Catching Up

Not sure how I missed this one the first time around, but the Jan. 30 Harvard Crimson had a story about well-traveled quarterback Andrew Hatch, who has returned to Harvard after playing for a couple of years at LSU. The story quotes Hatch:

“I would like to continue with football. If the NCAA approves it that’s the next step.”

Here's the hang-up, again from the Crimson:

The NCAA requires athletes to meet certain benchmarks for credit hours in order to play each season, and because Hatch is returning to Harvard without trying to transfer any credits from LSU, he will not be able to demonstrate the progress towards his degree that would normally be necessary for him to play. But he said he is petitioning the NCAA for a credit waiver that could put him back on the field.

Given that the story is three weeks old, if the timetable it mentions is accurate, Hatch and Harvard should know by now, or will within days, if he'll be able to play next fall.

Regarding the Harvard quarterback situation, there's this from the Crimson story:

If granted eligibility, Hatch could bring some welcome complication to the Crimson’s quarterback situation. With fifth-year seniors Chris Pizzotti and Liam O’Hagan graduating in June, Coach Tim P. Murphy would have to decide between Hatch, Collier Winters ’11, and Matt Simpson ’11.

Winters played in six games as a freshman in the 2007 season, while Simpson has seen more limited action, appearing in only one game in each of his first two years, making Hatch, with Southeastern Conference experience to his name, seem the likely choice. But Murphy has yet to be convinced.

If Hatch is eligible to play, “he would have to start from the bottom and work his way up,” Murphy said.

On the subject of peripatetic people, Rhode Island football coach Darren Rizzi said last week he is resigning to become special teams coach for the Miami Dolphins. Rizzi is leaving his alma mater after, count 'em, one year. Check out a story in the Providence Journal.

It was a month ago yesterday that there was a Green Alert blog post about how four Rutgers transfers were coming to Rhode Island, where they would be reunited with Rizzi, formerly an assistant with the Scarlet Knights. In the URI newspaper (named The Good 5¢ Cigar ;-) defensive end Tom Lang said at the time:

"I chose to come to URI mainly because of coach Rizzi and the entire coaching staff," Lang said. "I knew coach Rizzi for two seasons when he was at Rutgers, and I believe in his coaching principles. "

Ouch.

I've gotten a few emails asking about where The Great College Tour '09 stopped last week, so here goes: Colgate and Hamilton College, Bucknell, Lehigh and Lafayette, Haverford and Swarthmore.

And finally ... I'm not sure how much snow they got in the valley (I'll find out in about an hour when I head down) but we got at least a foot up here on the mountain. With the snow we got while we were away and what had built up this winter, we now have about 32 inches at the snow stick in the yard. That's a far cry from the 54 inches we had a few years ago, but still makes for a pretty good snow pack.