The Season

Columbia University’s football team hasn’t won a game in over two years. They've had just three winning seasons in the past five decades. Turning things around won't be easy, but this year, the university is redoubling its efforts to try.

"What we're trying to do here is no different than a company that's been bankrupt and it's been bought by somebody and they're coming in here with a new management team," said Al Bagnoli, the team's new head coach. "How do you get that business to be solvent, and how do you get it to be profitable?"

For 23 years Bagnoli had been the coach at the University of Pennsylvania, where he won nine Ivy League titles. Then he retired. And now, at the age of 62, he's come out of retirement to coach the Lions.

Columbia is pouring money and resources into the team. Players say they're more excited than they've ever been. This could be the year things finally change.

But this isn't just a story about football: It's about what it takes to turn around something that's gotten stuck, and that's hardly unique to sports.

Listen to the first episode and subscribe to The Season on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes will be released every Thursday.

The Season is a new weekly podcast from WNYC that will follow Columbia University's football team, the Lions, over their ten-game season.

It's been two years since the Lions had a win. That’s a 21-game losing streak.

But this fall, hopes are high, because Columbia has a new head coach, Al Bagnoli, who is legendary for leading winning teams.

Winning, losing, and what it takes to change the score. This isn’t just a story about football. It’s about what it takes to turn around something that’s been stuck for ages.

Starting September 17, it’s The Season.

We've reached the end. It's with mixed emotions that Bryan and I have decided that this will be the final episode of this experiment in grassroots storytelling. It's been an incredible adventure for us. The athletes left us inspired. The community reaction humbled us. Thank you. A few things I will never forget:Spending New Years Eve in a no name town on Vancouver island inside Jonaven's airstream. Rain pelted the aluminum. Watching the cable cam first take flight. The resulting look of glee on Matt's face. Sunset at the mouth of the Klamath. Realizing that I still have the same enthusiasm for traveling the American West as I did when I was 21. Watching the light fade from the top of Cheop's. I could go on and on. It has been a memorable experience. Thanks for watching.

Dawn breaks on Mount Rainier and it's time for the 6,000-foot climb from base camp to the summit. This is the chance for Greg Hill to summit the mountain that launched him on his skiing career. Now, if only the weather will window will hold long enough.

Craig and Jarem launch off on Lurking Fear. If they are successful this will be the first all disabled ascent of Yosemite's iconic El Capitan and a landmark achievement in Craig's climbing career. Hang on.

Rising 14,000 feet above sea level, Mount Rainier is where many aspiring mountaineers go to test their skills. Crevasses, hanging glaciers, weather that's not always predictable. At 19, Greg had the climbing bug and set his sights on Rainier. But summiting is not a gimme by any means. When he first saw Rainier, Greg "saw an amazing mountain that scared the crap out of me. There was a lot of fear but no understanding." After years spent honing skills in the mountains, Greg views Rainier as a mountain of potential. Now, he's set his sights on two routes in two days.

"Am I disaster prone?" asks Ryan Peterson. After nine days on the river, the search for the Ghost Run isn't going well. We see fish, but catching them is a different story. We have a big foot encounter. A big low is screaming towards the coast. The water is rising and this last effort in terrible weather might make or break Ryan's goal for the season. Ryan is going to give it his all.

The season is coming to a close in Squamish. Thomo's attempts on The Method (v12) are numbered before setting out on another year of road tripping across North America.

Winter came early and shut down Kevin and Jeremy's work in the burn. The coldest season overstayed its welcome well into May. By the time the ground had dried enough to return to work, the access road into the forest suddenly sprouted a gate with a lock. With a little ingenuity, the boys gained access and got back after it. After eight months of shaping, honing, and waiting, it is about to go down.

Spread across Greg Hill's downstairs man cave are a series of maps stitched together. The Purcells. Monashees. Selkirks. Adamants. Valhallas. British Columbia's ranges extend outward from the hub of Revelstoke. Meticulous pencil lines are drawn to mark each route traveled, each successful peak. When we saw it, we wondered what we had just signed up for. After his successful two million vertical feet year, Greg had another idea altogether. This season, Greg wanted to return to the mountain where his career began when he was 18 years old -- Mount Rainier.