it is no big deal. But when center Brian Williams and offensive line coach Pete Mangurian got into a heated argument that almost came to blows at the Giants' final practice this morning, it was more than the usual flare-up.

As their voices carried throughout the practice facility, players and coaches turned their heads to see who was doing all the yelling. Coach Dan Reeves had to walk away from the drill he was watching to help calm things down.

What is startling about Williams's outburst is that he is a seven-year veteran and normally one of the more reserved and professional players on the team. In fact, this has been one of his best seasons, and he was mentioned as a potential Pro Bowl candidate. But Mangurian's brusque style has irked Williams and other members of the line at times during the season, especially left tackle Jumbo Elliott, with whom Mangurian has had a cool relationship."

Full report here  from the NY Times AND here from the Daily News. 

Also this: 

" After some of the things Mangurian allegedly said to Elliott the last three years, Jumbo 

probably has learned to let almost anything roll off his back. During the final game of the '93 

season, in excruciating back pain, Elliott says Mangurian challenged his desire and toughness. 

It was something Elliott would never forget. Or forgive. A few weeks ago, when Elliott heard 

Magurian and Giants defensive line coach Earl Leggett had a brief shoving match during 

practice, Jumbo cracked, 'I hope Leggett kicked his butt."


Full report here from the Daily News. And the incident with coach Leggett was documented here.

-Were you aware and did you look into Mangurian's public issues with Atlanta OL Travis Claridge? (Claridge tragically died in 2006). Claridge's benching and the controversy surrounding the reasons for it were a big story in Atlanta. And the Augusta Chronicle openly noted the decline in the team's play and QB Chris Chandler's anger over the decline in protection after the move. 

From the Chronicle piece:

"Coincidence or not, the Falcons were 6-4 when Claridge started, 1-5 when he sat. The fluctuating line caused quarterback Chris Chandler to plea for Mangurian and Reeves to settle on a starting five and stick with it. Chandler, who was released in February as the only quarterback to lead Atlanta to the Super Bowl, only needed to point at his lack of protection - an NFL-high 66 sacks allowed and a staggering ratio of one every 8.35 passing plays - as evidence."

-Based on the massive amount of documented stories about Mangurian's reputation for demanding slimmed down offensive linemen, was there concern about this? Was this something you were even aware of? This is something that has been documented throughout his career with very little evidence of it succeeding at anything other than angering star players. 

4) Why were excellent candidates like Holy Cross Head Coach Tom Gilmore and Johns Hopkins Head Coach Jim Margraff, both well-respected former CU assistants, not even interviewed? Who were the people who ultimately were interviewed in person other than Mangurian?

5) At any time did ANYONE on the search committee object to or at least strongly question choosing Mangurian and if so, who overruled him and why?

I realize we'll probably never get the answers to these questions from Gregory or anyone else. But they are important to ask. And I think they prove that a proper vetting process was never conducted and that's why we have been left with such a disastrous head coach at a program that so richly deserved so much better. 

For the Record

Just for the record:

I have never contacted any of the current players, and that includes the graduating seniors. 

BREAKING: Bushnell Finalists Named UPDATED

The Ivy League has just announced the finalists for the Bushnell Cup.

The offensive finalists are Brown RB John Spooney and Princeton QB Quinn Epperly.

The defensive finalists are Princeton DL Caraun Reid and Harvard DL Zach Hodges.


Epperly went 19-25 passing for 272 yards and four TD's against Columbia. He also had 11 carries for 54 yards rushing and two more TD's in the Tigers 53-7 win.

Reid only had one tackle in that game, but it was an eight yard sack. And he drew double teams from the OL all day allowing his teammates to rack up an additional three sacks and seven other tackles for a loss.

Hodges barely needed to get involved in Harvard's 34-0 easy win over CU. He did have one tackle.

In the season finale against us, Spooney racked up 186 yards rushing and three TD's.

My money is on Epperly to win the offensive Bushnell and the defensive award is really a toss up.

Call me crazy, but I thought two Dartmouth players may have been screwed here. The Big Green had two offensive players were just as valuable over the long haul of the season, if not more so, than Spooney.

I would have liked QB Dalyn Williams or RB Dominic Pierre to have made the final cut. These guys turned around a whole program more than any other players. Spooner had great stats, but was not a factor for all 10 weeks of the season and the Bears took a big step backwards this year overall.

Empirical Evidence

Average Final Score: Opponents 40 Columbia 7

Touchdowns Scored: Opponents 52 Columbia 9

Average Total Yards per Game: Opponents 514 Columbia 204

Average Rushing Yards per Game: Opponents 243 Columbia 52

Average Passing Yards per Game: Opponents 271 Columbia 152

3^rd Down Conversion Rate: Opponents 43% Columbia 17%

Sacks Allowed per game: Columbia 4 Opponents 1.5

Conclusion: Head Coach Pete Mangurian is not competent for this job. He does not know how to win, make improvements, or develop players in the Ivy League.

If he continues in his position, Columbia will continue to lose. Do not be fooled into thinking otherwise. This is what we’re trying to save everyone from the players to the fans from experiencing.

The Mangurian situation is simply fruit of the poison tree that is the Columbia Athletics department and the administration at large.

We the alumni, the donors, the former players… all of us demand a change.

Once again, please email Rich Forzani at Rforzani1@optonline.net and let’s get the committee started and armed and ready to address the powers that be and the entire Columbia community.