A Memorial Service In Jadwin And An Ivy Football Opener

The Jadwin Gym doors open at 10 this morning for the celebration of the life of Pete Carril.

Princeton's Hall of Fame men's basketball coach passed away last month at the age of 92. Today's program will feature speeches and video tributes from some of those who knew him best.

The event is free and open to the public. It can also be viewed through a videostream for those who can't make it. The link is HERE.

Among those who can make it will be another Hall of Fame coach, Bill Tierney, the head men's lacrosse coach at Denver. Before that, of course, Tierney was the Princeton head coach, where he won six NCAA championships (he's since won another at Denver).

When Tierney first came to Princeton in 1988 and as he built the program to its first NCAA title in 1992, he spent a great deal of time with Carril, discussing the similarities in the two sports. Specifically, Tierney and Carril talked about playing 5-on-5 offense above the goal line extended or when the other team chose to shut off his top offensive player and how it compared to basketball offense.

Their talks were legendary. It's too bad that streaming didn't exist back then. The audience for that would have been gigantic.

It was through Carril that Tierney met John McPhee, who would become a Princeton Athletic Fellow for the lacrosse program and build a deep connection with Tierney.

To have Tierney come all that way and then turn around and head back out to Denver shows the depth that Carril was valued, and not only by his players. TigerBlog expects to see a legion of them in Jadwin today.

TB will be driving Tierney back to Newark Airport after the event. He'll then continue on to New Haven, for the field hockey game against Yale at 6. After that, it'll be Princeton at UConn Sunday at noon.

TB seriously considered going from New Haven to New York City to watch Princeton-Columbia football tomorrow at 1 and then up to Storrs for the Sunday field hockey game, but that just seemed a bit too far out of the way. Instead, he'll be watching the football game on ESPN+ (kickoff at 1) from his Connecticut hotel.

Princeton and Columbia are both 2-0. They've both won fairly easily so far, the Tigers against Stetson and Lehigh and the Bulldogs against Marist and Georgetown. 

Princeton's scores have been 39-14 and 29-17. Columbia's have been 38-3 an 42-6, and the 4.5 points per game allowed makes the Lions the No. 1 scoring defense team in the country.

For its part, Columbia is thinking that this could be the year for an Ivy title. Princeton is thinking this could be the year for another Ivy title, after winning four in the last eight seasons. 

So what has been learned about either team so far that applies to this game? Pretty much nothing. Actually, you can say the same thing about the Ivy League in general.

After two weeks, what is certain? TB would say that that anything could happen this season and he wouldn't be shocked.

This also figures to be another one of those seasons where nothing that happens one week seemingly has an impact on what will happen the next.

Princeton leads the all-time series with Columbia 73-16-1, but Columbia's football present and football past are much different things. A year ago the Lions were 7-3 overall and 4-3 in the league. They also blanked Dartmouth 19-0 for the only loss the Big Green had all year. Were it not for that game, Princeton would have finished second in the league, instead of tying for the title.

One thing about Columbia's past that is worth noting is that the team has won one Ivy League championship, back in 1961. Each year, every team in every conference starts out its league season thinking that this will be the year, but some years it's more realistic than others. This Columbia team believes in itself and is playing at home. It'll be quite the challenge for the Tigers.

First, though, there is the tribute to Coach Carril in Jadwin this morning. His name is there on the court and it will be there for as long as the building is. That's only fitting, since TB knows Carril's presence will be felt there just as long.