Bagnoli's move to Columbia: The winners and losers

What are we to make of Al Bagnoli, officially retired as Penn's football coach for all of 13 weeks, taking the Columbia job? According to a source, the deal is done and an announcement will be made at Columbia in the next couple of days.

The big question: If Bagnoli wanted a job, why did he leave his old one? Which is the better job? By any historical marker, Bagnoli just took a worse one.

And let's get this out of the way: Bagnoli was not forced out at Penn. By all accounts, he had a good relationship with former athletic director Steve Bilsky and they came up with a plan of succession before Bilsky handed off last year to current Penn AD Grace Calhoun. Defensive coordinator Ray Priore got the head coaching job. There was hope but no guarantee that Bagnoli would continue in Penn's athletic administration.

That did happen. He was involved in scheduling and other matters, and filled in helping with compliance. He did it just long enough apparently to find out it wasn't as much fun as coaching, for a lot less money. Did that mean Bagnoli began looking around? No, there is no way he saw this Columbia thing coming and no sign he sought it out.

After the last season, Columbia let its coach go and also brought in a new AD, Peter Pilling, who happened to have worked in Philly for a time, at Villanova, so an overture was made. The Lions haven't won a game in the last two seasons, and there were accusations by players that the former coach, Pete Manguarian, had ignored concussion symptoms, a charge he denied.

Bagnoli has not commented on the matter. Neither have Penn or Columbia officials.

So let's look it at some winners and losers in this.

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At age 62, he took a worse job. How is that better? If Bagnoli, who won nine outright Ivy titles in 23 seasons at Penn, wanted a rebuilding job, there was one to be done at Franklin Field since the Quakers won only six games over the last two seasons - two of them against Columbia. If he can't turn the Lions into a winning program, that will factor into his legacy. Simply put, he won't go down as the best coach in Ivy history. (Point of fact: Bagnoli no doubt cares about his legacy but he cares more about doing the work. He's more steak than sizzle, which is a compliment.)

. The question pops up: What is going on over there? The Quakers can't even manage a clean handoff without their coach leaving for a lesser league rival? Despite the considerable resources that Penn devotes to football, are there more issues that caused Bagnoli to step down, believing he couldn't win football games?

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. What could cement his reputation as the greatest Ivy football coach of all time? Certainly getting Columbia on to firm ground would do it. If you rate Ivy League football programs, Columbia has earned its dead-last ranking. We don't know any salary figures, but apparently this was going to be worth it for Bagnoli on that front. While that had to be part of the decision-making, there's no way Bagnoli is doing this for the check.

The Lions are the biggest winner here. They desperately needed stability and a coach who knows how to run an Ivy League program. Unless you could get a Harbaugh brother, it's hard to make a better choice than Bagnoli.

. Think about it. Sure, Priore probably could have reaped some benefit from having Bagnoli around to pick his brain. But he also would have had Bagnoli's legacy around. What better way for Priore to separate himself from Bagnoli than to beat Bagnoli?

. This deal to keep Bagnoli on wasn't Calhoun's idea, but she went along with it. We're not buying the idea that any sort of rift between Calhoun and Bagnoli had anything to do with this. Retiring football coaches aren't automatically given high places in administrations. If Bagnoli didn't love his new job, that's on him. And given that, it's better he's not in that job.

. Q: Who saw this coming? A: Nobody on earth. Two schools that should be better rivals now, in fact, will be better rivals. Oct. 17, Penn at Columbia. The Bagnoli Bowl.