Ivy Power Rankings, Final List
1. Harvard
The Crimson stumbled out of the gate with a loss to Holy Cross, but never looked back after that. It's interesting that Harvard played its best games against the best Ivy opposition: Brown, Penn, Dartmouth and Yale, while seemingly underachieving against teams like Princeton and Columbia. But that's a small concern on a team that may have been the best Ivy offensive machine in a decade.
2. Brown
It's a tough call here, because the Bears finished the season weakly with two straight losses. But Brown defeated two of the three other teams tied for second in the Ivies and barely lost to the other. Certainly for the first eight weeks of the season, the Bears looked as strong as they come.
3. Penn
The Quakers took a much bogger step back this year than I expected, especially on defense. But Penn still played every opponent tough, (except for Lafayette in week one).
4. Dartmouth
A great turnaround in the second half of the season puts the Green in the top tier for 2011. Dartmouth's running game was really impressive and one can only imagine how far this team could have gone with a more consistent starting QB and a slightly better defense.
5. Cornell
Finished the season on an up note, but was still a basket case defensively. Jeff Matthews has two more years to continue shredding the Ivy record books, but he did plenty of great work this season alone.
6. Yale
A bad showing at Harvard capped a weak overall second half and disappointing 2011 season. Yeah, the Elis beat Cornell soundly in week two, but would you bet on them to take Cornell if they had to play tomorrow? I wouldn't.
7. Princeton
Without RB Chuck DiBillio, the Tigers might be the worst Ivy team in 26 years. But they did have DiBillio, and that's worth a lot. Finally, Princeton has something it can build on for next year. As for this year, they played some good opponents tough at times and that kept them out of the power rankings cellar.
8. Columbia
The Lions showed just how good they can be when Sean Brackett is healthy in their 35-28 win over Brown Saturday. But he wasn't healthy enough this year and the team was simply not prepared to win without him.
posted by Jake @ 1:53:00 AM
36 comments
36 Comments:
Jake- if you're ranking Cornell higher than Yale because they'd win "tomorrow," why not the same regarding Dartmouth over Penn & Brown?
In regard to hiring a new coach, we should consider the mistake that occurred the last time around when Chuck Priore was rejected for the CU job. He had been a previous assistant at Penn, was 39-9 as head coach at Div 3 Trinty and had won a number of conference titles. He wound up taking the job as head coach at Stony Brook where he he developed teams with winning records. As Big South Conference champion, his team is going to the NCAA playoffs this year.
It would be nice for us to get someone with Ivy experience who has a winning record in another program at any level.
I heard Priore rejected US, not the other way around.
Bob L- the clear frontrunners should be: Tom Gilmore (HC at Holy Cross, Assistant at Penn, Columbia, and Dartmouth) and Jim Margraff (HC Hopkins, former CU Assistant). Also, Mark Whipple may be interested (former Brown HC, UMass HC, steelers assist coach, UMiami OC, currently with Bengals as QB coach.
My vote is GILMORE!!!!!!!!!
Part of the reason why a coach turns down an offer has little to do with the school and everything to do with the offer. Salary, benefits, control over the program, recruiting budget, hiring of assistants, etc. Mynconcern is that we will try to low ball a candidate on salary and benefits or not make the rest of the package attractive. So this committee needs to have the deep pockets to get the deal done. And what about administrative support, help on recruiting, etc.? So it isn't as easy as it might appear. That is why a consultant would help. If Norries was our third choice last time. It would be interesting to know why one and two turned us down.
Do we have any idea if Gilmore would be interested?
Seriously, we need to overpay to get our guy if we are serious. What sane blue chip coach would come to this school unless we made it real clear we were willing to pay him handsomely and we were willing to do as much as possible to help him succeed.
Columbia has a reputation of being a coach killer and we have to do things other schools don't to overcome that stigma.
I bet we hire the guy from Williams, just because it would appear to be the easiest move for us and maybe he would want to come here.
PS: I read an article today that said Murphy would be interested in the Penn State job if they wanted to talk....
Maybe someone should contact the Cleveland Browns' owner, Randy Lerner, and ask him for his advice about Columbia football, in general, and the new head coach, in particular. Randy Lerner is a graduate of both Columbia College and Columbia Law School, and lives on Long Island. I do not know if Mr. Lerner is interested in Columbia Football, or for that matter, Columbia University, but, as we all know, the Lerner name is a prominent name on the Morningside Heights campus. Maybe Mr. Lerner would be interested in leading the revival of the Lions' football program, by doing the necesssary, including steering Mark Whipple our way.
Not sure why the williams coach would leave a secure position after two years to return to Columbia. Seems to me if has success at Williams he could holdout for another IVY, etc, but i guess at the end of they day if we make it an attractive enough package, we can succeed in getting s quality coach, but let us not forget New York is also very expensive compared to omosother locals so we will really have to pay.
I assume Wilson is staying on as an associate ad like tellier? Can any one confirm this? If so, will he also be involved in the search like Tellier?
What ABOUT The FELLOW WHO Was THE D-CORRODINATOR in 96- would he come back?
Randy Lerner has a greater love of FUTBOL, than FOOTBALL. He is Chairman of the Astin Villa soccer club in England.The Browns fell into his lap when his dad Al Lerner passed away about 9 years ago.The only good hire he has made for Cleveland is Mike Holmgren.Not sure he would be at all interestd.
I remember ted gregory as a player and if you search him, you will find that he is now in the search firm business and has even placed athletic directors, coaches, etc. he seems like the logical choice to head up the search and i think he will do fine. The focus should be on some one with head coaching experience who can turn this thing around.
Yes, Jake is a friend, and I did inform him that I might create a post for the blog. Also please excuse any mispellings or grammatical errors, it is a result of a "land grand education".
Even after 23 years I have not left Columbia Football, I put three years of my life into the program. The ship sank while I was the Captain, and no matter what the circumstances were behind the sinking, the responsibility lies with me solely.
I would like to give you my insights as to what it will take to produce a successful football program. These are random thoughts. For you younger guys and even for the older ones who may have forgotten, please let me refresh you about my background. My college coaching career began at Dartmouth: freshman coach in 1974, I recruited 14 out of 22 starters that would win an Ivy Championship in 1978 (Including Dartmouth Coach-Buddy Teevens). 1975-1980: OL coach at Yale where we won 4 championships in 6 years finishing 2nd the other 2. 1981-82 the OC/OL
coach at UPenn where we took a loser and won a championship our second year, Penn for the most part has been winning ever since. Their President at the time made a statement to the effect that it cost Penn more to lose than it did to win, we found out later the winning the championship sent alumni donations into a record setting year. 1983-85 Head Football Coach at the Univ of New Haven, where I took it from Div 111 to a National ranking at the Div 11 level and became a stepping stone for coaches like Tony Sparano(Miami Dolphins)Mark Whipple(pro and college)Chris Palmer (pro and college) and 1986-88 Columbia and "The Streak".
Now to Columbia Football.
1. You are fortunate to have a Bill Campbell, He has "walked the walk".
2. Ray Tellier and your committee will do a great job. Ray has "walked the walk".
3. Stop complaining about bus rides to Baker (Yale has a not so nice ride to get to their practice facility) Parkers, NYC, etc
4. Believe it when I tell you the new coach is going to look into the eyes of the team he inherits and if he sees or hears bitching about the past staff, he will recruit his own players, he is going to want to see enthusiasm, commitment. He is going to want players that can look in the mirror and say I can do better. Just think if Columbia had played the whole season with the passion and enthusiasm they did against Brown, we wouldn't be having this dialogue.
5. The following is, I feel, the most important think I can relay to you. If any of you will have imput into the hiring process, look for this. To be successful, your next coach needs to have a passion for being in NYC and at Columbia. There are lots of good X & O guys out there with great resumes, great references, etc but if they go to Columbia because it is a job that will get them a better job or if they think they are going to get a great salary and benefits, they are doomed. If you can get that same guy and he can demonstrate a passion to be a part of the dynamic that is Columbia, the core and NYC, he will be able to sell all of this to great young athletes and their parents, the athletes will come and you will win a lot. We proved we could recruit against the Big 3 and everybody else, our freshman teams against predominately Ivy teams were a combined 14 and 4 with an undefeated team in there.
6. You can recruit against anyone!
7. The dynamic of Columbia and NYC is second to none.
8. The Baker Field setting (I have gone to a number of games over the past few years)is second to none in the Ivies or Patriot League.
9. You are fortunate to have Jake and his forum, I would suggest that you close it to current players and parents. All it takes is for one player, parent to read a negative comment and it will begin to erode the confidence in the current or new staff.
10. I thank Jake for allowing me to post this, it will be my only post. I wish you all (even Flickr and Alex) nothing but wins and happy Saturday nights. For those players that have gotten back in touch with me, it has been wonderful, thankyou.
Coach Mac
Look everyone, it was a lie! Norries is still the coach!!!
http://www.gocolumbialions.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=9600&SPID=3885&SPSID=43656
(Just kidding...)
Thanks Coach Mac for a great post. gleci
Excellent insights, Coach Mac. Columbia Football is in your heart and we need your enthusiasm. You are part of the Columbia Football Family. Please keep posting.
Bill Campbell probably knows Randy Lerner. Bob Kraft certainly knows Randy. I suspect that one or both of them have approached him in the past about becoming involved in the Columbia Football Program. If they have not, then maybe one of them or Dianne Murphy should, as we are talking about the prominent family name on the Columbia campus.
I really liked Coach Mac's comments. One thing I am pretty sure about is that none of the players will be "bitching about the past staff" to the new staff. They have more class than that and even when they are unhappy with a coach they don't publicly complain. They just work as a group and do their best to implement what that staff's plan.
All you need to know about the general Columbia mindset is wrapped up in this Deadspin article, from the former Spec editor who "broke" the band story: deadspin.com/5861426/a-day-at-harvard+yale-and-its-tragic-tailgate.
Here's his nut 'graf:
"The Game is, after all, an inclusive affair. For all the hemming and hawing about some Harvard types' dumb "We are the six percent" mesh pinnies, I got into the student tailgate. (Not so long ago, I was rejected from both Yale and Harvard.)"
As long as the admissions office keeps taking these sure-to-be-self-loathing Columbians who would rather be at the Harvard-Yale tailgate than their own school's game, Columbia will never change.
Anonymous at 7:19 sounds troll-like especially in light of Coach Mac's constructive comments. I suggest all you need to know about Columbia students is in today's Spec article on the team's reaction to Norries being relieved of his duties. The players sound unusually mature and responsible for college students.
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2011/11/21/team-reacts-wilsons-departure
If I were a prospective coach, I would be encouraged by the quotes in the Spec article, which appear to pass the test Coach Mac sets in his point 4.
Leonidas
The Columbia faithful has to stop dreaming about a top collegiate coach coming to Columbia.
You want to get this program going get Toal here from Don Bosco and the recruiting of talent will change overnite. This is Ivy league football...His X's and O's plus top recruits along with the excitment he will create are the formula to change this long failing program for the long term.
There is no risk here. Any collegiate coach could only wish that they would have the ability to attract what Toal would attract from a recruiting standpoint. He will draw the interest of every high school in he country based on reputation alone. The #1 high school program in the country with National recognition right in Columbia's backyard and we have to debate this. Its mind boggling that we at one of the worst collgiate programs in the country and need to debate this..
The only question is does the Columbia Brass have the guts to make this kind of move.
GET HIM NOW !!!
Our admissions office needs to do a better job in identifying people for whom Columbia is their first choice. We want people who want to be here.
Geez! This Toal campaign never stops!!
Absolutely no guarantee Toal can recruit kids to Columbia. Can he coach? I think he can. Can he get college kids to believe he can coach? Probably. But to think kids in Cal., Tex, Fla., or anywhere outside of Jersey care what he did there is naive. I'd bet most highschool players if asked his name wouldn't even know who he is. So his name means little. Bottom line you need a coach who can convince kids to come to Columbia and makes these kids believe he can turn around a long downtrodden program.
I hope the Toal family has a great Thanksgiving and stops posting about the Columbia job!
I'll believe all the buzz on Toal when and if I hear from his former players as to how he would do here. But better yet, his former players know Dianne's and Ray's email addresses.
That was a classy post from coach Mac. I think the great part about Columbia and NYC needing not to take a back seat to competitive schools is true. wanting to be here is crucial.
The one area I disagree about in 2011 vs 1980's is that you do have to listen to the "Jimmies and Joes" (players and their families). These kids all have facebooks and social media and interconnect daily. They have instant information about the experience. The players are the hosts on recruiting visits. They are crucial to recruiting. The parents are the ones who update to high school coach about how things are going at college. It is not 1980.
As the saying goes, "College football is not about X's and O's as much about the Jimmies and Joes". Listen to them and learn about our strengths and weakenesses of the program.
This football team has already been coached by a high school coach...when they were in HIGH SCHOOL!!!! They deserve a top college coach with impressive resume,highly recommended, and who will take this team all the way.
The Spectator article shows that Coach Wilson recruited young men with character and class to Columbia. Coach Wilson also sent a very classy email after his dismissal. The wins and losses were not what we fans want from our school, but we do want a coach that can engender that kind of loyalty and respect, and return the loyalty and respect to the student athlete. I would like to see many more wins with the type of student athletes we have now that display traits that will serve them in their chosen career and make us proud of them, on and off the field.
Coach Mac brings up an interesting point about recruiting against the Big 3 -- for the first time that I am aware of, it is now more difficult (selective) to get into Columbia than Princeton or Yale. That's a pretty big change and one that will really help recruiting. New York is the place people want to be, and while it is a total pain for students to get to Baker (6 miles, 20 min) it's not all that different than slogging it out to the Yale Bowl (2.5 miles, 8 min) or Brown Stadium (1.5 miles, 6 min). Once you are off campus, you're off campus. It will exciting to see what happens next.
I don't think our Goal should be to bet Toal!
In fact, most posters said - we don't want a coordinator from a Div IAA university program - so why in hell would we want a high school coach - no matter how highly they are thought of!
I have heard all about Don Bosco - please let some other school take him. How do we even know this guy wants to leave NJ?
Selectivity is not yield. Columbia's selectivity is up, but it's yield (% of accepted who matriculate) is not comparable with HYP. The common app makes it easy for people with HYP (and Stanford) aspirations to use Columbia as a safety school.
It makes sense, too. Columbia's much more attractive as a safety than other Ivies, because of NYC.
Wilson good and bad definitely was realy good at recruiting. He brought in some really good talent. The next coach will need a good track record when it comes to recruiting or the program will suffer in the long run. High school coaches are interesting, but, when it comes to recruiting probably are not realistic candidates.
Jake, do you know how Cornell snared Kent Austin from the University of Mississippi?
I would be more enthusiastic about Mr. Toal of Toal Hall if he had beaten up on high school teams with NO future D-1 players on his squad, rather than with a crew of recruits and ringers custom designed for the purpose.
As a former high school coach,I am very familiar with programs such as Don Bosco. I am also certain that a coach's success at schools like De La Salle in CA, Moeller in Ohio, Joliet Catholic in Illinois, or other such teams is in any way predictive of success at Columbia of all places. Forget about it!
We need a proven college head coach with a record of success in an intensely academic setting. May the best man win!
Mitch Sisskind '68
Game management can be learned. Character, leadership and class not so much. Wilson will be missed.
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