Familiar Faces

The June 2009 issue of Dartmouth Life was on its way to the recycling bin when a photograph featuring a familiar face – two actually – caught my eye. The shot is of former placekicker Andrew Kempler '08 and a classmate posing with Brian Conroy '86.

An undersized nose guard who showed his love for the game playing with the junior varsity, Conroy has demonstrated his love for the college by helping scores of Dartmouth students get their careers started, including a good number of football players. From the Dartmouth Life story accompanying the photograph:

Brian Conroy '86, senior vice president at Fidelity Investments, says that networking is not just good for students; it's good for organizations. "The payback is terrific," says Conroy, who has spoken with hundreds of Dartmouth students over the past 20 years. "It's my way of connecting to the College that I love, and you get close to high performers with a liberal arts background who often have international experience. These are high-caliber applicants."

(The same issue of Dartmouth Life has a story I freelanced on baseball catcher Jack Monahan '09.)

Last week's New York Times had a revealing story about college athletes and their insurance coverage in case of injury. The story begins this way:

After years of concerns about inadequate health coverage for college athletes, the National Collegiate Athletic Association started requiring universities to make sure their athletes had insurance before competing.

But the association never established clear standards for that coverage when it introduced the rule four years ago, leaving colleges to decide for themselves.

The story does not mention Dartmouth, but does include this about a neighboring school:

Some colleges provide for their athletes. At Middlebury College in Vermont, a Division III institution, all varsity athletes and students in club sports have accident insurance paid for by the college, said Tom Corbin, Middlebury’s business manager.

The Daily Dartmouth did a little digging in response to the story and has this brief note:

Parents of Dartmouth athletes will not have to pay for the treatment of many athletic injuries, according to a letter Dartmouth Athletics sent to the families of incoming student-athletes, although they do have a fund which can pay for 80 percent of athletics-related medical care after a $250 deductible, The letter also recommends that students enroll in the Dartmouth-sponsored insurance plan, saying that it provides “excellent coverage for sports medicine care.”

With that soon-to-be Hanover High School senior student-athlete looking at a number of highly selective colleges, another New York Times story suggested by a regular reader was at once enlightening and frightening. Under the headline, Before College, Costly Advice Just on Getting In, the Times writes a sometimes scathing piece about independent college counselors. It begins with look at a "free fashion show at a Greenwich, Conn., boutique in June (that) was billed as a crash course in dressing for a college admissions interview."

The story includes this quote from Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania: "I guess there are snake oil salesman in every field, and they are preying on vulnerable and anxious people."

A NYT blog offers a little background on the story along with reader comment after reader comment.

Michele Hernandez, the former Dartmouth admissions officer who has her own consulting firm, is quoted in the story.

Another link shared by a reader who knows I'm a blue-blood (Penn State blue, not Mayflower blue) points to a story in Pennsylvania's Harrisburg Patriot-News about a job fair to get game-day help for Penn State football games. The story notes that it takes about 3,000 people to put on a Penn State game – not counting the players ;-). Think about that. T-h-r-e-e t-h-o-u-s-a-n-d people just to help.

Open Sunday

Several brief notes Sunday while we await Tom Watson's possible date with history at the (Don't call it British) Open Championship. ...

The Miami Herald has a compilation of what it calls the top 25 quotes in Miami Dolphins history. No. 23 is one from Dave Wannstedt on "why he liked quarterback Jay Fiedler over the available Trent Green in January 2001." Find it and the rest of the quotes here.

Atlanta Braves farmhand Jason Heyward has been called the No. 1 prospect in all of minor league baseball, and if the last name rings a bell it might be because his father was a Dartmouth athlete, although not a baseball or football player. This story explains:

Athleticism is nothing new in Heyward's family. His uncle played college basketball on the 1964 UCLA championship team under John Wooden. Both of his parents are Ivy League graduates (Dartmouth) where his father was a standout basketball player in his own right.

The young Heyward earlier told legendary baseball writer Peter Gammons of ESPN.com why he didn't follow his parents' footsteps to Dartmouth:

"No way with that weather," Heyward said. "If I had gone to college, I would have gone to UCLA, where my uncle Kenny Washington played basketball."

Yesterday's note quoting the local columnist about what he thinks Dartmouth needs in its next athletic director apparently hit a few resonant chords. Check out the comments at the end of the post.

Thoughts On A New Dartmouth AD

My old editor at the local daily has a column about Dartmouth today under this headline – Wanted: An AD Who Can Win. A few excerpts from the column:

Excellence should not be reserved for the classroom. The facility expansion is all well and good, but the program is judged on the scoreboards and playing fields around the league. And right now, the Big Green is lagging behind.

And ...

Get it straight: Dartmouth is not a ski school; it is a football school.

The story suggests that, in order to draw the strongest candidates, President Jim Young Kim should make it clear that the new athletic director will be given "more power, more flexibility and more opportunity to rebuild the programs and bring Dartmouth back to Ivy League athletic supremacy."

The column adds that Kim should be "willing to hire the right, independent person. And finally: Get out of the way. Let the new AD do the job he or she was hired to do."

What's your take?

North Carolina's Mount Airy News has a story about a wide-eyed high school junior and his dad making a camp and recruiting trip to get their first look at the Ivy League. They visited Cornell, Harvard and Brown. Said the potential recruit:

“The campuses were a little more ancient-looking, I guess you could say. They kind of have a Harry Potter feel to them.”

(He should have seen Yale and Princeton.) The story ends with this quote from the young man:

“It was definitely an experience that enlightened me. I’ve never been that far up North. Everywhere we went, they asked us where we were from. And they didn’t have sweet tea. All I drank was water and Coke.”

The Yale football website has a story about the two BCS (I-A) transfers joining the Bulldog program, a quarterback from Nebraska and a lineman who walked on a UCLA. The story offers this piece of interesting triva:

Both new Elis have older brothers who played football at Harvard and were teammates for two seasons. Jeff Witt was a QB for the Crimson who graduated in 2009, while Frank Fernandez '07 was Harvard's starter at center for three seasons.

Turning away potential season-ticket holders in the FCS (I-AA)? Before you've ever played a game? That's the story at Old Dominion, which processed orders for 14,377 season tickets but had to turn down orders for 1,065 more. Find a Virginian-Pilot story here.

And finally, former Dartmouth quarterback-turned-wide receiver Matt Brzica '93 was quoted in the ledge of a Washington Post story last month regarding unsolicited genetic testing of newborns. Find the story here.

Friday Wrapup

From the 1983 Dartmouth press guide.

Lots of tidbits today starting with former Dartmouth assistant coach Joe Moglia making it to the big-time. No, not in finance. He did that a while back when he became CEO of TD Ameritrade. Now hhe's made it to the big-time of football.

CNBC reports that Nebraska's athletic department has recruited Moglia to "help teach life skills to football players."

The story notes that, "Moglia will likely feel comfortable at the athletic department because he coached football for 16 years and served as Dartmouth College's defensive coordinator before joining the business world."

More from the story:

Athletic Director Tom Osborne ... says Moglia was a natural for the unpaid position because of his unique combination of Wall Street and football experience. Osborne says this job will give coach Moglia a chance to re-establish himself in the football world and learn how Nebraska operates.

Find Moglia's Wikipedia bio here.

Today's Daily Dartmouth has a story about new college president Jim Yong Kim meeting with representatives of every Greek organization Wednesday night. Among those quoted: football players David Johnson and Joe Zimring. I particularly like the way the story ended:

Shortly before Kim left, the conversation turned to the renovations currently being made on the President’s house.

“I can tell you we’re going to get a basketball hoop in the driveway, so you will all be invited to come play basketball,” he said.

Game on.

The D has a couple of other stories about former Dartmouth athletes. One is tells of John Carney '78, Dartmouth's Bob Blackman (MVP) winner in '77 as a defensive back, running for Delaware's seat in the House of Representatives. (link) According to the D, the former Delaware lieutenant governor, "cited his ability to work with a team and bring people together as a strength that will aid him in the election, a skill he credits in part to his years on Dartmouth’s football and lacrosse teams."

The Daily D also has a piece on baseball's Nick Santomauro, the Ivy League Player of the Year, who signed with the New York Mets this spring after helping the Big Green to the Ivy League championship and the NCAA Tournament. (link)

Have you ever wondered why the University of Virginia teams are, in addition to the Cavaliers, sometimes referred to as the Wahoos. Or just the Hoos? And have you wondered if it has anything to do with Dartmouth? Turns out it does. Find the story here.

The New Haven Register has a story about incoming Yale quarterback Patrick Witt, a transfer from Nebraska. From the story:

Witt is anxious for the quarterback competition to begin, but he is taking nothing for granted other than a stated vow he will compete as hard as he can to win the job, much as he expects (junior Brook) Hart and (sophomore Bryan) Farris to do the same.

His political correctness is well taken, but understand that no one transfers from Nebraska to Yale with the thought of being backup quarterback.

Good point.

As reported here earlier, the Ivy League football media day, long held in early August at Yale Golf Course, will be replaced next month by a teleconference on Aug. 11. An Ivy League release reports that the conference, "will feature all eight Ivy head coaches and Jim Maconaghy, the League’s coordinator of football officials, to discuss the major rules changes and points of emphasis for the upcoming season. During the regular season, all eight coaches will be featured on weekly media teleconferences for 10 consecutive weeks beginning Tuesday, September 15 through Tuesday, November 17."

Said new Ivy League executive director Robin Harris: "“We feel this initiative will allow us to expand our coaches’ availability to the media regionally and nationally to a wider audience interested in Ivy League Football throughout the season."

The New Haven Register's Jim Fuller isn't so sure. He writes on the Portal31 blog: "I may be way off on this but I question how many news outlets are going to be jumping in on the weekly conference calls. I think the media day was a chance for the league to get some preseason ink."

Fuller points out that media interest in some Ivy League markets has become so non-existent that, for example, "When Yale played at Brown with a victory giving the Bears at least a share of the Ivy League title, Brown coach Phil Estes wasn't even brought in for interviews because no local media was there to cover the game."

Green Alert Take: As much as I disliked the drive to New Haven early each August, the media day had real advantages. It was a chance to pick up a press guide well before the season began. It was a chance to renew acquaintances with coaches so they could put a face with a name. And it was a chance to trade small talk with, and learn from, sports information personnel from the various schools (and Ivy League) as well as other media.

The weekly teleconference is indeed a chance to, as Robin Harris says, "expand our coaches’ availability to the media regionally and nationally to a wider audience ..." But better to mix and match and have the weekly teleconference in addition to the preseason media day.

Water Wandering And Wondering

It has been suggested more than a few times that I include a picture of myself on Big Green Alert Blog. Here's one I took yesterday on the Connecticut River. If you are trying to find me on the sidelines this football season, look for the flip-flops. (Click photos to seriously supersize them.)

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As you know if you live here, have heard if you have someone at the college, or perhaps have read here or in the newspapers, this has been the soggy summer of soggy summers in our corner of the world. Because there was no rain in yesterday's forecast and the rest of the week looked wet, I impulsively closed up the computer, loaded the kayak on the roof of the car and zipped down to the Connecticut River for a three-hour tour. (Sounds like a TV theme song.)

To be sure, there are a lot of uncertainties associated with being a freelance writer. One of the real rewards is the freedom it allows you to coach your kids in Little League, to share special times with your family, and, yes, to paddle down a river when the mood strikes you.

There was a time when I was a young pup fresh out of journalism school when I thought I'd put in my time at a small newspaper and then steadily make my way to the big-time. I got started in that direction but to borrow a quote from Yogi Berra, there was a fork in the road and I'm glad I took it. I took another one when I left the paper to start BGA and work as a freelancer.

A couple of weeks ago when we were in Denver we ate lunch at a Jimmy John's sandwich shop. (If you have a little extra money sitting around and want to open a Jimmy John's franchise in Hanover, I think you'll make a fortune, but I digress.) Anyway, Jimmy John's is famous for having signs and sayings posted all around the shop. In Denver I saw read one I first noticed at the JJ's in State College, Pa., and it made me smile because it hit home. After shutting things down yesterday, it seems this would be a good time to share it:

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The investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal
Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked.

Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The investment banker complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The fisherman replied, only a little while.

The investment banker then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The fisherman said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs.

The investment banker then asked, but what do you do with the rest of your time?

The fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life, señor."

The investment banker scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat.

With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You can leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise."

The fisherman asked, "But señor, how long will this all take?"

To which the American replied, "15-20 years."

But what then, señor?

The American laughed and said that's the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.

Millions, señor? Then what?

The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

Anonymous

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Of course, the freedom to do things like paddle down the river in the middle of a beautiful Upper Valley day comes at a cost. Like the fisherman in the Mexican village I'll never own a gorgeous estate overlooking the water. But I did snap a picture yesterday of a place that might not be completely out of reach if I save and save and save some more. ;-)


Speaking of life in the Upper Valley, Hanover has again been named by Money Magazine as one of the top small towns in the country in which to live. Find a story from WCAX TV here. The Money Magazine capsule on No. 50 Hanover can be found here.

A big one that got away from Dartmouth – in the early 1970s – was a tight end by the name of Joe Smalzer. The Illinois Scout.com website has a story on former Illinois assistant Carl Meyer that includes this:

Another top Meyer recruit was tight end Joe Smalzer out of Chicago Heights Bloom. It was the 6'-6" Smalzer who made the great endzone catch with one foot inbounds that would have defeated Ohio State had there been instant replay.

"I was recruiting Joe Smalzer for Dartmouth because Joe had excellent grades. He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns and became quite the player as a tight end. He was All Big 10 as well."

The Daily Pennsylvanian, the rare Ivy paper publishing this summer, continues its look at incoming Quaker freshmen with a analysis of Penn's incoming receivers.

McManus, Abuhoff On Preseason Team

With 42 days until the first Dartmouth practice, the Ivy League's official football page has awakened. In addition to listing the Athlon Top 25 (Harvard is at No. 23) and the Sporting News Ivy League picks (Dartmouth is No. 8), the Ivy page lists Phil Steele's two preseason all-conference teams. Here's how many total players Steele's well-regarded magazine picked for the first team from each school, followed by a breakdown by unit:

Total First Team Picks

• 7 – Penn (3 offense, 3 defense, 1 special teams)
  
• 6 – Brown (3-3-0)
• 6 – Harvard (4-2-0)
• 3 – Columbia (0-2-1)
• 2 – Princeton (1-1-0)
• 1 – Yale (0-0-1)
• 0 – Dartmouth, Cornell

Here's how many total first- and second-team picks each school had, followed by the breakdown:

• 9 – Harvard (6 first team, 3 second team)
• 9 – Penn (7-2)
• 8 – Columbia (3-5)
• 7 – Brown (6-1)
• 7 – Princeton (2-5)
• 5 – Yale (1-4)
• 3 – Cornell (0-3)
• 2 – Dartmouth (0-2)

Dartmouth's picks for the second team? No surprise, really. Junior wide receiver Timmy McManus deserved consideration for a spot on the first unit considering what he accomplished last year starting one game at quarterback and practicing both at wideout and QB. The other Dartmouth player honored is sophomore defensive back Shawn Abuhoff, another smart choice. By the way, although Abuhoff is wearing No. 27 in this year's poster (see yesterday's BGA), look for him in a more stylish No. 8 jersey this fall.

Green Alert Take: Preseason teams are always a guess, but seeing Columbia with almost as many picks as likely preseason favorites Harvard and Penn – and more than the other five schools – suggests one of two things. Either the Lions are ready to pounce, or the excitement around Norries Wilson's rebuilding project has carried the critics away. I'll let you know which is right in November ;-)

Green Alert Take II: As for overlooked Dartmouth candidates based on last year's statistics, senior safety Peter Pidermann had to be right at the cut-line for the team, both as a return specialist (second-leading kickoff returner in the Ivies but hurt because he didn't return punts) and defensive back (ninth among all returning tacklers in the Ivies).

Dartmouth could be in the running for a 6-foot-1, 220-pound true fullback from Massachusetts. Clay Cleveland was a high school teammate of incoming Dartmouth lineman Teddy Reed at Masconomet High School in Massachusetts. Like Reed, who went to Deerfield Academy after graduating, Cleveland is taking a postgrad year. From a story in the Salem News:

Among those that recruited him last winter were Ivy League schools like Princeton and Dartmouth, and upper-echelon Football Championship Subdivision teams such as Delaware.

And ...

"Obviously there are no guarantees, but a lot of the Ivys said I was very close (to getting in) and a year at Phillips might help," the multiple-time Cape Ann League all-star said.

And this:

One of my best friends is Teddy Reed, who PG'd and wound up at Dartmouth. So hopefully it'll be worth it for me."

Cleveland will be in action tonight in the 48th annual Agganis Football Classic at Manning Field in Lynn, Mass.

Dartmouth On Schedule

The 2009 Dartmouth football schedule poster features (clockwise from top left) pictures of junior wide receiver/co-captain Timmy McManus, senior safety/co-captain Peter Pidermann, junior All-Ivy defensive end candidate Charles Bay and sophomore corner Shawn Abuhoff, the Ivy League Rookie of the Week three times in the last four games of the 2008 season.

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The Colgate football team that will provide the opposition in Dartmouth's Sept. 19 opener at Memorial Field will feature four new starters on the offensive line. Among the departed are no fewer than three All-Patriot League first-team selections who paved the way for senior Jordan Scott, one of the most productive runners in FCS/I-AA history.

While there may be questions up front, there aren't any in the backfield where there's no mystery who will take Scott's place. The feature back in Hamilton, N.Y., will be Nate Eachus, a 5-foot-10, 206-pound sophomore with a well-deserved reputation as a battering ram. Eachus began last year as a linebacker, starting three early season games. He was playing linebacker against Cornell when Scott was injured and he was switched over to the other side of the ball. In just over two quarters of action against the Big Red, he ran for 241 yards (and no, that is not a typo). In other words, playing just a little more than a half of his first game as a running back, he surpassed the all-time Dartmouth single-game record of 229 set by Al Rosier in 1991.

Eachus exploded for 214 yards against Bucknell and 171 against Lafayette. Starting just four games at tailback, he ran for 932 yards, which would be fourth on the all-time Dartmouth list for a single season. To read a little more about Eachus, a two-time All-Anthracite running back (and you can't have enough All-Anthracite players if you ask me) check out a story in Pennsylvania's Reading Eagle. Find his bio here.

Another premier player Dartmouth will see on the other side of the field this fall is New Hampshire tight end Scott Sicko. Über-scout Gil Brandt taps him as No. 16 among senior tight ends nationally this fall, the only FCS player on the NFL.com list. Although it hasn't been updated as of this posting, you can find Sicko's bio here.

Record Watching

Here's the view from Moose Mountain this morning. While it was clear up here headlights were needed driving in town as the fog rose up from the Connecticut River. Vermont's Green Mountains are in the background. On exceptionally clear days a shadow of New York's Adirondacks can be seen according to longtime neighbors. (Click to supersize.)

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Updated receiving records on the Dartmouth football website show junior Timmy McManus climbing his way up the Big Green ranks in several categories. McManus is:

• 5th all-time for single-season catches with 60. (Jay Barnard '04 , 83.)
• 11th career receptions with 88. (Barnard, 216)
• 16th in season receiving yards with 637. (John Hyland '94, 1,076)
• 16th in career receiving yards at 1,022. (Craig Morton '89, 2,605).

Senior quarterback Alex Jenny also made it into the record books at:

• 11th for single-game passing yards at 343 vs. Colgate. (Jay Fiedler '94, 419 vs. Yale)
• 19th career passing yardage at 1,793 yards. (Fielder, 6,684)

(Note: Just one spot and 15 yards ahead of Jenny on the list: Buddy Teevens)

Also making the record book after last season was tailback Milan Williams '09:

• 17th for career rushing at 1,320 yards (Al Rosier '91, 2,252)

Team records broken or tied last fall were:

• Most losses, one season, 10
• Most opponent first downs rushing in a game, 23 (ties Navy '86)
• Most opponent rushing touchdowns, 28
• Highest opponent passing percentage game, .838 (Cornell 26-31)
• Highest opponent passing percentage season, .676 (184-272)
• Most yards allowed season, 4,517 (2,310 rush, 2207 pass)
• Highest opponent punting average, 39.5

A 6-foot-5, 315-pound Massachusetts lineman received interest from Dartmouth before making a verbal commitment to play at Boston College according to this Eagle Tribune story.

Fordham's decision to start awarding football scholarships could have a domino effect in the Patriot League, which will bear close watching by the Ivy League. Fordham coach Tom Massella discusses the decision on the Fordham SportsNet site.

The Hartford Courant has a nice story about Dartmouth alum Brad Ausmus, who is now ninth all-time in games by a major league catcher. Ausmus, 40, who is serving as a backup for the Los Angeles Dodgers could have a future as a manager according to a story that begins this way:

You can't fit the profile any better. Brad Ausmus is a longtime major league catcher, a player's player, and he has the ability to laugh at himself.

When measuring managerial timber, those qualities are considered an asset. And he's Ivy League educated, something bound to catch the eye of baseball's new-age GMs.

The story also includes this note:

Drafted by the Yankees in 1987, Ausmus signed only after it was arranged for him to attend Dartmouth in the offseason, and he graduated in 1991.