A blog dedicated to Columbia football -- yes, the same Columbia football team that is currently on a 12-game losing streak -- just wrote a post about Al Bagnoli and the quick turnaround of the Penn football team he masterminded in the early 1990s.
But as Quakers fans know, the last four years have brought zero Ivy League titles and three straight losing Ivy campaigns. Why the decline? Well, according to the post, maybe Penn President Amy Gutmann is to blame.
But 2003 was the last time Penn won the football title. And that's also when current Penn president Amy Gutmann came on the scene.
Could the two incidents be related? When I asked Bagnoli last year if he felt he was getting enough support from the administration, he mostly shrugged. I get the feeling he had more to say ... but couldn't.
And then later:
For all I know, Gutmann is supporting athletics more than anyone at Penn, but the time parallels here are pretty clear. This is not only the longest championship drought for Bagnoli, his Quaker teams have had three straight losing Ivy seasons! And basketball fell off a cliff in 2007-08 for the first time in... forever.
Oh, and quarterback Robert Irvin is also to blame, says the blog, despite the fact that he was injured for all but 1.5 games last year and performed well in his sophomore season when he earned honorable mention All-Ivy honors.
Although this post is more than a little suspect -- Gutmann surely can't be blamed for Penn's football woes -- the blog, Roar Lions Roar, actually does have some legitimate information. Some links of note for Penn fans:
Will Lions WR Austin Knowlin have a big game on Saturday?
Is there a rivalry between Penn and Columbia?
Tags: al bagnoli, Amy Gutmann, columbia, Football, random Ivy notes
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October 16th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Actually Irvin did NOT perform that well in 2006. He was an interception machine in crucial moments of games, and that's when he was "healthy." Irvin is not a championship QB, period.
October 16th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
I guess I thought being an honorable mention All-Ivy selection counts as performing well. So I've decided to add that nugget to the post to clarify the claim that he "performed well."
October 17th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Well, there are only 8 starters in the league and three of 'em have to get All-Ivy honors. So in reality, "honorable mention" means just above average.
Also, update your blog more than once a week before you start insulting others' blogs.
October 18th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
I think any assessment of Irvin's 2006 season has to start with the fact that he was a sophomore. Compare his stats to other sophomores who have played for Penn in the past few decades and he stacks up very well.