The Music Man

Thanks to a regular reader for a link to this story about the Band of Heathens, the up-and-coming group featuring former Dartmouth linebacker Gordy Quist '02. Also mentioned in the story, although it overlooks the fact that he and Gordy were teammates, is former defensive back Trevor Nealon '02.

For a story I freelanced several years ago on Gordy Quist and his move from football to banking to music, click here. From the story:

“It still boggles my mind the way it worked out,” marveled the Texas-based musician, who just released his second solo album, Here Comes The Flood. “It would be one thing if I’d gone to Berklee. But here I was at Dartmouth and not only did I meet other musicians, but they were in my class. And not only were they in my class, but they were on the football team and in my class.”

Quist – an inside linebacker who moved into the starting lineup as a junior – somehow found time to form a band while at Dartmouth with teammates Damien Roomets, a wide receiver, and Trevor Nealon, a defensive back. Although Lucky Southern enjoyed popularity in and around campus and for a bit after graduation -- even recording an album -- Quist put music on the back burner when he traded his pigskin for a sheepskin. Instead he took the plunge into the three-piece-suit world for which his Ivy League education had prepared him.

Suffice it to say he was miserable.

Everyone who follows Ivy League men's basketball knows about the Princeton-Penn domination of the conference for so long. That's on hiatus right now, but about the only two schools that ever dominated a league quite the same way are ... Dartmouth and Harvard in women's basketball. The New York Times has a story.

My only regret is that the Times reporter didn't delve a little more into Dartmouth coach Chris Wielgus' native humor. A perfect example: I covered the Big Green's narrow loss at the University of Virginia one year in an opening-round NCAA game in Charlottesville. Given how close her team had come to an historic upset, at the post-game press conference I asked Chris about the prospects for finishing the deal the next year. Without missing a beat, Wielgus, the mother of two sons, said: "Bruce, that's like asking a woman in labor if she wants to have another baby." The media cracked up and so did I (although I came away with a pretty good quote). Not only is she one of the best coaches Dartmouth has ever had, she's one of the funniest.

Dartmouth and Harvard play tonight at Leede Arena.

Dartmouth's Thayer Dining Hall had been slated for the wrecker's ball but that has changed. From a college release:

Dartmouth College has received a $12 million gift from the Class of 1953 to modernize Thayer Hall, the main student dining facility on campus. Built in 1937 in a social hub that includes Collis Student Center and Robinson Hall, Thayer Hall was last renovated in 1976. It is functional, but major building systems, including plumbing, heating and ventilation, are obsolete, with outdated food preparation equipment, accessibility issues, and unsustainably high energy costs.

Having taken tours of a number of schools that Dartmouth competes against for students in the past year, I can tell you this is a tremendously overdue project.

Cole Marcoux.

I've got nothing on him for today but three of the biggest days this blog has ever had came last week and I think I know why. I think the quarterback recruit is a little like ESPN's Erin Andrews. Just toss the name out there and the hits go through the roof. So I'll do it again and add a little garnishment. Cole Marcoux. Notre Dame.

Enjoy your Saturday.