Still Unconfirmed

Joe Jones

The rumor mill is still grinding over the fate of Joe Jones as head basketball coach.

As of 1:30pm Eastern Time today, it's all still unconfirmed rumors and partial reports that says Jones is on his way to Boston College to work as assistant under new Head Coach Steve Donahue.

If something truly happens or is announced, we can talk about it then.

I want to tread carefully here for what I hope are obvious reasons.



Marty Cicco


Cicco Gets a Boost


In rosier, and more definite, news, former Lion defensive back and Bill Campbell protege Marty Cicco '78 has just been given a big boost in title and stature at the boutique investment bank Evercore Partners.

Marty is now Evercore's Senior Managing Director and Head of Evercore's Real Estate Advisory practice.

Cicco grew up in Pittsburgh and was a star player at the steel city's South Hills Catholic High School. While he was at South Hills, (which is now Seton-LaSalle Catholic HS), Cicco's dad was the superintendent of all the Catholic schools in Pittsburgh.

Injuries, (including a serious ear infection in 1975), kept Cicco from really shining with the varsity. But he was a big star on the 1974 freshman team and earned a varsity letter in his senior season of 1977.

Here's what Cicco had to say about Bill Campbell in a recent edition of Columbia College Today:


Thirty-one years ago, Cicco was a highly recruited high school football player in Pittsburgh. He picked Columbia, a school whose football team had just one winning record over the previous decade. The reason? “I came to Columbia solely to play for Billy Campbell,” says Cicco, one of Campbell’s first recruits when he took over the program in 1978. Injuries cut short Cicco’s Columbia career, and during his four years on campus, the team went 8–28. Still, Cicco does not regret his decision. “I have had a reasonably successful career,” he says, downplaying his job as head of Merrill Lynch’s Global Real Estate Investment Banking division, “and I owe the job solely to Billy.” Through Campbell’s connections, Cicco got a summer job at Merrill after his junior year that led to a full-time job. He’s one of several Columbia alumni with a similar story. “Billy felt he had an obligation to every kid he recruited to be there in all aspects of a player’s life, not just on the football field.”


Another Live Blog!

The first live blog of the Columbia spring practice last week was a big hit, and now we get another one tomorrow!

Good stuff!


"Coach Lake"


And lastly...

One of Ivy Football's most enduring legends has died today.

Coach Don "Lake" Staffieri was the sort of mascot of Penn football for the last few decades. You couldn't miss him at the Penn games or even practices.

Staffieri's official title was "game-day coordinator". During every game he wore the 12 Ivy championship rings the team has won in his 32 years at Penn. He led the student section in cheers and used to do some cheering exercises with the team at the beginning and end of practices.

He was a decorated Marine Corps and World War II veteran, and then a Philadelphia area high school football coach. Before all that, he was a member of Maryland's sole National Championship team (in 1953).