Guest column from The Columbia Spectator: Bagnoli the right fit with the Lions

The Ivy League football world is clamoring about Columbia, and for the first time in almost two decades, it isn’t in the form of mockery.

Last month, Columbia Athletic Director Peter Pilling and university President Lee Bollinger introduced Al Bagnoli, who had retired from Penn in November, as the new head coach of the Lions’ terribly ailing football program — a move that sent many Light Blue hearts aflutter and shocked fans around the Ancient Eight. From the hilariously hyperbolic column published in The Crimson to an op-ed in the Columbia Daily Spectator written by former Daily Pennsylvanian Senior Sports Editor Steven Tydings, Columbia is no longer flying (way) below the radar.

Bagnoli comes to Columbia as the second-winningest coach in Ivy League history. In addition to having considerably superior avenues for recruiting, he brings enthusiasm to a role that has been devoid of it for years — something I witnessed first-hand last season.

I began covering football for the Spectator last year, and it only took a couple weeks for me to realize that monotony would become the theme of 2014. It was a sentiment I saw mirrored on the faces of the meager few who regularly attended Columbia’s home games.

But that’s about to change.

Through covering Bagnoli’s hire, I’ve been able to talk to many of the program’s biggest supporters, including a number of former players. Although their opinions vary about how much success the team may eventually enjoy, there wasn’t a single person I’ve talked to that wasn’t pleasantly surprised by the hire.

Last year, I often tried talking to my classmates about Columbia football, but I might as well have been trying to describe the Tea Party ethos (most Columbians, as you may know, happen to loathe the far-right), by the disinterested, sometimes disgusted stares I received.

However, over the last month, I’ve had plenty of people approaching me, suddenly interested in boning up on their Light Blue football facts.

The biggest chasm I’ve found among fans and alumni is not whether the hire will bring at least some success to the program. It’s about how long it will take.

One of the alums I spoke to, 1993 Columbia College graduate Des Werthman, who was so frustrated with the state of the program he wrote a letter to Columbia requesting to have his name stricken from its hall of fame, is cautiously optimistic. He highlighted that when a program has been so deeply entrenched in a culture of losing, it will take a while to turn the ship around.

Werthman may very well be correct, given that Bagnoli must get a waiver from the Ivy League office to do any off-campus recruiting this year, and will likely have to try to make something out of his inherited crop of players.

Others, including former Lions’ football player and NFL All-Pro defensive end Marcellus Wiley, think it should be a quicker turnaround.

“I’m looking forward to a fast transition. I’m not the guy who says this is going to be a five-year plan,” Wiley told me. “I think you get people in there with a like mind and real goals, and it’ll be time to go to work.”

I’ll admit that I was surprised by the Penn reaction to Bagnoli’s hire. Upon hearing the initial rumor, I imagined thousands of livid Red and Blue fans, commiserating with Urban Meyer-hating Florida Gators fans.

That hasn’t been the case. The Penn faithful I’ve spoken with have all said the exact same thing — they simply wish Bagnoli the best.

When I interviewed former defensive captain Brandon Copeland, he told me that most of the current Penn players and alumni will only root against Columbia when the Lions play the Quakers (which is Columbia’s homecoming in 2015). I think that is more telling than any statistic or anecdote I’ve heard in the last month.

While the top brass at the Spectator has barred me from giving any sort of an opinion on the Bagnoli hire itself, I can say with full confidence that people out here in Morningside Heights are pretty damn excited at the prospect of having hope, having expectations and having a football team.

Kyle Perrotti is a junior at Columbia University from Yakima, Wash., and is sports editor for The Columbia Spectator. He can be reached at kyle.perrotti@columbiaspectator.com.

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