Supernova 2003ie Was Likely a Faint Type IIP Event
  We present new photometric observations of Supernova (SN) 2003ie starting one
month before discovery, obtained serendipitously while observing its host
galaxy. With only a weak upper limit derived on the mass of its progenitor (<25
M_sun) from pre-explosion studies, this event could be a potential exception to
the "red supergiant (RSG) problem" (the lack of high mass RSGs exploding as
Type IIP supernovae). However, this is true only if SN2003ie was a Type IP
event, something which has never been determined. Using recently derived core
collapse SN light curve templates, as well as by comparison to other known SNe,
we find that SN2003ie was indeed a likely Type IIP event. However, it is found
to be a member of the faint Type IIP class. Previous members of this class have
been shown to arise from relatively low mass progenitors (<12 M_sun). It
therefore seems unlikely that this SN had a massive RSG progenitor. The use of
core collapse SN light curve templates is shown to be helpful in classifying
SNe with sparse coverage. These templates are likely to become more robust as
large homogeneous samples of core collapse events are collected.
