One Coming, One Offered

Heading Dartmouth's way next fall will be 6-foot-3, 210-pound outside linebacker Tommy Patek of Long Grove, Ill., and Carmel Catholic High School in Mundelein, Ill. For a YouTube highlight video of the linebacker, click here.

Patek, who attended camp at Dartmouth last spring, struggled with injuries this fall but still started 10 games for Carmel, which allowed just one rushing touchdown until the final game. He helped Carmel go 10-2 and advance to the state quarterfinals. (Courtesy photograph)

On Dartmouth's radar screen is a 6-1, 194 quarterback from Stony Point High School in Round Rock, Texas named Nyk McKissic. From a story in the Austin American-Statesman prior to Stony Point putting a 13-1 record on the line today:

"This has been nothing short of amazing," says McKissic, who carries a 3.80 GPA and has an offer from Dartmouth. "Other guys weren't committed to the program. It was like picking the rotten apples from the bunch. People called us Stony Stepchild Point, saying we were the stepchild of Round Rock. They made us feel like we were a second-class program."

There's an earlier American-Statesman story about the young quarterback tragically losing his father a couple of years ago. The story includes this:

He once proclaimed he would someday be an attorney. Now he wants to be a pediatrician.

"To give back," he said, "like my mom and dad have taught me."

While McKissic is on Dartmouth's screen, he's also on a lot of others as this Rivals.com page suggests.

The Walter Camp All-America Team is out and three players Dartmouth saw last fall were chosen. All are well-deserving of the honor. Selected were Yale linebacker Bobby Abare, UNH tight end Scott Sicko, and Colgate offensive lineman Nick Hennessey.

I'll be headed outside in a few minutes to start work cleaning up our yard after the ice and snow that hit yesterday. How bad was it? CNN.com reports that more than 300,000 New Hampshire residents lost power as a result of the storm. That may not sound like much if you are from New York or California, but that's about 25 percent of the Granite State's population.

And finally, in another illustration of the impact of the economic downturn, Dartmouth announced that will offer a voluntary "incentive" retirement program for college employees age 55 and over with 10 years of continuous service. Those who meet the criteria, "will receive a payment equal to an additional six months of salary or wages beyond the date they end their Dartmouth employment, less required deductions."

The release goes on to say:

The value of Dartmouth’s endowment dropped 6 percent (or $262 million) during the last quarter, to an ending value of $3.39 billion as of Sept. 30. More than a third of the College's $420 million operating budget (excluding grants) is supported by distributions from the endowment.

There's also a podcast in which Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Adam Keller talks about efforts to cut the Dartmouth budget.