Bizzaro World
Roar Lions Roar is brought to you by Stealadiamond.com
Enter the coupon code “ROARLIONS” for a 10% discount off anything on the site!
Roar Lions Roar is also brought to you by IvySport.
You can check out IvySport's Columbia products here.
So you think that it's 100% obvious that Columbia Head Coach Norries Wilson has failed and there's no question he will be fired at the end of the season at the latest?
Not so fast my friend.
Based on my sources, I can now report that Wilson's job remains secure and he can expect to be back next season.
That's even if the Lions go 0-10.
That's even if we see another debacle like last weekend's 37-0 loss at Dartmouth.
That's despite everything that's completely plain to everyone watching Columbia football.
Why?
Because Wilson has been given a big vote of confidence again from the one person who matters in CU football.
I can't confirm this part of the story, but click here to see video of an actor portraying that vote for confidence and calm as it happened just this week.
The rest of us don't matter.
Reality doesn't matter.
In short, it is Bizzaro World.
Who Do We Call?
Everybody at Columbia likes and respects Bill Campbell.
But for some reason, he has a blind spot for Coach Wilson and this has to end now.
If he likes him personally, wonderful. I have no interest in ruining a friendship.
But their friendship now needs to remain independent of the head coaching position in the Columbia football program.
I want everyone to remain civil and respectful, but if you are dismayed by all of this you can send an email to the general address for the Board of Trustees at secretary@columbia.edu
I trust those emails will be passed on to Mr. Campbell's office directly.
Again, I really must insist that everyone remain civil, but I also am not naive enough to think that remaining silent will do this situation any good.
Otherwise, we're as far beyond reality as this guy:
posted by Jake @ 12:08:00 AM
48 comments
48 Comments:
Jake- Are you sure? Even Bill Campbell can't be that niave. then again, he blessed those aweful designs for that building on 218th Street. Bravo on the views overseeing the #1 train. Clearly, looking over the Hudson, would be less attractive!
If this guys stays, even with 2-3 wins this season (yes, big "if"), then I will withdraw all of my support to the program, athletics, and the University. My contributions will not be missed, as thay are only a few thousands of dollars (just under $40K this year alone in the name of my classmate), but at least I will stand on principal. There are plenty of other charities and schools that I can support who actually care about the kids!
I hope that it s not too late to get this guy out of here. he is a disgrace to his profession, and the University. I am now embarrassed to say that I went to school there!
I've said it before, and I'll say it again... Here is how thing will play out with Norries: Tanks this season (0-10), announces BIG changes - fires Marino, they win 3-4 games next year (by default), contract extension. Idiots! Idiots!! Idiots!!!
Hey, Hot Dog Committee, you all should be ashamed of yourselves and resign if this guy is retained!
Well, as Roger Lehecka once said, Columbia gets fewer complaints for going 0-10 than Dartmouth would get for going 4-6.
No way, don't believe it! Sorry, no! No! No!! No!!! I refuse to believe that Dr. Murphy would allow this to go on. With all of this dissent, there is simply reasonable rational to keep him.
On to Yale and Norries' LAST 4 games... On YES network. Hopefuy, with Brackett back it will energize this team!
Ashamed!
Jake, any idea where John Robinson landed after leaving the University of Houston in 2009. Is he still in athletics?
Brackett has played three good halves against Yale, two in 2009 and one last year. The 2009 game was his first varsity action. Hopefully, he will be ready for Yale this week and will lead to a victory.
Perhaps the Bill Campbell vote of confidence is a face saving move for the coaches so that they can go out and get new jobs.
If you asked the coaches last year I would have bet that they would have said that this year was their best chance to win an Ivy League Championship. 4 out of 5 O-lineman returned, a 1st team all-ivy QB, a WR that was a captain last year, 7 seniors on defense, vastly improved special teams, and all the tough games at home (Harvard, Penn, Brown & Yale). If they can't even beat the low Ivy teams what value is the coaching staff adding? Going 0-10 with the talent on this team is criminal. I can't imagine NW being retained, but this is Columbia football...
We should vote with our money and stop donqtions to the football team. He has been given 6 years and that is enough.
Not donating to the football team affects the players in more ways then one so think about it.
Someone on this thread seems to be claiming he donated $40,000 this year to CU athletics. Even if that's a typo and it should be $4000, that's an awful lot of money. So much so that I'm inclined to disbelieve either sum. It certainly also qualifies as bragging.
Don't know Bill Campbell. But have chatted seriously with Norries at times. Whatever his faults as a coach (I think he has some), he is, personally, a much, mucn nicer man than Donelli, Naso, McElreavy and Shoop were together. (Tellier also seems pretty nice personally, and if someone here can clarify how and why he was fired and how and why he was retained as an assistant AD, I'd much appreciate it.)
I have long suspected that Columbia especially values the issue of character in its coaches, an area in which McElreavy, Garrett and supposedly Shoop fell down down quite a bit. So they seem in part to value Norries.
As for criticism of Dr. Murphy's hiring abilities, well, she hired Kyle Smith, about whom no one seems to have a bad word. And in his first year he brought us a winning season and an always-competitive team. I eagerly await what he shows us this season. He is a vast improvement over Joe Jones, who, while direct and charming, had his problems re game management. One index of Kyle Smith's ability is his use last season of Zach Crimmins, seldom used during Jones' reigh. Under Smith, he started and averaged almost 6 points per game and shot almost 65%. Yes, almost all of his shots were from within 3 feet of the basket, but still, almost 65%!
I might even make the case that basketball is our real "marquee sport." It gets us coverage in newspapers everywhere, it can lead to an NCAA tournament berth. That we're opening (perhaps foolishly, I know) againt UConn on national TV hints that the administration too thinks basketball is our real national showcase sport (despite successes in rowing, cross-country, etc.)
If Norries is retained, I'll grumble but I will not at all cut my comparatively much more modest financial support. And I'll still attend games. And I will stay pray devotedly for victories. This is my lot in life, since I don't have the means to make the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela (I just saw "The Way.")
And it is surely also time for all of us gathered here, whatever our misgivings about CU football, to look forward to basketball season.
I suspect , donations are one of the things NW is graded on (evidently wins/losses are not important). The best thing for all involved is that he follows the Joe Jones path and becomes an assistant at a I-A school again. I read that he had been looking for an NFL job. He seems like a nice guy and I feel sorry for him, but if you want to take the big salary (and CU football pays 200K or so ) that is part of the job.
Andrew Weiss is listed as the backup to Sean Brackett .
Despite all of the losses of the season, news that NW won't be fired is the most depressing. You have to wonder what the motive would be to keep NW around? Is it pure stubbornness as the Spectator suggested? What is the real reason for the continuation of the great depression? If you think this is not the great depression you are very naive. Take a look at the players as they leave the field after every game. Watch the coaches and their lack of coaching technique as they spiral out of control in desperation. Heck, just read the blog to see how depressed the fans are as well.
The administration should keep in mind that the football players attend the newly ranked most stressful college in the university and they choose to spend their "free time" playing football. They are not given scholarships so they play purely for fun. But after a while, how much fun is it to lose every week and to get yelled at by coaches to boot? Furthermore, what does it feel like to not be supported by the administration of the very university you proudly represent on the field and in the classroom.
Most universities administer assessments at the end of each semester to students in each course. The students rank the professor in several critical areas. Do the athletes get the same opportunity? If not, they should. The players at least deserve their say in bizzaro world.
Not sure about the poster's $40K, or $4K Cathar, but what I DO know is that several young alums have given over $100K to athletics in the name of the BC center. So those sums are not far off. Several posters have commented that ANY support for the BC Center, athletics, and directly to football is a vote of confidence for Norries. I agree with that string of logic. The only way we have some seblence of power here is to dry up the one thing hat we can control, cash flow.
Not sure what being "a nice guy" has ANYTHING to do with keeping a coach with this type of record. It is a joke and we are the laughing stock of the Ivy League! I knew Garrett, McElreavy, Shoop, Tellier and now Norries. Tellier gets the nice guy award, but not a good coach. They had a year or two extra on his contract, his kids were still in school at Columbia, so they allowed him to finish his contract through the AD office. It turns out that he shakes hands with the best of them, so they kept him beyond his contract. Good job CU. Yale did the same thing with Slideckie, who I believe is still at Yale. I would NOT recommend doing that w/Norries!
Regarding Joe Joes, Diane drove him away. Agree that we should have won more games under Joe, but he was great for the University. As far as Kyle Smith, the jury is still out. As far as Xs and Os, no question that he is better. However, he needs to get NYC talen and publicize that. NYC is supposed to be the Basketball capital of the world. This is the easiest sport to win the Ivies. You need one (true) 7' footer, a shooting guard, and a point guard, that's it. The rest can be roll players. I was at several games last year and the entire league is SLOW!
If they retain Norries, I agree that the prvious poster and the FBC should either resign or dissolve.
Interesting that Columbia offensive line is much bigger than the Yale offensive line. And that would still be the case even if Yale's best offensive lineman, Wes Gavin, was able to play this week. My understanding is that Gavin suffered a season-ending injury in last Saturday's Penn game.
Yale's two-deep has a freshman offensive tackle slated to start in place of Gavin.
Freshman Alec Fisher moves in as the back-up running back. He is the only member of the freshman class to make the 2-deep at a skills position. Another freshman, Chad Washington, is the back-up nose tackle behind Chris Groth. Washington made four tackles against Dartmouth.
I'm mystified by what has happened to this year's team, but not as quick as the rest of you to blame it all on the coach. Maybe it's because I've seen it before at CU under a variety of coaches.
To point out one thing, Wilson was OC at UConn, and runner up national 1A assistant of the year in that role. He helped move UConn up to IA with earlier success than ayone anticipated, including a bowl game and, if memory serves, a bowl win. And he had a glowing reference from his HC who remains a close friend. So Wilson knows successful coaching and offense. Gutekunst and Argast are also highly experienced and successful coaches. The idea that they would sabotage the program, as some have suggested, or forget how to coach, as others have suggested, or have had the success they did and nonetheless be incompetetent, is preposterous. So what's causing the breakdown? Surely the head coach is where the buck stops, but I doubt this is something that can be diagnosed from the stands. And without a diagnosis, you can't find a proper cure.
Maybe Campbell, Murphy and the committee know something we don't? Or maybe Jake's source is wrong about next year? Regardless, I'd like to hear some educated discussion about what might be going on rather than knee-jerk lynch Norries posts. Maybe there's some actual insight into the situation floating somewhere among us? It certainly would be more interesting than the repetitive attacks on Wilson.
For starters, can someone explain how a senior like Popeck, an experienced and usually capable long snapper, puts one that far over his punter's head? Don't say it's coaching, 'cause it obviously is not. I think we can safely assume long snapping is practiced, and Popeck was told that snapping it into the end zone is very bad thing.
Garrett has made progress at running back and may be ready for a breakout game.
Would someone please explain why the Pres.,the AD, Assistant AD down the line, wouldn't want to compete with the other Ivys and be the BEST at everything? Whether it be sports,clubs ,organizations,the arts etc. Why don't they want to rank up there with Harvard and Penn? With football, is it because it is JUST a sport? Is it because they have not really had great teams and it is just accepted?Is it that they look at these boys as "dumb jocks" and forget that they put in hours of practice and meetings and STILL keep their grades up? It's a given that academics come first at CU, but these kids play for the love of the game. They play with heart and are very compassionate. I think they are getting the brunt of the deal.A change needs to be made, one of which should be made with their best interest at heart.GO LIONS
I just don't know! On the one hand, it would no doubt be good for everyone if the fball team were up to the standards the university sets for itself in other areas. On the other hand, nobody has been able to bring football up to that standard. Nobody! Ever!
Is that because they couldn't find (or wouldn't fund) the right guy? Or is it because the task simply can't be accomplished at Columbia?
If it's the former case, how are they now going to find someone for whom no model exists? This is uncharted territory. A coach like Jim Harbaugh? Who knows? Because Harbaugh never tried to win at Columbia. Let's face it: it just might be impossible!
If so, maybe the most that can be hoped for is a beloved guy who occasionally pulls off some big upsets. Isn't that what Lou Little was? His career w-l record was certainly unremarkable, but he seems to be revered.
I just don't know.
To poster just before me: If Ivy basketball is so slow, that's why they have so many "roll" players--the pick and roll is the only way those slow guys can get to the basket. Sorry, couldn't resist, I'm sure you meant to type "role" players.
As for Norries next role, it should be somewhere off the Columbia payroll. Come on, the Admin wants to keep him because he's a nice guy or because they want to thumb thir noses at the fans. I'm a nice guy too, but it doesn't mean I can coach. It does mean they shouldn't thumb their nose at me and other long-suffering Columbia supporters.
Who's more important? Us or a coach who never should have been hired in the first place. I've said it already several times, but I'll say it again: I stopped contributing as of the Penn Game until the Admin shows me they are very serious about winning. If they keep Norries, I'll sign any petition to get rid of Bollinger, Campbell and Murphy. Does Campbell, A Columbia football playing hero, want to keep Norries so his coaching record will make Campbell's sorry record look better? There already are plenty of coaches who've done that, in fact just about all of them.
Someone commented "Popeck, an experienced and usually capable long snapper, puts one that far over his punter's head"
He has done a great job all year long. Even with the best teams those will happen. No one is perfect. That snap is not a coaching issue either. One bad one this year and you are jumping on him. Really? Get off him and stop making personal attacks on specific players. They are already well aware of their issues.
IF NW is retained, it will be interesting to see if there is a change in the attrition rate of the current freshman-juniors next Spring practice. This will be a barometer of how the players feel about the coaching staff (although these young men play for the love of the game) and what type of recruits CU can bring in. These young men are dedicated as they have position meetings at 7am, voluntarily lift three times per week, and go to Baker from about 2:30pm (first bus) and return at about 8. That is dedication because that does not leave much time for the reason they are at Columbia - the great education. I am curious if other Ivies have the same time demands of the student athletes.
It's time we looked at this issue through the other end of the telescope. With two exceptions (1971 and 1996), no Columbia coach has had a winning record in 50 years. Once we acknowledge that fact, there's a fork in the road: either we contend that every coach we've hired was incompetent--a highly implausible contention, OR the problem is structural--something that the current coach-whatever his strengths and weaknesses---is going to have work through.
So let's look at ourselves. We perennially overrate the skill level of new recruits. If you are any good and have choices, the dismal record of Columbia football is a powerful disincentive. We're located in New York, a wonderful but by no means universally appealing place for high school recruits from rural and suburban backgrounds. Whatever its other virtues, the Campbell Center is not a stroll across a leafy campus. And finally, the University is a university with a football team, not, as some commentators would have it, a football team with a university: administrators would doubtlessly prefer we win, but there are limits to what they are willing to do, given their understandably academic priorities.
In sum, we don't want to be the sports equivalent of serial adulterers who marry their wives and then discover that in succession, one nags, the next has let herself go, and the third talks too much. Although Wilson certainly has his problems, he has as good a chance as anyone else to work through the structural issues that have long bedeviled Columbia football. It may relieve us of the pain of self-examination to think that another coach would do better, but the odds are very high that in another five years, we'd be complaining a lot about his deficiencies.
It amazes me that posters keep bringing up the fact that Norries was National Runner-Up for "Coach of the Year". Hey, who came in second last year in the NYC Marathon? Answer: who cares! Unless you win, the point is moot! It's like Diane touting hat we have multiple All-Ivy players on the football team. Really? How many wins do you have? Oh, we have ZERO!
By the way, do you know who WON the "National Assistant Coach of the Year AWARD?". I do... Tom Gilmore (see 11th paragraph)...
http://www.goholycross.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/gilmore_tom00.html
Also, if Norries is still friendly with Esdall, then let him join the MD staff (PLEASE).
It pains me when I read posts, like the previous post-er, who looks at CU football from a historical factor, and claims that there is nothing that can be done. First, that was Penn seval years ago. Brown never complains about being wedged in between Harvard and Yale, yet the win! And somehow, sports like baseball, track & Field/X-Country, etc. THRIVE in the City; yet those coaches and Player don't come up with excuses. Why do we always come up with excuses?
As far as overrating the recruits that come in. Well, to be honest, that may be a fair point. Also, We had so many returning veterans; especially on the O-Line, that we couldn't help but anticipate (at least) a 500 season. Clearly, though, we lost three games this year because of coaching miscues. That is inexcusable!
Can someone please give Norries a card of plays when he is on the sidelines. Just have him look at it once, or twice during the game so that the fans at least think that he's doing something.
"It may relieve us of the pain of self-examination to think that another coach would do better..."
This is a critical point, I think.
I can see why everyone wants Wilson out. I'm not going to argue against it. But we should recognize that one of the reasons it is so appealing is that it allows us to pin the failure on one person (or two or three, if you include Murphy or Campbell).
Firing allows us to cling to the popular idea that "we have the talent, we just need the right coach". Columbia has talented players -- but not enough to be seriously competitive. The top teams have depth to spare. Don't be fooled by the great performance against Penn or the horrid one at Dartmouth. The team's "true" talent level is probably somewhere in the between -- which is still not very promising.
If you think a new coach will improve in that area, great; but know that this improvement is sorely needed, and if it does come it will be against all historical precedent. It is not just a matter of calling a squib kick or going for it on 4th down at the wrong time -- those mistakes represent a tiny fraction of what plagues Columbia Football.
In an earlier post Jake claimed that the team would be 3-2 or 4-1 without Wilson -- I found this to be a bizarre statement. I guess if you pin all the blame for the mistakes on Wilson, while giving him no credit for any of the successes, you can reach that conclusion.
It is naive to say the least. The reality is much more foggy. Wilson deserves some of the credit for the great start to that Penn game. The players must take some of the blame for penalties and the unfortunate collapse at the end. That's not to demean the players, because we all respect them. It's just a fact: the web of cause and effect is much more complex than some make it out to be.
Fair points... but to be clear I have NEVER said this was a 4-2 or 5-1 team if we had another coach. Some commenters have said that, I have not. I have no idea how many games another coach would have won with this team. I do say it would be more, but never point an exact number on it.
The Fordham, Princeton, and Penn games make it a 3 win season by now with a competent coach. Jake doesn't have to say it, I will.
Jake, regarding the team's record with another coach, in your power rankings on October 16 you write:
"8. Columbia
Still winless and more obviously without good leadership than ever. A better coaching staff and this team is easily 3-2 and maybe 4-1."
Perhaps you make a distinction between a different coach vs "a better coaching staff"? In any case, that's the remark I was alluding to in my earlier post.
I think you got me... but I don't want to emphasize a target number over and above the more important fact that the team is performing worse, not better, after six years with this current regime.
5:13 AM, not sure if you're being intentionally obtuse, or just taking a cheap flame against me. The point (obviously) was that a lot of players are making mistakes this year that normally they wouldn't make, including seniors who must know better. But you and others are blaming the coaches for it and demanding they lose their jobs as a consequence. Brackett's throw at the end of the first half of the Fordham game (he said so himself in the Spec), the false starts in the Penn game, and that long snap, are examples. There are other plays that we don't know about. The Spec article this week mentioned one in which the blocking was designed up the middle, but the ball carrier mistakenly went outside.
Those of us with historical perspective remember dozens of roughing the kicker penalties, roughing the passer penalties, false starts, missed blocks, wrong turns on pass patterns, etc. that crop up at the most inopportune times for CU tie and again, but don't seem to happen that often with opponents. And it's happened under a succession of coaches, with a succession of teams, over several decades. Find the reason for that and you will have taken great strides to solving the problem. Firing the coach hasn't changed that in the past. No one's given a real reason it should change that now. And I note that until this year, we haven't seen much of it under the Wilson regime -- but this year it certainly has been embarrassing. Why this consistent return to form? Answer that and you'll have done something really constructive. Those who don't understand the past are condemned to repeat it, and I for one would hate to see that happen here. How about you?
Back in the mid 60s, the Harvard coach was quoted as telling his team that Columbia will always find a way to beat itself. But here is where I part company with those of you who say that is the fault of the players. Players who are properly prepared don't find ways to beat themselves. And coaches are the ones who are accountable for getting players ready to play. I can never understand why coaches think that this is a complicated game. It really isn't. If you can run 15 or 20 plays properly, that is all it takes to win. If you can establish a few basic defenses, and if you make sure that the guys on the field and both cover and tackle, that too is all that it takes to win. But we can't seem to run 15 or 20 plays properly, and we can't seem to block or tackle. If the coaches can't recruit players with those basic skills, and make sure that those sklills are further refined, then they should be doing something other than coaching. And one further word on Norries. He seems like a very decent guy but completely lost on game day. In fact, he seems like a spectator.
I think the crusade to get NW fired should end. Coming from someone who helped build this program for four years we should leave it to those who have been with us all along building the program in good times and bad. There is a reason Bill Campbell has been entrusted to make decisions for the university in regards to athletics and other matters. I think he knows what he is doing and we should not be writing him unless a relationship has already been established. There are plenty of alumni with a relationship there that can decide to or decide not to make that call. These calls to get the coach fired are NOT helping the team which has 40% of their season left. NW has put the program in a much better place than he found it. And under Campbell and Murphy's leadership the athletics at Columbia has taken great strides. I always appreciated this blog when I was playing, but I think it is currently counterproductive and getting out of hand.
-Make Plays Get Paid.
That coaches are responsible for properly preparing their players is a truism that says nothing about Columbia's predicament. Why do we always find a way to lose? Are you saying that no coach has adequately prepared the team for the last 50 years? Raging at Wilson or playing musical chairs with coaches represents a refusal to look the evidence in the face. I'm not saying per 7:16 that nothing can be done--indeed, quite the contrary. What I'm saying is that it requires a more calibrated response than merely pulling harder on the same lever. That will make some of us feel good, but in the end, we will have achieved nothing.
I say keep Norries! Why not? If he stays, we could be 0-20 and then those people (ex-players, alums, fans, etc.) can further rationalize why he should stay. oh, I'm sorry, he dresses the team alike. Please inform Anna Wintour that she now has competition.
The players have NO CONFIDENCE in him and the fans have no confidence in him (outside of the people on this Blog who love to make excuses for him). Only the 7 other Ivies are begging us to keep him! Bill C's track record overseeing the past two head coaches here is not that good my friends (Shoop/NW). To the ex-players who support this coach, I'm embarrassed for you!
What would Sean McDonald do here? I'd say, win! Ray still keeps in touch with him. UNH doesn't pay (although quality of life is better). I say we take a shot.
11:08, you say "the players have no confidence in" Wilson. How many have you spoken with directly, and what did they say, specifically? Or are you projecting your own feelings onto them?
To win at Columbia will take more than preparedness. It will take the ability to believe it can happen. Imagine, as a player, trying to overcome the negativity. The pressure to win at Columbia is not like the pressure to win at Harvard.
It will take a coach who truly understands this and how it affects the players to start to turn things around -a coach who despite all the noise, gets the players to believe, have faith and tenacity under pressure -a coach who believes his players can do it and believes he himself can get his players to do it
-a coach with confidence who will instill confidence on the field. It's quite possible that no Columbia coach has really figured out the psychological part of winning in this environment.
As far as better, more skilled players, I don't buy that either. We have hung in and almost won more games than I care to remember. We were competitive. We would have, could have, should have won.
I have spoken to several players and parents. The dartmouth game was the tipping point, even for the zealous CU fans at the tailgate party. that's all i will say...
11:45, good point. At the end of the Tellier years, some of the players said they believed Ray and his staff had lost confidence in them and, as a consequence, dumbed down the offensive and defensive schemes to a point where they were no longer competitive.
I don't see that happening this year, though. The coaches were very confident in the team at the start of this season. Moreover, Wilson accomplished exactly what you say is needed in the Penn game. The team took a lead, kept it most of the way, and looked ready to win right up to the two false start penalties. Despite the prior games, they believed. A big part of that was coaching. And it would be foolish to blame the coaches for the false starts.
Maybe that's part of what Campbell, et al. are seeing?
Coaching issues should be fixed along with football in NYC issues, which, as Mitch '68, pointed out are undeniable.
Not sure exactly what the NYC issues are, but lets do this right and take a wholistic approach.
Former player panels. Bring in former coaches willing to chime in. Outside consultants. Anything and everything to get where we need to be.
Tellier was under-served by an under-paid staff of assistants -- a.k.a., a "structural flaw" that persists and can be addressed --- unlike NYC, the duration of the bus ride to Baker, the impact of the Core, the weight of past athletic and political history, not to mention the gender of Alma Mater.
Leonlion
I have been reading this blog since the late summer after my son completed the rounds of Ivy football camps. My son worked hard and had an offer from his first choice Ivy by August. For my son, the only appealing thing about Columbia was Coach Wilson. He was a true professional in the recruiting circuit. I wish the alums posting here would try a more supportive attitude.
All my sons' friends felt the same way regarding Columbia. Thus for Coach Wilson, it is hard to get players to choose Columbia.
Not sure what the previous poster means by his last sentence, "Thus for Coach Wilson, it is hard to get players to choose Columbia." Probably means that Wilson was good at recruiting which overcame other disadvantages related to choosing the Lions. We all acknowledge that Norries was good at that and brought in plenty of talent, but the problem for the most part has been in showing it at game time. Good recruiter and gentleman, not such a good coach, wish him well.
It's not hard. He wrote that players he knows would come to Columbia despite Columbia and because of Wilson. That may explain the great turnaround in retention. Also it suggests that another coach may not be able to achieve the same talent level. See the rosters under the prior eight coaches. Be careful what you wish for. A new coach could be a step backward.
And, by the way, it indicates another part of the job Wilson is good at (in contrast to some of his predecessors): representing the university.
Post a Comment
<< Home