Cuff Back to CU as Commentator

As a player and leader on the men's basketball team, Dalen Cuff played in over 100 games for the Lions and established himself as a familiar figure in Columbia athletics. Seven months after his last game as a senior, Cuff has returned to Columbia's sidelines with a new role.

Instead of joining his former teammates on the court, Cuff will be on the opposite sideline with a headset as the color commentator on Columbia's newly-initiated Internet and radio broadcasts.

After Cuff's graduation, Columbia alum Jerry Sherwin introduced him to contacts in the marketing industry that led to a spot with IPG, a firm that controls several marketing agencies. Once accepted this fall, Cuff began a two-year period of four six-month-long rotations in different agencies. In only a few short months, Cuff has already been assigned to such high-profile events as the U.S. Open and Olympus Fashion Week.

Naturally, however, he gravitates toward the sports and entertainment group first, and although he will have to cycle through other options, he will most likely return to the sports side of the business after the trial period is over.

No matter where he works, however, Cuff maintains strong ties with his alma mater.

By day, Cuff works with the athletic elite. By night, he sits on the sidelines of the Columbia basketball games, watching his former teammates' every move. Although his daytime job is demanding, Cuff finds his new responsibility with Columbia a welcome challenge and one at which he can succeed.

"It's going to work out well," Cuff said. "I was already planning to be at every home game as well as whatever away games I could make. I am very close with the team, and this is a great way to get a valuable experience."

Cuff was a logical choice for Columbia's athletic coordinators. They saw the benefit of hiring a former player who had been a large presence on the team for four years. Having been a part of the team's inner workings, Cuff needed little or no orientation to the Columbia program.

"They just thought I would be good at it," Cuff explained. "They wanted someone that had knowledge about how coach Jones does things. I offer an insight that a lot of commentators wouldn't have especially with Columbia since its not high profile and since I was so intimately involved for so many years."

As a former player, it will be tough for Cuff to sit on the sidelines. As a professional, Cuff realizes that he can't allow his personal connection to the players and team to influence his perspective on the game.

"It will be difficult to not get actively involved," Cuff said. "I realized that when I came to watch the Bucknell game. While watching in the booth, I cannot just react, I have to remain calm no matter what happens on the floor, which is easier said than done because I want them to succeed so much. You have to remove yourself from the game and ignore personal feelings about not being there on the court."

For Cuff, taking up this new job means bringing back much of the past, yet it is also important for him to view things from a more mature perspective. With his commentating duties, Cuff hopes to raise the profile of the team by adding to the quality of its broadcasts. The fact that he had spent four years with the team, scoring over 400 points as a player, however, creates a link that is difficult to break with time.

"I'm around them prior to the game," Cuff said, "You feel removed even though you are friends with them and were in their shoes only a year ago. It's a different role, it's really odd."