From Harrisburg To Hanover

From Dartmouth's social media:

Getting to know Coach Gilcrist. @CoachTGilcrist
From his journey to Hanover to the mindset he wants in his receiver room.#GoBigGreen | #TheWoods pic.twitter.com/Pqu3MJWnuq

— Dartmouth Football (@DartmouthFTBL) March 11, 2026

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A story out of South Dakota under the headline Three-headed QB battle set to define spring football for USD reminds us that former Dartmouth quarterback Jackson Proctor '25 isn't quite done after playing in one game as a grad transfer at Northern Illinois last year. (Proctor ran twice for 13 yards and completed two of eight passes for eight yards in his only NIU appearance before leaving the team.)

From the story:

First-year head coach Matt Vitzthum — who spent last season as the team’s quarterbacks coach — inherits a three-man battle that will shape the trajectory of the 2026 season. Senior Nevan Cremascoli, freshman Austyn Modrzewski, and transfer senior Jackson Proctor will each get their opportunity this spring to prove they can lead the Coyotes’ offense.

And . . .

After spending the 2025 season at Northern Illinois without using a year of eligibility due to an NCAA waiver, Proctor entered the transfer portal and ultimately landed at South Dakota for one more opportunity to start.

Adjusting to a new program and offensive system will be part of his challenge this spring.

“Jackson is just really trying to embrace the new environment, a new offense, a new coordinator and a new quarterbacks coach,” Vitzthum said. “He is just adjusting to the new, so I think his growth will probably take a little bit longer but each guy can bring a different dynamic to our offense.” 

Read the full story HERE, and find Proctor's South Dakota bio HERE.

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Speaking of quarterbacks hoping to make an impact in a new place, Jayden Craig, a grad transfer from Harvard, is one of the Top 14 Unheralded CFB Transfers Destined for Stardom in 2026 per Bleacher Report. From the story:

In (Sonny) Dykes' offense, Craig will get the opportunity to sling the ball around a lot, and with Jordan Dwyer returning and South Alabama transfer Jeremy Scott joining in, Craig will have plenty of capable options.

And . . . 

This could be a big, final year for Craig who could surge up draft boards.

Find the full story HERE. 

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Dartmouth gets a quick mention HERE for being one of the schools recruiting Colt Hauser, a 6-foot-3, 280-pound offensive lineman from Florida whose actor father Cole Hauser was on the TV show Yellowstone.

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EXTRA POINT
Remember those robins I mentioned a few days ago that were all over our field? The weather has cooled off and I haven't seen them since. Not a one.

With overnight lows around 15 the next four days and the temperature struggling to get above freezing after today, I'm not sure when those welcome harbingers of spring will show up again. Maybe they changed their minds.

Coming And Going

BGA shared the names of three of Dartmouth's new assistant football coaches and a little about their coaching background last week HERE. Their names are all now officially in the athletic department directory along with their photographs:

It would seem the athletic communications office is intending to roll out social media posts on the new coaches in coming days. This appeared yesterday:

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While the search for three assistant football coaches is over, the search is just beginning for a new men's basketball coach. One year after leading Dartmouth to its first appearance in the Ivy League tournament, Dave McLaughlin has been let go by AD Mike Harrity. (LINK)

McLaughlin finished with a 41-85 record in conference play and an 87-161 overall mark over nine seasons. The Big Green was 5-9 in the Ivy this year, and 11-16 overall.

Green Alert Take: While men's ice hockey is enjoying a banner season, men's and women's basketball continue to struggle mightily at Dartmouth. The Big Green's best season under McLaughlin was 8-6 in the Ivy League and 14-14 overall in 2024-25. The team hasn't finished with a winning overall record this century. (The last winning record was 14-12 in 1998-99.) The women's team was 1-13 in the Ivy League this winter and is just 6-64 in conference since 2019-20. The women's team went 10-17 overall this year and has finished with a winning record just once over the past 16 seasons. It's been a precipitous fall for Dartmouth, which has won a record 17 Ivy League championships in women's basketball.

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EXTRA POINT
The temperature here at our Vermont hillside home hit 65 degrees yesterday while up in Burlington it reached 73, the warmest temperature ever recorded in the state's biggest city before March 15 per record keeping dating back to the 1800s.

You've got to give it to robins. Although more and more are reported to winter in these parts, I hadn't seen a single one since last fall, but like clockwork they showed up in droves yesterday. Dozens of them were in our field pecking away looking for worms and other tasty delights. ;-) 

Catching Up With the Pros

Missed this video last month with former Dartmouth standout Flo Orimolade '17 giving an update on his recovery from the torn Achilles he suffered last September with the Calgary Stampeders:

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And with the craziness around Christmas, I fanned on another injury to a former Big Green standout. Isaiah Johnson '22, who signed with the Dolphins after playing two years as a grad transfer corner at Syracuse, tore his ACL in a December practice. Find a story after his injury HERE. He appeared in four games for Miami last fall, making three special teams tackles.

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Still on the subject of Dartmouth alums in the NFL, corner Tyron Herring '23, is on the offseason Green Bay Packers' roster. (LINK) He is one of seven cornerbacks on team's roster this winter after grad transferring to Delaware. (LINK)

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Looking ahead to another would-be NFL player, offensive tackle Delby Lemieux '26 appears in draft guru Mel Kiper's Big Board at center. Here's how Kiper ranks the position:

1. Connor Lew, Auburn

2. Jake Slaughter, Florida

3. Sam Hecht, Kansas State

4. Logan Jones, Iowa

5. Brian Parker II, Duke

6. Matt Gulbin, Michigan State

7. Trey Zuhn III, Texas A&M

8. Parker Brailsford, Alabama

9. Jager Burton, Kentucky

10. Delby Lemieux, Dartmouth

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EXTRA POINT
Another unseasonably – but very welcome – warm day is rapidly melting the snow that has covered every inch of our Vermont hillside since before Christmas. None of us are disappointed by that, except Griff the Wonder Dog. Here he is doing what we like to call "squizzling." He knows when the surface of the snow has just enough grit to it for it to be to his liking and when it does, he'll squizzle three, four, five or more times during our walks:

New Big Green Assistants

No official announcements out of Dartmouth yet, but the Big Green has three new assistant football coaches listed in the athletic directory.

Joining the Big Green are Jordan Belfiori, Todd Gilchrist, Jr., and Quentin Jones.

Belfiori comes to Hanover from Butler University, where he had been defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, the role long held at Dartmouth by the recently retired Don Dobes. Belfiori previously coached for seven years at Colgate, where he served as the Raiders' defensive coordinator. He's 2012 graduate of Central Michigan. Find his Butler bio HERE.

Gilcrist is a former Holy Cross wide receivers coach and offensive pass game coordinator who also coached both running backs and wide receivers at Columbia. He was a Bill Walsh Coaching Fellow offensive line intern with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2024. He comes to Dartmouth from Averett University, where he served as offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach last year. Gilcrist is a 2012 graduate of Pitt, where he was a member of the football team. Find his Averett bio HERE.

Jones, whose LinkedIn says he will coach defensive line at Dartmouth, arrives from Wesleyan University. His coaching resume includes stops at Brown, several other schools, and as head coach of the Prague Lions in Europe. He began his playing career at UTEP before playing at Youngstown State and the University of Charleston in West Virginia, where he earned his degree. Find his Wesleyan bio HERE.

Expect more coaching news before spring practice kicks off.

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EXTRA POINT
On a relatively warm Sunday afternoon I figured it was a good day to head to the car wash and finally get a winter's worth of dirt and grime off Mrs. BGA's car.

As usual, I dug into the old milk bottle where we stash quarters and pulled out enough coins to buy the time needed to do a thorough job. Rather than spend $10 or $15 doing the drive-through, I'd do the work myself while Mrs. BGA and Griff the Wonder Dog stayed in the car.

I brought along my favorite pair of gloves in case it was a little cold, but when I got to the car wash I didn't need them, so I put 'em on top of the coin box and set about spraying the car with soap. As usual, when the car was all soaped up I switched to a hard rinse before spinning the dial to hot wax. When I was finished, the car looked great.

Given how nice the day was, we decided to take a Sunday drive. I was doing to pretty decent job of avoiding puddles and mud to keep the car as clean as I could when I looked over and noticed Mrs. BGA's gloves on the dashboard. "Uh," I asked with a sinking feeling, "have you seen my gloves?"

You know what's coming. I'd left them on the coin box at the car wash, a good 20-25 minutes away. So we turned around and headed back to the car wash. Mrs. BGA, who always sees the best in people, gave me a 75 percent chance of finding the gloves. As a (former?) journalist, I'm a trained skeptic and thought she was being a little optimistic.

Unfortunately, I was right.

I'll call the car wash in a few minutes and see if they have a lost-and-found, but I'm not expecting they do. There's no attendant at the car wash and it was so busy yesterday that I'd guess a half dozen or more cars had come through the place before we got back and someone in one of those cars has a nice new pair of gloves.

Catching Up

This is from a year ago, but I don't spend much time on the Vimeo platform, so I missed it. Although it is titled 2025, this is actually a look at the 2024 Big Green seniors, from the Class of 2025:

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Per his social media, former Dartmouth corners coach Mike Johnson is now assistant defensive backs coach at Old Dominion. (LINK)

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EXTRA POINT
Fall back, spring ahead, right?

Setting clocks to the right time is a breeze compared to getting Griff the Wonder Dog's clock right. I'm thinking this time around we'll adjust his dinner time by 10 minutes a day for six days. It may take him a bit longer to catch on perfectly, but you can be sure within a couple of weeks or so he'll give up whatever he's been doing and look one of us in the eye a just minute or two before his 5:30 dinner time. His timing is uncanny.

We're Not In Hanover Anymore

What Dorothy said to Toto came to mind when I saw this post from former Dartmouth tight end Chris Corbo:

Corbo's message in full:

"Tech Fans! Come join me and @capital.vacations at the Men’s Basketball game tonight for your chance at a free vacation. See you there. Sting ‘Em!"

Corbo's social media directs those interested in doing business with him to the agency representing him as a grad transfer at Georgia Tech. A visit to the agency's site finds another former Dartmouth pass catcher among the 38 clients listed on its roster (LINK): 

That's wide receiver Grayson O'Bara, who grad transferred to North Texas. AJ Surace, the Rutgers quarterback and son of Princeton coach Bob Surace, is another client as are Leonard Fournette and other NFL players from the Colts, Bucs, Falcons, Cowboys, Broncos and Jaguars.

Green Alert Take: Yup, Corbo and O'Bara are not in Hanover anymore.

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Craig Haley at The Analyst has a piece headlined Spring (Practice) Forward: Five Questions For the 2026 FCS Football Season. A section titled What's Different in 2026 includes this (LINK):

The head coaching carousel has brought change to 25 FCS programs, including four making straight FCS-to-FCS moves: Eddie Robinson Award recipient Kevin Cahill (Lehigh to Yale), Rick Santos (New Hampshire to Penn), Joel Taylor (West Georgia to Mercer) and Steve Englehart (Presbyterian to West Georgia).

In a podcast with Sam Herder of HERO Sports, Haley offers a few thoughts about the new Ivy League coaches. Here's a lightly edited version of what he had to say in the podcast (LINK):

It is quite the boon for the Ivy League to make these two hires. Rick Santos at New Hampshire – I feel that's the biggest surprise out of the 25 hires that have occurred this offseason. I remember it was announced at 10 a. m. Eastern on a Saturday morning when it became official. It was just, wow, I can't believe this is happening because he starred at quarterback for UNH. He was a Walter Payton Award recipient there. He played and coached under Coach McDonnell and spent five years as their head coach. Basically two decades at the school. You wouldn't think he'd be leaving. But, they are attractive, Ivy League institutions. It's good football. There's money there. I think that was the biggest surprise of all.

And the most recent one with coach Cahill leaving Lehigh. He was on staff there under Tony Reno for 10 years. I guess you would think he would be more entrenched at Lehigh after winning two straight titles and the Eddie Robinson Award. And the Patriot League getting so much stronger now with some of their additions school-wise. That is not as surprising, other than the fact that, you would have thought maybe he was a little more entrenched after the recent years at Lehigh. These are just great hires. So great, great hires there for Penn and for Yale.

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EXTRA POINT
I found myself thinking about Erma Bombeck's book The Grass Is Always Greener over the Septic Tank this morning when I looked out our kitchen windows.

Just a few feet away from our house the piping for our septic goes through an effluent filter buried not far below the ground. This morning – for the first time since before Christmas – I saw a small patch of snow-free ground above the filter. Seeing that little patch of bare ground is kind of like the first robin of spring . . . but stinkier.

(I'm taking a little poetic license. There's no smell until I dig up the filter to hose it off each spring when the ground dries out. Yuck.)

Check It Out

This was posted by ESPN College football three months ago and somehow I think I missed it.

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A video interview from several weeks back features James Rush, a 5-foot-10, 175-pound incoming Dartmouth defensive back from Saline (Mich.) High School:

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The 2026 Harvard schedule has been posted several times on BGA but the school just officially announced the slate HERE.

Two points:

• Thank you, Harvard. I appreciate being able to scroll quickly through the prose and find the actual schedule posted at the end. It's annoying when releases like this don't include the schedule and you have to visit the team site to see the schedule at a glance. It's particularly annoying with lengthy basketball, hockey and baseball schedules.

• And second, although you can find Dartmouth's schedule over there to the right, we're still waiting for the school to make everything official. While we're at it, Harvard had a writeup on its early decision recruiting class two months ago . . . . (LINK)

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BGA pulled out a few FCS vs. FBS football game payouts of local interest from a HERO Sports posting earlier. (LINK) An update by HERO added a few more games featuring past, current and potentially future Dartmouth opponents and how much they are taking home from the FBS games (LINK):

Wagner-Cal $525,000 

Wagner-JMU $260,000

Stonehill-Ohio $400,000

URI-Temple, $325,000

Stony Brook-Ball State $325,000

Holy Cross-Miami (Ohio) $320,000

Monmouth-Western Michigan $310,000

Colgate-Central Michigan $300,000

Fordham-Coastal Carolina $300,000

Green Alert Take: I had several emailers ask why Ivy League schools don't pursue those games and I suggested injury concerns could play a role, as could concerns about competitiveness. The late start to the Ivy season doesn't help. How games against the non-scholarship Ivy League would affect bowl eligibility for some FBS teams could also play into scheduling. All that said, Dartmouth coach Sammy McCorkle has said on numerous occasions he'd welcome the chance to see the Big Green take on an FBS opponent.

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EXTRA POINT
Three words is all it takes to explain the current state of affairs here at our Vermont hillside home:

Mud. Is. Back.

Catching Up With Jay Fiedler

The New York Jets' website catches up with former Dartmouth and NFL quarterback Jay Fiedler '94 for a look back at his career and what he has done since. From the story about Fiedler, who lives back on Long Island with his wife and two children:

(D)uring his 10-year career, Fiedler passed for 11,844 yards with 69 touchdowns and 66 interceptions. He also rushed for 854 yards and 11 touchdowns.

"What I'm most proud of is the resiliency and perseverance that I had to remain in the league, to work myself up to becoming a starter in the league, and to have a career as long as I did," Fiedler said. "I very easily could have been a guy that was a backup for a couple of years in Philadelphia and out of the league."

Find the full story HERE. 

In addition to training players at all levels, Jay Fiedler still runs "Prime Time Football Clinics." Here he is with some young quarterback hopefuls:

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Speaking of Jay Fiedler, it was always fun when Jay and Brian Mann '02 – who broke a few of Fiedler's Big Green records – would take hilarious shots at each other during the auction portion of the Friends of Dartmouth Football annual golf outing. Just yesterday the Friends shared a "save the date" for this year's event:

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EXTRA POINT
That Certain Dartmouth '14 was up early today to catch the 4:40 a.m. Dartmouth Coach to Logan Airport for her return trip to Utah's Bryce Canyon National Park. She thoroughly enjoyed her speaking engagement on campus and we thoroughly enjoyed having her back home! Here's a shot That Certain Nittany Lion '16 got of Baker Library in the wee hours while most of the college still slept.