Athletics On Alderson's Agenda

Milan Williams (3) squeezes through the middle for a gain Wednesday.

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Sandy Alderson '69, the CEO of the San Diego Padres and the parent of Dartmouth grad Bryn Alderson '03, has a pretty slick web site up promoting his candidacy as a Dartmouth trustee. Find it here.

Here's part of what Alderson has to say about athletics on the site:

Admissions is always an issue with respect to athletics. Coaches must live with Dartmouth standards, but they have a right to know the standards will be consistently and predictably applied. A Trustee can help ensure that coaches have a set of clear and reliable recruiting parameters, which would go a long way toward eliminating unpredictable admissions decisions. It is demoralizing for coaches and athletes to see student-athletes competing successfully for other Ivies who were, inexplicably, denied admission to Dartmouth.

A decision on the initiative introduced by the Ivy League to ban text messaging in recruiting is expected today according to this story. Oregon coach Mike Bellotti's sentiments in the Oregonian might pertain to Dartmouth as well:

"(A ban) hurts every program from a non-highly populated area. When you're not in a populated area, you have to find some way to bridge the gap and create relationships with young people, with their parents and with everybody. When you limit the number of contacts, limit the number of communication opportunities, then yes, it's going to hurt us."

Roger Hughes, the former Dartmouth assistant who guided Princeton to a share of the Ivy League title last fall, offers up the first part of his annual spring "chat." He discusses last year's success and the coming season's defense.

There weren't any Ivy League head coaching changes since last year but Matt Dougherty's look at the FCS schools that made changes is worth checking out on the Sports Network page.

The Providence Journal offers the definitive look at Brown linebacker Zak DeOssie in the run-up to the NFL draft. ... I agree with this Maryland newspaper writer who says that New Hampshire wide receiver and NFL hopeful David Ball, "... plays the game like a real receiver should. He doesn’t get by on athletic ability. Instead, he utilizes fundamentals to be such a force. You want your son or player to be a great wide receiver? Watch Ball, he puts on a clinic every time he plays."

Yesterday was opening day for the softball and baseball teams of a couple of certain Hanover schoolkids. They enjoyed different results. The 7th-grader celebrated his first game on the 90-foot bases by lashing a walk-off double to help his team to victory and then getting mobbed by his teammates coming off the field. The Hanover High freshman hit leadoff and played center field but struggled against the fastest (softball) pitching she's ever seen and then, after playing well in the field, muffed a couple of balls in the final inning. It took a lot of consoling for a kid who I can't recall ever making a miscue in the field playing baseball with the boys right through last year.