I am not sure we will ever know the reason.
If Brett was moving on to something else,
you would expect that as part of the announcement.
You would also think the new staff would
be named. I have no inside information,
but this seems like a “for cause” decision.
Hope I am wrong.
Just can’t imagine the “cause”. I have known Brett since he arrived and have had the opportunity to interview him on and off the record. He was unfailingly loyal to the program and Mitch. I hope we do learn the story, but I would not be surprised if it is hardly anything earthshaking.
I did not know Coach Rowley but I do know that Mitch was happy to bring him in. Perhaps he was not a good fit, after all.
As Jasmer said, this feels akin to an offensive/defensive coordinator getting fired instead of the head coach.
The powers that be know that something has to change but they aren’t willing/ready to replace the top dog. The lead assistants become the scapegoats.
Also, it’s worth noting that this wasn’t an official announcement. The news leaked and was reported in the Princetonian.
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You are the only voice on this forum that I have seen who believes “something has to change”.
This is a program that has had tremendous success under Coach Henderson. Underachieving expectations this year still resulted in a 2 point loss to the league champs in the ILT, which would be considered a very good result by just about any other team.
Tiger fans including me were disappointed by this outcome, but firing the head coach would be a very dumb move and is not going to happen. I’m not sure we will ever know why the assistants were cut loose, but it is hard believe it was window dressing to protect the head coach.
I don’t have any information about this whatsoever but I agree with LocalTiger that this feels like a “for cause” situation that is unrelated to the performance of the team. If you’ve been in management for any length of time, you know that things happen.
You’re entitled to your opinion and I’m entitled to mine. Maybe my standards/hopes are too high but I really think these past two years were missed opportunities for greatness.
For the record, my criticisms don’t stem from a 2pt loss to a superior Yale team so much as an 8-6 league record with sweeps by Yale and Cornell and blowout losses to Brown and Dartmouth. There’s also the matter of being on the wrong side of ILT upsets in 2024 and 2022 and a 3-14 record vs. James Jones.
With all that said, I’m fine with Mitch staying on for now - especially if it keeps Xaivian and Caden here. I just don’t think it’s wrong to consider other options if his ILT/Yale struggles continue. He’s not an untouchable Hall of Fame great immune from criticism.
As for the recent news, all we know is that the top two assistant coaches were let go following a very disappointing season. Both the Princetonian and Trentonian articles noted this. Until we hear otherwise, Occam’s razor tells me it was a move based on results.
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Seems more than that to me but I am just a Yale fan who thinks it’s all bizarre
Princeton’s issue against yale has been in the paint.
so basically you are firing a guy for either making some spelling errors on his scout or not recruiting the post well.
if it’s the latter he brought in tosan a generational type ivy player just a few yrs ago. they had some frosh this year with real potential at this level.
And he brought in Lee by all accounts. He deserves a statue for those two alone
I mean look at the tweet responses to bmac’s announcement. appears they are taking sides almost but why i dont know.
perhaps y’all have a dei or harrassment problem or the assistants got in a fight with each other. i am obviously speculating but i dont think bad job performance is occam’s explanation.
just weird. it will make more sense if there is a player exodus at least to me
*dei cancelled in my neck of the woods but sure it’s raging up there still
the bmac post today was surprising on many fronts, especially since he did technically get fired and doesn’t have a job. and while the foul play that sources we’re saying yesterday turned out being denied by people very close to the situation, there’s definitely something going on behind the scenes. why would we fire someone that not only do all the players seem to love but has done great things for this program?
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And recruited the incoming class AND presumabley is/was actively recruiting the class after.
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GK, I too am disappointed in the team’s performance the last two years. We all got that sweet, sweet taste of 16 in '23 and expected to be marching again right away. But last year’s freaky flu bug and this year’s injuries to Cade and Malik f’d it up. They won 24 games last year and 19 this year. There are a ton of schools that would kill for that.
By all accounts, BMac is an exceptional recruiter and motivator and his players love him, which makes me think there is something else. In my long professional career I’ve had to let a few people go for weird things that happened that were not based on performance against metrics. Sometimes its shit you just can’t talk about and its confounding to everyone around the situation but not directly in it.
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what did Brett post?
Here is a link.
https://x.com/brettmacconnell/status/1905000038184468732?s=46
thanks. Classy note.
Why is the rumor that’s circulating around the league right now so hard to believe? Is it impossible that he was shopping players for a higher paying assistant job and NIL cash?
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Mike Brennan?
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Yup- he’s at cornell
Yes and I’d love to see him back at Princeton.
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seems most logical.
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It’s not complicated. Of course the ivies can afford to do anything. If they choose not to they could drop to d3 or drop sports altogether. Gonna be hard to compete at a D1 level having to restock every year.