LETTER TO THE EDITOR | Cornell Football Program

It’s time to make a change in the Cornell University Football Team’s leadership.   David Archer has had more time than any football coach in the long 100+ year history of Cornell University football to produce, at the very least, a winning record with the team.  He has failed to accomplish this in 8 seasons, despite leading the program for a total of 9 years.  Instead he has only a meager 21 wins over 8 playing seasons, averaging less than 3 wins a year!  A near decade of losing has to end, and Archer must be held accountable for his record,  just as any other coach would in another sport.  Cornell has attained great success in other sports like hockey and lacrosse.  There’s no reason not to demand that same level of success in football.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: RE: Football Loses Early Lead, Suffers Loss in Season Finale to Columbia and Ties for Last-Place Ivy League Finish

I am astounded by the kid-gloves coverage by the Sun of the Cornell football program.  In Cornell’s nearly 70 years in the Ivy League, the University  has somehow managed to share the title a total of only 3 times, and has never outright won the league.  

Head Coach David Archer’s record is 21-59.  Cornell should not countenance that kind of failure in anything it does, especially in football where it invests considerable resources, including many precious admissions spots.  We have recruited the last six University Presidents from Big-10 and Pac-12 schools, where records of 59-21 get coaches fired, yet they come here and support  a non-competitive football program.  

Week after week, year after year, decade after decade Cornell football is an embarrassment.  There is no accountability in the athletic department at any level.  The Sun’s coverage perpetuates this by failing to ask Coach Archer hard questions about the repeated failures of his teams, to question whether he should continue to retain his job and to ask the same of the athletic director. Andrew Wong ’89

TRUSTEE VIEWPOINT | The 44-Year Scholarship

I received a phone call from my head football coach and mentor on a day like any other in my junior year at DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis. He told me that a coach from Cornell University would be coming to meet me that afternoon. All of my hard work academically and athletically was finally paying off. My dream was always to play Division I football at an Ivy League school, and this day was my very first step to accomplishing that goal. At that time in my high school career, I had my sights set on Harvard, Princeton and Columbia.