News and Hughes

The question of the day as news broke that University of New Hampshire quarterback Alex Park may be transferring to Dartmouth was this: Would he be eligible this year? It's pretty common knowledge that players transferring from an FBS (I-A) program to an FCS (I-AA) program do not have to sit out a year. That's why tailback-turned-fullback Pete Oberle '96 could play at Dartmouth immediately after leaving Colorado State and tailback Greg Smith '97 could play after leaving Missouri.

But what if you are transferring within the FCS? A couple of emailers did some digging and came up with a tentative answer. Here's what the NCAA's Transfer 101 guide had to say on the subject:

Exceptions for divisions I and II if you are in a four-year school
If this is your first transfer…
If you have never transferred before from a four-year school, you might be able to use the one-time transfer exception to play right away at a Division I or II school.
To use this exception, you must:
1. Be playing a sport other than baseball in Division I, basketball in Division I, men's ice hockey in Division I or football in Division I. Note: In football you may be eligible to use this exception if:

a. You transfer from a Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) school to a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) school and have at least two seasons of competition remaining; or

b. You transfer from a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) school that offers athletics scholarships to a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) that does not offer athletics scholarships.

Important Note: If you do not qualify for this exception due to any of the conditions in Subsection 1 above, you may be able to use the exception if you were not recruited by your first four-year school AND have never received an athletics scholarship.

If you were reading carefully you might notice it said you might be able to play immediately if, "You transfer from a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) school that offers athletics scholarships to a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) that does not offer athletics scholarships."

That sounds promising.

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Speaking of University of New Hampshire quarterbacks from Western Pennsylvania transferring to the Ivy League, UNH transfer Josh Vick was expected to vie for the starting job at Cornell last year only to miss the season due to an injury suffered competing in spring track. Like Wally Pipp, who gave way to Lou Gehrig one day and never got his position back, Vick saw Jeff Mathews eventually take over the Cornell QB job and win Ivy League rookie of the year. Mathews has rightfully gotten a lot of ink for his strong performance last year, but people who have seen Vick play think he'll make a hard push to get on the field this fall.

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Perhaps this is burying the lede but it's still the best news of the day. There is a report out of the Daytona Beach News-Journal that Roger Hughes, the former longtime Dartmouth offensive coordinator and later Princeton head coach, will be named head coach of the startup Stetson University team. From the story:

Former Princeton head coach Roger Hughes has accepted an offer to become Stetson's football coach, sources with knowledge of the situation told The News-Journal on Friday.

And this ...

Hatters officials have said they want to follow an Ivy League model as they bring football back to the DeLand school. If Hughes is their guy, they apparently have found the perfect fit in a coach who spent 18 years at Ivy League institutions -- 10 as head coach at Princeton and eight as offensive coordinator at Dartmouth.

Green Alert Take: Here's hoping all the i's get dotted and t's get crossed because Roger Hughes is a good man who belongs in college football.

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The Hartford Courant writes about one who got away – to Princeton. From the story:

Like many successful high school football players, Conard-West Hartford running back Jonathan Esposito had dreams of playing at the highest level of college football. That all changed the day he got a phone call from the coaching staff at Princeton.

And ...

Esposito was contacted by the Princeton coaching staff after his junior year. Calls then came from Yale, Harvard and Dartmouth. That changed the game for Esposito, who had been participating in summer camps at UConnand was being lightly courted by former UConn coach Randy Edsall and coaches from Boston College.

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Thanks to Mrs. BGA for sharing a note that Dartmouth's Peter Williamson '12, the two-time Ivy League golf champion, has qualified for the 2011 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in Bandon, Ore. Williams will be joined by fellow Hanover Country Club member Nick MacDonald, a recent graduate of the University of Hartford. Williamson is a graduate of Hanover High while MacDonald graduated from nearby Lebanon.

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Speaking of golf, we'll be heading down to Cromwell, Conn., tomorrow for the final round of the PGA Tour's Travelers Championship. It's a chance for That Certain Hanover High Senior (to be) golfer to get his first look at Keegan Bradley, the local product from Woodstock, Vt., who made good and won the HP Byron Nelson Championship this spring.

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And finally, it was cold and damp but we had a nice time visiting with neighbors and dancing to Yvonne and the Reverbs at the 50th annual Hanover Center Old Timers Fair last evening. I'm a little disappointed I'm going to miss the ox pull today to serve as official scorer for the Connecticut Valley Cal Ripken District Tournament today.