[OT] Pendergast Fired

[Josh '99]

I don't think this comes as a shock to anyone.

http://cornellbigred.ocsn.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/112503aaa.html

[ugarte]

Josh Herman '99 wrote:

I don't think this comes as a shock to anyone.

http://cornellbigred.ocsn.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/112503aaa.html

Certainly not anyone following this thread ... http://elf.elynah.com/read.php?f=1&i=28631&t=28631



Post Edited (11-25-03 20:17)

[Josh '99]

Oops!  Was it already there?   ::worry::

[ugarte]

Matt Carberry beat you by about 3 hours. ::smashfreak::

http://elf.elynah.com/read.php?f=1&i=28650&t=28631&v=t

[Jordan 04]

Yeah, obviously it was in the Dartmouth/Cornell/PTI thread about Keggy the Keg. Don't you know where to find these things?? ::stupid::




;-)

[Jordan 04]

P.S.  Go after Jim Fassel :-D

[jnachod]

Ahhhh.... See you....

[CU at Stanford]

Just don't go after Buddy Teevens at Stanford (Buddy is a two-sport Dartmouth grad: football and hockey), but look at his coaching record at Stanford...::worry::

[Rich Gourley]

It is unfortunate that this had to come.  Tim is a great guy, a person who really cared for his players and the program.  You can not measure his success simply by results on the field.  This reminds me of when George Siefert had no success and was let go then when on to lead the 49ers to the Super Bowl.  Until the University commits to the football program no coach is going to succeed.  We have substandard facilities, a minimal budget, and assistant coaches left over from the dark ages.  I know it was Tims job to produce a winner and unfortunatley that did not happen, however I will go on record as saying who ever replaces him will have no better luck.  Good luck Cach Pendergast in all your future endevours.

[Scott Kominkiewicz `84]

I echo Rich's sentiment and wish Pendergast well.  I remember him from his first tour at Cornell in the early 80s and can atest that he's a swell guy.

[cornelldavy]

[Q]You can not measure his success simply by results on the field.[/Q]

I realize he was a decent person, but coaches are hired specifically for getting results on the field.

[Q]We have substandard facilities, a minimal budget, and assistant coaches left over from the dark ages. I know it was Tims job to produce a winner and unfortunatley that did not happen, however I will go on record as saying who ever replaces him will have no better luck.[/Q]

Mangurian's facilities and budget couldn't have been any worse than Pendergast's, but Mangurian brought the team within one game of an Ivy title the season before Pendergast took over. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Pendergast brought in his own coaching staff when he took the reins. And I can't imagine that his replacement won't do better than he has...his record was less than .250 over three years and he didn't win a single Ivy game this season.

[Greg Berge]

Cornell's football program doesn't exist to win.  It's there because you have to have one -- an ornament, like Harvard's classrooms.

As far as institutional commitment goes, to football I say "no thanks."  Winning Football takes a gazillion dollars and at Ivies (well, other than Penn) winning football programs tend to lead to "reappraisals of the role of sports in student life," which is blah blah blah for cover you ass and cut all sports before the inevitable scandal and sanctions.

I'll take a 1-9 football team, 6-20 hoops team, and NCAA tourny hockey team every year, thanks.

[CU at Stanford]

Coaches may be a good, decent, or nice persons, but may not be able to properly motivate or inspire their players.  The results on the field are merely a symptom of something deeper.  Take Mike Schafer's appointment: he was able to bring a group of kids, mainly recruited by Brian McCutcheon, from near the bottom of ECAC to the top (and beat Harvard!) in one season.  Nothing changed (no bigger budget, no facility upgrade, etc.) except a different man in charge...While I don't demand an Ivy League championship of our football team, we should remember that there was a glorious history in this sport as well (Ed Marinaro, Derek Harmon).  I think we (the alumni) and our students (players or not) deserve to have a team with better than a 1-9 (0-7 Ivy) record.  And if our AD thinks that a new coach (and a new coaching staff) is what it takes, then I support the decision.  But I go agree with Greg: I'd take an ECAC (better yet, NCAA) tournament championship anyday :-)

[CUlater 89]

So is Greg saying he wants us to be a laughingstock, like Columbia used to be, so that the school's failures in the two highest profile college sports overshadows any accomplishments in any of the other lesser-known sports (including hockey)?

Pendergast was a good guy, at least back in the 80s when I knew him, and a good position coach, but most of the people who I know that follow the program were surprised at his selection to take over as the head coach.  In any case, although I don't for sure what the relative budget and commitment to the football program is now as compared to in the past, the sense I got was that Mangurian left, in part, because he saw the writing on the wall as far as the level of support from the administration.

In a world of limited resources, choices need to be made, obviously.  But if it is those choices that has led to the lowly status of the football program, I think it was a mistake.  A successful football team builds campus spirit greatly, because capacity at Schoellkopf isn't as limited as at Lynah.   It was FUN to go to games in 1986, when we met Penn in a battle of undefeateds for the Ivy title and especially fun in 1988 when we beat Penn in the final game to tie for first place in the Ivies.  Sure, it's not like Michigan or the OSU, but football games in the fall can have a sense of being an "event", even in Ithaca.

And re: Buddy Teevens. I'm not sure what he's been doing at Stanford, but he was a heck of a coach at Dartmouth and a nice guy to boot.

[jtwcornell91]

CUlater '89 wrote:
 It was FUN to go to games in 1986, when we met Penn in a battle of undefeateds for the Ivy title and especially fun in 1988 when we beat Penn in the final game to tie for first place in the Ivies.  Sure, it's not like Michigan or the OSU, but football games in the fall can have a sense of being an "event", even in Ithaca.

Heck, it was even fun in 1989 when we beat Penn on Thanksgiving to stay out of the Ivy League cellar, but more importantly to salvage a miserable season with a win over our arch-rivals.

As someone who didn't miss a game at Schoellkopf in four years, I agree with CULater on "event" status.  With the band marching across campus and through the Straight, it was a thrill to run up the stairs of Okenshields, fall in line, and follow them to the stadium.

BTW, for a snapshot on my perspective on Ivy football in general, see the following radio script from several years back:
http://www.amurgsval.org/squishy/ivy.4.6.html