Wednesday, November 23, 2011

The Calls for Gilmore Get Louder

Roar Lions Roar is brought to you by IvySport.





You can check out IvySport's Columbia products here.





Roar Lions Roar is now also brought to you by Stealadiamond.com

***DON'T FORGET!!! Enter the coupon code “ROARLIONS” for a 10% discount off anything on the site!****




Tom Gilmore




Bob Kent '92, a great Columbia player, honored US Air Force veteran, and a good friend is speaking out strongly in favor of getting current Holy Cross Head Coach Tom Gilmore to take the helm here in Morningside Heights.

And he's not alone.

In the last 72 hours, I have received a great number of emails and calls from former Lion football players who have pledged to work as hard as possible to see that Gilmore comes back to Columbia by next month.

Just to be clear, this is just Bob's public endorsement, and of course the decision still remains in the hands of Athletic Director Dianne Murphy and Ray Tellier.

But I think all the readers here should hear what so many valuable football alums are saying:



Bob Kent



"I am writing from Afghanistan to urge you to strongly consider Tom Gilmore for CU Football Head Coach.

I was fortunate that Tom Gilmore was my position coach for two years, (1988-89), when he was Columbia's DL coach. I tried to emulate Coach Gilmore's commitment to excellence, and was a much better player (and eventually person) due to his exemplar.
Tom is a player's coach who leads by example and knows how to win.



Columbia Football has been stymied for decades by the expectation of mediocrity. Coach Gilmore is the man who can change our path. He has the history, charisma, intensity, and football acumen necessary to recruit athletes and win championships in the Ivy League. CU football has practiced bleeding long enough. Please give the players a coach they deserve and hire Tom Gilmore.


Who dares wins."



Respectfully,



Bob Kent, CU '92



Gilmore's official biography tells you a lot about the man, but I want to emphasize some important facts that get lost in the shuffle and shouldn't:


-Gilmore was a fantastic student while at Penn. He almost had all A's all four years. And this was from a kid who did not even think he was going to go to college before a coach finally convinced him to take the SAT.


-During his years at Columbia, he was a legend. Rarely have I seen the kind of bond Gilmore forged with everyone who played under him as an assistant coach. I know he was popular while at Penn and Dartmouth, but I can't believe his troops there are as loyal to him as his Columbia players from 1987-89.


-Holy Cross has completely turned around under Gilmore. The Crusaders don't win the Patriot League every year, but they are always competitive when they were not for years. Holy Cross also is very strong against the Ivy League. Gilmore's teams have dominated Dartmouth, and he even has three wins over Harvard. That includes a win over Harvard this year when no Ivy team really came all that close to beating the Crimson.

Again, this is not an endorsement from ME; I'm just restating some facts.

But they are impressive facts.

18 Comments:

At Thu Nov 24, 01:24:00 AM GMT+7, Blogger DOC said...

The comments on the Holy Cross board seem to indicate that they feel confident that Gilmore would not leave there to come here, given the success he has achieved. He certainly sounds like a terrific coach. Ok, so i'll bite, why WOULD he come here ?

 
At Thu Nov 24, 01:48:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't know the gentleman, but two obvious possibilities are location and money.

-Dr.V

 
At Thu Nov 24, 02:04:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Kiernan '92 said...

I'll echo Doc and my friend Bob Kent: I'd love to see Gilmore, but I don't know why he'd come. Seems a lateral move at best, with a lot more downside risk, if it's a stepping-stone to a bigger job; because he already has that at HC. If he takes the job and fails, where does that leave him? In the same boat as Tellier and Wilson, that's where.

 
At Thu Nov 24, 02:42:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

There is no way Gilmore can fail at Columbia unless President Bollinger promises him his full support and then pulls the rug out from under him. Whatever we pay Gilmore in salary and benefits will be returned to Columbia twenty times over in increased alumni and general contributions, and greater publicity and respect for Columbia University. The only ones who don't want Gilmore at Columbia are Harvard's Murphy and Dartmouth's Teevens. I suspect that Penn's Bagnoli would love to see Gilmore as Columbia's coach, because he realizes that the Columbia-Penn footall game will take on huge new stature. Imagine the excitement that would be generated in Philadelphia and New York City if Gilmore wins at Columbia. The best college in Philly playing the best college in New York City before sell-out crowds at Franklin Field and the Baker/Kraft/Campbell Athletic Complex. This is a marketing director's dream. Will it become reality? I really think so because we have do have some great leaders at Columbia and it is time for Dr. Murphy's aptly-named "sleeping giant" to wake up and play football.

 
At Thu Nov 24, 02:44:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Mitch '68 said...

Yes -- as 11:04 said, a lateral move with downside risk! It is no exaggeration to say that making CU a consistent winner will literally be the greatest turnaround in the history of college football. It will really be interesting to see who they come up with since there is no model for success at CU going back at least 60 years. But that was then and this is now, right? Right!

Mitch Sisskind '68

 
At Thu Nov 24, 03:43:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Bill Flick '87 said...

I'd love to see him here, too. His resume screams Ivy and screams winner

 
At Thu Nov 24, 06:50:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gilmore will have to feel the love to come here, plus the offer has to be at the top of the Ivy scale, including benefits, plus a NYC premium. It will take Campbell, Bollinger and Kraft to bring it home.

 
At Thu Nov 24, 08:38:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If we want him to take a chance, we'll have to pay him handsomely. Five years at $350,000 might do it. If he's smart, and he is, he'll also make some serious demands.

 
At Thu Nov 24, 08:46:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

His record is good but not great. M,the Georgetown guy beat him this year. But it is probably hard to recruit at HC.

 
At Thu Nov 24, 10:26:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Does anyone think there is a chance we could hire Jim Tressel. Fresh start for him as well as the team.Think he would be a good fit in the Ivy League. Would be his chance to turn the program around as well as his image. Anyone know him? Maybe Randy Lerner? Bob Kraft?

 
At Fri Nov 25, 02:09:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

One of Tressel's kids got her BA from UChicago and her MFA from Hamline in writing and is now a poet. Another one of his kids went to Rochester Institute of Technology. Somehow, I think that Tressel and his family would have no problem fitting into the Ivy League.

Tressel will not even be considered for the CU job, but I doubt whether it is on account of the tattoo scandal or his salary demands. I suspect that the problem lies in his living in Ohio. Since CU won the Ivy title, other than the Garrett anomaly, all CU head coaches came from only four states, NY, CT, NJ and MA. The AD's press release may say that the search is nationwide but I suspect that it is nationwide only in that they will consider candidates from outside these states (and maybe eastern PA and DC) if the candidate has extensive ties to these states or the Ivies. If you doubt this, just look at the candidates suggested so far. Do they include the 2010 Division I-AA Coach of the Year, K.C. Keeler at UDelaware or the coaches at traditional Division I-AA powerhouses like Appalachian State and Georgia State? You can buy a superstar Division I-AA head coach for the money they'll probably offer Gilmore.

Gilmore is undoubtedly the best available Division I-AA head coach in NY, CT, NJ, MA or eastern PA and if those are the only places you're going to look, getting him would be like winning the lottery.

By the way, Murphy at Harvard had one full year of Ivy experience as an assistant coach at Brown in 1980 before he took over Harvard in 1993. His year at Brown in 1980 predated the AI, which began in 1985. People who talk about the need for experience with the AI and the need to understand the type of kids who play in the Ivies make Ivy League football sound like a cult.

 
At Sat Nov 26, 01:04:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What does Columbia have to match this?

Giving Thanks (video included)

http://chuchurahrah.blogspot.com/2011/11/giving-thanks.html

 
At Sat Nov 26, 01:05:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

There is no way Gilmore would take the Columbia job - except possibly if CU were willing to give him 5 years guaranteed for $500,000 per year. Even then I doubt he would take the job.

He has turned down chances to interview for better jobs than this one.

 
At Sat Nov 26, 02:13:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Bison137 said...

Quote: " just look at the candidates suggested so far. Do they include the 2010 Division I-AA Coach of the Year, K.C. Keeler at UDelaware or the coaches at traditional Division I-AA powerhouses like Appalachian State and Georgia State? You can buy a superstar Division I-AA head coach for the money they'll probably offer Gilmore."

- - - - -

Keeler (Delaware) and Curry (GA State) make total compensation of over $400,000 a year in areas with a much cheaper cost of living. To attract one of them to Columbia - making the very unlikely assumption that they would be interested - would surely cost well over $500,00 a year. Do you think CU would offer Gilmore that much?

 
At Sat Nov 26, 04:42:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gerald Moore, head coach of Appalachian State, the guy who beat Michigan, the guy who has had 19 out of 20 winning seasons, made $160,000 in 2009. In any case, I wasn't suggesting that Keeler or Curry or Moore would actually be willing to come to CU. I'm not even sure that any Division I-AA head coach is willing to do so (on account of that Career Annihilation Thing). I was merely suggesting that the search is likely to be EXTREMELY parochial.

If you limit your search to New England, NY, NJ, eastern PA, MD and DC and to Division I-AA and III head coaches who have finished in the top three in their conference in each of the last three years, you are limited to:

Division I-AA : Priore (Stony Brook), Coen(Lehigh), Gilmore (Holy Cross), Bagnoli (Penn), Murphy (Harvard) and Estes (Brown)

Division III : Margraff (Johns Hopkins), Cragg (Hobart), Clements (Delaware Valley), Devanney (Trinity) and Mills (Amherst)

I assume that CU is not going to poach an Ivy League head coach. That leaves Gilmore, Coen and Priore in Division I-AA. Unless at least two of these guys want the job, CU isn't really choosing the new coach; the new coach is choosing CU.

I suspect that CU will go for another shot-in-the-dark Division I-A or NFL assistant coach before going for a Division III head coach. Maybe CU can find someone (like Whipple) with some Division I-AA head coaching experience.

 
At Sat Nov 26, 11:07:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm not sure where the 3-3 record for Gilmore against Harvard comes from. His record against the Ivies is 15-12 (Harvard 3-5; Brown 4-2; Dartmouth 7-1; Yale 1-2). Coen's record against the Ivies is 6-10 (Harvard 2-3; Yale 1-3; Princeton 3-3; Cornell 0-1). Priore's record against the Ivies is 1-4 (all against Brown).

 
At Sat Nov 26, 07:49:00 PM GMT+7, Blogger Jake said...

Gilmore became a head coach in 2004. Here are his results against all Ivy opponents:

vs. Brown

2006: Won 35-30

2007: Won 48-37

2008: Won 41-34

2009: Lost 34-31

2010: Won 17-13

2011: Lost 20-13

(4-2 overall)


vs. Dartmouth

2004: Won 24-0

2005: Won 28-16

2006: Won 24-21 (OT)

2007: Won 41-17

2008: Won 44-26

2009: Won 34-14

2010: Lost 27-19

2011: Won 25-17

(7-1 overall)


vs. Harvard

2004: Lost 35-0

2005: Lost 31-21

2006: Lost 31-14

2007: Won 31-28

2008: Lost 25-24

2009: Won 27-20

2010: Lost 34-6

2011: Won 30-22

(3-5 overall)


vs. Yale

2005: Won 22-19

2007: Lost 38-17

2008: Lost 31-28

(1-2 overall)

Against all Ivies: 15-10

Sat Nov 26, 04:48:00 AM PST

 
At Tue Nov 29, 12:25:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sure Gilmore is a good guy and good coach, but CU needs someone with zero history at the school, which would rule him out.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home