Tailback Headed To Hanover

Standout Massachusetts high schooler Nick Schweiger made official yesterday what has been whispered this way by a few readers in the past month or so: The well-regarded tailback from Bishop Feehan has indeed chosen Dartmouth over Harvard. From the Boston Globe:

The senior from Norton will play football for coach Buddy Teevens in the fall pending official school acceptance. Schwieger made official visits to Harvard and Dartmouth, according to Bishop Feehan coach Bob Alves. Last fall Schwieger ran for 2,182 yards and led the Shamrocks to the Division 2 Super Bowl title and a 10-2-1 record.

A little more insight about Schweiger from a Cape Cod Times article in late November:

“The only way you can really stop speed is to stop it before it gets started,” (Sandwich High School football coach Bill) Luette said yesterday after Bishop Feehan’s Nick Schwieger torched the Blue Knights in a 39-9 victory at sun-splashed McGrath Stadium.

“Our game plan was to play man-up on the outside and load the box and try to shut him down. But he’s a very patient back. He just waits for holes to open and he sees the whole field.

“(Today) he’d find a hole. He was patient and he’d bounce it out. He’s probably the best back we’ve seen all year.”

Schweiger, a rock-solid, 195-pound senior tailback, “bounced” the Blue Knights (4-7) for 272 yards and four touchdowns on 19 carries. Three of his touchdowns came on runs of 59 yards or longer as he increased his season total to 21 scores.

Dartmouth did not have a running back in the early decision class. From Schweiger's hometown paper:

“(Nick) is a horse and he’s just an incredible leader,’’ said coach Tony Woods. “He doesn’t go down on the first hit and he just pounds the ball

Scheweiger helped the Feehan Shamrocks to a Massachusetts Super Bowl title by running 26 times for 146 yards and three touchdowns and catching a 25-yard TD throw in a 26-20 win over Walpole.

Another former Dartmouth assistant is in the news as Elon head coach Pete Lembo has earned an extension according to this story. In just his second year rebuilding the Elon fortunes the former Lehigh head coach led the school to a 7-4 record and a No. 23 national ranking.

Now news breaks that Yale is cutting the cost of tuition by up to 50 percent for some students as reported in the Washington Post. From the Post:

Previously, a family with an income of $90,00 and assets of $150,000 would have paid $12,550 annually; now that family will pay $2,950, a Yale news release said.

More from the Post:

In a meeting with Washington Post reporters and editors yesterday, Yale President Richard Levin said that in the past 1 1/2 years, university officials had become "concerned that we were shortchanging" students by not providing more financial aid to needy families. He said increased returns on Yale's $22.5 billion endowment enabled the university to move forward with its plans.

Increased returns on that $22.5 billion endowment made the difference? But of course. Rest assured that fact that Harvard had announced a new financial aid policy of its own to help middle class students had absolutely nothing to do with the decision.

Will Dartmouth respond in some way? From today's Daily D:

The Office of Financial Aid is in the process of reviewing its policies, according to Director of Financial Aid Virginia Hazen, although neither she nor (Maria Laskaris, dean of admissions and financial aid) were able to say when the College will announce changes to its current financial aid program. ...

Although Dartmouth has not made any official decisions, Wright announced that the College intends to make Dartmouth more “accessible” to students from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds in his Tenth Annual Report to the Faculty on Oct. 8, 2007.

Last but certainly not least for many readers, Beta is returning to campus. I got an email about this recently and forgot to post it. Check out a release here. (PDF format). From that release:

“Beta’s history at Dartmouth dates back to 1889, and our organization was perennially one of the leading and most respected fraternal organizations on campus. We’ve been proud to have had many distinguished members over the years. They include:

• Dartmouth leaders: former Dartmouth President David McLaughlin ’54; former
Dartmouth Trustee and current Chairman of the Rockefeller Center Ron Schram
’64; head football coach Buddy Teevens ’79; Presidents Leadership Council
Members Joel Hyatt ’72, Davies Beller ’83, and Brian Conroy ‘86
• Government leaders: former New Hampshire Governor Walter Peterson ’47;
Delaware Lt. Governor John Carney ‘78
• Athletic Leaders: Scores of Dartmouth captainships; All-Americans in seven
different sports; Olympians; professional athletes