Megan Soisson | Al Bagnoli keeps it honest

After 20 years at the helm of Penn football, it’s safe to say Al Bagnoli has learned a lot.

He has learned to lose (though not so much recently) with class, and he has certainly learned how to win.

Perhaps more important than the 97 Ivy wins and the eight Ivy championships, however, is the manner in which Bagnoli has conducted himself throughout.

More specifically: his honesty.

In early August, the Ivy League conducted its annual Football Media Day Teleconference with all of the league coaches. Each head man discussed the apparent proximity between every team in the league and the likelihood of anyone taking home the league trophy.
Harvard coach Tim Murphy predicted “vast” improvement from Cornell and Princeton and said Brown will be “as good as anyone in the league.”

Even in his opening comments, Bagnoli mentioned the talent of every team in the league. “They all scare me,” he said.

But look a little closer at what else Bagnoli discussed on Ivy Media Day and even Penn’s own Aug. 29 media day at Franklin Field — he fairly addressed each and every question mark on the roster.

Bagnoli said he is “cautiously optimistic” about the season and “apprehensive” regarding the team’s placekicker situation, which is still unknown, though senior Dan Lipschutz is listed first on the depth chart.

“The question mark on offense is the offensive line,” he added.
Bagnoli’s honesty extended past the unknowns of the lineup to the depth at quarterback, mentioning the importance of having a talented backup in Ryan Becker.

“If Billy [Ragone] does twist an ankle, it’s not the end of the world,” he said.

Sure, Bagnoli displayed some honesty regarding some major preseason question marks, but did he have to?

With a target on his squad’s back and a season already dubbed the “Watch the Throne Tour,” no one forced Bagnoli to fess up to some weaknesses — which his fellow Ancient Eight peers avoided doing.
But for someone with a track record such as Bagnoli’s, why not be honest?

Penn football has a lot at stake and a lot to lose. This group has a chance to go down in history as the only team to win three-straight undefeated Ivy championships.

Bagnoli knows the feeling. He sat in the same exact position at the start of the 1995 and 2004 seasons, and both times the Quakers fell just short with second-place finishes.

Bagnoli could be thinking one of two things right now: “Third time’s a charm,” or “It’s not meant to be.”

Let’s say Bags is feeling lucky: there’s no point in sugar-coating the fact that the Red and Blue have some definite question marks. There’s no harm in admitting such uncertainties and gaining some motivation to work past them.

Because if there’s anything the Quakers must avoid, it’s complacency.

“We don’t want to be paralyzed because we’ve won back-to-back and how hard it is to win three in a row,” Bagnoli said at Ivy media day. “You can’t get too comfortable.”

The coach has spoken, and he has spoken the truth.

MEGAN SOISSON is a junior health and societies major from Mechanicsburg, Pa., and is Sports Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. Her e-mail address is soisson@theDP.com.

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