Debating Buddy

The column in The Daily Dartmouth last week calling for Dartmouth to fire coach Buddy Teevens (link) has triggered a back-and-forth between two columnists in today's D.

The columnist favoring a change at the top of the football program believes the best move would be for Teevens to relinquish his current duties and move into the athletic director's seat. From the column:

There are two facets of being a great college coach: the on-field performance of the team and the off-field administration of the program. On the field, Teevens has produced the worst years in the history of Dartmouth football. Off the field, he has done some very impressive management. This clearly qualifies him to be Dartmouth’s next athletic director. The choice is obvious: Dartmouth needs to remove Buddy Teevens the football coach, yet keep Buddy Teevens the administrator.

Taking the other stance is a columnist who preaches patience. From the column:

To be clear, it pains me to leave Dartmouth with such horrid memories of our football team. I will always be behind the Big Green and wish for its continued success in years to come. But the solution right now does not rest with simply firing head coach Buddy Teevens. Perhaps down the road Dartmouth should seek out a new skipper on the gridiron, but for now, we should stick with Teevens.

Today's Daily D also has a story headlined "Ivy League recruiting practices: Does Dartmouth lower its standards?" The story notes that, "Recruited athletes make up 30 to 35 percent of the students admitted early decision to Dartmouth. ... Also, 18 to 19 percent of each incoming class are recruited athletes."

Dan Parish, Dartmouth's director of Admissions Recruitment and Communication, makes a good point with regard to the acceptance rate of early admission athletes. He says:

"By working with coaches early in the recruiting process and by providing feedback during the summer and fall, our goal is to ensure that the recruited athletes who apply early decision are those candidates who are well-positioned to be successful applicants to Dartmouth."

I stopped by the Dartmouth Relays to look in on how any football players who were competing fared and noticed just one. Sophomore corner Muhammed Abdul-Shakoor qualified for the finals in the 60-meter dash, finishing fourth in a time of 7.06 seconds.

No Dartmouth players made the ECAC All-Star football team but nine players the Big Green competed against have been honored. They are:

• WR Mike Boyle, UNH
• WR Bobby Sewall, Brown
• TE Scott Sicko, UNH
• OL Nick Hennesseey, Colgate
• OL Shane Kelly, Brown
• DL Matt Curts, Harvard
• LB Bobby Abare, Yale
• DB Andrew Berry, Harvard
• K Andrew Samson, Penn

Harvard strength coach Craig Fitzgerald is leaving the Crimson to take over as football strength coach at South Carolina. A Harvard Crimson writer talked with lineman Carl Ehrlich about Fitzgerald's departure and the story includes this, which gives more indication of why there has been so much success in Cambridge:

Fitzgerald, who, according to Ehrlich, was renowned for arriving at his office at 5:30 in the morning and working days that ran as long as 15 to 16 hours, was a master motivator who stressed accountability and got results.

“Missing lift is a mistake you make once,” Ehrlich said. “Even being late to lift is a mistake you make once. If one person’s late, then the whole team’s guilty. You have 110 college kids and you tell them they have to be in the weight-room every morning at 6:30 and none of them are late—he managed that.”