Part Three

The final installment of the three-part Valley News series on restoring Dartmouth's athletic health offers opinions on the athletic director who should be chosen to spearhead the effort. From the story:

“The athletic director has got to have a ‘we're-coming-for-you' swagger and show he’s not ashamed of being a winner,” a former Ivy administrator told me. “If he does that, you'll see change. Believe me. The good ones will be excited and the bad ones will run for the hills.”

The column wanders a bit and includes this about what the delay in hiring an athletic director might mean to the selection of a new men's basketball coach and vice versa:

The delay is troubling to some in the athletic department because it could have a negative effect on the final pool of candidates -- especially if a new men's basketball coach is hired before the athletic director's position is filled.

“I know if I was a basketball coach, I'd want to know who my athletic director was,” said former AD Ted Leland, who was hired at Dartmouth shortly after basketball coach Reggie Minton. A year later, Minton left Hanover because -- among other things -- he was concerned over the support he was getting from a man who did not hire him.

On the other hand, a new basketball coach with a three- or five-year deal will feel like a stone around the neck of the new AD -- if the program shows no indication of progress.

The series has drawn comments on an unofficial Ivy League message board and on another board centered around FCS football.

***

Jake Novak over at the Roar Lions Roar Columbia football blog has posted the Ivy League standings from 2000-2009. Here's what he has worked up:

Overall
1. Harvard 76-23
2. Penn 70-29
3. Yale 58-41
4. Brown 56-43
5. Princeton 47-52
6. Cornell 38-61
7. Columbia 26-74
8. Dartmouth 21-78

Ivy League
1. Harvard 56-14
2. Penn 53-17
3. Brown 40-30
4. Yale 38-32
5. Princeton 35-35
6. Cornell 26-44
7. Dartmouth 17-53
8. Columbia 15-55

Given the flip-flop in the overall and Ivy League standings between Dartmouth and Columbia, I thought to see who each team had beaten in the conference. Here's the breakdown.

Dartmouth's Ivy League wins since 2000: (17) Columbia 6, Cornell 3, Brown 2, Yale 2, Princeton 2, Penn 1, Harvard 1.

Columbia's Ivy League wins since 2000: (15) Cornell 5, Dartmouth 4, Brown 2, Princeton 2, Yale 1, Harvard 1.

As it turns out, Dartmouth and Columbia have identical records (11-49) against the other six Ivy League teams, with the difference in conference records since 2000 the result of the Big Green having a 6-4 mark agains the Lions in the series.

Missed this yesterday but the Pitt school newspaper writes:

The Internet rumors and unbridled speculation can finally be put to rest.

Tomorrow, the Pitt Athletic Department will officially announce that the Panthers will indeed move to a new conference: the Patriot League.

The only problem with the story? Here's what was what was at the top of the piece:

This story is part of The Pitt News' April Fools' Day special edition. It is entirely fictional.

Gee, really?

A poster on the aforementioned FCS message board also had some fun, writing about Montana joining the Patriot League.

If you tuned in to ESPN last night you saw Vermont's Marqus Blakely win the dunking contest and Cornell's Ryan Wittman tied for the 3-point shooting championship until Maryland's Eric Hayes hit his final shot. ESPN's video highlights, as you would expect, concentrate on the dunking. The clips show Blakely leaping another player to dunk a ball that player bounced off the backboard, but they don't show his best dunk, when he grabbed a ball out of the net that had been dunked by UVM teammate Evan Fjeld and redunked it, all on the fly.

While the run Wittman & Co. made to the Sweet 16 brought unbelievable press to Cornell, has there been any collateral advantage for the other schools? Rising tide and all that?

Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris thinks so. She told the Daily Pennsylvanian:

“(Cornell) played great basketball, which brought more attention on the athletics aspect of the Ivy League. I think the academics go without saying, and sometimes we could use more attention on the athletic successes that we have.”

Just a thought, but an appearance in the FCS playoffs might help.

If there is a little (emphasis on a little) movement toward a change in the FBS championship structure, a Dartmouth alum could play a key role. From Yahoo.com:

Mike Slive, the genteel commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, has heard the rage from college football fans seeking a new postseason system. He’s been stopped at airports, been grilled by the media and had endless proposals mailed to him.

He understands the frustration. He’s aware of the impatience. He feels the pain.

Monday, he is going to do something about it.

I haven't been able to find anything yet on the Internet about several still-unnamed Dartmouth recruits being accepted yesterday. (I know you are out there reading this so feel free to share a link if/when it appears.) Speaking of incoming recruits, freshman linebacker Dan Henggeler just set a West Torrance High School discus record of 166-feet, 5 inches.

The Daily Dartmouth has a note about yesterday's admissions announcements. From The D:

The College has admitted 11.5 percent of applicants to the Class of 2014, the lowest acceptance rate in College history. The Admissions Office accepted 2,165 of a record 18,778-person applicant pool, according to Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Maria Laskaris.

That Certain Hanover High Senior was on the computer along with almost 19,000 other hopefuls yesterday at 5 and received mixed news. She learned she had been wait-listed by Dartmouth and "dinged" by her other Ivy. While the odds are long, she'll stay on the Dartmouth list, send along some of the latest honors she has received, and see how things break. As the story in The D noted there is a chance:

College administrators are considering increasing the size of the Class of 2014 as a way to generate additional revenue for the College in the budget planning process, but they have not yet made a decision on the issue, Laskaris said.

Either way, as a friend who knows the schools that have accepted That Senior wisely wrote, "You have won the lottery if you are lucky enough to go to any of these schools."

Words of wisdom. And the best part? She knows it is true.