The Trend is Our Friend
Cornell's Derrick Harmon was the 1st Ivy Rookie of the Year in 1981, in 1983 he was player of the year (CREDIT: IvyLeagueSports.com)
One school winning back-to-back Ivy League Rookie of the Year awards is not unprecedented. In fact, it's happened four other times ever since the award was established in 1981:
1984: Rich Comizio (RB, Penn)
1985: Chris Flynn (RB, Penn)
1990: Matt Brzica (QB, Dartmouth)
1991: Jay Fiedler (QB, Dartmouth)
1992: Pat Goodwillie (LB, Penn)
1993: Miles Macik (WR, Penn)
2001: Steve Jensen (DB, Dartmouth)
2002: Josh Dooley (LB, Dartmouth)
2006: Austin Knowlin (WR, Columbia)
2007: Alex Gross (LB, Columbia)
Three of the four previous schools who won the award back-to-back had championship seasons the following year. The 2003 Dartmouth Big Green was the only one not to win the title after getting two straight rookies of the year, but Dartmouth did finish in a four-way tie for second that year.
The 1986 Penn Quakers, coming off the rookie awards for Comizio and Flynn, was one of the best Ivy teams in recent memory. The same was true of the 1994 undefeated Penn team coming off the rookie awards for Goodwillie and Macik.
The key is to get more talented players in the trenches who can help our many young stars shine more often. Phil Mitchell needs more help on that defensive line. Ralph DeBernardo needs more supporting players on the offensive line, etc.
I don't know if the Lions will seriously contend for the Ivy title next year after going 0-7 this time around, but the track record for teams with consecutive rookie award winners makes things look good for a very strong turnaround in 2008 or 2009.
posted by Jake @ 11:03:00 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Jake: you'll need to post the won-loss records of those other teams for each of the two years they had the rookie of the year before I buy your theory. If you find one that was 1-9 the second year, I'm in.
We have a lot to prove. Looking forward to next year already, however.
Leonidas
On a another positive note, Steve Cargile had a few nice plays on special teams for the Broncos last night. Glad to see him doing well. Jake or anyone--is Jeff Otis still on the Raiders roster?
I'm not saying we will win the title... but 1-9 or 0-10, we have a lot of good reasons to expect a much better upcoming season as did all the previous teams with two straight rookie winners.
Having gone through the recruiting process with my son recently, NW and staff have a tremendous task ahead-not just to find players who are good students, but to find players to make Columbia football better, while competing against the name, $ (support of the school) and tradition of the HYP schools. Now that the season is over, the staff hits the road like a door to door sales force, trying to find the meeting kids at their High School, and at home with his parents, competing with other Ivy Schools for,often times, the same kids. NW will have to sell himself, his staff, the institution, the football program.
However, I believe NW is uniquely qualified for this challenge, with his ability to connect with the boys by his charisma and actions --plainly put, they boys like and trust him. This is evident by the recruiting classes and the current reversal of attrition (ie upperclassman staying put) that is occurring...these boys are sticking with the Columbia football program, despite the W-L record. The attitude of the staff and the players will be evident to the recruits and their parents on the official visits to Columbia in January. All the Ivy programs will be able to sell great academics. Columbia can sell the urban experience and the current football experience, which the players seem to highly value. Let's see what happens.
A special kind of person remains a fan of Columbia football throughout the years (4 decades in my own case). Kind of like Samuel Johnson described second marriages as "the triumph of hope over experience." But I retain it personally and salute all others who feel the same way, however long they've been at it. To all such, and players, coaches, administrators, team parents, etc., my wishes for a happy, bounteous Thanksgiving and a much better 2008 season.
rs
Ditto on the hope and holiday note....hopefully with the new $$$ pledge to athletics and specifically the football program combined recruiting expertise of NW and his staff, we will have more luck winning recruits in our backyard(NJ, PA and NY) where we have never had a ton of success in the past.
good article in Spec:
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/?q=node/28262
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