More On Rob Talley

The Boston Globe has a piece this morning about former Dartmouth assistant Rob Talley being hired as head football coach at Stonehill. ... Former Columbia head coach Bob Shoop, meanwhile, has landed at William & Mary as the defensive coordinator. ...

Today's Daily Dartmouth has the first of a three-part series that "examines what it takes to become an athlete in the Ivy League." Part one offers a few thoughts on the Academic Index. ... For a more exhaustive look at the AI -- although one that I must admit lost me at times -- check out The New Realities: Part II on the Lehigh Football Nation blog. The Ivy League and Dartmouth get a little play in the column. ...

The Cornell Daily Sun has an article about the possibility of an Ivy League basketball tournament and our local daily has a column today saying a tournament is the wrong way to go. Those who have read my stuff in that same paper over the years or have been regular visitors to this blog know I feel strongly the other way. I won't belabor the point here, but Ivy League men's basketball has fallen and it can't get back up. The numbers don't lie:

Ivy League Championships (Alone or Tied) Last 44 Years:
Penn 25
Princeton 21
Yale 1
Columbia 1
Brown 1
Cornell 1
Dartmouth 0
Harvard 0

Sorry, but those numbers do not reflect a healthy league. It's broken, folks, and it needs to be fixed.

Still on the subject of the Ivy League's postseason philosophy -- in this instance football -- a subscriber sent along some numbers that are revealing. Anyone who thinks sending one football team to the NCAA postseason for one game or two would extend the season too much, might want to consider this:

The first NCAA regular season men's ice hockey game:
October 6th
NCAA Finals:
April 7th
Elapsed Time:
183 days -- or exactly one day more than half a year!

Granted, Ivy League teams open three weeks later than the early birds, but that would still be 162 days if Dartmouth went the distance. From the opener at Colgate to the finale at Princeton, the Dartmouth football season this year lasted 64 days.

And finally this ... That certain Hanover High School freshman distance runner got her first recruiting letter from a college track coach earlier this week. It came from a well-known school on the West Coast that I've had the pleasure to visit in the past. Nice place.

Now we all know, or should know, a letter like that doesn't mean very much because some college coaches absolutely rifle those things out. I mean, there are 5-foot-7, 135-pound running backs who get letters from big-time programs after putting up eyepopping numbers in high school only to end up sitting the bench at a weak D-III school. Still, it was cute to see the look on her face when she showed it to me.

Talley Ho! Former Assistant Leaves 49ers For College Ranks

Every once in awhile a story comes along that makes me smile and this is one. Rob Talley, defensive backs coach and later defensive coordinator at Dartmouth under John Lyons, has been named head football coach at Division II Stonehill College in Easton, Mass.. A former defensive back at Boston University, Rob was at Dartmouth from 1997-2004. Since leaving Dartmouth he has served as a special assistant to the head coach and an assistant line coach for the San Francisco 49ers.

From a Brockton Enterprise story about Talley's hiring:

That's probably one of the most asked questions, how do you go from the 49ers to Stonehill,” said Talley. “To me, the NFL has always been something I've been excited about, to coach at the highest level.

“But my No. 1 goal has always been to be a head coach at an institution that cares about student-athletes and is committed.

I distinctly remember the interview I had with Rob when he took the job with the Niners. He was excited about the NFL of course, but he made it clear that he very much wanted some day to be a head football coach at the college level because of the impact he could have on young lives. Now he's going to have that chance and Stonehill is going to have at least one more fan because it's impossible not to root for Rob. There's a full release from Stonehill with photos and quotes from 49ers coach Mike Nolan and New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin here.

The Wright Stuff And More

Not being an alum, I don't always get to see copies of the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, but when I do I usually find something of interest inside. (Not my byline, unfortunately, because old friend Brad Parks, who is a Dartmouth alum, handles the sports beat quite nicely from New Jersey, where he works for the Star-Ledger. But I digress ...)

In the March/April issue, Jake Tapper '91, a senior national correspondent for ABC News, has a lengthy Q&A with Dartmouth President Jim Wright. Among other things Wright told Tapper:

Dartmouth football has been the most successful program in the history of the Ivy League, and we became accustomed to being in that position. I'm a fairly competitive person and would far rather see us succeeding. I have confidence in Buddy Teevens and I think people who really follow football closely know Buddy's turning it around. He had a good team this year that was just a yard short a lot of times.

That's music, no doubt, to a lot of ears.

Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens confirmed in his office yesterday that spring practice will begin Monday, April 16. There will be four practices a week for three weeks (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday) capped by a spring game on May 5. Teevens said that with added depth this year, he might also have a spring game of some sort on the middle Saturday of practices. Note: Before submitting your airline receipt to me for reimbursal, double- and then triple-check those dates on the chance they will be adjusted because of weather. ;-)

I asked Teevens about the new white pants the Big Green is adding to its wardrobe next fall, hoping to hear that the white pants would be worn with the green shirts and the green pants (if worn at all) would be used with the white shirts. (It's probably no secret at this point that I'm not a big fan of the green-on-green look.) Teevens' response: "I haven't decided yet. It will probably be mix-and-match."

---

"The important thing is to lay a plan, and then follow it step by step no matter how small or large each one by itself may seem."

Charles Lindbergh quotation written on a "white board" in Buddy Teevens' office

Poll: 89 Percent Want Playoffs Or 11th Game

(Click poll to enlarge)

Here are the results of last week's poll. It's clear that a vast majority of Green Alert blog readers would like to see Ivy teams go to the playoffs.

The new poll about your favorite Ivy League stadium is over there to the right. The poll is set up to limit votes to one per computer. I'll offer my ranking of the venues next week when the poll is complete and we'll see if I agree with you.

Time Changes "Did Not Have A Positive Effect"

School vacation week is over in New Hampshire and there were at least a couple of kids waiting for the bus this morning with long faces. Those faces brightened considerably when they were reminded that the next week's vacation in April will be capped by our annual trip to the Penn State Blue-White spring football game in Happy Valley. ...

Missed an NCAA release regarding a rollback of the time-saving rules. It included this interesting quote:

“The changes we made last year, overall, did not have a positive effect on college football at all levels,” said Michael Clark, chair of the committee and head coach at Bridgewater (Virginia) College. “Our charge is to protect the game and do what is best for college football. Last year’s game lost too many plays, but it accomplished the need to shorten the overall time it takes to play a game. The changes we have made for 2007 balance both of these issues.”

To read what those changes are, click here.

The sentiment is sweet but the facts are wrong in this Orlando Sentinel note about former Dartmouth linebacker Reggie Williams:

Congratulations to Reggie Williams, one of the truly good guys on the Orlando sports scene. Williams, vice president of Disney Sports Attractions, was one of eight honorees inducted into the Ivy League Football Hall of Fame. Williams was a standout linebacker at Dartmouth and for 14 seasons in the NFL with Cincinnati.

There isn't an Ivy League Football Hall of Fame. As this release notes, Williams was one of eight former players honored by the Ivy Football Association. The erroneous Hall of Fame note was also carried here. For what it's worth, there isn't a Dartmouth Hall of Fame either. Selected former athletes, coaches and administrators are inducted into the Wearers of the Green, but that isn't a true hall.

The Boston Herald has a story about UNH's David Ball and Brown's Zak DeOssie taking to the big stage at the NFL Combine.

James Jones, who served as Dartmouth's defensive line coach in 2005 before leaving for Kansas State, will not be returning to the K-State staff.

Sunday's Links

The large "baggy" covering the right side of the Floren Varsity House has been removed, exposing the brick front in this photo shot Saturday. The field has again been cleared, allowing the Dartmouth baseball team to work out Saturday morning. The end zone bleachers are now folded up and sitting in the Leverone Field House parking lot. (Click photo to enlarge)

A couple of prominent players Dartmouth football has faced the past few years are in the news this morning. Whether Brown linebacker Zak DeOssie was a hit on the field at the NFL Combine is to be determined. It's clear he was a hit in the media room according to this story. It notes, "he certainly wasn’t shy about being in front of the camera. DeOssie stole the show on Saturday, speaking for more than 30 minutes and creating numerous outbursts of laughter from media members."

I like this quote from UNH receiver David Ball in a story about broadcasting of the NFL Combine: "I'd rather not have my job interview taped."

Ricky Santos, the UNH quarterback who has lost his offensive coordinator to Oregon, wasn't crazy about quarterbacks coach Chip Kelly at the start of their relationship according to this story. But he came to a valuable realization: "He was just giving me all the keys to the castle," Santos told the paper. Got that right.

The Dartmouth men's lacrosse team gave Duke a good run in the early going but couldn't match up with the emotionally charged Blue Devils over the long haul, losing 17-11 before a crowd of 6,485 in Durham, N.C.. This story says the atmosphere was, as expected, electric.

Back in Hanover, the men’s hockey team knocked off Colgate, 3-1 to earn a first-round bye in the ECACHL playoffs and the No. 3 seed. Across the street, the men's basketball team pushed Ivy League-leading Penn to the edge only to drop an 80-78 decision, the Quakers' 21st consecutive win in the series.

In case you are counting, attendance figures: men's hockey drew 4,212, men's basketball at the same time attracted 1,324 and women's hockey in the afternoon pulled in 1,096. (The 25-4-2 women's team defeated RPI, 3-1, to advance to the ECACHL semifinals.)

Patriot League And Dartmouth: Parallel Tracks?

Some interesting goings-on among Dartmouth teams this weekend but before we get to that, head on over to the Lehigh Football Nation blog and check out the first part of Chuck Burton's look at Patriot League football, then and now. Burton, a columnist for College Sporting News (nee I-AA.org) suggests there is a parallel between what happened to the once-proud Dartmouth program and what has happened to the Patriot League. ...

New Hampshire wide receiver David Ball and UNH defensive back Corey Graham join Brown linebacker Zak DeOssie at the NFL Combine. ... Ever wonder what it would be like to take the NFL's Wonderlic test? So did several folks at CBS SportsLine.com. To read what they had to say about the experience and check out the scores of some well-known quarterbacks from recent years, click here.

Hard as it may be to believe -- given the success of the program in recent years -- Dartmouth clinched a share of just its first Ivy League men's ice hockey title since 1980 last night with a 5-1 over Cornell at Thompson Arena. Head coach Bob Gaudet was in goal for the Big Green the last time it won the Ivies.

Still, the ice hockey team's wait for a title pales in comparison to the wait the Dartmouth men's basketball team endured between season sweeps of Princeton. When the Big Green defeated the Tigers last night at Leede Arena, 53-43, it marked the first since 1945-46 -- a span of 61 years that -- Dartmouth could claim a pair of victories over Princeton in the same season.

In case you are curious, there were 4,311 fans at the hockey game in Thompson Arena and 1,023 at the basketball game in Leede.

Looking ahead, the Dartmouth men's lacrosse team visits Duke this afternoon in a sold-out game that will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU. The national media will be focusing on the return of the Blue Devils after last year's season was curtailed because of the much-publicized criminal allegations against members of the team. While the spotlight will be squarely on the Dookies, Dartmouth football fans should keep an eye out for the return to athletic competition of junior Chad Gaudet, the promising tailback who has missed two years on the gridiron after a devastating knee injury. Gaudet, who hadn't played lacrosse since high school, has been pushing hard for a starting position on defense.

While the men's team is at Duke, the Dartmouth women's team will be playing host to Syracuse on Scully-Fahey Field. Among those in attendance when the 2006 national runnerup Big Green faces off against the Orange: your dutiful correspondent, who is freelancing the game for U.S. Lacrosse Online. In case you are wondering, there are enormous piles of snow lining the field and the temperature is expected to be 23 degrees with a wind chill of 11 degrees at faceoff. The wind will be gusting to 14 mph and there's a 10 percent chance of snow. Don't forget to bundle up ;-)

DeOssie Isn't "The Ivy League's Only Prospect"

Bloomberg.com has a story about Brown's Zak DeOssie headlined, "NFL Scouting 'Meat Market' Tests Ivy League's Only Prospect." It's worthwhile reading although I've got a number of quibbles with the story, not the least of which is the headline. DeOssie may be the only Ivy Leaguer at the NFL Combine, but he's hardly the only prospect coming out of the league this year. I'm not going to toss out a list of names, but one that begs to be mentioned is Harvard tailback Clifton Dawson. ... From the story:

While the Ivy League produces "a scattering of one or two prospects every year,'' young men of DeOssie's size and talent often accept scholarships to premiere football colleges, said Gil Brandt, former director of player personnel for the Dallas Cowboys.

"Guys that go to the Ivy League are people whose plans in life are to be ultra-successful in some other field besides football,'' Brandt said.

Having been around an awful lot of Ivy League football players, I'd agree with part of what Brandt says. Ivy League football players truly are interested in being "ultra-succcessful in some other field besides football." But hard as it may be for some people to believe, there are any number of players who come into the Ivy League devoted to the goal of going on to pro football. Those are the kids Buddy Teevens is trying to recruit to Dartmouth these days: Players who want to be ultra-successful in school/business and want to take their football careers as far as they can. I think Brandt is selling a lot of Ivy League student-athletes short.

The mascot issue is getting a lot of play not only at Dartmouth, but elsewhere. Locally, the Daily Dartmouth reports:

An open meeting about the College's position on athletic competition against schools that use Native American symbols drew students, faculty, administrators and alumni into a heated debate about potential new policies on Thursday.

Ironically, while a North Dakota columnist is suggesting the time has come for UND to give up the Fighting Sioux name, the University of Minnesota may be rethinking the policy that is supposed to keep the Gophers from scheduling teams with names like the Fighting Sioux according to this Star Tribune story.

The new FieldTurf and lights at Harvard Stadium have attracted a new tenant: a Major League Lacrosse team. It will be the first time a pro team has called Harvard's historic landmark home since the Boston Patriots played their 37 years ago according to this story in the Harvard Crimson.

With the Heps indoor track championships upon us, the Princetonian has a feature on Tiger sprinter/wide receiver Brian Shields.

Sports Illustrated chimes in on the possibility of the Ivy League starting a postseason tournament in basketball. Ivy football fans should be watching this issue closely because it would be an indication that the presidents are actually willing to listen to their athletic directors, coaches and athletes.

Speaking of basketball, the Dartmouth men's team will be trying to make history tonight at Leede Arena. With a win over Princeton a couple of weeks ago in New Jersey, the Big Green can complete its first season sweep of the perennial Ivy League powerhouse since the 1945-46 season ... if it can get by the Tigers this evening.

For Love And Honor: Ivy League Football Documentary

For Love And Honor is a documentary film on Ivy League football due out later this year. A thoroughly entertaining trailer as well as information on the film is available on the For Love And Honor web site. From that web site:

The feature-length film includes interviews with former Ivy League stalwarts Tommy Lee Jones, Calvin Hill, Ed Marinaro, Dick Kazmaier, Chuck Bednarik, Buddy Teevens, George Shultz, and Dan Jiggetts, among many others, as well as contemporary game footage of all the Ivy League schools in action.

To go directly to the four-minute trailer, which includes some neat on-the-field action from this season, click here.

Green Alert Take: This is one of two documentaries on Ivy League football expected out this year. While there will clearly be healthy competition between the teams producing the films, the Ivy League and college football fans are the fortunate ones in not for one treat, but two!

Radio Days

Bob Lipman, who does a solid job of radio play-by-play for Dartmouth football in the fall, will reprise his role as the voice of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats Double-A baseball team in the spring and summer according to this recent press release. Bob, who has done radio for the Toronto Blue Jays' affiliate since it came to the Granite State in 2004, also handles public address announcing for select Dartmouth basketball games. To see a shot of one of the good guys, click here. ...

Speaking of radio, Jake Novak, who has helped drum up interest in Columbia football with his Roar Lions Roar blog, is hoping to join that school's radio team. As Wayne Young has shown on Dartmouth broadcasts, institutional knowledge of a program is a tremendous asset and Jake certainly has that. Here's hoping Jake, who has a solid broadcasting background and takes an even-handed approach to Columbia football in his blog, gets a shot. ... By the way, do take a trip over to Jake's blog to read a revealing interview with the parents of Columbia kicker/punter Jon Rocholl to learn a little more what it's like to send your son off to the Ivy League to play football.

Matt Dougherty -- the former Dartmouth sports publicity intern and now Sports Network Division I-AA (sic) football guru -- takes a lengthy look at how previously hyped recruits turned out, mentions a few teams to watch for next season and shares his thoughts on a variety of other topics here.

By the slightest bit, Dartmouth had more female applicants than male applicants for the first time in school history according to the Daily Dartmouth. There were 14,159 applicants for the class of 2011, up 2 percent from a year ago. Said outgoing admissions director Karl Furstenberg:

"Compared to four years ago, applications are up by 21 percent. In general, it seems like a pretty good year for admissions."

It's the Penn-Princeton men's basketball weekend in Hanover, always an exciting time for fans of the hardwood. That said, hockey rules the roost in Hanover as the Daily Pennsylvanian explains.

And You Think You Are Busy!

HANOVER — So, you think you are busy? Check out what former Dartmouth fullback Charles Ganske ‘06 is up to these days.

With a BA in engineering in his hip pocket, he’s still at Dartmouth, wrapping up his BE, which he explains to those of us who come from the liberal arts world is sort of like a professional engineering degree. Although final exams are on the near horizon he’ll be just about living at Thayer School for the next several weeks as his group (which includes former teammate Daniel Tootoo) tries to finish fashioning the suspension, drive shaft and seat out of carbon fiber for the Dartmouth Formula Racing car.

He’s interviewing for a summer internship and come fall he’ll start work in the Masters of Engineering Management program at Dartmouth, which the MEM web site explains, “combines professional engineering practice with core subjects from an MBA program.”

Yup, Ganske certainly has a full plate.

Oh yeah.

Did we forget to mention that he signed a pro football contract?

Check out Green Alert premium for the full story.

Friday Night Lights

True confession time: I really enjoyed the book Friday Night Lights, but never saw the movie and haven't seen the TV show. So, why bring it up? Turns out the wife of the coach in the movie and on the TV show is a Dartmouth grad named Connie (Womack) Britton, Class of '89. Find a little blurb about her here. ... Friday Night Lights, by the way, was written by H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger, a Penn grad who was on the school paper when former Dartmouth coach John Lyons played for the Quakers.

As you can tell from that first note, these are the dog days of winter for a football fan. The Super Bowl is in the rear view mirror, spring football is still a ways down the road and the cold weather is starting to get old. But just when things seem hopeless for the fan, the NFL Combine pops up on the radar this week. The Boston Globe has a lengthy piece on Zak DeOssie, the first Brown player ever invited to the event. This is a terrific story and well worth pulling up. The athletic trainer's comment about the difference between being categorized as "smart" if you are an Ivy Leaguer who runs a 4.61 in the 40 and "fast" if you run a 4.59 was revealing.

There's a column in USA Today about Illinois dropping its mascot. The piece is written by Jon Saraceno, who was in my first writing course in the journalism program at Penn State. Jon was one of just a few undergrads in that course and it quickly became clear to me he was going to be pretty good. I guess I was right.

There was an article in Virginia's Daily Press yesterday about Hampton upgrading its football schedule. Among the new opponents: Princeton. Thanks to a regular reader for this excerpt from a story that is no longer on the paper's site:

"Hampton's 11-game '07 schedule also includes a contest on Oct. 6 at defending Ivy League co-champion Princeton. The Tigers went 9-1 and were No. 18 in the final rankings. The Sports Network labeled the Tigers 'The Best Team You Never Got to See' because Ivy League schools do not compete in the FCS playoffs."

Did you know the chairman of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee is a former Dartmouth basketball coach? OK, OK, so he happens to be a Princeton grad, former Princeton standout and current Princeton athletic director and the story appears in today's Daily Princetonian. But he never coached at Princeton ;-)

From the I'll Believe It When I See It Department, the New York Times has an item in its basketball notes column hinting that an Ivy League tournament could be in the works. Right. And I suppose the Ivy League is going to go to the NCAA football playoffs next. .... Speaking of which, did you vote yet?

Teevens Taps Old Stomping Ground

Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens has added 6-foot-3, 230-pound defensive end/tight end Buddy Benaderet of Palo Alto, Calif., to the Big Green's committed recruit list. (Thanks to a reader for help on this one.) Benaderet's decision to come to Hanover was reported both in the Mercury News and the San Francisco Chronicle. ... Benaderet was the San Mateo Daily News Player of the Year. Defensively, he had 30 unassisted tackles and 70 total. He was named Most Valuable Defensive Lineman in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division. On the other side of the ball, he caught 16 passes for 302 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 18.8 yards per reception.

For a Palo Alto Daily News feature about Benaderet with a photo, click here. From the story:

"With a possible state title game still pending, Benaderet's statistics aren't overwhelming. However, his ability to take over a game is. For the year, Benaderet had seven sacks, two blocked field goals, one blocked punt and three fumble recoveries. In a game against Wilcox, Benaderet returned a fumble 88 yards for a score."

For a head-and-shoulders shot of Benaderet, click here.

***

As you probably notice, Dartmouth Helmet Poll II closed down last night. Keeping the current "Bob Blackman" model was the runaway winner, as it was in Dartmouth Helmet Poll I (before the voting was, ahem, rigged.) The surprise second place this time around was the green helmet with the block D on the side.

This week's poll touches on a hot-button issue: The Ivy League's ban on going to the football playoffs and refusal to add an 11th game. Be sure to vote.

***

Apparently they've been doing this for a number of years at Cornell but I somehow missed it. The Cornell Sun reports that teams have sort of a public-TV phonathon to raise money. I must admit I've got really mixed feelings about the concept. It's clearly an interesting idea that does raise money, but it also makes me a little uncomfortable. The story says that "more than 5,000 alumni, parents, and friends of athletic programs were contacted by Cornell athletes." According to the story, last year more than $611,000 was raised.

***

A tip of the cap to Jake Novak over at the Roar Lions Roar blog for linking to an editorial in the Asbury Park Press that questions the direction Rutgers football is going in with the contract extension it just gave coach Greg Schiano and asks what was was wrong with playing schools like Princeton, Penn and Columbia.

Ivy Football On Film

(Note: The "re-vote" on the helmet question ends later today, so if you haven't cast your ballot, this is your final chance.)

The trailer for the upcoming documentary "The League" can be viewed by visiting the film's web site. (Here's a suggestion: turn the volume up on your computer before clicking on the trailer. It will be worth it. Promise.) ... According to the film's web site:

“The League” chronicles the history of the 8 schools of the Ivy League and their groundbreaking incubation and development of college football as a means to attract students, create totemic institutional associations, and advance the industrialization of American higher education.

Former linebacker George GianFrancisco (Columbia ’88) is the writer/director of the film. The producer is former offensive tackle Lee Reherman (Cornell ’88) and the executive producer is former safety Dean Cain (Princeton ’88).

More from the site:

The film, which is entering post-production, boasts a cast of numerous high-profile Ivy League football alumni and breathtaking footage of the campuses and stadiums of the modern Ivy League – all recorded in cinema-quality hi-definition.

"The League" is one of two films being released on Ivy League football in 2007. "For Love and Honor," is a feature-length documentary by Erik Anjou and Mark Bernstein, based on Bernstein's book, "“Football: The Ivy League Origins of an American Obsession."

The San Diego-area North County Times has a short follow on former wide receiver Ryan Fuselier's decision to pursue a career in finance instead of try pro football. In one of those, "The world is a small place," coincidences, the story also mentions a former neighbor of ours who is the only basketball player at Amherst to have more assists than a player from Fuselier's area. ....

Good luck finding out what Ivy League football coaches earn, but if you are curious about the school presidents, that information was carried last week by the Associated Press. Find the full list here. In case you are wondering, Dartmouth President Jim Wright is second in the Ivies in tenure (1998) but dead last in salary ($479,233).

The Daily Dartmouth writes about the decision by the University of Illinois to give up its Indian mascot.

And finally this ... that certain Hanover High School freshman you've been hearing about ran the mile in an open meet at Harvard yesterday. In an unseeded heat of 17 runners (most from New England colleges) she ran second most of the way and then erased a 40-yard deficit with a blistering final lap to win the race and slice a full 12 seconds off her previous personal record. The crowd was absolutely roaring on her final lap as she came home in 5:36.04.

Sunday Musings

We'll give the Helmet Poll Redux one final day to try to build a little momentum and then post a poll that ought to get folks talking. Stay tuned. ...

A little uniform/equipment news (although not about the helmet): The Big Green will be expanding its wardrobe this fall, adding white game pants to the green game pants it wore all of last season. No official word has come down yet, but it seems to make sense that the white pants will be worn with the green shirts and the green pants will be worn with the white shirts. Green Alert Take: Call me old-fashioned but I think green-and-white, and white-and-green combinations would be a step in the right direction. The green pants/green shirt combination was a little too, well, a little too green. Or I could be wrong and it could be green-and-green and white-and-white. We'll see.

The Ivy League has a not completely undeserved reputation for being "holier than thou" around much of the country. Now it's the Big Ten's turn. Commissioner Jim Delany is taken to task in this column by Yahoo sports columnist Dan Wetzel for remarks he made on the conference website regarding National Signing day recruiting classes. Delany wrote:

"I love speed and the SEC has great speed, especially on the defensive line, but there are appropriate balances when mixing academics and athletics."

Memorial Field is covered with snow and another storm could be in the offing later this week, but there's a hint of spring in the air. Huh? Stephen F. Austin is kicking off Spring Football 2007 today. It's true. Click here if you don't believe me.
Speaking of spring, you can catch the Dartmouth men's lacrosse opener against Duke next Saturday at 2 p.m., on ESPNU.

And finally this, the Dartmouth women's basketball team won again last night to keep pace with Harvard as it bids for a third Ivy League title in a row. The Big Green won last year without 6-foot-4 center Elise Morrison, who missed virtually the entire season after a Lisfranc ligament injury in her foot sidelined her. Morrison, one of the top centers in the nation as a high school senior, was expected back this season but complications have cost her this year as well. Today's paper confirms that rather than take an injury redshirt, Morrison will graduate this spring and perhaps play elsewhere next year as a graduate student.

Former Dartmouth WR Hired By Seahawks

Former Dartmouth wide receiver John Idzik '82 has been hired as vice president of football operations for the Seattle Seahawks. (Seattle Times story) Idzik had been senior director of football operations for the Arizona Cardinals and before that was with the Tampa Bay Bucs. ... Jay Fiedler's partnership with Tim Hardaway gets another mention in Darren Rovell's Sports Biz column on CNBC here.

A subscriber sent along a link to this New York Times blog post: "Ending a Tradition That Some Find Racist, Others Noble," about the University of Illinois retiring Chief Illiniwek after this season. The quotes from the university president and athletic director make it clear that motivation for accepting the NCAA ruling on the mascot is the school's student-athletes and nothing else. In that regard, I wonder if the mascot opponents won the battle but lost the war.

An alumus/subscriber shared a link to a picture of an edible version of a Dartmouth landmark. (Go ahead and click on the link. It will make you smile. Promise.) ... The alum also sent the link to a friend, who trumped him with this picture of how they do such things in Texas.

Finally, a feel good finish to the day. To see a video interview of Cornell's Khaliq Grant -- the basketball player who was paralyzed in a practice injury but has made an amazing recovery -- click here.

And The Griz' Guests Will Be ...

Oops. Forgot to post this earlier. ...

Montana has released its 2007 football schedule and the Grizzlies will indeed be hosting a team from the East Coast on Sept. 22. And that team will be ... Albany. As you may know, Dartmouth and Montana flirted with each other about a possible matchup this September, but that's as far as it went. The Big Green will be in Durham, N.H., facing UNH while the Great Danes are playing in Big Sky Country.

Montana's press release can be found here.

2007 Montana football schedule
9/1 - Southern Utah 1:05 p.m.
9/8 - Fort Lewis 1:05 p.m.
9/15 - Open
9/22- Albany 1:05 p.m.
9/29 - Weber State 1:05 p.m.
10/6 - Eastern Washington 1:05 p.m.
10/13 - at Sacramento State 3:05 p.m.
10/20 - Northern Colorado 1:05 p.m.
10/27 - at Northern Arizona 3:05 p.m.
11/3 - Portland State 12:05 p.m.
11/10 - at Idaho State TBA
11/17 - at Montana State 2:05 p.m

The Bubble May Have Burst

A while back this site posted a link to pictures of the inside of the new bubble covering Harvard Stadium's FieldTurf. It's no secret that Dartmouth football coach Buddy Teevens would like to have a bubble in Hanover, but according to this story in The Dartmouth this week, it doesn't appear that will happen anytime soon. Cynthia Crutchfield, Dartmouth's Director of Operations and Facilities for Athletics and Recreation, told the paper:

"Everyone talks about bubbles but it is not an easy task and not something that we are pursuing at the moment."

What would it cost to construct a bubble, and then erect and remove it each year? To get an idea, check out this Program Plan for an Air Supported Structure at the University of Colorado. (Click here for the 63-page PDF file.) The 2006 study estimated the construction cost for a 370-foot by 190-foot Colorado bubble to be $2,637,041. The study estimated it would cost $60,000 annually to put the inflatable up and take it down. Annual operating expenses are also included in the report.

By the way, if you are ever curious about Dartmouth's physical plant, the athletic facilities, dormitories, even parking lots, check out this site. There's some incredibly arcane stuff there for the trivia buff.

Former Dartmouth quarterback Jay Fiedler is the majority owner of Trinity Sports and Entertainment Group, owner of the CBA Indiana Alleycats basketball team. Fiedler founded Trinity with Tim Hardaway, among others. After Hardaway's well-document remarks this week, Fiedler released a statement, found at the end of this story.

Walter Bush '51, who played freshman football at Dartmouth and has served as chairman of the board for USA Hockey, is the first recipient the United States Olympic Foundation's George M. Steinbrenner III Sport Leadership Award. He was the first president of the NHL's (former) Minnesota North Stars. From today's Daily Dartmouth:

"Walter Bush has been the single most influential person in the development and evolution of the structure of amateur hockey in the United States," president of USA Hockey Ron DeGregorio said in a press release.

Columbia football has lost its offensive line coach to the Canadian Football League. Read about his move here.

Vote Early, Vote Often?

4 p.m. UPDATE: In an effort to get an honest gauge of opinions on the helmets, I reset the poll to zeroes and clicked on the one computer/one vote option. I also added the Green helmet to the choices.

So if you are interested, vote again.

In case you are wondering, before the voting, um, "irregularity," the results were:

1. The Bob Blackman model 111 votes
2. The new design 16 votes
3. The Green D on the side model 12 votes
4. The Buddy Teevens I redesign 10 votes

***

Wow. I guess someone likes the green helmet idea. The last 78 consecutive votes have ALL been for a new design. Pretty amazing, huh?

On the sneaking suspicion that one of you might have cast an additional vote or two, I suppose I'm going to have to click on the button that limits the number of votes you can cast when I throw another poll up there. ;-)

But seriously. Any comments on the green helmet? Should they think about it in the future? (FYI: If you comment on Blogger it can be completely anonymous, so comment away, keeping in mind that only appropriate comments will be posted.)

How Green Is Your Helmet?

I didn't include this possibility in the poll (to the right) because, well, because I hadn't mocked it up. But a good friend of the Dartmouth program emailed the suggestion about going green and I thought I'd take a look at it. It works for me ... but certainly not with green shirts and green pants. I suppose if you like this choice you might cast your vote in the poll for a "new design."

The Associated Press is carrying a story about the possibility of rescinding the rules enacted last year to save time in NCAA football games. Your local paper probably is carrying a brief version of the story. This longer version on SI.com includes the following possibilities for changes to replace the rules if they are rescinded. You may find them interesting. Quoted straight from the SI web site, those changes would be:

• Using a 15-second play clock immediately after timeouts instead of a 25-second clock;
• Reducing timeouts from 65 seconds to 30 seconds;
• Kicking off from the 30-yard line instead of the 35 to cut down on touchbacks;
• Limiting the time officials have to review a replay to two minutes.

I know one thing. Cutting down on touchbacks and replay time won't to make much of a difference in the Ivy League. I didn't see much of either last year ;-)

The Columbia Spectator has a piece today about the school's early decision admits. There's not much new there, but it's worth a look. Keep in mind, coaches aren't allowed to comment on the regular recruits until after acceptances go out to the entire incoming freshman class and that class is set, which won't happen until spring.

I'm no Internet geek (regardless of what my wife and kids think) but I was able last summer to attach a little thingie (that's a serious tech term right there, folks) on the blog that tells the location of people who stop by for a visit. No email addresses or any of those personal details, but the thingie does tell me where readers are geographically. I share this because for the past three weeks I've been keeping a list of what countries Green Alert visitors have been coming from.

Now, there's a function on Blogger where you can click and be taken to a random blog and I'm sure some of the international visitors stumbled here in that manner. But I'm just as sure there are a number of Dartmouth and Ivy alums around the world starved for information from back home because a few of the following locations come back frequently. If you are one of those visitors, feel free to drop an email and let me know who you are are what you are doing in such a far-flung locale.

With no further delay (insert drum roll here) the Green Alert Blog has had hits in the past three weeks from:

AUSTRALIA
Eight Mile Plains, Queensland
Sydney, New South Wales

CANADA
Calgary, Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Missisauga, Ontario
Toronto, Ontario
Senneville, Quebec
Sturdies Bay, British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia

ARGENTINA
Grand Bourg, Buenos Aires

CHINA
Beijing
Hangzhou, Zhejiang
Jilin
Shandong, Fujian
Shuangyashan, Heilongjiang
Suzhou, Jiangsu
Wuxi, Jiangsu

DENMARK
Snderborg, Sonderjylland

ESTONIA
Tallinn, Harjumaa

FINLAND
Koivup

FRANCE
La Chassagne, Limousin
Paris, Ile-de-France

GERMANY
Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein
Pfungstadt, Hessen
Wuppertal, Nordrhein-Westfalen

INDIA
Madras, Tamil Nadu

ITALY
Ghibullo, Emilia-Romagna
La Giustiniana, Lazio
Rome, Lazio
Sant'Andrea D'Agliano, Umbria
Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia

JAPAN
Tokyo

MARSHALL ISLANDS
Majuro

MEXICO
Cholula, Puebla

NETHERLANDS
Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland

NEW CALEDONIA

NEW ZEALAND
Auckland
Dunedin
Hornby
Lincoln
Takanini
Wellington

NORWAY
Oslo

POLAND
Posmyk, Czestochowa

SINGAPORE
Dakar

SPAIN
Madrid

SWEDEN
Forsby, Ostergotlands Lan
Krattorp, Vastra Gotaland
Linkping, Ostergotlands Lan
Nykping, Sodermanlands Lan

THAILAND
Bangkok, Krung Thep

TURKEY
Burdur

UNITED KINGDOM
Abingdon, Oxfordshire
Belfast
Bromley
Godalming, Bracknell Forest
Hackbridge, Bromley
Harrow Weald, Slough
Lambeth
Newbury, West Berkshire
Notting Hill, Newham
Roehampton, Bromley
Stevenage, Norfolk
Witham, Essex

Some of these locations could make no sense at all to the better informed, but I don't have a clue. True story: My roommate in my first year of graduate school was from the German city of Kiel. I sent him a letter a year or so after he went home and got a nice note back from him some time later. It had a P.S. at the end: "You don't have to put my phone number on the front of the envelope." Seems I mistook his phone numbers for some kind of German zip code. Oops.

A final thought. As a kid I used to stay up late at night listening to an old Hallicrafters shortwave radio. I'd pick up HCJB from Ecuador, Radio Habana Cuba and RSA from South Africa all the time. But it made my day when I'd zero in on signals from other parts of the world. I'd have to listen through screeching and interference and weird music fading in and out until finally an announcer would come on and let listeners know which station they'd found. Somewhere I have a collection of QSL cards I got for writing to the stations and telling them what frequency, what time and what program I heard them on. Now, of course, you can tune into stations all over the world by simply logging into them. I'm sure it's a lot more efficient. I don't know that it's a lot more exciting.

Now for today's weather report: The snow stopped around midnight and we ended up with about 20 inches. With what we had on the ground already, we've got an even 24 inches at the snow stick in our front yard. The golden retriever is having a blast. So are the kids. Surprisingly, because even our dirt road up here on the mountain has been cleared, they (the kids, not the dog) have another day off from school. They don't mind.

Dartmouth closed down yesterday, which was a surprise. Here's a piece The Dartmouth wrote about that. To be honest, this was a nice snow storm, but it was a shock to learn the college was closing.

And finally ... Hanover is in the news today and it has nothing to do with Dartmouth. From today's Boston Globe:

A best-selling author's novel about a school shooting has rattled nerves in her hometown of Hanover, where high school officials pulled it from the reading list amid fears the fictional town too closely resembles the real thing.

Jodi Picoult's "Nineteen Minutes" won't even be published until March 6. Students at Hanover High School were among three schools in New Hampshire and Massachusetts given advance copies to study. In the novel, an ostracized teen living in Sterling, N.H. -- a wealthy, Upper Valley college town on the Vermont border -- goes on a school shooting rampage, killing 10 people in 19 minutes.

More from the Globe:

School officials say they were disturbed by Sterling and Hanover's shared traits: Hanover is home to Dartmouth College, Sterling has Sterling College; Hanover's neighbors are Lebanon and Norwich, Vt., Sterling's neighbors are the same; Hanover High School's colors are maroon and silver, Sterling High athletes wear maroon jerseys. And both towns have Storrs pond, a popular swimming hole.

Add Another OL To The Mix

The snow is falling like they write books about ... but more about that later ;-)

Thanks to a subscriber for a link to another Houston-area Texan headed this way. Will Montgomery is a 6-foot-6, 265-pound offensive lineman from The Woodlands College Park High School. Montgomery was a District 15-5A first-team pick as a member of the first graduating class at College Park High. Quoted in this story, his coach said:

"Harvard also recruited him. I think he could go play at a lot of places. Dartmouth is a great fit. It's the right balance of academics and athletics."

The Woodlands College Park played its first season of varsity football last year. Prior to establishment of the two-year-old school Montgomery would have attended The Woodlands High School, which sent current sophomore wide receiver Eric Paul and freshman tailback Chris Burns to Hanover.

There's another quick story about Montgomery "signing" with Dartmouth on the Chronicle.com site with this quote from coach Richard Carlson:

"He turned out to be a real good football player. He was all-district, academic all-district and Academic All-State. He's your ideal student-athlete."

Coaches can be excused for lauding their players. It's what they do. Internet pundits who hype players they've never seen? Take what they (we?) say with a grain of salt. Or a truckload of NaCl according to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story headlined "Ranking recruits is fraudulent exercise." After suggesting it would be extremely difficult to rank the top five quarterbacks in the NFL, the writer says:

How is it then that there are people able to sift through the approximately 15,000 high schools that play football in the United States and come up with Internet rankings for, say, offensive linemen?

The answer is they can't.

Which is why the first Wednesday in February one of the biggest frauds on the American sporting calendar.

He's right, of course. Which is why Green Alert philosophy is to note the awards/honors won by recruits and then let those who have actually seen the recruit in action do the talking. At least that's the goal ;-)

I meant to post a link to yesterday's New York Times story about what's happening at the Division III level. Talk of either a Division III-A and III-AA or a Division IV (or more) may elicit a feeling of déjà vu for anyone who remembers the I-A and I-AA split. The NESCAC schools (Amherst, Williams, Middlebury etc.) are playing the role of the Ivies in this reenactment.

Oh, and the fellow holding the trophy in the picture is one of the 700 or so of us living in Etna, N.H.

Every so often a writer from one of the Ivy papers decides the time has come to show why his or her college location is a better venue for a school than any other in the league. Today it's Columbia's turn. Gotta admit, this one is pretty funny although I would warn you that there's a little language that might make your mother blush.

Now, as for that snow ... the forecast is calling for as much as 30 inches of the white stuff before it tails off tomorrow morning. Even Dartmouth has closed down for the day, which doesn't often happen. We've had about six inches up here on the mountain already and it is really piling up quickly. The kids have the snow day they dreamed of and I'd love to join them when they head outside to sled on the hill behind the house but a freelance deadline is staring me down, so I better get to it because the Blog isn't going to be putting food on the table anytime soon ;-)

Credit An Alum For Finding This One

There's a nice story about defensive line recruit Lane Shipley in the Steamboat Pilot & Today. According to the story an alum deserves an assist:

“We were sending out letters and tapes and waiting to see who would reply,” Shipley said.

“What’s odd about Dartmouth is we never sent them a letter. They were the Ivy League school that we never contacted.”

But thanks to a Dartmouth alumnus who decided to catch a Steamboat football game on a Friday night, the Dartmouth coaching staff soon knew about Shipley.

... Remember the debate recently about the Crusader and Indian head mascots at a couple of Manchester, N.H., high schools? The Manchester Union Leader reports:

The mascots for Memorial and Central high schools will stay, despite objections that they may be offensive.

The school board overwhelmingly reaffirmed Memorial's Crusaders and Central's Indian head last night, after earlier agreeing to review them when a former student complained they herald an unsavory history.

With the election of Drew Gilpin Faust as Harvard president, the staid old Ivy League now has four women and four men as presidents. An interesting New York Times story on Faust is headlined: A ‘Rebellious Daughter’ to Lead Harvard.

Finally, here's an updated list of high school seniors who have been listed as heading to Dartmouth by their hometown media. (There are upwards of 10 more commits whose names either haven't yet appeared in their local media, or I haven't been able to find links to stories about them.)

• TJ Cameron (Greenwich, Greenwich, Conn.) 5-11, 200 TB
• Michael Cummings (Deerfield Academy, Mass.) 6-5, 240, DE/TE
• Will Deevy (Kent Denver, Colo.) 6-5, 210 QB
• Tyler Green (Middlesex School, Mass.) 6-4, 255 LB
• Spencer Hood (Carlsbad, Calif.), 6-3, 230 LB
• Chase Jensen (Bishop's School, La Jolla, Calif.), LB/LS
• Matthew Kelly (Tampa Catholic, Fla.), 6-2, 180, P/K
• Robbie Kratttiger, (Norman North, Norman, Okla. ) 5-11, 185, WR/SS
• Tim McManus (St. Thomas Academy) 6-1, 181 QB
• Steve Morris (Hinsdale Central, Ill.) , 6-0, 175, RB/DB
• Shane Peterlin (Brophy, Phoenix, Ariz.) 6-3, 275 OL
• Chance Robbins, (Jenks, Jenks, Okla.) 6-0, 195, LB
• Carter Scott (Hammond, S.C.), , 6-1, 210 LB
• Pat Scorah (St. John's College High, Washington, D.C.) 5-8, 196 RB/LB
• Lane Shipley (Steamboat Springs H.S., Steamboat Springs, Colo.), 6-2, 245 DL
• Tim Vanderet (Homestead H.S., Cupertino, Calif.), 6-5, 195 TE
• Joseph Zimring (Mary-Institute Country Day, St. Louis) 6-0, 215, RB
• Alex Wodka (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) 6-3, 285 OG

Thanks to the plowed FieldTurf, the Dartmouth baseball team was able to get out on football's Memorial Field to work on cutoffs and a few other things over the weekend. The guess here is that it might be some time before the Big Green gets back on the artificial surface after today. It was 9.9 degrees below zero when the school bus stopped at the bottom of our driveway to pick up the kids this morning and the forecast is calling for anywhere from 10-20 inches of snow (or more) starting late tonight. Suffice it to say a couple of kids up here on the side of Moose Mountain have their fingers crossed for a day off from school.

Poll Update

Results of last week's non-league schedule change poll:

1. Drop Colgate 26 percent
2. Drop all three 21 percent
3. Drop UNH 17 percent
4. Drop Colgate and Holy Cross 11 percent
5. Drop Holy Cross and UNH 10 percent
6. Drop Holy Cross 6 percent
7. Keep the same schedule 3 percent

(based on 103 votes)

Dan Shula Joining Hurricanes Staff

UPDATED 11 a.m. Herald & Review (search on the word Ivy) reports three more players from the "endless plains of Central Illinois" will be joining Dartmouth's Jordan Kling in the Ivy League. The new recruits from that region are headed to Harvard, Yale and Princeton.

***

Former Dartmouth quarterback Dan Shula '06 is joining the staff of the Miami Hurricanes as a graduate assistant according to the Sun-Sentinel. He served as a GA last year at Alabama under Mike Shula, his uncle. Dan Shula won't be the only member of the staff with an Ivy League background. New offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland coached the O-line at Cornell from 1993-96. He left Ithaca to coach at Syracuse and was at Michigan State for the past seven years.

Poll: Colgate Should Be First To Go

A friend who used to have his own radio talk show told me something interesting one time. He said that when his topic was something like the Middle East, he had to bring lots of background material to fill dead air time because the phone simply wouldn't ring. Ah, but if the topic was something simple, like people bringing 12 items into the 10-and-under express aisle at the local supermarket, the phone would ring off the hook.

In the grand scheme of things, Dartmouth's football schedule is tremendously important, but you couldn't tell by the poll (off to the right). Maybe a second scheduling question on the heels of another was a bad idea. Anyway, for whatever reason, the voter "turnout" was low this time around. So ... come back this afternoon for the Green Alert version of an "express aisle" issue. ;-)

In the meantime, the poll suggests strongly that Colgate should be the odd team out. Moving UNH along appears to be the second priority with Holy Cross third. There's relatively strong support for a clean sweep.

Received an email yesterday noting that the 10th Annual Friends of Dartmouth Football Golf Classic will be held Saturday, June 16 at Hanover Country Club. Lunch will begin at 11:30 and golf at 1, but be sure not to miss the auction in the evening. It's hilarious.

As expected UNH assistant Chip Kelly is taking his high-wire offensive approach to Oregon. It will be interesting to watch what happens both in Eugene with Kelly, and back here in Durham without him. The guess is that nothing much will change at UNH this year, with quarterback Ricky Santos back at the controls. As for what happens in Oregon, if this unusual column is any indication, Kelly might find himself longing for New Hampshire after a bit.

It has been a long time since Dartmouth has won a national championship. This year the Big Green appears to have a legitimate shot in two sports: women's ice hockey and skiing. The women's hockey team -- like the women's lacrosse team (which lost the national championship game to Northwestern last year) -- has been knocking on the door for several years.

The ski team, meanwhile, has exploded on the scene this winter. Over the weekend the Dartmouth skiers won their own carnival, their fourth win in as many tries this year. With the NCAA's slated for Attitash (alpine) and Jackson (nordic) in the Mt. Washington Valley of New Hampshire, the Big Green figures to give the western schools a run (or ski) for their money.

A Change Of Pace: Starting On The Hardwood

First a little basketball, because history is history.

A 45-44 win at Princeton last night gave the Dartmouth men's basketball team its first victory at Jadwin Gymnasium in 20 years. While the Tigers are clearly down this year, that's a huge win for Dartmouth. And while the AP story will tell you Princeton played without two players, it doesn't mention that Leon Pattman, Dartmouth's leading scorer and arguably one of the best players in the Ivy League, didn't make the trip with a stomach problem. ...

While the men's team was winning in New Jersey, the Dartmouth women's team was scoring its most lopsided win ever against the Tigers, 75-46. Among those in attendance -- former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher, who watched Dartmouth limit daughter Megan, the Ivy League scoring leader at 19.5 points per game, to just nine points. The two-time defending Ivy champion Big Green is 5-2 in the league, half a game behind Harvard. ...

The Boston Globe magazine has a first-person story with former Dartmouth defensive back/lacrosse player Brian White. (Note: The picture with the story is most assuredly not Brian ;-) White, the son of former Boston Celtics great JoJo White, had a cup of coffee with the Patriots, signed with a pro lacrosse team, became a model and a stockbroker and then took up acting and dancing. To visit Brian's website, click here.

The NCAA Football Rules Committee is taking a look starting today at the rules implemented last year to speed up games. (See story) Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens told Green Alert recently that he expects the rules to be tweaked, but not to be rescinded.

Remember the story about Long Island's Cold Spring Harbor football team fund raising to save the season at Roosevelt High School, which is just 14 miles but a world apart from Cold Spring? (New York Times story) The story didn't end there. When difficulties with the SAT threatened to sabotage Roosevelt player hopes of going on to college and playing football, members of the Cold Spring Harbor team stepped up. From a Newsday story:

Students Peter Ottaviano, Andrew Gabriel and Mike Kuchta volunteered to tutor Roosevelt football players twice a week for eight weeks, according to Roosevelt coach Joe Vito. Mayo leaped at the opportunity.

In a previous story, Ottaviano (a Cold Spring captain) expressed interest in attending Dartmouth. No word on where that stands because coaches aren't allowed to speak about non early decision candidates yet. More links to the Cold Spring Harbor-Roosevelt story can be found on this blog.

Former Holy Cross head coach Peter Vaas is leaving Notre Dame for an assistant's job at Duke.

Add A QB And An Offensive Lineman

UPDATED Saturday afternoon ......

Two more recruits are headed Dartmouth way: quarterback Tim McManus of St. Thomas Academy in Minnesota and lineman Shane Peterlin of Brophy College Prep in Phoenix.

McManus is a 6-foot, 181-pound QB who set school records for career passing yards (3,297) and touchdown passes (26) according to this brief about his signing. As a senior he completed 95-of-185 passes for 1,519 yards, with 14 touchdowns to just three interceptions and ran for another 11 touchdowns. He was one of 30 players chosen to the Minnesota Vikings' all-state team.

Although Dartmouth freshman Tony Pastoors' old Totino-Grace team finally outlasted McManus in the Class AAAA championship game at the Metrodome, check out what was written about McManus, who ran for 158 yards on 15 carries and passed for another 146 yards on 10-of 21 throwing in the title game:

He was pure playmaking magic, eluding would-be sackers or blazing into the open field like he did on a 57-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter that gave STA a 22-17 lead.

And this:

"Our defense was so tired chasing (McManus) around,'' Eagles coach Jeff Ferguson said. "Every play they made, who was at the heart of it? McManus.''

With his size and elusiveness, he sounds a great deal like former Dartmouth standout Matt Brzica, the elusive 1990 Ivy League Rookie of the Year quarterback who became a first-team All-Ivy League receiver after Jay Fiedler came along. And guess what? Brzica is a graduate of St. Thomas Academy ... the same school McManus attends.

(McManus' teammate, Connor Glynn, a lineman, signed with Princeton. A cache of the story announcing their signing can be found here.

Peterlin, who is listed at 6-4 281, was an Arizona Class 5-A all-state honorable mention player and a second-team, all-region pick. According to this note, he is heading to the Ivy League along with teammate Andrew Serrano, an all-state linebacker who will be going to Brown. (Another teammate is headed to Colorado.)

According to this recruiting profile, Peterlin allowed just one sack and had 64 pancake blocks. UPDATE: Those were junior numbers.

As a senior, the three-year started did not allow a sack and was credited with more than 100 pancake blocks. He's also an accomplished long-snapper. During Peterlin's career, Brophy went 42-6-4 with one 5A-1 title, 1 semifinal appearance and one trip to the quarters. Brophy finished as high as No. 21 nationally in the prep rankings during his career. For more on him -- including video -- visit his ISP web page. His long-snapping is highlight on the Chris Sailer Kicking site.

Peterlin's recruiting profile is hosted by Interactive Sports Profiles, the innovative service started by former Dartmouth and Arizona Cardinals linebacker Zack Walz. To learn a little more about ISP and Zack's part in it, click here.

More On Connecticut Tailback

The Greenwich Citizen has a follow story and picture of 5-foot-11, 200-pound tailback TJ Cameron "signing" with Dartmouth. Cameron told the paper:

"I liked the coaching staff there and I liked the player a lot. I really liked the environment up there, so it seemed like a good decision."

At Dartmouth Cameron will renew acquaintances with freshman fullback Tom Brown, also his teammate at Greenwich.

***

Pennsylvania's Allentown Morning Call has a provocative column about the Patriot League's recent slide and the difficulty its schools have recruiting against Ivy schools because of the rising Academic Index in the Patriot.
The story headline: Patriot League's outsmarted itself
The drophead: It's on par with Ivies academically, but is falling behind athletically

A few outtakes from the story:

''The window of opportunity for us to recruit these student-athletes is very narrow and getting more narrow because here in the Patriot League our academic index is rising,'' said Frank Tavani, Lafayette football coach since 2000.

and

(The Ivy League) also wants two home games for one road trip when scheduling Patriot League teams.

''That is their arrogance,'' Tavani said.

For what it's worth, Dartmouth has been playing Colgate annually since 1898 (sorry, it just seems like it's been that long, make it 1998) and the game has alternated every year.

The paper reports that the Patriot League record against the Ivy League was:

• 9-8 in 2003
• 9-6 in 2004
• 5-10 in 2005
• 4-14 in 2006

Patriot League co-champions Lehigh and Lafayette were a combined 0-7 against the Ivies.

A Quiet End To Signing Week

After the National Signing Day buzz, things have quieted down on the football front. Today's Harvard Crimson mentions that Harvard defensive line coach Jeff Commissiong will be coaching the same position at Boston College while linebackers coach John Butler is headed to Minnesota to coach the linebacker there. ...

So far, Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens has been able to keep his staff intact. ... It will be interesting to see if New Hampshire makes a run at former Dartmouth offensive coordinator John Perry (see this morning's posting, below) should UNH assistant Chip Kelly go to Oregon. Perry, now an assistant at Hofstra, was a record-setting receiver at UNH and was on the staff there before bringing some of the Wildcats' sleight-of-hand to Hanover. ...

In addition to Derham Cato going to the CFL (below) another former Dartmouth player is weighing an offer to play the indoor game in af2. The details will be coming in another week or two. And no, it's not Brian Mann or Anthony Gargiulo. ...

Freshman defensive back Pete Pidermann will be seeing a few former teammates from Belen Jesuit Prep on Saturday afternoons in the fall as one "signed" this week with Yale and another with Columbia. Another couple of Belen products are at Princeton. Belen is giving State College (Pa.) High a run for its Ivy money with seven players headed to the Ancient Eight in recent years.

Early Decision admission is a hot topic these days around the Ivy League and what's happening at Princeton is sure to stir up the conversation. Jeff Peterson, a well-regarded basketball player from DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, Md., was admitted to Princeton early decision, but has decided to reconsider his options. Excerpts from a story in today's Princetonian:

Despite reports that Jeff Peterson — one of the top recruits for the men's basketball team in the last decade — has backed out of his early-decision commitment to Princeton, the University insists he will be joining the Tigers in the fall.

and

Peterson may be thinking about going elsewhere, but his Early Decision agreement means that he has a binding contract with the University, Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye said.

"I can assure you that, in Early Decision, athletes are bound by the same rules as non-athletes." Rapelye added that "extenuating financial circumstances" would be the only exception to the binding nature of the contract.

Cato Going North Of The Border

Derham Cato '05, a dominating defensive tackle with the Big Green, has signed with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. From the CFL release:

A product of Dartmouth College, Cato played four years for the Big Green, generating 98 tackles, 15 tackles for a loss and three quarterback sacks before going on to spend time with the Nashville Kats (AFL), Manchester Wolves (AF2) and Frankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europe.

The 6-foot-4, 285-plus player from Charlotte, N.C., never actually played for the Galaxy, being released before the team left for Europe. As a Dartmouth senior, Cato won the John M. Manley '40 Award as the player who has demonstrated the most improvement in the weight room.

Former Dartmouth assistant John Perry, now at Hofstra, gets a mention from the Pride's transfer quarterback in this story. Said the QB:
"John Perry, the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach, did great things with the quarterbacks when he was at Dartmouth."

Chad Brown, another former Big Green assistant (2000-01) is leaving an assistant's position at Northern Colorado after one year to work in the football business according to this story.

I hope to have more later, but I've got an assignment that has me tied up this morning ...

Credit An Alum For This One ... And A Shula Will Play For Lafayette

Yet another post from Signing Day. Be sure to keep reading.

Colorado's Daily Sentinel has a neat story about recruit Lane Shipley, a 6-foot-3, 240-pound, two-time All-State offensive and defensive lineman from Steamboat Springs, Colo.. The story says it was an alum who tipped Buddy Teevens off to the former championship skier. Shipley has this to say about this area:

“People told me I wouldn’t like the East Coast because it’s not like living out here. But I went out there, and the town (Hanover, N.H.) was so down-to-earth. People are wearing Carhartts. They have a place to ski, swim, kayak, bike and mountain climb just like home.”

Folks, that's why we are here ...

Former Dartmouth receiver David Shula's son Matt -- a 6-2, 235-pound defensive lineman -- is headed to Lafayette according to this story. David's son Dan was a back quarterback for the Big Green before graduating in 2006. Third son Chris Shula went to Ohio's Miami University as a linebacker.

An Ivy League Farm Team?

No one who reads Green Alert regularly should be surprised to learn that I checked the Centre Daily Times this morning to see what it had to say about Nittany Lion recruiting. The surprise is this: three more seniors from the State College Area H.S. are heading to the Ivy League. (One to Princeton, one to Yale and one familiar name to several generations of Penn State fans choosing Cornell over the chance to walk on with the Nits.)

That will make no fewer than eight former Little Lions playing in the Ivy League next fall (with another of this year's seniors playing at Lafayette), and that says something pretty good about the academic and athletic mix at State College High. (The story says 17 seniors at the school could be playing in college next fall.)

The CDT's lede to the story about the Ivy-bound players might have caused a few hearts to flutter at Penn, by the way, because it was a serious tease. Here's how the story started:

Maybe Nate Stupar felt left out and that's why when it was his turn to announce his college decision Wednesday afternoon, he blurted out the "University of Pennsylvania."

Of course, Stupar's Ivy League reference was made in jest as he made official what he had announced last summer, signing his letter of intent to attend Penn State, where he'll play linebacker. But Stupar's former high school teammates weren't kidding when they mentioned what Ivy League schools they'll be off to in the fall.

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If you want a live look (from a distance) at the Winter Carnival sculpture on the Green, click here and check out the webcam view.

A Quiet Signing Day

Not much more to report from National Signing Day on the Dartmouth front ... yet.

Ivy League and Patriot League schools don't report "signings." A check of the list from the University of New Hampshire -- which does -- shows five recruits from Pennsylvania, four from New Jersey and none from the Granite State. While the annual game between Dartmouth and UNH is billed as an instate rivalry, it has become that in name only. (Think about that when you vote in the poll to the right.)

New Hampshire, by the way, will be losing innovative offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Chip Kelly to Oregon according to numerous reports, including this one from Oregon Live. It's quite a step up from Durham, N.H., to the Pac 10 but as New Hampshire's Seacoast Online points out, Kelly has opened a lot of eyes with UNH's pyrotechnic offense. (Having a couple of players named Santos and Ball didn't hurt, of course.)

Back on the Dartmouth front, Muskogee, Oklahoma's Jonathan Moore, a 5-10, 180 defensive back/wide receiver, is pictured in this story that says he's still deciding between two schools. Those schools are believed to be Dartmouth and Southern Nazarene University. For a picture of Moore and his classmates who signed yesterday, click here. It is expected that 11 of 18 seniors from his school will play college football.

A first-team, St. Louis area all-metro player who starred for two years at running back before switching to defensive back this year had interest in Dartmouth and Penn before committing instead to the University of Chicago according to this story. Interestingly, the Maroons are coached by former Dartmouth assistant Dick Maloney.

Rumors of the demise of the Winter Carnival snow sculpture, it turns out, were greatly exaggerated. From today's Daily Dartmouth:

This year's snow sculpture depicts Alice in Wonderland's white rabbit rushing off a ski lift to avoid being late. Concern for the sculpture's completion abated Tuesday when the wooden sides were removed and the snow began to take shape.

From today's Princetonian: There were a total of 18,891 applicants for the New Jersey school, breaking the record for the third year in a row. Credit Princeton's No. 1 ranking in U.S. News & World Report as well as the abandonment of student loans. The story reports that there were 597 early admittances, leaving about 650 spots in the regular admission class.

Connecticut Running Back Turning Green

MORE to come in a bit, but I wanted to get the first post of the morning out ...

TJ Cameron, the talented running back from Greenwich, Conn., who missed most of his senior season, made it official yesterday, committing to Dartmouth over Penn, Princeton and Cornell. For a brief story and nice picture of the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Cameron, click here. Said his coach:

“He’s got great hands, is fast and elusive. He was always a threat to run for a touchdown every time he touched the ball."

For a Q&A with Cameron from last fall, click here.

One who got away is Andrew Niermann, a 6-foot-1, 305-pound guard from Louisiana. He flirted with Dartmouth before choosing Tulane. From the story: Niermann, who has a 4.0 grade-point average the past three years and scored a 25 on the ACT, said he almost picked Dartmouth. "I really looked at them for a while," he said. "New Hampshire being the state school was one of the drawbacks."

The Ivy League web site has been posting profiles every day about interesting and accomplished alumni who were student-athletes while in college. For as much time as I spend keeping an eye on things Ivy, even I have missed more of them than I've read. To catch up, click here. Yesterday I read perhaps a half dozen stories about Dartmouth alums that I missed the first time around.

Dartmouth's hiring process as a college -- not an athletic department -- has come under scrutiny. From an AP story: "Dartmouth College has an overly slow hiring process, a lack of communication among employees and staff confusion over where to take complaints, according to a set of reports from committee's set up to study the school's administration."

Dartmouth isn't mentioned in this New York Times story about rural colleges and the challenges they face, and to be sure, the Ivy League school is different than a small institution in Arkansas, but there's still food for thought here.

Add Another Recruit While We Wait

News should break on some previously unannounced recruits in the aftermath of "Signing Day." In the interim, add fullback/linebacker/placekicker Pat Scorah of St. John's College High School in Washington, D.C., to the commit list.

The 5-foot-8, 196 Scorah ran 12 times for 87 yards and three touchdowns last fall, with a 55-yard burst in his final game. Those stats are from the Washington Post site, which does not give a clear indication whether he was hurt the rest of the season. ... The school web site has a capsule on Scorah and says he was elected one of the team's tri-captains "despite the fact that he missed a good portion of last season due to a torn ACL suffered during a preseason scrimmage." That sounds as if it happened his junior year, but it's possible captains were named after the season and they are talking about last fall.

The site also says he has a 380-pound bench. He's a two-time winner of the team's Sportsmanship Award.

It's not unusual for Dartmouth (and other Ivies) to land players who were slowed by injury and so were overlooked by some bigger programs. If Jay Fiedler's knee hadn't been hurt as a high schooler, he may not have ended up in Hanover. Similarly, Dartmouth reportedly has another (still unannounced) running back who is coming off an ankle injury in his season opener that cost him his senior season.

San Diego Tops The Charts

The first Green Alert poll shut down this morning after 165 ballots were cast. Given a choice of schools from different parts of the country to pick up if Dartmouth should change its football schedule, the voters went strongly for San Diego. The results:

• San Diego 41%
• Montana 19%
• A IA opponent 19%
• Georgetown 12%
• Elon 5%
• Stony Brook 2%
• Don't change the schedule 2%

A new poll is over there to the right, asking which opponent(s) you'd prefer to drop if a change is going to be made. Vote early ... but not too often.

The Daily Dartmouth has a wrapup of the early decision class with a few quotes from recruiting coordinator Adam Hollis. Nothing much new in the story if you've been reading Green Alert and following the links, but check it out here. (Regular decision admits are not included in the story.)

On National Signing Day you might want to take a look at this interactive College Football Recruiting Map, shared by a subscriber. I fiddled with this yesterday and it is addictive. You can type in a school name (unfortunately, the Ivies and FCS [nee IAA] schools aren't included) and find the names and hometowns of committed recruits on a U.S. map. Or, and this is kind of fun, type in a zip code and up will come the BCS (nee IA) recruits within certain distances.

To get an idea of the challenge Dartmouth faces, go ahead and type in 03755, our local zip code, and see how deep the talent pool is in northern New England. Now type in the zip code for Princeton, 08544, and check out the difference.

The next time you see someone wearing a Harvard sweatshirt or Dartmouth windbreaker, it may not mean what you think. The New York Observer has a story headlined, "Ivy League Teams Go Urban." Turns out, Ivy wear sold by New York outfitter Stall & Dean is becoming chic with the urban market, with one school leading the way. From the story:

In fact, Harvard, Yale and Princeton are not the top sellers, (Stall & Dean's Joe) Cuff said. While buyers in suburban markets like those clothes more, the urban market’s most popular school is, surprisingly, the one in New Hampshire.

“The No. 1 seller of 2006 would have been Dartmouth,” he said. “And Cornell was very, very popular.” In the 2007 video for rapper Mims’ recent song “This Is Why I’m Hot,” a young man is completely accessorized in Cornell University gear.

Another in a series of early decision recruit lists ....

SOFTBALL

• Amy McLuskie Sammamish, Wash., Eastlake H.S.
• Audrey Kolodziej, Morton Grove, Ill., Niles West H.S.
• Devin Lindsay, Whittier, Calif., La Serna H.S.

This has been around for a while, but if you want to read a non-Ivy perspective on the end of the early decision admit process at Harvard (and other schools), check out this story that appeared in last fall's Amherst Student. The student writer raises some very interesting points. From the story:

Realistically, Harvard is the only university that can risk lowering its yield and losing in the many college rankings that factor into an institution’s “quality.” The concern with yield is why some elite schools take up to 50 percent of their freshman class through early action/decision programs. Most schools downplay the advantage except for UPenn’s admission dean, Willis Stetson, who says that students applying early receive preferential treatment.