Kicker Schmidt On Watch List

But first, a couple of campus construction scenes for a quiet August day ...

From the looks of a picture shot this week, they are still digging down before building up the new Visual Arts Center alongside the Hopkins Center. (Click photos to enlarge)
A picture taken Thursday on Webster Avenue and an excerpt from a spring issue of The Dartmouth:

The Sig Ep physical plant will be demolished and construction will begin on a three-story chapter house in June, according to the documents. Occupancy of the physical plant will resume in January 2011.

Well heck, as long as the subject is facilities, today's Daily Dartmouth writes:

The College plans to convert doubles in Fahey-McLane residential cluster to triples in order to accommodate the increased size of the Class of 2014 by 49 students.

Two thoughts. First, I recall hearing talk that the freshman class might be expanded, but somehow missed confirmation that it was happening.

And second, I know someone who is extremely glad it didn't increase by 48 ;-)

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Dartmouth's Foley Schmidt is on the Fred Mitchell Award Watch List as a college placekicker nominated "for excellence on the football field and in the community." In addition to his considerable accomplishments on the field, his bio says:

... volunteer leader for Project RightChoice which is a student-run organization that has raised $150,000 for the Fisher House Foundation….is a diabetic and has been very active since the age of eight in raising funds and awareness via the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and their annual Walk for the Cure

Penn's Andrew Samson is also a nominee.

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The Daily Dartmouth has more coverage out of the hiring of Athletic Director Harry Sheehy. A few quotes:

• Joe BelBruno, chemistry professor and head of the search committee: “(Williams) coaches knew what the expectations were. It was different from what we listened to from other candidates — other candidates talked about what they could do, but Harry had done it.”
• Sheehy: “Everything I like about Williams is here, and a few things I didn’t have at Williams are here."
• Sheehy: “Every captain will sit in my office and I’ll talk to him or her about goals for the year, what they want to see happen, how the year’s going."
• Sheehy: "I do a lot of management by walking around — really that’s the fun part. Cutting the budget isn’t fun, going to meetings with student-athletes is great fun.”
• Sheehy on reporting to the president: "I’m confident that that direct line exists. The most important thing to me is, when I want it or need it, I will have direct access to President Kim.”

Green Alert Take: I spoke privately with one of the committee members who said to me, in so many words, "This was an easy one." The more you hear and read, the more you understand why.

Sheehy's appointment gets the Green light from DartBlog.

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When Dartmouth faces Bucknell in this year's opening football game, there will be no lack of mature leadership on both sides of the ball for the Bison.

On the offensive side, Bucknell will have a receiver named AJ Pompliano, who returns to the Bison after serving in Iraq. The Standard-Journal of Milton, Pa., has a story that begins this way:

In September of 2008, A.J. Pompliano was a part of Bucknell’s 48-42 home victory over Duquesne. Little did he know that would be his last football game for two years.

Pompliano, a senior wide receiver for the Bison, received a call after the game that informed him he would be deployed to the war over in Iraq. A member of the Pennsylvania National Guard, Pompliano would be sent to Louisiana and Mississippi for training before shipping over to Iraq.

The story includes this:

Pompliano’s 10-month duty ended in September of 2009. He arrived back in the states in time to attend the final three Bucknell games, all wins. He returned to the classroom last spring and is on track to graduate in May of 2011.

As noted in an earlier post, one of the top Bison players is defensive lineman Josh Eden, who returns to the team after a two-year Mormon mission.

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Speaking of Mormon missions, kudos to Jake Novak over at Roar Lions Roar blog for being on top of things and noticing that Andrew Hatch is now on the Harvard football roster. It's all way too confusing for me so I'm going to punt and reproduce the intro to his bio on the Harvard site:

In his second stint at Harvard after transferring to LSU in the summer of 2007 before returning to Cambridge in the summer of 2009 … Originally walked on at LSU after a brief Mormon mission to Chile … Earned a scholarship at LSU in 2007 and was the Tigers’ starting QB in 2008 … Was granted a medical redshirt following the 2007 season due to a shoulder injury

For what it's worth, he first appeared in a Harvard uniform in 2005.

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For a little more background on Week Two opponent Sacred Heart, check out a brief story in the Connecticut Post after the Pioneers were chosen 8th in the nine-team Northeast Conference.

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Away from the football field, the Daily Dartmouth has a story about the school choosing Microsoft Online Services to replace BlitzMail for the school's email provider, with the transition slated to be completed by fall of 2011.

Green Alert Take: Trust me, BlitzMail was way-outdated, but this will be met with a touch of sadness by a generation of Dartmouth alums. BlitzMail is an old friend for many.

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And finally, congratulations to the Teevens family as Lindsay and fiancé Matt walk down the aisle.