Williams AD Headed to Hanover

Williams College Athletic Director Harry Sheehy is set to be introduced as the new athletic director at Dartmouth today. Barring technical difficulties the press conference can be viewed live on the web (for free) at noon by clicking here.

Our local daily has a story this morning (no link is up at this hour) and the North Adams Transcript has a story here.

I first heard Sheehy's name mentioned with regard to the Dartmouth opening a full year ago. In the many watercooler-type discussions I had with people around college athletics since then the reaction was pretty much universal that this is someone the college really should consider. I had a chance to meet and talk with Sheehy at the Dartmouth-Williams baseball game last spring and it didn't take long to understand why people who knew him agreed. Beyond his sparkling resume, he's someone you immediately like.

Find Harry Sheehy's Williams College bio here.

Check out Bob Ryan's brief video salute to the Williams athletic program run by Sheehy here.

An oldie but goodie: Read the 2000 Sports Illustrated story written about how they were doing things at Williams back in Sheehy's first year at the helm in the SI Vault. The headline:

A Little Goes A Long Way
Williams College proves that success in sports doesn't have to cost a fortune

One "drawback" I've heard regarding Sheehy is that he doesn't have Division I experience.

Some would counter that with the suggestion that running an athletic department at a non-scholarship, academically rigorous college in a rural, cold-weather town is awfully good experience if your job is going to be running an athletic department at a non-scholarship, academically rigorous college in a rural, cold-weather town.

I haven't gone all the way back but I believe Sheehy will be the first athletic director Dartmouth has had with previous experience as an AD. Harper was a coach and then administrator. Dick Jaeger, before her, had been admissions director. Ted Leland became a highly regarded athletic director at Stanford but prior to Dartmouth he was an assistant or associate. Ditto for Seaver Peters. Red Rolfe came back to Dartmouth from major league baseball. Charles Harris, who was set to be the AD before Harper ultimately got the job, had been an athletic director at several schools, but that's a story for another day. ;-)

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Jake Novak over at the Columbia Roar Lions Roar blog has a posting that suggests, "there are usually at least some important lessons you can learn about the overall quality of a team from the last game of any given season."

That sound you hear is Dartmouth folks saying, "Uh oh."

The Big Green dropped a 23-11 decision to Princeton in last year's finale on Memorial Field, after which Tigers coach Roger Hughes was dismissed. Jake writes:

It’s easy to get swept up in the hype for the 2010 Big Green that’s been growing every day. But every time I think Dartmouth might make a serious run at a first division finish, I am haunted by the team’s lackluster performance in week 10 against a poor Princeton team on their home field in Hanover.

And he adds this:

Here’s what I take away from this game:

1) Dartmouth just doesn’t have a championship offensive line right now… or even a very good one. That’s going to put a major crimp in any serious run for a winning season

Ouch.

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Not surprisingly, the Daily Dartmouth has a different outlook. From a story in today's D about fall sports:

Defensive end Charles Bay ’11 and wide receiver Tim McManus ’11 will lead this year’s Big Green team to what will hopefully be a better result than last year’s 2-8 record, and they certainly have the capability to do so.

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Dartmouth football players Austen Fletcher and Aaron Limonthas are both quoted in a Daily Dartmouth story about the college prohibiting swimming on the Connecticut River at what used to be called the "sophomore dock," in view of the Ledyard Bridge.

From the story:

Student Body Summer term President Aaron Limonthas ’12 said that students have submitted proposals — including moving the docks — to compromise with the administration.

“We’ve done everything we could think of to get the docks out there,” Limonthas said. “We have given suggestions and written proposals but nothing has given the administration 100 percent confidence.”

To editorialize for a second, Hanover High students swim in the river just a quarter mile or so away from the former sophomore dock in a secluded area that requires a hike through the woods. That's always concerned me.

I find it mind-boggling that the college's decision to close the sophomore dock because it is deemed unsafe to swim there will probably chase Dartmouth students away from a public swim area with a lifeguard to the high schoolers' secluded area with no lifeguard and no readily available help if something happens.

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An earlier BGA posting about Project Right Choice noted kicker Foley Schmidt's role with the student-run organization. A story in the Daily Dartmouth notes that ...

"Project RightChoice raised $60,000 for the Fisher House Foundation — a non-profit organization that provides lodging for the families of wounded service men and women on the grounds of military veterans affairs hospitals — at an event held in Boston this past Saturday."

The guest of honor was former Dartmouth President Jim Wright.

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The most powerful man in college athletics a Dartmouth product? This story suggests that's title belongs to Mike Slive. From the story:

Slive's matriculation at Dartmouth was unexpected. "I was in my homeroom class in high school and my teacher said there's a gentleman outside who wants to see you. Big guy. He introduced himself and he was from Dartmouth and he said, 'We understand you play football and we'd like you to come to Dartmouth.' So my dad and I, at some point, got in a car and drove up there. I saw it and loved it. But I'd never heard of it (Dartmouth). When I got there, due to the nature of my community, I was somewhat ill-prepared academically."

Slive ended up playing lacrosse.

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Dartmouth golf coach Rich Parker's experience at the US Senior Open is chronicled in yet another Daily Dartmouth story.

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Former baseball standout and sophomore guard on the 1968 Dartmouth football team Oz Griebel '71 is running for governor in Connecticut as this earlier BGA post notes. The Stamford Advocate had a story yesterday about his candidacy.

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As Dartmouth looks ahead to one day rebuilding of the home stands at Memorial Field (a project that was scheduled to be completed several years ago but put off because of the economic downturn), it wouldn't hurt to take a look at the job they have done with the stadium at the University of Richmond. There are a few new pictures toward the end of this message board post. And if you want to have some fun, check out this construction cam.

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Now to finish up some freelance work before heading up to the press conference. Later.