Teevens Extension

The worst-kept secret around finally went public this morning with the local daily reporting that Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens' contract will be extended.

Athletic Director Harry Sheehy told the paper:

"We've said to Buddy that we're going to have an extension but we haven't done any nuts and bolts yet."

Teevens:

"I'm excited our staff will have the opportunity to continue. This is going to be a source of comfort not only for them, but for our players and our recruits."

The story does not include any details but numerous sources have said it is a multi-year extension, probably three years. Depending on how you count, Dartmouth – which was 6-4 overall this year and 3-4 in the Ivy League – returns 10 starters on offense, 10 on defense and its placekicker and punter next fall.

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Down in the Big Apple, meanwhile, the Columbia Spectator is debating the future of head coach Norries Wilson. This column suggests there's plenty of blame to go around for Columbia's 16-34 record over the past five years but still says, "Norries does have to go, don't get me wrong."

There's a response in a column under the headline, "Should we blame the players or the coaches?" That column finished this way:

You can change the name of the football coach, but not the name of our school. Coaches will come and go, but fans must realize that lasting change does not occur overnight. Norries Wilson has given Columbia athletics five years of unrelenting dedication so let’s not turn him into a patsy when others should share the blame.

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Columbia football blogger Jake Novak takes on the plight of the Columbia program by setting out three goals for the team in his Roar Lions Roar blog:

1. Beat Penn and/or Harvard within two years
2. Post a winning season next fall
3. Win the Ivy title by the end of the decade – and before rebuilding Cornell and Princeton

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Columbia is 16-34 over the past five years under Wilson, and 9-26 in the Ivy League. In case you are wondering, Dartmouth is 13-37 overall and 10-25 in the conference over the same span.

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Although I had doubts about holding off the announcement of the Ivy League Player of the Year until next week's gala in New York City, it is bringing about a little extra publicity for the league. The four finalists are Dartmouth tailback Nick Schwieger, Harvard tailback Gino Gordon, Penn quarterback Billy Ragone and Princeton receiver Trey Peacock. The Harvard Crimson, as you would expect, pushes for Gordon:

The winner of the Asa S. Bushnell Cup will be announced on Dec. 6, and if the voters favor numbers, Schweiger or Ragone will almost certainly take home the trophy. But if the award indeed goes to the player who was most valuable to his team, then voters may recognize what Harvard football players already do—no one in the Ivy League was more important to his squad than Gordon.

The Daily Pennsylvanian, again as you would expect, supports Ragone, writing:

"When he goes back to pass and nothing is open, he’s not throwing the ball out of bounds, he’s not taking a sack,” coach Al Bagnoli said after Ragone’s 151-yard rushing effort against the Bears. “He’s got that escapability factor that everybody’s looking for, and when he gets into the open field, he’s electric.”

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The next-worst-kept-secret surrounding Dartmouth football is that there's a huge push for Memorial Field to get lights. Not so at Yale, according to the Yale Daily, which writes about the lack of lights at the Yale Bowl. From the story:

Students in favor of lights have at least one ally among athletic officials: head football coach Tom Williams. Williams said that while the football staff has not discussed adding lights to the Bowl, it is an option worth exploring for the future. Night games would fit better into parents’ schedules, as balancing all of the athletic activities of multiple children with afternoon practices and games on Saturdays makes it difficult for a Yale parent to come to New Haven for a football game during the day, Williams said.

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Yale, by the way, has named standout linebacker Jordan Haynes as its next captain. Find a Yale Daily story here.

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A September Q&A with the athletic director at Central Connecticut offers some good insights into the challenges of scheduling for FCS football teams. (link) There's some interesting and candid stuff from the AD of a school that likely will start showing up on Ivy League schedules.

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The Boston Globe is following the story of UMass possibly jumping to the FBS and joining the MAC. The story includes this: "If the Big East did call — and there is no indication that it has an interest — UMass would want to join as a member in all sports."

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UMass to the Big East would seem to make more sense, at least geographically, than TCU joining the Big East. But as silly as the latter sounds, it pales in comparison to this. Did you know that New Jersey Institute of Technology is in the Great West for basketball? I kid you not.

NJIT is joined in the conference by Houston Baptist, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas-Pan American, Utah Valley and Chicago State. It actually happened a couple of years ago. No Joke: NJIT joining Great West.

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Speaking of jokes ...

The Brown Daily Herald writes that there is no move afoot to start a postseason Ivy League soccer tournament. The story quotes Scottie Rodgers of the Ivy office this way:

"Traditionally, the Ivy League has not had any conference tournaments in any team sports. It's been a long-standing tradition of the Ivy League that the Ivy League champion should be determined through regular-season play."

Given that football isn't allowed to go to the postseason because that's the Ivy League "tradition," the decision not to have a soccer tournament makes perfect sense. Thanks goodness the rules are consistent. But wait. The Herald story isn't through. It also includes this:

Three years ago, lacrosse coaches from Ivy League institutions proposed the implementation of a conference tournament after examining their situation and determining what would be beneficial to the sport, Rodgers said.

Because the Ivy League is one of the strongest conferences in both men's and women's lacrosse, and its teams are highly ranked in terms of the RPI, league coaches concluded that playing games against Ivy League teams in a postseason tournament would help the profiles of those trying to qualify for the NCAA championships, Rodgers said.

What do you think would happen if ...

"(The football) coaches from Ivy League institutions proposed the implementation of (postseason play) after examining their situation and determining what would be beneficial to the sport?"

Green Alert Take: I feel badly for Scottie Rodgers, a good guy put in the impossible position of trying to explain the indefensibly inconsistency of the Ivy League.