Cornell football 2018

[Al DeFlorio]

my big fear is that dalton banks is much better than the guy replacing him and then we're really going to see what a bad team looks like

I don't think there is a replacement.  Catanese runs only, a la Jates, as far as I can tell.  The guy who could have replaced (or supplanted) Banks was Harley Kirsch, a highly-regarded recruit from Washington.  But he developed a serious muscle-wasting disorder as a freshman and never took a varsity snap.

[Ken711]

my big fear is that dalton banks is much better than the guy replacing him and then we're really going to see what a bad team looks like

I would bet heavily on your fears.  Cornell will have to rely heavily on Harold Coles in a run-based offense because there are no QBs with Banks' passing skills on the roster.  If Cornell finishes better than 2-5 in the Ivy League they will be lucky.

[Swampy]

my big fear is that dalton banks is much better than the guy replacing him and then we're really going to see what a bad team looks like

I would bet heavily on your fears.  Cornell will have to rely heavily on Harold Coles in a run-based offense because there are no QBs with Banks' passing skills on the roster.  If Cornell finishes better than 2-5 in the Ivy League they will be lucky.

But we'll get an A for effort.

Shit! If there was one thing I thought about the Ivy League, and especially Cornell, is that one doesn't find this kind of BS for rationalizing mediocrity. I thought that was something one mainly finds at factory schools, where grade inflation compensates for low standards and substitutes for remedial work that would take resources but actually help students who had been screwed out of a real education by their shitty high schools.

[David Harding]

Worth noting - I can't recall an instance where Andy Noel fired a coach over won-loss record. The only mid-contract departures I can remember were either initiated by the coach or were vaguely tied to some failure to uphold the university code of conduct. I'm probably in the minority here but I don't think that's a bad policy for our AD to adopt. We're not Michigan or Stanford.

I'm fine with it for our football and, to a lesser extent, basketball legacy programs we use to prop up the pretense of Ivy exceptionalism, which we monetize in other ways.

I wouldn't be fine with it in the sports where we are trying: hockey, crew, lacrosse, polo, track, ... um, maybe that's it?

Ideally we'd drop football as obsolete as bear-baiting, but as long as HYP clutch onto their programs we have play along.  It'd be nice to figure out a way for them to pay us to lose to them, though, the way Vandy did.

... wrestling ...

[Trotsky]

... wrestling ...

Is that you, Andy?  **]

[Ken711]

Brown is doing it the right way following the process that Columbia undertook which put their football program on the "winning track" not the "effort track" that Cornell seems to feel is adequate enough.

"Brown has hired a national search firm specializing in collegiate athletic searches (ADs and HCs).
They are interviewing alumni, athletics, administration, current players, and recent players.

They are moving fast, and focusing on all requirements of a successful program. No decisions or offers have been made.

The mission is to bring back Brown's football program to winning traditions and compete at the highest level in the Ivy league. The goal is to find an inspirational leader who has built sustainable programs that compete for championships, and understands the intricacies associated with the Ivy league as it pertains to admissions, recruiting, and fundraising."

[Swampy]

Brown is doing it the right way following the process that Columbia undertook which put their football program on the "winning track" not the "effort track" that Cornell seems to feel is adequate enough.

"Brown has hired a national search firm specializing in collegiate athletic searches (ADs and HCs).
They are interviewing alumni, athletics, administration, current players, and recent players.

They are moving fast, and focusing on all requirements of a successful program. No decisions or offers have been made.

The mission is to bring back Brown's football program to winning traditions and compete at the highest level in the Ivy league. The goal is to find an inspirational leader who has built sustainable programs that compete for championships, and understands the intricacies associated with the Ivy league as it pertains to admissions, recruiting, and fundraising."

Whether or not it results in winning football, I'm convinced Cornell needs to do this kind of consultant-assisted search for an AD. Andy has been lackadaisical about searches for two men's lacrosse coaches (firing DeLuca mid-year without any serious public explanation and then just promoting Kerwick; then, when Kerwick resigned -- or was pushed out -- he just promoted Milliman rather than do a national search). In both cases he took the easiest, cheapest way to replace the coach. Given that Cornell had pretty good players in both cases, even though he gave them "interim" titles, it was pretty predictable that their records would be decent in both cases, and he'd wind up promoting them to HC. But in both cases his lazy, cheap approach hurt recruiting. And Kerwick turned out to be a disaster (by Cornell lacrosse standards), and we're keeping our fingers crossed that Milliman will turn out to be the real thing. But we'll never know whom we might have had if Andy had been less lazy and cheap.

These characteristics of Andy are most clear for lacrosse, but we also see them in football and men's basketball. He's passive-aggressive, when we really need someone who's aggressive.

But hiring a consultant just to help find a new football HC is not what we need. We need to use Columbia's approach and have someone who can look at the entire program, from top to bottom, with a new HC being only part of the puzzle.

In fact, evaluation of the entire football program is still too narrow. Can you say "indoor facility" (for football, soccer, lacrosse, etc.) boys and girls?

[Ken711]

Brown is doing it the right way following the process that Columbia undertook which put their football program on the "winning track" not the "effort track" that Cornell seems to feel is adequate enough.

"Brown has hired a national search firm specializing in collegiate athletic searches (ADs and HCs).
They are interviewing alumni, athletics, administration, current players, and recent players.

They are moving fast, and focusing on all requirements of a successful program. No decisions or offers have been made.

The mission is to bring back Brown's football program to winning traditions and compete at the highest level in the Ivy league. The goal is to find an inspirational leader who has built sustainable programs that compete for championships, and understands the intricacies associated with the Ivy league as it pertains to admissions, recruiting, and fundraising."

Whether or not it results in winning football, I'm convinced Cornell needs to do this kind of consultant-assisted search for an AD. Andy has been lackadaisical about searches for two men's lacrosse coaches (firing DeLuca mid-year without any serious public explanation and then just promoting Kerwick; then, when Kerwick resigned -- or was pushed out -- he just promoted Milliman rather than do a national search). In both cases he took the easiest, cheapest way to replace the coach. Given that Cornell had pretty good players in both cases, even though he gave them "interim" titles, it was pretty predictable that their records would be decent in both cases, and he'd wind up promoting them to HC. But in both cases his lazy, cheap approach hurt recruiting. And Kerwick turned out to be a disaster (by Cornell lacrosse standards), and we're keeping our fingers crossed that Milliman will turn out to be the real thing. But we'll never know whom we might have had if Andy had been less lazy and cheap.

These characteristics of Andy are most clear for lacrosse, but we also see them in football and men's basketball. He's passive-aggressive, when we really need someone who's aggressive.

But hiring a consultant just to help find a new football HC is not what we need. We need to use Columbia's approach and have someone who can look at the entire program, from top to bottom, with a new HC being only part of the puzzle.

In fact, evaluation of the entire football program is still too narrow. Can you say "indoor facility" (for football, soccer, lacrosse, etc.) boys and girls?

Spot on Swampy.  A top to bottom review of the athletic department to include personnel and facilities as you rightly hit on. Where is the indoor practice facility that would benefit all varsity sport teams!

[Ken711]

Princeton Tigers won football and men's and women's soccer. Ever been done? They also won men's Ivy Hep cross country, men's league water polo and reached Final Four in field hockey.

[Ken711]

Brown just hired who I thought they would, James Perry the head coach at Bryant. Perry has a lot of experience in the Ivy League as a player, QB coach and Offensive Coordinator at Princeton.  Smart hire by Brown.

[billhoward]

Ohio State put 62 points on Michigan today, breaking a record (for regulation time) set by (wait for it) Cornell in 1891, when the Big Red beat the Wolverines 58-12 in Detroit, before a crowd of 2300.

We're still the Big Red of old in announced attendance.

[CAS]

Jim Hofher, former Cornell Head coach, just changed jobs again.  For those who think you can't win at Cornell, Hofher's teams finished in the upper half of the Ivies every year he coached ('90 -'97).  His overall Ivy record was 33 - 23.

[George64]

Jim Hofher, former Cornell Head coach, just changed jobs again.  For those who think you can't win at Cornell, Hofher's teams finished in the upper half of the Ivies every year he coached ('90 -'97).  His overall Ivy record was 33 - 23.

I wonder if he regrets leaving Cornell for North Carolina.  He's had a very peripatetic career -- 14 stops over 40 years, including two at Wake Forest and two at Syracuse.  His record at Cornell includes one Ivy Championship (tie) and one second place finish - never finishing worse than fourth.  Was he considered when Kent Austin left?

[nshapiro]

I don't understand all the complaining.  By the transitive property of College Football, Cornell had a great year, with only 8 steps to the College Football Playoffs!

Cornell > Hahvahd > Yale > Maine > Villanova > Temple > Maryland > Texas > Oklahoma

[CAS]

Hofher was followed by Pete Mangurian, who went 11-10 in the Ivies from 1998-2000, including 10-4 in his last 2 years.  Following Mangurian's departure, Andy Noel, who became AD in 1999, has selected 4 coaches.  Their combined Ivy record is 38-88 (2001-2018).  Andy's tenure as AD has seen Cornell football go from a consistent winner, contending for titles, to the bottom of the league.