Thursday, June 30, 2011

On The Attack

(Note: The interview went up last night. If you can't access it, you may need to clear your cache.)

At the recent Friends of Football meeting Keith Clark, Dartmouth's offensive line coach and first-year offensive coordinator, offered a brief overview on his side of the football. A full transcript of Clark's comments can be found on Big Green Alert premium.

A few excerpts (with some strategically-placed ...'s ;-)

"When I got here two years ago we put a lot of sophomores out on the football field and we took our lumps. We had a couple successes here and there, but I think we knew that if we continued to persevere that we would end up with a good football team down the road. We are at that crossroads right now."

"(On) the offensive line, we have four guys returning that have (started) 80 football games. More, actually."

"(W)e have a tight end who was an all-league player last year in John Gallagher. He is a superior tight end in the Ivy League and we expect great things from him this year both as a blocker and as a receiver."

"(On) the perimeter at wide receiver we have one of the most dynamic players in the Ivy League coming back for his fifth year in Timmy McManus ..."

"Everyone wants to know about the quarterback ..." (Editor's Note: You really didn't think I was going to give that away, did you?)

(P)robably the most exciting part of our offense is tailback Nick Schwieger, who was the co-Ivy League player of the year this year. ... Beside him we have a young man (Dominick Pierre) that we think is very special. ... I want to remind you that the school's single-game rushing record-holder is coming back after an injury ridden year. That would be Greg Patton. We like to say we have a pair and a spare now at the tailback position."

Lots more at Big Green Alert.

Tomorrow: The defense.
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Let there be lights. Evidence that lights are going up has appeared at Memorial Field.



CornellCast has a 15-minute video interview with Big Red Athletic Director Andy Noel, who has overseen an athletic renaissance high above Cayuga's waters.

• At the 7:42 mark Noel comments that football recruiting is "off the charts."

• At 9:20 he talks about how important it was to get it right hiring a new football coach last year and why Cornell hit a home run with Kent Austin.

• At 11:10 he talked about something that I had missed completely. Schoellkopf is getting a video scoreboard that should be ready in early August.
Off the top of my head, the list of Ivy League football stadiums (stadia ;-) with video boards capable of showing replays:
  • Columbia
  • Cornell
  • Harvard
  • Penn
  • Princeton
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This is kind of interesting. In anticipation of the first-ever night game at Holy Cross, a website called Fill Fitton Field has popped up. Click here to read its mission statement.

Fitton Field seats 23,500. The Crusaders averaged 6,607 fans at home a year ago with a high of 10,891 for the game against Fordham. Dartmouth plays at Fitton Field on Oct. 15.
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And finally, That Certain Hanover High Graduate has been battling a sore knee and shut down her running for the past 10 days or so. She finally decided she was ready to give it a shot again this morning before work and seeing her head off down our dirt road was like watching a foal frolicking in a field.

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