Recruit Patch Honored

Incoming running back recruit Cody Patch (highlight video) of nearby Lebanon is one of 29 New Hampshire high school players to be named a scholar-athlete by the Joe Yukica/New Hampshire Chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame. (link) Also receiving the honor is Nashua South quarterback Keith Farkas, who is headed to Sacred Heart and may be in the mix to play against Dartmouth on Sept. 24.

A third honoree of local interest is Hanover quarterback/defensive back Sam Carney, a football-basketball-baseball all-stater who might just be the best athlete the Upper Valley has seen in 25 years. He's headed to Ithaca College in the fall to play football – or whatever sport he wants.

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From a Silicon Prairie News story:

In seemingly every arena that he's competed, Joe Moglia has been a winner.

Now the chairman of the board at TD Ameritrade and president and coach for the Omaha Nighthawks, Moglia carries a résumé that includes both Ivy League football championships as an assistant at Dartmouth — the Big Green was one of several teams he coached in his first 16-year stint in football — and the turnaround of a Fortune 500 company at Ameritrade — he served as CEO from 2001-08, helping bring the online brokerage firm back from the brink of collapse.

Fast-forward to the 19-minute mark where Moglia talks about being contacted by a group of Yale alumni about the opening in New Haven after Jack Siedlecki "retired." Moglia goes on to offer some very interesting thoughts about the United Football League and at 29:30 says there's nothing he's ever done that was more competitive than football. He's not an overly polished speaker but he's a powerful presence with a clear and forceful message.

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No one has the time to watch all the video now being posted on the web by schools across the country, which is why something like Penn's Red and Blue Review is such a good idea. It's one-stop shopping for Quaker news, essentially a hosted recap of Penn sports featuring commentary and highlights.

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Maine has canceled its 2012 game with Colgate, reportedly leaving the Raiders with three scheduling openings. The page listing Dartmouth's future football schedules shows an opening in 2012. Whaddya think the chances are that the schools will hook up again? No, I didn't think so either, but at least Raider star Nate Eachus will have graduated by then ;-) Eachus led the nation in rushing (1,871 yards) and scoring last fall (22 touchdowns). Dartmouth will see Eachus (3,722 career rushing yards) for the first time in the 2011 opener in Hanover.

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The Any Given Saturday message forum has a posting about the Five Most Difficult Programs to Turn Around. The posting begins this way:

Dartmouth did it. Indiana State, too. And Prairie View's decades of discontent is in the rear view mirror. Are these the next five toughest programs to turn around?

Green Alert Take: As flattering as that sounds, one 6-4 season with a 3-4 mark in the Ivy League is not yet a turnaround and I'm pretty sure the Floren Varsity House braintrust doesn't consider the "turnaround" completed quite yet. Another winning season and getting over the .500 mark in conference play this fall would be the next step in a process. That's not to take anything away from what the 2010 accomplished, but for a program to turn around it has to be about more than just one season.