Bagnoli introduced as Columbia football coach

NEW YORK — One day after confirming the hiring of Penn football’s all-time winningest coach, Columbia’s athletic department introduced nine-time Ivy League champion Al Bagnoli as the new head coach of its football program at a press conference on Tuesday.

Seated next to recently hired Athletic Director Peter Pilling, Bagnoli addressed a crowded room of media members and returning players, speaking at length about his excitement to be back on the sidelines in 2015.

“Ironically, 23 years ago, my family and I started on our first adventure,” Bagnoli said. “I had my first opportunity to work in the Ivy League with some tremendous student-athletes at an elite academic institution. You fast-forward 23 years, and now — while some people don’t ever get a chance to do it once — I feel very fortunate and very blessed that I get to do it a second time.”

One of the greatest winners the Ancient Eight has ever seen, Bagnoli is now tasked with righting the ship for the least competitive program in the conference. While the 62-year-old had three undefeated seasons and six unblemished conference marks between 1992 and 2014 with Penn, the Lions have not won an Ivy title since 1961.

To make matters worse, the program has seen its ugliness on the field paralleled off of it. Mired in the nation’s longest losing streak — Columbia has lost 21 consecutive games dating back to November 2012 — former coach Pete Mangurian resigned in December amid allegations of player abuse and mistreatment.

“My first goal is to make football fun again,” Bagnoli told the crowd of players. “You’ll hear me say this all the time, but practice has to be the best two hours of your day.

“At Penn, the players called it ‘adult recess’ or ‘adult play time.’ I want that to be the case here too.”

For Pilling, who was hired three weeks ago and did not officially start his tenure with the Lions until Monday, the hire is undoubtedly a win for both him and the football program.

“This is a wonderful moment for the university and the football program,” Columbia President Lee Bollinger said. “I have seen in my life some truly outstanding coaches. I’ve just had only a limited amount of interaction with Al, but it is clear to me that he is in that league of really great coaches.”

Surprisingly, it was the leader of one of the Quakers’ most-talented nonconference foes that floated the idea of hiring Bagnoli to Pilling.

“I called Andy Talley, the coach at Villanova who I worked with [when Pilling was the Wildcats’ assistant athletic director] and I gave him a list of some people,” Pilling said. “So when we reached the end of that list, he said, ‘You know, Al Bagnoli may be looking for a job.’”

"[Bagnoli] and I started a dialogue, and when I was appointed athletic director three weeks ago, the next day I got on a train and went down to Philadelphia and we met in person to continue the dialogue.”

After Bagnoli elected last April to retire following the 2014 season, it was announced that the 148-game winner would move into a role within the athletic administration while handing over Penn football’s reins to then-defensive coordinator Ray Priore. However, after only three months on the job, a combination of a desire to get back into coaching and dissatisfaction with his new role led Bagnoli to accept the position with the Lions.

“When I retired, I was given some administrative duties and they weren’t as challenging as I hoped they would be,” Bagnoli said. “And it’s nobody’s fault. I really didn’t have any idea what administration was, I’ve never been in the administrative world. So, three months in, I realized it probably wasn’t for me.

“I had the title of ‘Director of Special Projects.’ I’m not exactly sure what all that means. I guess I was kind of like the catch-all — I did everything from writing recruiting protocols and financial aid explanations to equipment inventory procedures and football scheduling.”

Despite the separation between him and the Red and Blue, Bagnoli insists that he was open about his intentions to move on to Columbia with Penn’s Director of Athletics and Recreation Grace Calhoun.

“She’s been great,” Bagnoli said. “I think she’s in a difficult scenario because she inherited me. She had to create a position, plus she had to learn Penn. It’s one of those scenarios where there is nobody to blame.

“She did the best she could, I did the best I could, and when the smoke cleared I was more meant for coaching.”

Entrenched in his new position, Bagnoli has already scheduled interviews with potential candidates for his new coaching staff. Remaining focused on the immediate future, when asked about whether he could guarantee a win for Columbia next season, Bagnoli preached patience.

“I learned a long time ago to never get into the prediction business,” he said. “If you like challenges, this is it.”

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