[OT] Pendergast Fired

[LN]

Cornell is close to completing the  fundraising for an $8 million renovation of Schoellkopf Hall.   The bottom line is winning games.   Losing every
Ivy contest by more than a touchdown should never be acceptable.

[CU at Stanford]

Buddy "I played two sports at Dartmouth" Teevens was hired as Stanford's football head coach after Tyrone (not Ty) Willingham abruptly departed for Notre Dame two years ago.  Fall 2002 saw the Cardinal dropping from 2nd place in the PAC-10 to a dismal 2-9 overall (1-7 Pac-10) record, losing to Cal in the Big Game for the first time in seven year.  With one game left in the 2003 season, Teevens again lost the Big Game last week, going 4-6 overall.  In his two years on the Farm, Coach Teevens has not beaten a team with a winning record.

You do the math.  I hope for Cornell's sake, we are not dazzled by "Stanford" on Buddy's resume.

[Greg Berge]

Well, if Tyrone (not Ty) Willingham keeps losing to USC by 20 points every year...  :`(

Greg is saying that the football and hoops teams should try to win all their games, and the administration should try to help them as long as it don't screw up anything that actually *does* win, including but not limited to, hockey.

Of course, Greg would also say fold the entire athletic department to finance the hockey program.  He's like that.

[Adam]

We could get Steve Spurrier.  He should be looking for a job soon (and yes, I'm a Redskins fan).

The Fun-n-Gun would be an interesting addition to the Ivy mileux.

[CU at Stanford]

Don't hold your breath...Buddy Teevens worked for Spurier for three years:
"Teevens was on Steve Spurrier's staff at the University of Florida for three seasons (1999-2001) prior to coming to The Farm. Teevens was the running backs coach at Florida in 1999. In 2000, he was the passing game coordinator while also coaching tight ends, wide receivers, kickers, snappers and holders. In '01, he was the Assistant Offensive Coordinator and tight ends coach."

We have not seen any "Fun and Gun" at Stanford.  In fact, the offense is either missing or downright unimaginative.  Just look at the stats from our game against Oregon State two weeks ago.  :`(  My point is this:  Just because Spurier coached one way at Florida does not mean he (or people who learned from him) will do the same at another team.



Post Edited (11-26-03 14:39)

[Josh '99]

Tom Tseng '87 wrote:
Teevens was the running backs coach at Florida in 1999.

Spurrier uses running backs?   ::screwy::

[rhovorka]

John T. Whelan '91 wrote:

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

Also agree.  My 4 years of football were memorable ones.  If hazy memories serve me right, I believe that CU had a chance to clinch a championship in 2 of the 4 seasons from Fall '92 - Fall '96 by simply beating Penn.  And CU went 0-4 those years vs. them.  I remember in Fall '94, we started 6-0 out of the gate, helped by a miracle 48-yard FG at the gun to win at Bucknell, only to finish by dropping the last 4 games.  But the buzz that that 6-0 start got was great.  West stands became packed!  

As JTW outlined in his script, the '95 season was really exciting.  We got our first win over Columbia (!) in those 4 years (11-11-95, the greatest day in my CU sports life). That, and an upset Yale win over Princeton that day opened the door to clinch a championship with a win at Penn out of nowhere.  I believe there was a chance for a 4-way Ivy tie.  That whole week was great simply because of the war of words that the Daily Sun and the Daily Pennsylvanian had.  "Dear DP, what's the quickest route from Franklin Field to the Schuylkill River if one were to carry say...a goalpost shaped object?"  And then we got our dreams dashed by (another) blow-out to Penn (sucks) while their students threw bread products at us.  I blame the failure to win a championship that year on the opening day loss to Princeton, where with a 2-point deficit, CU QB Joyce fell down in the mud on a 4th-and-short situation just outside FG range after an inspired drive.  Oh, that hurts.

Those Hoeffer-coached teams were definitely championship caliber.  Lazor, Mateo, Zingo, Levitt.  Good memories.

OK, ramblings and reminisces aside, my point is that being in the football hunt is exciting and memorable, and can make the wait for hockey season a little more bearable.  This season, we weren't really in any of the Ivy games.  And the Penn game was clearly the Men vs. the boys.  In general, parity in the Ivy League is a very good thing, IMO.

[Adam]

A few other names that have been suggested to me are:

Don Zimmer
Bobby Knight
Janet Reno
The "Yeah Dougie Yeah" guy from Section B

[David Harding \'72]

A decent football team deosn't preclude a good hockey team.  
Marinaro's big game against Harvard http://cornellbigred.ocsn.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/102803aad.html
came in a year that hockey fans can't complain about.  A team doesn't need to win a championship every year, but it shouldn't be embarrassed every year either.

But if you are serious about Cornell football, you don't look back to Marinaro and Harmon, or even Gogolak.  A year or two ago we were talking with an aunt who was under the impression that Cornell was in the Big Ten.  My wife and daughter held their giggles for the moment, but in private let them out.  I had to explain that it was a natural mistake for someone who had attended University of Michigan in a year when Cornell had beaten UM in football but had not followed the sport since.  Wasn't that the last time that Schoelkopf was filled for a football game?  In those days Cornell was beating Ohio State, too.  Ohio State was said to be especially chagrinned the first year in Columbus when they learned that half the starters were in the Hotel School, then part of the College of Home Economics:  "You mean we've been beaten by a bunch of home eccies?"  Then Cornell did again the next year in Ithaca.

[Al DeFlorio]

The peak was probably the Gil Dobie era.  Check out the "points for" and "points against" in the perfect seasons of 1921, 1922, and 1923.

http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_iaa/ivyleague/cornell/yearly_totals.php

Yes, a long time ago, but two of those teams were voted #1.

[jeh25]

Josh Herman '99 wrote:

Tom Tseng '87 wrote:
Teevens was the running backs coach at Florida in 1999.

Spurrier uses running backs?   ::screwy::

Hell, even Andy Reid is running the ball this season...

[David Harding \'72]

[q]The peak was probably the Gil Dobie era.[/q]
Agreed.

[Big Ben 03]

Maybe i'm just bored, but spending a little time at that football database, it becomes clear that the little known fact about Cornell football remains true: CU is the only school in the country to hold an all-time winning record over BOTH Michigan AND Ohio State. Regardless of the fact that the last time we played either of them was like 1952. . .

[David Harding \'72]

Also a winning record against Penn State, Pittsburgh, Michigan State, Syracuse, and Virginia Tech, among the schools you often see highly rated these days.  And tied for 15th place in the number of national championships.

[colo83]

It is the considered judgment of New Hampshire Big Red fans that the next coach could very well be Jackie Sherrill;  formerly of the SEC and the Pittsburgh area.