Brown Gold

Like an old man who pushes a wobbly wheeled shopping cart up the street hunting for aluminum cans to redeem for a few pennies, I visit the same haunts at the same time each day looking for my definition of treasure. One of the places I stop by each morning is the Ivy League's official football page. There's not much going on in football right now, of course, so I usually just take a quick look and move on.

But when I stopped by this morning I realized, and not for the first time, that there is indeed treasure there. Brown gold, if you will.

The top story on the left side of the page, with a head and shoulders picture, is headlined Brown's DeOssie Named to 2009 NFL Pro Bowl. The top story on the right side of the page, with a head and shoulders picture of the Brown football coach, is headlined, The Estes Way. Under that story is Against All Odds, a story about a Brown grad going to the Super Bowl, again with a head and shoulders shot. Still on that first screen, a little lower on the left, is a story (with head shot) headlined, Brown's Morey Named to 2009 NFL Pro Bowl.

Now, I visit the page every day and because it doesn't change much this time of year I barely notice the stories before heading elsewhere. But having three or four stories celebrating Brown's successes displayed prominently on the page for several months – including a very flattering piece about the successes of the head coach – is found money for the Brown program. And it's all perfectly understandable. The Ivy League champions had a big year, and a couple Brown grads accomplished something pretty special this year.

Will all that convince a four-star quarterback recruit to go to school in Providence rather than Gainesville? Not likely. But for the high school junior from the Midwest or parent from California who Googles Ivy League football and comes across that page, it certainly doesn't hurt.

I'm no marketing genius – doing this blog for free is a perfect example of that – but if I'm in sports information at one of the other seven Ivy schools, I'd be tempted to work up an interesting story about someone or something in my football program and email it off to the Ivy League office to post on that page. The splash certainly couldn't hurt.

... And those of us who push our shopping cart past the Ivy football web page each morning would be grateful.

Speaking of someone turning down Gainesville for the Ivy League, it actually has happened, as the Daily Princetonian notes in a story today about football/lacrosse standout Jonathan Meyers of Greenwich, Conn. The piece reminds us that the Princeton freshman was ESPN Scout's No. 11 inside linebacker in the nation as a high school senior and the No. 23 defenseman as rated by Inside Lacrosse Magazine. Meyers broke his foot in the Princeton opener last fall and missed the rest of the season, but he's back on the field now with the lacrosse team.

New Yale football coach Tom Williams has officially "announced" his coaching staff in this release. Like all Ivy schools, Yale will recruit nationally but don't be surprised if the Bulldogs' roster has a decidedly West Coast look in the future. That's because Williams' defensive coordinator has come from Hawaii, his offensive coordinator from San Diego State, his tight ends coach from Stanford, his outside linebackers coach from Idaho and Hawaii, and his wide receivers coach from western Washington. And while his offensive line coach comes from a school in North Carolina, he's a U-Dub grad who has spent most of his career on the West Coast.