The Day After

You may or may not like Kenny Chesney. Heck, you may not know Kenny Chesney from Joey Chestnut (who in his first year in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest was famously referred to as, "a rookie out of asparagus").

But whether you know or like Chesney, if you are here you probably like football. And if you like football, do yourself a favor and check out Chesney's music video Boys of Fall.

That's New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton giving the talk at the start and with this speech he's thrown down the gauntlet for football coaches the country over. Take a look and a listen and see what you think.

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Lots of coverage of the appointment of Harry Sheehy as Dartmouth's director of athletics to get to today. Before getting to the links, something that should have been in yesterday's BGA story: President Kim announced at the start of the conference that Bob Ceplikas, who worked tirelessly as interim athletic director for more than a year, will resume his role as deputy athletic director when Sheehy comes on board on Sept. 7.

Here's what President Kim had to say:

I think everyone realizes this was going to be a transition year with a new president and an acting athletic director. But Cep, you just did a fantastic job. I really want to thank you for your service. We're also glad you are going to continue in your role as deputy athletic director.

By the way, do continue to scroll down through the series of posts below. There's some fun stuff there.

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From the North Adams Transcript about Sheehy's move comes this quote from Williams President Adam Falk:

"While the successes of our teams during his tenure as athletic director have been gratifying, they’ve been the byproduct of attending to the development of the whole student-athlete. We’re proud that Harry will carry to Dartmouth not only our athletic success at Williams but our underlying philosophy."

A thorough Williams College release is here and as noted yesterday, the Dartmouth release is here.

Once again, the local paper hasn't yet updated its website as of this posting so I've got nothing for you there. Finally. There's a nice column here.

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Green Alert Take: I know a lot of people around college athletics and in talking with them over the past year, Harry Sheehy's name came up frequently. I remember asking one former athletic director how hiring someone from a Division III school would play among Dartmouth alums, some of whom worry that the Ivy League model is drifting in the Division III direction. This former AD chuckled and said that once the alums got to meet Sheehy, had the chance to hear him talk and got to see his vision it wouldn't be a problem. All true. Talking to a good number of people with disparate Dartmouth backgrounds after yesterday's introductory event they couldn't have been more excited about the man who will lead the athletic program into the future.

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At the Patriot League media day yesterday former opponent Colgate was a strong pick to win the conference title this fall. Dartmouth opponents Holy Cross and Bucknell were picked fourth and fifth respectively. (Fordham, which is going scholarship, was not included in the poll because it is going scholarship.) The poll:

1. Colgate (6 first-place votes) 46
2. Lafayette (2) 36
3. Lehigh (3) 35
4. Holy Cross (1) 34
5. Bucknell 17
6. Georgetown 12

Find the PL release here.

Colgate quarterback Greg Sullivan was chosen the preseason player of the year in the Patriot while Holy Cross defensive end Mude Ohimor was the preseason defensive player of the year.

From the release:

Holy Cross will try to repeat without record-setting quarterback Dominic Randolph, who has departed Worcester with almost every Patriot League mark and as a three-time League Offensive Player of the Year. In addition to the quarterback competition, the Crusaders will take on the task of replacing three All-Patriot League offensive lineman and four starters overall out of the group. Wide receivers Luke Chmielinski, Bill Edger and Freddie Santana will ease the transition after posting strong campaigns last year. The defense may be the strong suit with Ohimor returning on the line and Anthony DiMichele in the secondary after each earned First-Team All-Patriot League honors a year ago. But like the offense, the defense has to replace more starters than it returns.

And ...

Bucknell will move to a pro style offense under new Head Coach Joe Susan. The Bison have 13 starters back, with quarterback C.J. Hopson and wide receiver Shaun Pasternak along with four lineman on offense and Travis Nissley and Ahkiel White leading the way on defense.

Bucknell's release on the media day festivities is here and there's Bucknell video here. In the Bucknell video the executive director of the Patriot League, Carolyn Schlie Femovich, talks about the expansion of the NCAA playoffs and how that might lead to a second Patriot League bid.

You can find the Holy Cross release on media day here.

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The Northeast Conference media day is today. Dartmouth will play NEC member Sacred Heart in Week 2.

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The hot-button issue in the Patriot League, of course, is the debate about going scholarship in football. In the Bucknell video (link above) Femovich says a decision will be forthcoming in December about scholarships for PL football.

For the Ivy League, that bears watching because the current Patriot League model gives the Ivies a solid group of opponents who are on a relatively level playing field. If the Patriot League joins the Northeast Conference in adding scholarships, scheduling will be that much more difficult.

The Sports Network and the always thorough Lehigh Football Nation blog have looks at the scholarship question.

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Nice story on the Omaha World-Herald site about Dartmouth grad Eddie Lucas '04, who is batting .342 with a career-high 11 homers for the Kansas City Royals Triple-A team. Lucas played a little quarterback at Dartmouth and after a series of injuries would have been the starter except for one fact: He had given up football because he thought he could have a future in professional baseball. Turns out it was the right move.

From the story:

“I always dreamed of playing pro baseball, but my objective was to play football, too. I wanted to go to the best school I could get into where I could play football and baseball.”

Majoring in sociology and economics, Lucas played only one season of football and then put plans for law school on the back burner as it became apparent he had a chance to play pro baseball. The Royals drafted him in the eighth round in 2004.