You Make The Call

Barring something strange happening, it's a done deal that Dartmouth and UNH will be playing football this fall. As for the fall of 2010, that game might, that's might, be in limbo. FootballScoop has a list of a dozen FCS schools reported to be looking for games on Sept. 25, when the Big Green is scheduled to host UNH. Keeping in mind that not all schools with openings are listed, that some of these schools may have filled their openings, and that Iona – which dropped the sport – is on the list, is there an opponent here that appeals to you?

• Charleston Southern
• Coastal Carolina
• Drake
• Lamar
• Liberty
• McNeese State
• North Carolina Central
• North Dakota
• NDSU
• Northwestern State
• Southeastern Louisiana
• South Dakota

One of the things that makes coaching in the Ivy League difficult is that when you recruit a kid and lose him, you'll often find yourself coaching against him for the next four years. So it is with a couple of high school seniors reported to have been Dartmouth recruiting targets. One is defensive end Seyi Adebayo of Brophy Prep in Arizona. Scout.com wrote a while back that "Adebayo (6-3 215) tells us via text message that Columbia and Dartmouth have extended offers." Now word has made its way here that Adebayo has chosen to go to Columbia.

Zach Vrtis, an offensive lineman from Kennesaw Mountain in Georgia, was reported in the Marietta Daily Journal a while back to be, "deciding between the Ivy League pair of Penn and Dartmouth." He has committed to Penn.

It will be interesting to see how the careers of the two high school standouts pan out.

Speaking of recruiting, Chuck Burton over at the always informative Lehigh Football Nation site has a Q&A with Mountain Hawks coach Andy Coen. Of interest to Ivy League football fans is Coen's take both on the Academic Index banding system now in place in the Patriot League and the effect of the economic downturn on recruiting/financial aid.

Curious about the Dartmouth investment strategy with its endowment dollars? The Daily Dartmouth has a story.

Back to the world of sports, the Daily D has a back-and-forth over whether fans should go to the men's basketball game tonight (a showdown against Ivy League leader Cornell with possible championship implications) or the hockey game against Princeton which, despite all efforts of the college, will result in the annual pelting of the ice with tennis balls after Dartmouth's first goal.

Green Alert Take: I sure wish they would have moved the basketball game up to 6:15 and the hockey game back to 8, because I'd love to go to both. Given the Cornell basketball was in town last night, the earlier start time shouldn't be a problem for the Big Red, and in fact would have allowed a quicker getaway for the bus drive down to Harvard for tomorrow's game. As for the later start for hockey, it's a Friday night. They could start that game at 11 and the students would still flood Thompson Arena. ... Now, I fully understand there are probably nuts-and-bolts reasons I don't know about that explain why changing the start times would be a hassle, but the big-time schools do it all the time for TV purposes.

The Daily Pennsylvanian has a story (with artist's rendering) about the $40 million, 24-acre athletic fields construction project that will take place adjacent to campus. Read the story quickly and you might miss one aspect of the project. The story says the project is supposed to include "a dome to cover a field during winter months."

Um, I was in Philadelphia last week and, well, down at Swarthmore they were turning the dirt over on the softball field to get it ready for play. As I look out my window typing this, we've got more than two feet of snow on the ground. (Granted, I'm on the mountain, but there's still a good foot covering the fields in town.) If there's going to be another dome in the Ivy League (Harvard already has one), I'm not sure Philly has the greatest need.

Time to pound my chest a little about Penn State. Unless you are a Nittany Lion yourself, or live out that way, you may never have heard about THON, the dance marathon they hold at PSU. It's "the largest student run philathropy organization in the world." The just-completed THON set a fund-raising record despite the economic downturn. From the Daily Collegian:

Shortly after 708 dancers sat down for the first time in 46 hours, they stood again to cheer when the 17 members of the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon overall committee revealed the total money raised -- $7.49 million. ... The money will go to the Four Diamonds Fund, which helps families with the financial burden of pediatric cancer.

Now that's impressive.

And finally, the Hanover High indoor track team held its awards banquet last night and that certain HHS junior and her freshman brother won two of my favorite awards. The junior was presented a team Sportsmanship Award for the second time in track and the third time overall. She also was selected a co-captain for next fall. (She'll wrap up her season a week from today at the New England championships and then start up in softball, which she will also captain this spring as a junior). The freshman won the Coaches Award for effort. Though not a natural distance runner, he never missed a practice and continued to work out with the runners who advanced to select meets, the states and now New Englands for six or so weeks, long after his own competitive season ended.