Revisionist History

Do you remember us Cliff? We remember YOU!


Penn's longtime linebackers coach Cliff Schwenke is retiring from football after 35 years on the sidelines.

There is no denying that Mr. Schwenke was a great coach and that he molded many great linebackers at Penn over the last 11 years.

But there is apparently something he, and/or Penn is denying.

You see, Cliff Schwenke spent two years coaching at Columbia. In fact, he was the head freshman football coach for two seasons, 1977 and 1978.

In '77 the frosh team was 2-4, with big wins over Lafayette and... Penn. In '78, the team went 1-5, routing Laffayette and barely losing to Penn in the season finale.

But his resume on the Penn website, (see link above), not only doesn't list those years at Columbia, but it claims he was at Boston College and Holy Cross in 1977 and 1978! And people do remember him on Morningside during those seasons.

Now let me offer one possibility, (because I don't like accusing people... or even people in the Penn athletics dept. of lying), could Mr. Schwenke have coached at BC and Holy Cross and Columbia at the same time? I suppose it's remotely possible, kind of like a "Big Love" for football... but I just can't believe it.

It seems a little more likely that Schwenke or someone in the Penn athletics department decided that two years at Columbia wouldn't look good. I suppose the scores of former Columbia assistants now coaching at big-time colleges and NFL teams don't count.

I know my readers don't need any more reasons to be angry at Penn. And I've said many times on these pages that the Quakers deserve bragging rights over us until the Lions can actually beat them. But this "omission" is beyond the pale.

As for Schwenke himself, the fact that he spent two years working under the great Bill Campbell would look good on his resume now. Too bad no one will know that.