Wednesday, November 28, 2007

An Incredibly Nice Guy

PARKING NOTE: For those of you coming to town Friday, the town of Hanover will allow parking near the chapel but space will be limited. Consider the town parking garage, one block from the Hopkins Center, where you won't have to worry about feeding a meter. For a PDF parking map, click here. (The parking garage is labeled "facility" on this map.)


The Columbia Spectator has a column that offers impressions of Ivy League football coaches drawn from postgame press conferences. No coach takes much of a hit in the column and Buddy Teevens is tossed this bouquet: "Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens is just an incredibly nice guy."

The Daily Dartmouth reviews the fall season for Big Green athletics, starting with football.

Missed this yesterday, but this Yale Daily column was highly critical of how things went on the day of The Game. From the column headlined The Game leaves Elis embarrassed:
The day’s shortcomings — inept coaching, a confused parking system, broken PA speakers, a halftime presentation in poor taste — left fans wondering what the University had been doing for the last 24 months to prepare for Harvard’s visit.
When I read that I thought, at long last, someone was calling an Ivy League band on the carpet for inappropriate remarks in its halftime routine. (As a parent whose children come to the games, I always hope they aren't listening when the band announcer takes to the mic.) I couldn't have been more wrong, as I found out when I kept reading the Yale Daily story:
The last straw came when the University paraded a group of major donors onto the field at halftime (their announced introductions, of course, were impossible to understand), thus cutting short the YPMB’s traditional performance and angering the fans already filing out of the stadium.
Losing the Game apparently doesn't do much for the mood down in New Haven, although this Yale Daily writer pulled his punch when it came to coach Jack Siedlecki, who is 17-3 in his last 20 games -- but has lost six of the last seven games with Harvard. ... More from Yale: The school newspaper reports that there 10,000 people were shuttled by bus from campus to the game, leaving some disgruntled at how that transportation was handled.

Colgate didn't win the Patriot League championship this year, but the Raiders had a chance on the final day. Coach Dick Biddle wouldn't win any kudos from the Spectator writer (above) because he simply tells it like it is, but the guy can coach. The Observer-Dispatch out of Utica, N.Y., begins a story this way:
In terms of athletic programs, Colgate University might never pull even with big brother Syracuse.

For the Raiders, however, that could be a good thing. The Orange are set to begin yet another bowl-less December, while Colgate and head coach Dick Biddle just keeps on winning.
The story ends this way:
But all is not hopeless at the Carrier Dome. Quick turnarounds are possible in college football, given the right coach and the right system.

Syracuse needs to get back to basics with some wide-body linemen and power running backs, ditch the “pistol” offense that resembled a popgun and start imposing its will on opponents.

The first step might be with a new coach. One like Dick Biddle.
Doubtful the 'Cuse has that in mind, but the Orange might have to wait in line just to talk to the 'Gate coach. Biddle's name once again has arisen at his alma mater down in Durham, N.C. As the Pioneer Press up in Minnesota writes:
Don't be surprised if former Gophers defensive coordinator Dick Biddle, who is head football coach at Colgate, ends up coaching at Duke.
Biddle, you'll recall, took non-scholarship Colgate to the I-AA championship game a few years back. The Raiders won't be going there this year, but eight schools are still in the hunt after a dramatic opening weekend of FCS championship play. For a recap of some seriously enjoyable games, check out this story from The Sports Network.

A subscriber sent along this link to a Daily Princetonian story on the agreement Princeton has with Nike to outfit its entire sports program. Dartmouth football wears Nike uniforms and one opposing coach -- who shall remain nameless -- made an off-the-record and somewhat cynical comment about Dartmouth's having Nike unis prior to the start of his postgame press conference this year.

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