New Boss Anxiety? Try It Four Times

So, I just got a new job and it is driving me absolutely insane. It's not that I'm doing anything revolutionary-Excel spreadsheets, filing, the usual-but to tell the truth, it is completely draining.

With every new boss comes different expectations, ways of doing things, and of course, temperaments. It's kind of sad though, because if I am having this much trouble with menial office work, I don't even want to think what I would have put up with if I was one of the veterans on the Lions' women's basketball team.

While the extent of my bosses' whining pretty much has to do with alphabetizing files and proper stapling techniques, these athletes have had to deal with everything imaginable from their superiors over the span of their collegiate careers.

Since the end of the 2002-2003 season, Columbia has gone through four head coaches, which included moody diatribes against standout players, a mysterious departure still unexplained to the general public, and several months of playing in limbo with no idea of what the future held.

Thankfully, now the Lions seem settled with Paul Nixon at the helm. Nixon, a former assistant at Indiana, has credentials that signal aggressive leadership and has sensible expectations on how to advance Columbia's status within the Ivy League.

Although Nixon appears to be the perfect type of competitor who could lead the Lions past their tumultuous past, the key for the Light Blue this season lies not just in their coaching, but also in the experience and leadership of the players out on the court.

As a result of the various coaching shake-ups, conflicting player dynamics and personal/academic priorities, only one senior remains on the team, forward Sarah Beato, who did compete last season. Other than Beato, there are three returning upperclassmen on the squad who have weathered through all of the drama over the past three seasons: co-captains Megan Griffith and Brooke Carey along with guard Shasta Henderson. Though all four are extremely strong players, their abilities to set examples and lead their younger teammates are severely compromised by the team's recent history, in that they are still getting acquainted with Nixon's coaching style themselves.

Compared to other programs in the Ancient Eight, Columbia started off their conference season with a distinct disadvantage because of the lack of continuity within the program. Princeton, who sits at the top of the league with a 12-4 record overall, 3-0 in the Ivies, has had their head coach Richard Barron at the helm for five seasons, while head Coach Jean Marie Burr, whose Bears currently sit in second place, has been coaching at Brown for 18 seasons.

Running down the rest of the League, it only gets more intimidating. Harvard's Kathy Delaney-Smith is entering her 24th season, while Dartmouth's Chris Wielgus has had nine championship teams in her 21 years in Hanover. In her fourth season at Cornell, Dayna Smith is somewhat adjusted to the Ivy area, but is a relative newbie and has only compiled a 22-59 record with the Big Red. The only other program in a somewhat similar situation to Columbia is Yale, who hired Chris Gobrecht, Washington State's all-time winningest coach, away from Cal State Fullerton in the off-season. Though Gobrecht is new, she has an established 25-year career as a Division I coach and joins a team that has experienced relatively calm, though lousy, records in recent years.

I'm not saying that Nixon has walked into an impossible situation here, but considering his competition, particularly those at the top of the league, he has his work cut out for him. As he tries to initiate the turnaround, he needs to be receptive to the leading styles of his older players.

Columbia women's basketball has been without a consistent playing strategy or coherent team unity for years, and if Nixon wants to make his first year here even reasonably successful, he must recognize and respect the efforts of the girls who have stuck it through.

Already he seems to be doing this with the infused speed that he is pumping in their game, which especially suits their relatively short lineup that relies heavily on Griffith, Carey and Henderson. Though compensation on the boards has not been what the Lions would have wished for, up-and-coming players such as sophomore Michelle Gage have already shown much potential and growth. Building a cohesive team that plays off each other's improvements may take time, but in order to catch up with the remainder of the league, Columbia will have to take a page from their veterans to make it work.

So far this season the Lions, 4-11 overall, have yet to gain an Ivy victory in three conference games, and are in the midst of a five-game losing streak. Whether or not they can pull themselves out of adversity has yet to be proven, but the tools are there to make it happen.

Lauren Clark is a Barnard College senior majoring in urban studies. Send any comments to sports@columbiaspectator.com