Teleconference Blog
An MP3 will indeed be available of this newsconference on Ivyleaguesports.com later today
Robin Harris delivered some very brief welcoming remarks.
Jim Maconaghy, coordinator of officials for the Ivy League said the officials had three days of clinics in Philadelphia recently.
Not a lot of changes this year.
Wedge blocking on kickoffs is being scaled back. Only two players will be allowed to be shoulder-to-shoulder from now on for kickoffs only.
Officials are going to be on the lookout for more signs of concussions from now on. Anyone believed to be showing concussion symptoms will have to be cleared by on-the-field medical staff from now on. An injury timeout alone will not be sufficient.
No more writing on the eye shade for players anymore.
For 2011 season, taunting after scores will NEGATE the score! And also in 2011, the coaches in the booth will be allowed to have TV monitors. But there’s no immediate chance of instant replay being brought into the Ivy League. This would probably have to be a FCS decision, not just an Ivy decision.
Phil Estes, Brown
-First have to recognize that we’ve lost a huge amount of starters, but recruiting has been great and we have a history of replacing stars at Brown now. Estes also praised the JV program for helping to replace the starters at the varsity level.
-Zach Tronti will be back. He has recovered from his ACL tear at Yale. But Spiro Theodosi is out for the season with his ACL. Mark Mark Katchmer will take over from him.
-All five projected starters on the OL have starting experience.
-Clay McGrath comes back at DE. But we need more experience on defense.
-Very excited about AJ Cruz at CB.
-Freshman kicker named Noracea will at least be able to help us on kick offs. nate levitt and nate myers had great springs.
Norries Wilson, Columbia
-We had a good spring. 10 out 12 good practices in the spring. We have work to do, but not a lot of questions.
-AJ Maddox Owen Fraser and Alex Gross coming back.
-Knowlin and Miller are going to be tough losses. We won’t find one player to produce like Lou, but the group will have to do that as a group.
-We need more production for our offense to get back the fear factor Knowlin gave us.
-Our depth has improved. Evan Miller and Augie Williams filled in well for Gross. Matt Moretto is ready to go in for Corey Cameron.
-Kicking game is still a question. It was bad last year. We hope Greg and Dean continue to punt. We recruited some good players too. The job is open.
-The three players projected to play at OL look good, not huge question marks.
-The trend of the spread offense may start waning a bit.
-Adam Mehr is a leader. Alex Gross is someone the kids rally behind. Evan Miller does what he’s asked to do. A joy to have around campus.
Kent Austin, Cornell
A blend of both CFL and Ole Miss. But I believe in a power running game but with more creativity than we used at Mississippi.
We will be a 4-3 as we are putting a priority on stopping the run. Talent on defense seems better on defense right now.
Junior Adam Currie, sophomore Chris Amrhein, and freshman Jeff Matthews look good for the mix at QB. Chris has the quick arm and accurate. Adam is bright, doesn’t have the arm that Chris has but makes great decisions. Matthews has a real opportunity. Very accurate passer. Will do all the studying he needs to do. Josh Vick tore his ACL in the spring throwing the javelin in track. He’s out for the season.
Outsiders would be surprised at the level of talent in the Ivies. Coaches do a great job.
Buddy Teevens, Dartmouth
A lot of players coming back and they should be more seasoned now. Depth has improved.
The new schedule will be a plus. We’ve had our difficulties with UNH and Colgate over the past 10 years. Also the players like to see a change in the schedule.
Nick Schwieger is fine. He seems to have no issues right now.
Tim McManus is back this year and will play WR.
Buddy seems to be relying a lot on the offensive lineman improving with age.
Scrimmage with Harvard has been helpful. Testing against the league’s best.
Tim Murphy, Harvard
We came within a couple of plays from winning our third straight Ivy title. But we just weren’t tough enough.
There will be “tremendous competition” for the QB position. He mentioned Hatch and explained his transfer history. We have to consider the intangibles. The players like Hatch. And even though Winters is the leader of the team, if Hatch is the guy to win us games, the team will rally around him.
Good depth at WR. Cook , iannuzzi with chrisis, and lorditch.
Concern is at the offensive line. Only one starter returning. But our left tackle has a chance to be a better pro prospect. Kevin Murphy has great size and is a great athlete. He could be the best Harvard OL since Matt Birk.
Murphy seems very confident in his defense, especially with some returning players coming off injuries. More depth on the defensive line this year.
Al Bagnoli, Penn
We have a lot of experience back on offense. The offense line is 100% back. Kicking game is back and looks good.
On defense, we graduated five dominant players. I’m not sure we can be as strong on defense as we were, but we expect to be better on offense.
But the unknown factor is how the team will react to the suicide of Owen Thomas. The reaction so far has been healthy.
Keiffer Garton has the most experience coming back. Billy Ragone and John Hurley have seen action. This will be a position of strength for us.
We have depth at RB. Mike DiMaggio is back and Matt Hamscher is too. Jeff Jack. Lyle Marsh may not need to carry 30-35 times game.
We will have a vertical passing attack. Bradford Blackmon can make plays outside and open up the offense a bit.
Doesn’t pay attention to the polls.
Bob Surace, Princeton
Pleased with improvements so far.
Didn’t know James Perry personally, but I did know about his abilities. But bringing him in doesn’t mean there will be more or less passing or running in the Tiger offense this season.
I learned from Marvin Lewis, who was the leader of a lot of great defenses.
Wornham is the guy at QB now. He is improving. Protecting the ball. He is becoming much more accurate as a passer. Looks more like a leader now as a junior. Exudes more confidence.
Would you ever consider scheduling a game against Rutgers? Not likely, they are on a different level. Schedule is set for about 10 years.
Tom Williams, Yale
Excited about the returning players. Good number of them coming back.
Witt is the starter and has the top spot. We will still have completion, but it’s his job to lose. He had to adjust to a lot of changes last year. Now he has a year under his belt and he had a great spring game.
Williams response to the fake punt call: the people who thought that was too much of a gamble probably had their money in the money market and not in stocks!
Mordecai Cargil and Alex Thomas are coming back. Confident in them.
We feel like the guys potentially replacing Tom Mante will fill in well.
Getting a full year under my belt as a coach has left me knowing the league better.
posted by Jake @ 11:28:00 PM
22 comments
22 Comments:
wow - so taunting after a score negates a TD? In that case, we might have beaten Yale in the game where the Eli TB thought it was a good idea to somersault over the goal line. That display of poor sportsmanship still rankles me.
How can Coach Williams of Yale possibly compare his bonehead fake punt call to making money market investments? If his point is that you have to take chances to win football games, then that really doesn't explain why Williams would have Yale fake a punt on 4th and long from inside your 40 yard line when you are ahead of your opponent with time running out in the game. I would have more respect for Williams if he finally admitted he made a lousy call.
I'm not sure the refs will have the guts to penalize any team for another tumbilina incident like we saw at Yale. Anyway, it seems to me the new rule only penalizes conduct following a score and not the manner in which the score is made. The problem is how do you define a "taunt." What may constitute a taunt to one ref may not be a taunt to another.
Sounds like Norries is playing it close to the vest. Murphy touted his left tackle, but I doubt he is in the same category as our own Jeff Adams, for example. Estes talked about his excellent recruiting year, but nary a word from Norries on our stellar recruits, except for the kickers.
Hey Jake, is the federal government now running the Ivies?
So a 20 yr old gets overly excited after a TD and now an official is going to take away 6 points because he deemed it taunting?
Where are we going as a society? Can we regulate all aspects of life that are deemed by a few to be "wrong"?
Heaven help us from the PC's!
The Eli running back (McLeod) and the then coach (Jack)thought the whole thing was a big joke. You'll recall that we had Yale on the ropes that year, but when time was running out Jack didn't take a knee but chose to punch in a meaningless score. I don't miss him, or McLeod.
The new Wedge, Eyeblack, and Taunting rules are not only for the Ivy League but for the whole NCAA.
if you dont want them somersaulting into the endzone ... dont let them in the endzone.
i like the eye black and wedge rules. there is already an unsportsmanlike conduct 15 yarder for taunting. not sure i like the 6 point takeaway.
I think a 6 point penalty for what otherwise might plausibly be viewed as expressions of youthful exuberance is way, way, way much. And "taunting" is something to associate anyway with, say, the likes of Adam "Pac Man" Jones (or the recently deceased Jack Tatum, whom I knew slightly) than with any Ivy football player.
Yes, the infamous Yale somersault was tacky and bush league in the extreme, and the perpetrator should have been publicly disciplined for it by Yale's possibly classless then-coach. That too, however, hardly constituted "taunting."
Anyway, nobody has ever done "taunting" better than the French knights in "Monty Python And The Holy Grail."
There is a MUST SEE article in the (hated) NYT today about our beloved Baker Field ( now known as the ___ Field (S) at the ___ Stadum (S) at the Baker Athletics Complex)
The article in the Times is just awful. Typical of the Times, claiming that we always lose and only have 2,00 show up on a good day. When will they ever give us a fair shake? Now that the WSJ has a sports page I should cancel my subscription to the Times. Hey Jake, how about using your way with words to write a stinging letter to the Times?
actually the person who said we have 2,000 fans in the seats "on a good day" or something like that was A UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEE.
Granted he was trying to downplay any potential town vs gown animosity, but honestly, what a jackass.
However, I am really amazed at the smack they wrote about us in the article - words to the effect "fans go up to Baker Field to see the Lions lose to their Ivy opponents" - Yikes! Maybe the writer was a Harvard man - quite possible.
All my family members made a shared decision some time ago to cancel our respective subscriptions to the New York Times, a/k/a the "Boston Times." Sure the Times has some great articles on the International Community and the Arts and Sciences, but its overall daily anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-New York, and even anti-Columbia tone was too much for this devoted Columbia University sports family.
Who cares what some dweeb who writes for the Metro section of the Times thinks? The NYTimes is a dying enterprise, it may not be around in 15 years. Columbia University will be. Let's play the games where they need to be played, on the field. By the way, we're getting better all the time in that department and that's the only thing that matters.
Agree about the NYT article. The reporter is either unaware or disregarding the fact that we won 3 Ivy games last season, easily dispatching Princeton (38-0), Cornell (30-20), and most impressively, Brown (28-14). That a Times reporter should gratuitously slander a home town college is shameful, and the idiot should be taken to task for it.
The author of this Times article, Joseph Berger, actually graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. You think he would be a little kinder to his alma mater.
As disparaging, ignorant and disheartening as the NYT piece is, it should be a rallying cry for the program. Even though CU has turned its team around, until it has a a title or at least a winning record, the mainstream "public perception" will still be what it is, even among, alas, alumni reporters. As impressive as it is, a 3-4 record regrettably is not enough to change the reprutation (but it IS doable). This being said, it is pathetic that the NYT cannot support CU's LOCAL football and appreciate it for what it tries to do, instead of focusing on Rutgers and Fordham WHICH OFFER ATHLETIC SCHOALRSHIPS!! The mere fact that a school like CU, with it aspiration to academic excellence even FIELDS A TEAM is nothing short of remarkable, given that other reputable schools have long given it up, like University of Chicago or NYU (Hofstra I believe also folded its program last year). Also, how about the fact that most collge football teams have athletes where 90 per cent don't graduate and CU has athletes of which 90 per cent DO graduate!
here's the real irony:
The Times editorial page every once in a while likes to mock big-time college sports for being corrupt/anti-education/undeserving of tax-exemption/etc...
The Times sports columnists (Rhoden, Vecsey, etc.) often talk about how dirty the college game is... and how the coaches are overpaid...
The new Times advertising campaign (to fend off the new local section of the WSJ) talks about how "local" they are, and how nobody is as "New York" as the Times...
Where does the Times send its sports reporters and columnists every weekend? Florida/Alabama. USC/Notre Dame. Michigan/Ohio State.
If anything, the reason why big-time college football is dirty and undeserving of tax-exempt financing is because the national media has made a big deal of it... hyping the games as "better than" the local alternative. This feeds the demand which leads to the commercialization... which leads to the eventual corruption of principles.
Perhaps some of the more influential Columbians can call the Sulzbergers on their hypocrisy...
This New York Times reporter, Joseph Berger, cannot be criticized enough, especially now that we know he's a Columbia journalism grad. Such ignorance, ingratitude, and downright meanness is unforgiveable, and unprofessional as well. Anybody know how to get these views in his face?
Yes, what makes Ivy league football so exciting is that amount of "handicaps" they have to deal with to field good teams (some players of which make it to the NFL!). Each Ivy has an equal playing field of "disadvantages" to work with and that makes for often great games. Otherwise, it is is like playing tennis without a ne
sports@nytimes.com
public@nytimes.com
I repeat: the New York Times hates Columbia, Columbia sports, Republicans and Israel. Read the WSJ, now that it has a sports section.
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