This And That

 Dartmouth football coaches in the Ivy League era by overall winning percentage::

	W	L	T	Pct
Bob Blackman	104	37	3	.732
Sammy McCorkle	21	9	0	.700
Jake Crouthamel	41	20	2	.667
Buddy Teevens	117	101	2	.536
John Lyons	60	68	1	.469
Joe Yukica	36	47	4	.437

Find Dartmouth coach Sammy McCorkle's Wikipedia page HERE.

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Dartmouth photo

From a Dartmouth athletic story headlined Teevens Center Hosts Inaugural Research Forum:

 On November 4, the Teevens Center for Peak Performance hosted its inaugural Research Forum, bringing together Dartmouth students, faculty, coaches, clinicians and athletics staff to explore cutting-edge work in health, wellness and human performance. 

The event marked the formal launch of Pillar III of the Teevens Center mission: advancing research and innovation in performance science. In his opening remarks, Duncan Simpson, the Director of the Kirsten and Eugene F. "Buddy" Teevens '79 Center for Peak Performance highlighted the forum's purpose to "increase awareness of the great work already happening, spark new ideas around the performance problems we want to solve and foster collaboration across disciplines and expertise."

The forum also honored the legacy of Coach Buddy Teevens, whose forward-thinking approach positioned research as a catalyst for solving real-world challenges and enhancing student-athlete well-being.

Read more HERE. 

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The Manchester Union Leader doesn't cover Dartmouth sports the way it did years ago, but the state's largest newspaper does do a pretty good job telling the story of the awakening of the Big Green hockey program in a story headlined, By shifting culture, Cashman has built Dartmouth men's hockey team into national contender. From the story:

No. 8 Dartmouth (10-0, 6-0 ECAC) is off to its best start since its 1942-43 season, when it went 14-0-1, and ranks No. 1 in the nation in the National Collegiate Percentage Index (NPI), which replaced the PairWise system this year.

Read more HERE.

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EXTRA POINT

Several years ago we added our names to a list of people interested in signing up when fiber broadband internet came up our road. That day arrived not all that long ago, but there was a catch. We would be responsible for "pulling a string" between the road and our house, enabling the fiber to be tied to it and yanked through a conduit into our basement. We were told it was an easy process using a shop vac to blow a plastic bag through the piping, but because our conduit has two legs, and where the conduit enters the house was sealed up, I wasn't about to try to do it myself.

Several emails back-and-forth with the internet provider to try to find someone to help out proved fruitless, and so we have stuck with DSL, which limps along at its own leisurely pace.

Out of the blue last week we got a call informing us that thanks to a grant it received, the internet provider could send someone to do the preliminary work that had intimidated me and were we still interested? They told me would be done at no cost and take less than an hour. I said, "Sign me up!"

The installer showed up yesterday and the "less-than-an-hour" job ended up taking about three hours. The fellow told me it's a good thing he had done a number of installs like ours or it would have been even more problematic. Yeah, it's a good thing I didn't try to do it myself.

No word yet about when the rest of the install will take place. I expect there will be a hiccup or two before we have everything up and working smoothly, but it would seem the days of needing four hours to update my Mac or 15 minutes to download a single podcast will finally be coming to an end.

Top 10

 Senior DJ Crother moved this fall into Dartmouth's all-time, top-10 for single-season rushing yards this fall:

		Year	Yards	Avg.	TD
1	Al Rosier ‘91	1991	1,432	5.6	12
2	Nick Schwieger ‘12	2011	1,310	5.4	10
3	Nick Schwieger ‘12	2010	1,133	4.7	14
4	Shon Page ‘90	1990	1,087	5.0	11
5	Dominick Pierre ‘14	2013	1,064	5.0	13
6	David Clark ‘90	1989	1,063	4.9	4
7	DJ Crother ‘26	2025	959	4.9	10
8	Michael Gratch ‘02	2001	916	4.7	6
9	Greg Smith ‘97	1996	885	4.0	10
10	Dominick Pierre ‘14	2012	830	5.0	9

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Recruiting guru Mide Farrell's site now has a piece headlined Top FCS Players to Watch in Transfer Portal – Offense and Dartmouth tight end Chris Corbo is one of five Ivy Leaguers among the 17 players listed:

QB Jaden Craig – Harvard

OG Derek Osman – Harvard

OT Netinho Olivieri – UPenn

WR Jared Richardson – UPenn

TE Chris Corbo – Dartmouth

Of Corbo, the site includes this:

Senior

6-foot-5, 250-pounds

North Caldwell, New Jersey

2024/2025 Stats: In his last 20 games, Corbo had 77 receptions for 831 yards and 11 touchdowns; in 2025 he finished with 45 receptions for 516 yards and four touchdowns

One point worth noting. Because the portal doesn’t open until next month the only players technically available now are seniors, and all of the Ivy Leagues listed are seniors.

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This is kind of fun. Former Dartmouth defensive lineman-turned-Olympic gold medal shot-putter Adam Nelson's '97 daughters attend his alma mater, The Lovett School in Atlanta. Daughter Caroline is now playing flag football for the school and her sister, Lauren wrote a story about her HERE.

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EXTRA POINT

For a long time we have had a fancy Christmas tree stand that makes getting the tree up straight and stable eazy peazy. Except, it turns out, when it doesn't.

Apparently, for the first time ever, we didn't get the tree properly situated in the stand. We found that out today when it started to lean as the last decoration was going on. Unfortunately, we have no alternative but to de-decorate the tree, reset the stump in the stand, and decorate again. And so you know, our tree has a lot of ornaments.

This predicament calls to mind the little parade we have in our town. It runs less than a quarter of a mile and then turns around. The saying is, "It's so nice you see it twice."

I guess our tree this year is, so nice, we'll decorate it twice. (Although the be perfectly honest, Mrs. BGA does almost all of the decorating. My super power is de-decorating. ;-)

They Got It Right

Dartmouth has added another member to its recruiting class, but we begin today with a well-deserved honor.

Big Green offensive line coach Keith Clark has been selected as the American Football Coaches Association Football Assistant Coach of the Year at the FCS level. Clark has been at Dartmouth since 2009, and offensive line has been a Big Green strength ever since.

From the AFCA release (LINK):

A 40-year college coaching veteran, Clark has anchored Dartmouth’s offensive line for 17 seasons, producing 45 All-IVY selections … His fronts have consistently ranked among the Ivy League’s best in both run game production and pass protection, including multiple seasons allowing one sack or fewer per game … In 2025, Clark’s offensive line ranked No. 5 in the nation in fewest sacks allowed at a .8 average … Clark’s o-lines powered Dartmouth to Ivy League titles in 2015, 2019 and 2021 while leading the league or ranking in the top 25 nationally in rushing offense, pass efficiency and fewest sacks allowed … A long-time AFCA member, Clark has served on the AFCA Luncheon Committee and was a former chair of the FCS Assistant Coaches Committee … He remains heavily involved in community outreach, participating in reading programs and mentoring initiatives for youth, such as serving as a Cub Scouts leader and a youth football and baseball coach. 

Dartmouth has a release HERE that includes this from Delby Lemieux, a consensus All-Ivy League choice and NFL prospect:

"So deserving for Coach Clark, incredibly intelligent and professional coach. Coach Clark was one of the main reasons I came here. Year over year, he's a reason we find success in our offense. He treats our room like a family, which helps us become a true band of brothers when we step out onto the field."

And this from four-year starter Konstantin Spörk:

"Coach Clark is someone I've grown extremely close to over my time at Dartmouth. He's the kind of coach every player trusts, not just with football, but also with life. Everyone in our position group knows that if we're dealing with something off the field, we can always turn to him." 

Here's the list of this year's Assistant Coach of the Year honorees: 

FBS–Bryant Haines, Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers, Indiana University

FCS–Keith Clark, Offensive Line, Dartmouth College

Division II–Tyler Almond, Defensive Coordinator/Safeties, Carson-Newman University

Division III–Eric Jones, Offensive Line, Central College

NAIA–Peter Davila, Defensive Coordinator, Keiser University 

Here's the announcement to the team of Clark's award with head coach Sammy McCorkle sharing the news and the team responding with a standing ovation:

Clark is actually the second Big Green coach to be honored this way. Dartmouth defensive coordinator Don Dobes was the FCS assistant coach of the year just last year.

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Add to the list of incoming Dartmouth players Will Hester, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound long snapper from Lexington Christian Academy. A Kentucky Prep Gridiron story about him HERE notes that he's also "among the very best lacrosse players in Kentucky."

Here's his commitment post (LINK):

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From a story on SI.com (LINK):

The New York Giants hosted six players on Tuesday, five of whom were punters and one of whom might be familiar to Giants fans.

The familiar name? Niko Lalos '20. From the story (which includes a photo of the former Dartmouth standout from his former stint with the Giants):

He was with Big Blue for two seasons, but only appeared in six games for the Giants, notching six tackles (two solos) and one interception. Lalos signed with the Saints during the 2023 offseason, but didn’t make the roster and would later join the team’s practice squad later that season. 

In 2022, Lalos was also drafted by the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL but was released from his contract to pursue an NFL career. 

He had a second stint with the Saints in 2023, spending most of that season and the 2024 campaign on the New Orleans practice squad.  

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EXTRA POINT

The trials and tribulations of living off the United States Postal Service grid continue.

I ordered a birthday gift for Mrs. BGA a couple of weeks ago. No information was given regarding the method of shipping, but with the anticipated size and weight of the box I was certain it would be delivered to our door by UPS or FedEx. Just in case, however, I added our PO Box to the end of our street address so that in the unlikely case it did go to the post office they wouldn't send it back to the shipper the way they did with a package a few weeks earlier.

Before I share what happened, we sent out our Christmas card order last week and got a message via email that they would be delivered yesterday.

So what happened? The birthday gift I was sure would come to our house ended up at our teeny, one-room post office. The hash tag and PO box number saved the day, even though the plus-four on the end of our zip code – which also denotes our PO box and should have sufficed, was somehow cut off the shipping label.

The Christmas cards? They fit in a box the size of a paperback book but were delivered to our house.  Last year the same card company sent them to our PO box. Go figure.

More Comings And Goings

Social media offers up another "signing day" ceremony for a Dartmouth-bound high school senior.

This time, meet Roman Sosnovyy, a 6-foot-3, 245-pound defensive lineman from Lyons Township High School, in the suburbs west of Chicago. Find this pic and several others HERE.

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Speaking of coming and going, Dartmouth's own social media has pumped out a graphic showing where coaches are trying to get the lowdown on current high school juniors who they may end up recruiting. For some reason the graphic has since "gone 401" but here's the caption:

Coast to coast. City to city. The Big Green is on the road, and we're coming to find the best. - Dartmouth Football (@DartmouthFTBL) December 8, 2025

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Seeing that graphic was a reminder that the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas used to be crazy for me as I pulled together The Green Line, the newsletter I did for around a decade for the Friends of Dartmouth Football. As part of the newsletter, each year I'd try to make a snazzy graphic showing the recruiting areas for the coaches.

The most anticipated piece of the newsletter, of course, was a look at the incoming recruiting class. I'd cull every online source I could find, grab coach quotes on each player, and fold them into The Green Line, which often ran a full 12 pages.

With The Green Line shut down I haven't done the groundwork I used to do in the early decision class, so I don't have much more to pass along than what has appeared on this daily BGA site over the past six months or so. But I do have something else to offer that you may find interesting.

The winter 2022 edition of The Green Line had capsules on each of the early decision players who will be Dartmouth seniors in 2026. I couldn't find that issue, but was able to locate the spring '23 issue that includes capsules on all of the players who will be seniors next fall. In case you are curious what we knew about them before they ever arrived on campus, click HERE and scroll down.

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And you can be pretty sure anytime I bring up the now defunct The Green Line, I'll take the opportunity to share a few of the covers I designed that I really liked. I'm not a graphic designer but coming up with cover ideas and then producing them was by far my favorite part of doing the newsletter. I'll start with the cover from the 2013 issue that followed a season-ending win over Princeton on snowy Memorial Field.

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And one more recruiting piece, but not about Dartmouth and not about bringing a talented player into the Ivy League. Rather about one leaving the Ivies. The headline:

6,000-yard college football quarterback enters transfer portal; A 6,000-yard quarterback from an Ivy League school is entering the transfer portal.

That quarterback is Harvard's Jayden Craig, who has no more Ivy League eligibility remaining and is looking for a new home for his final year. Find the story HERE.

Green Alert Take: I wish outlets would refer to players like Craig and those from Dartmouth who are moving on as Grad Transfers. Simply saying they are entering the transfer portal makes it sound as if they are leaving because they are unhappy with their school. Virtually all are leaving because they have used up their Ivy League eligibility.

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EXTRA POINT

I had to laugh watching the NBC news last night when Al Roker told the nation a cold front was going to drop the temperature in Burlington, Vt., to one degree. That may well have been the forecast, but Burlington is in the Champlain Valley, a notorious warm spot compared to the rest of us. The temperature at the airport in Burlington hit minus-2 earlier this morning.

Here at our Vermont hillside home the temperature had bottomed out when I came down this morning at a brisk 12.6 degrees below zero. It still has a way to go to reach the 22-below I remember from our days living on the shoulder of Hanover's Moose Mountain, but it's getting there. ;-)