The Penn football team was barely past its mandatory 10-minute cool down when the post-mortems began. Al Bagnoli cast the Quakers' fifth straight title-less season as a case study in resolve - a true statement, but an incomplete one. It was also a disappointment, as any year that doesn't end with a ring should be for Penn.
For Cornell, the first thing coach Jim Knowles told his players was that they should be thankful for the support they received from their fans and the administration. Another incomplete assessment. I'd question the school's support when barely 2,000 people show up.
And if the Cornell brass were all that concerned with the program's well-being, they would address the ridiculous financial-aid disparity that is hurting their athletic recruiting and look at ways to revitalize their caché - such as moving the Penn-Cornell series to Florida, an idea that has been bandied about a bit on Penn's side.
Programs stuck in neutral will have a hard time shifting gears without an honest look at what is wrong with the status quo, and the only time that sober assessment can be made is in the offseason.
If you want an example, look no further than Dartmouth. I will bet cash money that coach Buddy Teevens will not lose his job after this season even though the Big Green went 0-10, their first winless season since 1883, when they went 0-1. I'd be equally willing to bet that their situation will not improve appreciably next year. Shocker.
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Bagnoli said a week ago that retirement isn't on his mind and that he still has a few more good years left in him. The best way to prove that would be to take a hard look at what worked and what didn't. At the top of his list should be the take-no-risks offense that Bill Schmitz seems to love.
Heads may roll. I don't mean that anyone in particular should be fired, but the staff of a team like Penn should approach the offseason knowing that nothing is guaranteed, not even for a head coach who has won Ivy titles in just under half of the seasons he's been at Penn.
Winning seems to fade in importance when you're busy getting sentimental about sending the seniors out with a win and congratulating them for four years of hard work.
But in the long run, winning matters more than those postgame reflections would indicate. Sophomore tailback Mike DiMaggio said that he tuned out the loudspeakers that were announcing the results of Harvard's and Brown's games on Saturday, which, if favorable, could have given Penn a miracle route to the title. (They weren't.)
I believe DiMaggio, and he had good intentions. But with all due respect, wait until the clock starts ticking down on his collegiate career and see if winning a championship doesn't take on a bit more urgency.
Andrew Scurria is a senior International Relations major from Wilmington, Del., and is former Senior Sports Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. His e-mail address is scurria@dailypennsylvanian.com.
