An Old Friend in a New Place?

When Pete Lembo was a young assistant at Dartmouth from 1994-96 it was clear he was going places. After a year on the staff at Hampden-Sydney, Pete took an assistant's job at Lehigh and four years later not only was the Mountain Hawks' head coach, but the national coach of the year.

Lembo, the successful head coach at Elon the past five years, now is set to step up to the BCS level as the head coach at Ball State, according to several media reports, including one in Munice's Star Press.

Lembo has an all-time record of 79-36 in 10 years as a head coach with his only losing season his first at Elon. Ball State was 4-8 last year.

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Lehigh Valley Live, The Express-Times' web presence, has a story about the Patriot League tabling a decision on football scholarships under the headline: Differing visions of Lafayette College's football success fueling dispute between boosters, administration.

The writer elicited some interesting thoughts from Jack Bourger, chairman of the Friends of Lafayette Football and donor/namesake of the school's showpiece Bourger Varsity Football House. From the story:

“We can't get middle-class kids,” Bourger said. “We lost five kids to William & Mary because they were offered a half-scholarship, which can turn into a full one, and do you think there's a big drop in education between Lafayette and William & Mary? No. We lose tons of the kids to the Ivy League, kids Lafayette would love to have academically; if we gave them more money they could afford Lafayette.”

Bourger realizes that Ivy-caliber student-athletes may have other reasons to choose a Harvard or Princeton over Lafayette. Though he guessed that “we’d get three of every 10 of those kids, right now it's zero of 10,” but it’s less prestigious schools grabbing Leopard recruits he really can't stand.

“We lose kids to Monmouth, Sacred Heart, Wagner because of money,” Bourger said. “We have to convince parents it’s worth the big stretch (financially).”

Green Alert Take: If Bourger is right, he's tapped into exactly why Ivy League coaches should be concerned. If scholarships would allow the Patriot League schools to go 3-for-10 in recruiting battles with Harvard or Princeton, how many recruits do you think Dartmouth and the other non-HYP schools would lose?

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The Morning Call kicks in with a story under the amusing headline, Council of Ostriches does its thing. The writer is referring, of course, to the Patriot League Council of Presidents.

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Jerry Tallmer '42, the editor of the Daily Dartmouth at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack reminisces in New York City's The Villager about that troubled time with a mention of the Fifth Down game, a tough game at Harvard, coach Red Blaik and Stubby Pearson.