Philadelphia 76ers: How Colangelo's Schooling Could Impact

Bryan Colangelo, the president of the Philadelphia 76ers, came from a prestigious institute, Cornell University. How does that impact the Sixers?

As a 19-year-old current student, I think a lot about school, and how important it is to prime going into “the real world” with a few years of some good old fashioned education (okay, taking a few of my classes online makes it feel not so old fashioned). For some who are older than me, however, their college years are a small portion of what they’ve accomplished up to this point in their lives.

Bryan Colangelo is 51 years old, and when one thinks of his accomplishments, his school years are not heavily considered. Rightfully so, since he is a professional who has been out of school for nearly 30 years. We should be concentrating mostly on what he has done in his field since graduating, since that’s what’s most important now.

With that in mind, however, his college years still may dictate how he carries himself today, and dictate how he goes about carrying out some of his moves as president of the Philadelphia 76ers. More importantly, the college he attended may dictate how he carries himself as a professional today.

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Colangelo ended up going to school in Ithaca, New York, at a prestigious Ivy League school, Cornell University. Cornell has an intimidating acceptance rate of just 14 percent today, admitting an even smaller amount of those who it deems worthy enough to come to the high-class institute.

Colangelo, according to the Cornell Sun, played on the school’s basketball team while attending, but only averaged 3 minutes per game while he was there. He graduated from Cornell in 1987, with a degree in business management and applied economics.

As someone who as born and raised, and currently resides in upstate New York, Ithaca has changed a bit over the years since Colangelo graduated in the late-80s. Now, when one drives through Ithaca, they are often greeted with signs and posters urging people to “go green” and save the environment. Places like GreenStar, a natural food market, are worshiped by the townies., and bikes, Priuses, and get this, people who actually walk places, are in full effect. Ithaca, for the most part, has been dubbed a “hippie town,” by outsiders.

But up on the hill sits Cornell still, alongside the lesser-known (but still highly accoladed) Ithaca College. Cornell today is perhaps even more prestigious than it was when Colangelo visited, but has much of the same feel as it ever has.

The school is a tough one, and it makes for some of the toughest four years of some students’ lives. At some points — as recently as the early 2010s — the Ithaca area has suffered a tragic epidemic of Cornell students going to the world-famous gorges nearby and jumping off to commit suicide, possibly prompted by how hard the course load is especially during finals week at Cornell.

Now, near some bridges in the Ithaca area, nets are placed underneath (usually around the time that final exams are around the corner) to discourage people from jumping in an attempt to take their own lives.

Although the suicides in the area are morbid, and not really pertaining to Colangelo’s life, it’s an important look into the hard lifestyle that comes with Cornell University, and going through the four years on the hill. At the same time, the campus itself has a feeling of high class, and the best and brightest, not just in the New York region, but in the entire world.

My father personally has had the chance to research with some of the professors at Cornell, and I’ve had the great pleasure of going with him once or twice on these ventures. I can say that the atmosphere in these environments is one full of hard work and of determination. I can also say that I most certainly left each day with a headache from all the information absorbed throughout the day.

Those who are still latching on to Sam Hinkie, the recently resigned Sixers team president, can hate Colangelo all they want for taking his place, but the reality is that Colangelo is by no means not a hard worker. Colangelo, along with everyone else who has ever gone through the Cornell system, deserved to be there, and was placed there because they were incredibly intelligent people. And being there sets them up for a bright future with loads of critical thinking involved in every professional decision they make.

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When you start your training for your professional career in college, who you are around dictates how you go about the rest of your career. Colangelo, who has won the NBA Executive of the Year award twice now, clearly is influenced by the attitude of hard work and determination that comes along with being a Cornell graduate, and Sixers fans should be pleased with that.

Bryan Colangelo’s Past: How it Impacts Him Today

By Josh Wilson | Aug 2, 2016

Bryan Colangelo, the president of the Philadelphia 76ers, came from a prestigious institute, Cornell University. How does that impact the Sixers?

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