Brown University has a big problem. The football program – whether you like it or not still the most prominent of Brown’s 32 intercollegiate sports — has plummeted to its lowest level in 25 years.
Not as bad as the lost decade of the Sorry Sixties, but bad. Barring an upset Saturday at Dartmouth, Brown will finish with a 1-9 record, its worst in Phil Estes’s 21 seasons as head coach, its third consecutive losing season and its fifth consecutive non-winning season.
The 17 seniors who dressed for their final home game last Saturday, a 42-20 rout by Columbia, are the first under Estes to complete their careers without experiencing a winning season.
More ominous is the fact that Brown is trending down: 4-6 in 2016, 2-8 in 2017 and probably 1-9 in 2018.
More frustrating is the fact that Brown has lost 14 consecutive Ivy League games, its last victory coming in the penultimate game of the 2016 season against Dartmouth.
The last time Brown was this bad was 1988-1993, a six-season drought that included a record of 0-9-1 in 1988 and 0-10 in 1992.
What is happening? Estes endured losing seasons in 2002 and 2006 but rebounded. The current streak began in 2014, and the rebound has yet to occur.
How do you slide from first to worst in a decade? Estes told columnist Bill Reynolds of The Providence Journal last week that he is a good coach, and he has good players. Really? I buy the coach part. Estes has the credentials: Ivy League championships in 1999, 2005 and 2008; players of the year; All-Ivy choices; alums in the NFL.
But good players? I don’t think so. Look at these scores from this season. Cal Poly, 44-15. Harvard, 31-17. URI, 48-0. Princeton, 48-10. Cornell, 34-16. Yale, 46-16. Columbia, 42-20.
Check out the yards opponents have racked up against the Bears defense. Cal Poly 499. Harvard 488. URI 580. Princeton 556. Cornell 498. Yale 598. Columba 515. Four opponents with more than 500 yards each, and a pair of opponents within two yards of 500.
And look at Brown’s total offense. URI 127. Princeton 222. Penn 195. Columbia 254.
Clearly, Brown’s defense can’t stop opponents from marching up and down the field and its offense can’t move the ball and score. The Bears rank last in nearly every category in the Ivy League. The quarterback has been sacked 39 times, 10 by Columbia alone.
Good players are better than that. By the ninth game of the season the QB should know when to throw the ball away.
Clearly, Brown lacks the talent to compete in the Ivy League. Fourteen consecutive losses tell us that. Estes suggested to Reynolds that a tight admissions policy adversely affects his roster. The admissions office probably is rejecting academically qualified recruits. That happens when a school has one of the lowest admission rates in the country. Here’s another possibility: coaches overestimating the talent level and development potential of football recruits. It happens.
Clearly, something must be done now. The university hierarchy should be embarrassed by the product on the field this season and the absence of fans in the Brown Stadium seats – 3,886 for Cornell, 2,118 for Columbia. If President Christina Paxson and her subordinates wish to reverse football’s downward spiral, they must give Estes the players he needs and a deadline for improvement. An alternative is to thank Estes for his service and hire a new coach, who will, of course, demand and receive greater cooperation from admissions.
One way or the other, football deserves help so next year the seniors will not have the distinction of being the second class in 25 years to leave without experiencing a winning season.
