After days of increasingly believable speculation, Columbia Athletic Director Peter Pilling sent out an email yesterday that began this way:
Columbia Athletics has good news to share. We are writing in advance of the public announcement to let you know—officially—that Al Bagnoli, nine-time Ivy League champion and the all-time winningest coach in NCAA Football Championship Subdivision history, will be introduced as Columbia’s new Patricia and Shepard Alexander Head Coach of Football tomorrow.
Find the full letter reproduced on the Roar Lions 2015 football blog HERE.
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While the Columbia Spectator this morning still had just a quick report the Daily Pennsylvanian tries to reason out the move. From the DP:
“What seems to be the case is Columbia has been struck with too many seasons of non-competitive football, so they’ve determined they’re going to put money into the program and try to attract someone who can build (it),” William Constantine, member of both the Penn Athletics’ and Football Board of Overseers, said. “Al is certainly the one to do that.”And this . . .
“Al told me that Mary Ellen, his wife, said, ‘Are you kidding me? I’ll shoot you if you don’t take it,’” Constantine said. “I think it’s all good. I think Penn should applaud it from a league competitive standpoint and applaud this next role for him."
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FootballScoop endorses the initiative:Hiring Bagnoli gives Columbia an experienced, successful head coach at a time the program desperately needs one. The Lions have lost 21 straight games, won just four games over their past four seasons and posted two winning seasons since the end of the 1971 season. Yes, two winning seasons in more than 40 years. The reality of a football program located in the heart of New York City requires the team to devote a significant amount of time commuting too and from practice, and former head coach Pete Mangurian left behind a toxic atmosphere orbiting the program.
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Curious about Yale tailback Tyler Varga's time in the 40 at the NFL Combine? Sorry, but he didn't run. An ankle issue kept him out of the drills. The Portal 31 blog has a story. Varga was able to hit the weights and posted an impressive 23 reps in the 225-bench. Harvard defensive lineman Zach Hodges weighed in at 250 and ran a 4.68, one of the best times among the defensive linemen.
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A lot of NFL hopefuls withdraw from school for the spring semester to train for the Combine. Not so Yale's Tyler Varga, who wrote a first-person piece for Bleacher Report that included this:With the combine approaching, it feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day for me. I’m still in school, and everything seems like a big puzzle that has to fit around my class schedule. I’m working on my senior project; we’re investigating a gene in mice with Type 2 diabetes that when knocked out causes them to lose weight. This could have profound human implications in the future, so this is important work.
I have classes four days a week, and I’m in labs 10 hours a week. I do football field work at 6 a.m. two mornings a week.
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A national championship on the gridiron would be great, but for this Penn Stater absolutely nothing can top what happens toward the end of February each winter when the largest student-run philanthropy in the world turns over the numbers to reveal how much much money the 15,000 volunteers raised to fight childhood cancer over the previous 12 months. This year alone THON – the 46-hour, no-sitting Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon – raised more than $13 million FTK – For The Kids. We made our gift Saturday and had chills watching the live stream of the dancers, the entertainment and the turning over of the numbers from the jam-backed Bryce Jordan Center yesterday.
From the THON website:
Since 1977, THON has raised more than ($127) million benefiting Four Diamonds at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital. Four Diamonds picks up where insurance leaves off, enabling families to solely focus on care for their child. Assistance from Four Diamonds ensures counselors, social workers, music therapists and other specialists are available to provide comprehensive care in a family-focused atmosphere. Thanks to THON, Four Diamonds and the Penn State Hershey Medical Center recruits world-class talent to continue innovative research benefiting children worldwide.It you've got an hour to watch a documentary about what THON does For The Kids, you can view Why We Dance: The Story of THON here. It is an amazing undertaking that does incredible good.
Or you can just watch the four-minute promo for this year's THON. Prepare to be inspired and keep a handkerchief handy.
