Tough times for Cornell athletics

[Towerroad]

It would a nice thing for the SuN to get an explanation on why the Ivy still does not let the fball teams go to the ncaa when all the other sports can now.. low level football or not having something to play for would probably help all the ivy teams recruit and play at a better level and increase attendance.

That has been discussed numerous times here. http://www.voy.com/152805/

The Ivy Presidents won't change this policy...ever.  Still the basic argument of the thread is if we are fielding sport teams like football, why can't we build a competitive program?

I think the real question is "Why can't we be competitive within the Ivy League?" Unfortunately I think the deck is stacked against us.

1. The talent pool of academically qualified players who can play at an elite level is modest at best and for those with dreams of the NFL or competing at a high level there are better choices (Eg Stanford, Cal, Michigan, Northwestern).

2. Football means much more to Harvard and Yale given the importance of "The Game" ($$$$) than it does to us. They will put far more emphasis ($) on gobbling up the eligible pool than we will.

I think the best we can hope for is to be better than Penn, Columbia, Dartmouth, Princeton and Brown in a good year.

[rss77]

Mollie Marcoux, the Athletic Director at Princeton (And Ithaca NY native) made a statement a couple of months ago advocating for football participation in playoffs.  I doubt she would have said that without permission from the "higher ups" at Princeton.  Never say Never I say.

[upprdeck]

I really never understood what the downside to letting an ivy school play playoff football was.  did they forget that for a long tme the power of football was some of the ivy league teams?  is one school getting to play for a title going to kill the system?

would cornell/penn in late nov get more people in the seats if they were playing for something meaningful?

[CAS]

We all agree Ivy football isn't at the same level as that played in the SEC. And it would be nice to have the Ivy winner participate in the playoffs.  But the basic question is why we are uncompetitive in the league as currently constituted?  Do we have the right coaches, facilities, and institutional support to be be successful?  And if not, how do we change that?

[Ken711]

We all agree Ivy football isn't at the same level as that played in the SEC. And it would be nice to have the Ivy winner participate in the playoffs.  But the basic question is why we are uncompetitive in the league as currently constituted?  Do we have the right coaches, facilities, and institutional support to be be successful?  And if not, how do we change that?

Spot on.

[scoop85]

Yesterday's lax losses -- the men, of course, and the women losing a 2nd consecutive 1-goal game to Penn -- probably cap off the most disappointing Cornell sports year in many a year.  Perhaps only wrestling matched or outperformed expectations.

Well, there's always polo I guess ::drunk::

[George64]

Well, there's always polo I guess ::drunk::

Check out Cornell's lightweight crew.  National champions last year, undefeated so far this year.

[scoop85]

Well, there's always polo I guess ::drunk::

Check out Cornell's lightweight crew.  National champions last year, undefeated so far this year.

Yes, of course. After I posted I realized I forgot to mention crew.

[CAS]

Pretty sad year when the rare successes are in wrestling and lightweight crew.

[George64]

Pretty sad year when the rare successes are in wrestling and lightweight crew.

Cornell lights sweep Dartmouth for second consecutive undefeated regular season.  This is particularly impressive considering the conditions on Cayuga earlier this spring.  Coach Kerber deserves IJ Coach of the Year.  Eastern Sprints and IRA National Championship coming up.  LGR

[phillysportsfan]

Are we going to lose by 20? A fitting end to a lousy sports season, good work Andy

[CAS]

Thank you Andy

[Towerroad]

Thank you Andy

Thank you Andy

[Tcl123]

Thank you Andy

Thank you Andy

Thank you Andy

[BearLover]

We all (rightfully) think Andy is doing a bad job, but I doubt he ever reads these forums, so maybe we should sarcastically thank him through an e-mail instead of an ELynah forum post.