Statistically Speaking

Offensive Ivy League leaders returning for 2011

Rushing
(with Ivy ranking, yards per game, yards per carry)
1. Nick Schwieger, Dartmouth 125.9, 4.68
3. Alex Thomas, Yale, 78.9, 4.36
4. Brandon Colavita, Penn, 72.8, 5.82
5. Billy Ragone, Penn, 60.9, 6.30
6. Mark Kachmer, Brown, 55.7, 4.16
7. Grant Gellatly, Cornell, 54.6, 4.55
8. Treavor Scales, Harvard, 52.0, 5.98
9. Sean Brackett, Columbia, 51.8, 3.65

Passing
1. Pat Witt, Yale, 2,216 yards, 60.4 percent, 12 TD, 12 Int
2. Jeff Mathews, Cornell, 1,723 yards, 54.8, 7 TD, 7 Int
3. Sean Brackett, Columbia, 2062 yards, 57.8, 19 TD, 6 Int
5. Conner Kempe, Dartmouth, 1,647 yards, 54.2, 8 TD, 12 Int
6. Billy Ragone, Penn, 834 yards, 56.9, 6 TD, 5 Int

Also Returning, but not ranked for 2010 because of injuries:
• Collier Winters, Harvard, 892 yards, 60.9 percent, 5 TD, 5 Int (5 games)
• Kyle Newhall-Caballero, Brown, 407 yards, 62.8 percent, 3 TD, 2 Int (2 games)
• Tommy Wornham, Princeton, 1,104 yards, 57.2 percent, 5 TD, 5 Int (5 games)

Receiving (ranked by yards)
2. *Alexander Tounkara, Brown, 61 rec., 842 yards, 4 TD, 13.8 yards per catch
4. *Gio Christodoulou, Yale, 38 rec., 563 yards, 1 TD, 14.8 yards per catch
5. Shane Savage, Cornell, 46 rec., 550 yards, 2 TD, 11.96 yards per catch
6. *Tim McManus, Dartmouth, 38 rec., 528 yards, 2 TD, 13.9 yards per catch
7. Michael Reilly, Dartmouth, 22 rec., 525 yards, 2 TD, 23.9 yards per catch
9. Adamy Chrissis, Harvard, 40 rec., 481 yards, 1 TD, 12.0 yards per catch
9. Jimmy Saros, Brown, 42 rec., 481 yards, 4 TD, 11.5 yards per catch
* Anticipated fifth-year seniors

Worth noting: Every Ivy League starting quarterback returns. Eight of the top 10 rushers are back and seven of the 10 leading receivers.

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Stopping by the Dartmouth football office the other day I picked up a flyer for the 2011 Buddy Teevens Football Camp. It is slated to run from Sunday, June 26 though Wednesday, June 29. No fewer than 27 players on last year's roster attended a previous Teevens camp so it's a safe bet that there will be a few future Big Green players in town for the camp.

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While we're looking ahead, the 2011 Dartmouth Friends of Football Golf Classic is set for June 18 at Hanover Country Club.

From the Archives

It's a little dark but these clips from what I believe is Dartmouth's 1928 game with Cornell at Schoellkopf are well worth watching. The Big Green won that game, 28-0.

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The Dartmouth men's lacrosse team opened play yesterday with a 13-8 loss to Colgate in Hanover. On the Big Green roster (but not appearing in the game) was sophomore football placekicker RC Willenbrock. He missed the football season last fall with a back issue.

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Forbes Magazine earlier this week posted a column by Steven Salzberg, a professor at the University of Maryland who makes it abundantly clear he is no fan of big-time college football but praises the Ancient Eight approach. He writes:

Look at the Ivy League, which comprises 8 of the best universities in the country. They play sports against each other, they don’t award athletic scholarships, and their academic programs are the envy of the rest of the world.

Salzberg has a BA and MS from Yale, and a PhD from Harvard and so it's not hard to understand his appreciation for the Ivy League. What is hard to understand is the "sky is falling" statements in his piece like this:

The culture of football in American universities is completely out of control. It is undermining our education system and hurting our competitiveness in technology, science, and engineering.

And ...

I think we need to eliminate football entirely from our universities if we want to maintain our pre-eminent position as the world’s scientific and technological leader.

You know, I was wondering why the U.S. was falling behind in science and technology. Now I know. It's all big-time college football's fault!

Lest anyone get the wrong idea, the writer finishes his piece with this:

Note to my friends in other countries: by “football” I mean American football, that game with the peculiar oblong-shaped ball – not the wonderful game of soccer, which almost all other countries call “football.”

A standing seam roof costs a little more but with the snow we get in these parts it is money well spent because when the sun comes out the snow comes sliding off the roof. Of course, it can make for some pretty big piles directly in front of the house. Here's a look at the snow that slid off the roof of our sun room Saturday morning. Fortunately, what appears to be a "bowing" of the door is the result of a slightly wide-angle lense ;-)

Peterlin Shows his Stuff

Dartmouth senior Shane Peterlin has been targeting a career as a pro longsnapper for a long time and this video shows him doing the "Perfect Laces, Balls and Strikes Drill and also a Coverage Drill," at Coach (Gary) Zauner's College Specialists Combine" in Arizona a few days ago.

According to this posting, Peterlin graded out second among 23 longsnappers from schools like Washington, Colorado and Mississippi State.

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If you are concerned about concussions in football, the New York Times has a story about the NFL's guidelines for sideline tests that includes several important links, including one to the GQ piece The People V. Football and one headlined, Brain Expert Omalu Wants Longer Rest for Concussed Football Players.

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Wonder where all the FBS players come from? Find a state-by-state listing here.

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Opening day in Hanover for the two Dartmouth lacrosse teams despite yesterday's snow. Game times were moved back two hours to allow time for the fields to be cleared of the 8 or so inches of snow that fell in town.

Penn Prospectus

Used to be everyone did one of these, but they have gone the way of dial phones. Here's the 2011 Penn spring football prospectus. The old prospectuses (prospecti?) used to have depth charts and some text about strengths and challenges, neither of which are included in Penn's offering, but hey, it's better than nothing.

The Quakers begin spring ball March 15 and will have their spring game on April 9. Also from a Penn release:

Also during the spring, Penn will once again join in the "Be the Match" program as part of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) registry. The Quakers set a team record last year by recruiting more than 350 donors. Every member of the football team is involved in the initiative and they will be looking to add new donors this year on Friday, April 8.

The Boys of Dartmouth

Check out this video for some classic clips from Dartmouth's Ivy League championship teams. Absolutely do not miss this one.

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While the NFL Combine is taking place in Indianapolis, Dartmouth defensive end Charles Bay has been training for his upcoming "Pro Day." Among the teams that have expressed interest in the 6-foot-3, 255-pound All-Ivy pick are the Patriots, 49ers, Steelers, Eagles and Redskins. Bay was fifth in the nation in forced fumbles and seventh in sacks per game last fall despite constant double-teaming. Highly regarded long-snapper Shane Peterlin will also work out for the scouts.

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The Asa Bushnell Cup for Ivy League Player of the Year will be publicly presented to Dartmouth tailback Nick Schwieger, and Shawn Abuhoff will receive his place for Returner of the Year between the first and second period of Saturday's ice hockey game between the Dartmouth and Clarkson men's teams. Faceoff is 7 p.m.

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A reminder that the Dartmouth Green-White spring game is still slated for April 30 at 10 a.m. – barring a change.

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Speaking of which, they are usually on top of things but FootballScoop must be asleep at the switch regarding hirings. ;-)

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The NFL is going to employ standardized sideline testing for concussions next season as reported by the Associated Press. Closer to home, a recent Daily Dartmouth story noted that:

In response to concerns about a recent increase in head injuries across sports — including major professional sports leagues, like the NFL — Ivy League representatives are now collaborating to improve concussion prevention, detection and treatment in athletics, according to Director of Health Services Jack Turco.

Although still in its early stages, an initiative launched this month — led by College President Jim Yong Kim and Cornell University President David Skorton — will set an example for athlete safety in college athletics by developing recommendations and policies for safe play at practices and games, according to Turco.

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Penn football players have received Ivy League championship rings that have "Back to Back" displayed above the stone. Check out the photo on the Daily Pennsylvanian blog.

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A pat on the back to Roar Lion Roar football blogger Jake Novak for his response to the very unfortunate heckling of a veteran at Columbia last week. Jake writes:

I’d like to see each and every one of our veteran students, grad and undergrad, honored at halftime of a Columbia football game this fall.

But since that’s about seven months away, I think honoring them at one of the remaining basketball games at Levien Gymnasium would be a very classy touch.

Giving some of the vets the chance to throw out the first pitch at an upcoming baseball game at our fabulous new ballpark is a good idea too.

Dartmouth has honored its veterans at Memorial Field and the response from classmates, alums and fans in the stands was impressive.

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The late Eddie Jeremiah is one of the giant names in Dartmouth sports history. While coaching Dartmouth hockey from 1937-67 he helped the Big Green to a still-standing national record 46 wins in a row, and to the 1941-42 mythical national championship. Of the 2008 Hobey Baker Legend of Hockey award winner, former Boston College coach Snooks Kelley once said, "He's to college hockey what Ted Williams was to baseball."

Now you can hear the final radio interview with Jeremiah Saturday on Dartmouth's WFRD 99 Rock around 6:30 p.m. between broadcasts of the women's and men's hockey games. The tape was only recently discovered.

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The Cameron Crazies get all the pub, but check out the very creative effort by Temple students for a basketball game against Big Five rival St. Josephs here.

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USA Today had a story this week spun out of NCAA sanctions to the basketball at UConn that included this:

The infractions stain is Connecticut's first in any sport. It leaves four marquee athletics programs -- of the 65 in the nation's six major football-playing conferences, plus Notre Dame -- without a major case in their histories, and two of them carry asterisks. Boston College and Northwestern endured point-shaving scandals that weren't adjudicated by the NCAA.

The Unblemished Two: Penn State and Stanford.

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Dartmouth's swimming dock will reopen this summer. The Dartmouth has a story.

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The, "I can do anything you can do better," decisions regarding the restoring of early admission programs at Harvard (link) and Princeton (link) are put in context in a Yale Daily News story that says:

Experts attributed the switch to single-choice early action admission, announced within hours of each other Thursday morning, to Harvard’s and Princeton’s concerns that they are losing top students to Yale and other schools with early admission by asking them to wait to apply in the regular round.

Love this from the Princeton story:

“We learned through the press that Harvard was seriously looking at its own program and might indeed decide to change its program,” (Stephen Oxman ’67, chairman of the executive committee of Princeton’s Board of Trustees) said. “In view of that possibility, (University President Shirley Tilghman) recommended as a contingency matter that should Harvard make that decision, Princeton would also reinstate an early program. The executive committee was very supportive of the President’s recommendation.”

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Saw The King's Speech at the Nugget Theater in Hanover last night and can't recommend it enough.

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Snow day here in the Upper Valley where the latest AccuWeather.com forecast is calling for 8.8 inches to fall during the day while the US Weather Service is saying 8-12 inches with wind and icing. About all they can do in the athletic offices is shrug their shoulders and hope people are willing to brave the conditions on Pack the House Night for women's basketball at Leede Arena. ... Might be a challenge to play two lacrosse games on the turf fields at Dartmouth tomorrow.

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Now it's on to something that actually puts food on the table ... if I ever get around to invoicing for it, which is far and away the weakest part of my game ;-)

Skate with a Date

Dartmouth football players took part in Skate with a Date at Occom Pond on campus Tuesday night. The evening featured pizza, soda, cookies, s'mores and a return to glory by former high school ice hockey standouts Tim McManus and Foley Schmidt, who showed their game to a few players from the women's ice hockey team that just knocked off No. 2 Cornell. (Thanks for the photo ;^)

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Saw the Patriot League overall record against Ivy teams on another site and thought the numbers were interesting. From College Football Data Warehouse:

All-Time Ivy League records against Patriot League teams:

Yale: 86-22-3 (.788)
Penn: 151-44-6 (.766)
Princeton: 137-48-6 (.733)
Cornell: 127-73-7 (.630)
Harvard: 70-43-3 (.616)
Brown: 69-71-10 (.493)
Dartmouth: 57-63-5 (.476)
Columbia: 40-83-6 (.333)

All Time Patriot League records against Ivy League teams:

Colgate: 150-139-17 (.518)
Holy Cross: 106-156-9 (.437)
Lehigh: 65-136-5 (.328)
Lafayette: 70-159-12 (.315)
Bucknell: 36-97-3 (.276)
Fordham: 18-48-0 (.273)
Georgetown: 2-20-1 (.109)

Some surprising numbers there. I wouldn't have believed, given this goes all the way back and the school's historic strength on the gridiron, that Dartmouth would have the second-worst record against teams currently in the Patriot League.

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The Portal 31 blog has more Yale recruiting information, including a bit on Tevin Hood, the potential defensive line transfer from Duke.

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A former Brown standout "swaps NFL dream for (rugby) sevens" according to a New Zealand rugby site.

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The Fighting Sioux may have a fighting chance. From Monday's Grand Forks Herald:

On a 65-28 vote, the (North Dakota) House approved House Bill 1263, which states UND athletic teams shall be known as the Fighting Sioux. Neither UND nor the state Board of Higher Education may take action to discontinue the use of the nickname or logo.

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From the Wall Street Journal:

... (D)escription of a game-sealing touchdown in the New York Jets' playoff upset of the New England Patriots:

"Mr. Ryan…lumbered down the sideline to hug Mr. Greene, at which point Mr. Sanchez jumped on Mr. Ryan's back."

Next time it might well read:

"Ryan …lumbered down the sideline to hug Greene, at which point Sanchez jumped on Ryan's back."

Notice the difference? Read the WSJ explanation.

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The Princeton sprint football team can take it as a good omen that the Cal Tech men's basketball team has broken a conference losing streak that the New York Times story wrote was "believed to have stretched to 310 games." On the other hand, the Cal Tech baseball team has dropped 412 consecutive league games and 170 overall.

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The latest forecast from Accuweather calls for 5.8 inches of snow tomorrow, which could play havoc with home lacrosse games slated for Saturday.

Brave New World

Former Dartmouth jayvee quarterback Eddie Lucas pictured on photo day with the Atlanta Braves. Another pic here.

Draft Names

The danger of putting too much credence in NFL draft sites on the Internet was covered in a BGA blog post last summer. Don't say you weren't warned.

With that out of the way, can you name the two Dartmouth players who are listed as prospects by NFLdraftscout.com? OK, defensive end Charles Bay was a gimme. The other? Longsnapper Shane Peterlin.

Bay and Peterlin are two of 26 Ivy Leaguers who show up on the NFLdraftscout.com site. Keeping in mind that Brown's David Howard last year was the first Ivy Leaguer to be drafted since 2006, here's the list:

Brown
QB Kyle Newhall-Caballero

Columbia
FB Andrew Kennedy
ILB Alex Gross
WR Adam Mehrer

Cornell
SS Dempsey Quinn
CB Emani Fenton

Dartmouth
DE Charles Bay
LS Shane Peterlin

Harvard
QB Andrew Hatch
FS Collin Zych
OT Brent Osborne
RB Gino Gordon
WR Chris Lorditch
TE Nicolai Schwarzkopf

Penn
K Andrew Samson
OT Jared Mollenbeck
OLB Brian Levine
OLB Zach Heller
RB Michael DiMaggio
C Joseph D'Orazio
SS Josh Powers

Princeton
WR Trey Peacock
OLB Steven Cody
LS Harry Flaherty

Yale
TE Chris Blohm
OLB Sean Williams

(If you go to another link on the NFLdraftscout.com page you'll find a bizarre list of Ivy League names that very much needs to be vetted.)

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As long as we are on the subject ...

Ivy League draft picks since 2000:
2010 Brown DT David Howard, Titans, R-7
2007 Brown LS Zak DeOssie, Giants, R-4
2006 Cornell OG Kevin Boothe, Raiders, R-6
2005 Harvard QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, Rams, R-7
2004 Yale TE Nate Lawrie, Buccaneers, R-6
2004 Dartmouth TE Casey Cramer, Buccaneers, R-7
2002 Penn OT Jeff Hatch, Giants, R-3
2001 Yale S Than Merrill, Buccaneers, R-7
2001 Yale TE Eric Johnson, 49ers, R-7
2001 Princeton OT Dennis Norman, Seahawks, R- 7
2000 Harvard LB Isaiah Kacyvenski, Seahawks, R-4

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Turns out rumors of an Oct. 1 Holy Cross game at New Hampshire this fall were greatly exaggerated. Make that: They were wrong.

UNH "released" its schedule this week and the Wildcats will have a bye that day. Their FBS game will be at Toledo on Sept. 1 and their only Patriot League game will be at Lehigh one week later. Their other non-conference game is against Central State from Wilberforce, Ohio.

Green Alert Take: If the Dartmouth program is truly on the rise and UNH is leveling off a bit (at least from the days of Ricky Santos and David Ball) maybe the time has come for the Big Green to finish out its contract with the Wildcats and then make some determination about future games in the series. I mean, UNH is playing a Division II team from Wilberforce, Ohio and Dartmouth is playing at that noted traditional rival Sacred Heart this fall when Hanover and Durham are 99 miles apart? It's getting kind of silly.

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Sad news that slipped by earlier this month that Sean Maher '83, co-captain of the 1982 Dartmouth team, died of tongue cancer on Feb. 6. There's a story with photos of Sean with his nine children here and a website that had been set up to help him here. Maher, who came to Dartmouth from St. Thomas Academy in Minnesota, was the Big Green's leading rusher in 1981.

Friends

If you haven't stumbled across it already, Dartmouth alums and fans might want to take a look at the new Friends of Dartmouth Football website. Designed to be fast-loading and easy to navigate, the still-evolving site features links to The Green Line newsletter (pictured below) as well as general information about the Friends group, and how to support Dartmouth football and Dartmouth athletics.

On the Friends home page currently is a short look at the recent Ivy Football Association dinner in New York City featuring a photo slide show from the dinner as well as link to Dartmouth honoree Murry Bowden's prepared remarks for the evening.

Among other things, the 2003 College Football Hall of Fame inductee had this to say:

I feel a deep sense of gratitude to my teammates who in my formative years shaped my view and understanding of life, taught me to enjoy life to its fullest, reinforced the value of hard work, challenged me and inspired me to be the best that I could be.

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The Harvard Crimson has an opinion piece critical of the "Likely Letter." The Crimson Staff writes:

... (T)he institution of likely letters—if it must be kept—should be revised to give equal weight to a broader range of talented applicants, not just primarily athletes.

Green Alert Take: When hotshot cello players have to gamble a scholarship offer to Berklee School of Music against the possibility of being turned down by Harvard, that will be the right course to take.

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A regular reader sent along a link to a D3football.com piece on football attendance in Division III last fall. The St. John's Johnnies led the way with 8,651 fans per game boosted by a turnout of 16,421 for their game against St. Thomas, "the largest known reported attendance number in Division III football history."

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Hard as it is to believe this morning when it was 1-below zero as Cooper the Wonder Dog and I walked out to fetch the morning paper, Dartmouth men's and women's lacrosse teams will be opening at home Saturday. Fortunately the meteorologists are calling for 26 degrees Saturday with just a 5 mph breeze. The men's team is playing host to Colgate while the women will entertain New Hampshire.

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And finally, I (almost) promise this will be the last link to the Penn State THON, but it is kind of fun to watch the Nittany Lion football players dancing, including quarterback Rob Bolden (1) and a couple of guys doing MC Hammer impressions.

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And finally II, this is wicked good, something you might not understand if you aren't from New England. (Thanks, Mrs. BGA ;-)

This and That

Both head coach Buddy Teevens and tailback Nick Schwieger get mentioned in a 10-point Dartmouth trivia list in today's Daily Dartmouth.

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With most high school seniors now committed, recruiting news around the Ivy League has slowed to a trickle but the Portal 31 blog writes that Yale could still be in line for a Division I transfer from Duke. If defensive tackle Tevin Hood heads to New Haven he won't be the first transfer into the Ivies this offseason ... and may not be the last. Roar Lions Roar reported last month that Wells Childress, a defensive end from Houston, is headed to Columbia from Texas A&M. Like Hood, he had been a walk-on at the scholarship level.

Today's trivia: Both Hood and Childress are sons of former NFL players. Hood is the son of former NFL lineman Eric Swann, who played for the Cardinals from 1991-99 and then one season with the Panthers. Childress' father, Ray, played with the Oilers from 1985-95 and then one season with with Cowboys.

The tom-toms have been suggesting that there's still another transfer from a prominent FCS school eyeing a move to one of the top Ivy League programs. Stay tuned on that one. ...

Check out the FCS Transfer Tracker to see who is going where.

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There are reports that Holy Cross has popped onto the University of New Hampshire schedule for an Oct. 1 game in Durham this fall. That's two weeks before the Crusaders host Dartmouth.

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Back to recruiting, Jay Paterno had a well-done column a few weeks back about the silliness of ranking the classes – even at the FCS level. Toward the end of the column he wrote something that those who think they have a grasp of how any particular Ivy League school's recruiting really went this year should keep in mind. From statecollege.com:

Just prior to President Obama’s speech at Penn State last Thursday—the day after signing day—White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs asked me how Penn State’s recruiting went and admitted that he had been checking his computer on signing day. When President Obama met Joe Paterno backstage, he asked how recruiting had gone.

In an honest response, Joe Paterno said: “Who knows? You don’t really know for at least two years.”

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And finally, following up on last week's mention of the cause, the Penn State dance marathon better known as THON wrapped up yesterday with a record $9.56 million raised for the Four Diamonds Fund, which supports pediatric cancer research and treatment. THON is the largest student-run philanthropy in the country.

2010 Highlights

Don't know how I missed this earlier but here's wham-slam-bam highlight video of the 2010 Dartmouth season. Enjoy.

And here's a video from the 2011 Dartmouth Winter Carnival ...

Stay Tuned

Don't be surprised if the announcement of a new Dartmouth football assistant to replace Jim Pry comes in the next few days. Whether he'll be the new offensive coordinator, quarterback coach or an offensive assistant of some other sort is uncertain, but there's a very good chance a name familiar to Dartmouth fans. More when the news breaks. ...

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Incoming running back Cody Patch of nearby Lebanon has been named to the New Hampshire team for the 58th annual Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl pitting the top graduated seniors from the Granite State against those from Vermont. The game is Aug. 6.

Traditionally played at Dartmouth's Memorial Field, the Shrine game was moved to Windsor High School in 2009 when construction was planned for the Dartmouth home stands. The game will return there for the third year in a row largely for financial reasons.

Patch was chosen for the Shrine team by Chris Childs, the New Hampshire head coach who guided Patch and the Raiders to an undefeated state championship season last fall. New Hampshire has won the past 10 games and leads the all-time series, 42-13-2.

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Looking for something else yesterday, I came across a very interesting 2006 New York Times column by Bill Pennington headlined, Ivy Football and Academics Strike an Uneasy Balance. A few interesting outtakes from the story:

... (L)ess than a month after the 1981 season ended, the Ivy League was expelled from big-time college football. In a squabble over television revenue, the eight Ivy institutions were demoted to the N.C.A.A.’s Division I-AA. Given the chance to appeal, the Ivy League presidents did not protest and instead willingly walked away from the highest level of a game their teams created.

And ...

“Since the 1950s, the Ivy League has been relatively consistent, and maybe that’s the point,” said James Wright, president of Dartmouth. “We haven’t changed fundamentally. The others have.”

And the kicker ...

Jeff Orleans, the Ivy League’s executive director, said, “For those who wonder why we didn’t stay in Division I-A as Duke, Stanford and Northwestern did, I would ask, what do you think of their football experience this year?”

Duke’s football team is 0-10 this season. Stanford is 1-9 and Northwestern is 3-8.

“One could argue,” Orleans said, “that the Ivy League has had the better football experience than those institutions have had for the last 25 years. You might want to ask why they didn’t do what we did.”

That quote stuck in my craw when I first read it in the fall of 2006. It doesn't seem quite so smug after what Stanford accomplished last fall, does it?

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The Dartmouth women's ice hockey team upset the nation's No. 2 team last night at Thompson Arena when the Big Green knocked off Cornell, 4-2. Dartmouth is now 18-9 overall and 14-7 in the ECAC while Cornell is 25-2-1 and 19-1-1. (In case you were wondering, the men's hockey team, which has been enjoying a solid season at 15-8-3 and 11-6-2 in the ECAC took a 5-3 loss at at Colgate, which is 6-23-2 and 3-14-2.)

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Live webcast from the Penn State Thon (46-hour dance marathon For The Kids) reported here yesterday.

More From The D

Under the headline Football attempts to absorb change, the Daily Dartmouth revisits the departure of Jim Pry as offensive coordinator and looks ahead to the 2011 season. Coach Buddy Teevens told The D:

“In the coaching profession, there’s turnover with regularity, but what we need to do offensively is a collective mindset. Ideally, the more collaborative it is, the more productive it is — you have one decision-maker, but you want input from everybody. You take suggestions from everybody because everybody is organized and thinking along the same lines.”

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Former Dartmouth assistant Lance Clelland will be the new head coach at a Maryland high school. The ex-Northwestern lineman was head coach at another Maryland high school for several years before serving as an assistant at a school near Orlando, Fla., last year.

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One of the last times this character was seen on the Dartmouth campus was when someone snuck into a closet somewhere and shocked a few administrators by making a brief appearance at a football game. He/it was quickly escorted off the premises, lest it offend the sensibilities of certain alums. While we are at it, check out the full set of photos from the Dartmouth Winter Carnival.

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Former Penn starting quarterback Mark DeRosa is bidding for a spot in the San Francisco Giants' starting lineup as detailed in this San Francisco Chronicle story. Of former Dartmouth jayvee quarterback Ed Lucas' bid to make the Atlanta Braves roster this spring, Talking Chop – the Atlanta Braves blog of record – wrote today:

Hit .307/.398/.480 for the Royals triple-A team last year. Though he'll be 29 this year he's a solid defender who can play any infield or outfield position, has a little pop, and good plate discipline. He has the best chance of making the team of any non-roster invitee hitter.

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SI.com has a touching story by one of her teammates about Princeton softball player Khristin Kyllo, who died in January.

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This is Thon weekend at Penn State. Officially the IFC/PanHellenic Dance Marathon, it is one of the things that makes me most proud of being a Penn Stater and as the short video above shows, it has the same impact on a football coach you may have heard of. Last year the event that galvanizes the entire campus raised $7.8 million FTK – For The Kids. There's more information on a truly remarkable effort on the Thon website including this summary:

THON, the largest student-run philanthropy in the world, is a year-round effort that raises funds and awareness for the fight against pediatric cancer, culminating with a two-day, no sitting and no sleeping marathon. This year’s event begins at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18, and runs until 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 20, at the Bryce Jordan Center on the University Park campus.

Established in 1973, THON has raised more than $69 million for The Four Diamonds Fund at Hershey Medical Center. Because of THON’s support, the Fund is able to offset the cost of treatment that a family’s insurance won’t cover, as well as provide for other expenses that may affect the welfare of the child. The Fund also supports the medical team that cares for the children and funds pediatric cancer research through start-up grants and the Four Diamonds Pediatric Cancer Research Institute.

There's even a video of the Penn State football team doing their thing at Thon.

Saga Continues

The Florida high school running back who originally expected to be going to Princeton could end up there after all – a year later than he expected. Tampa Bay online has a story.

The 'Reckless Rover' and More

In advance of the recent Ivy Football Association dinner, the IFA web page had a look at the 2011 honorees including College Football Hall of Famer Murry Bowden '71, the "Reckless Rover." There are also capsules on an impressive list of previous Dartmouth honorees – Jake Crouthamel, Reggie Williams, Jeff Immelt, Hank Paulson and Bill King.

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California's Los Altos Town Crier follows up on last week's mention of linebacker-fullback Tyler Stout choosing to play at Dartmouth. Stout was the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division defensive player of the year. The Crier notes he had 78 tackles, three sacks, a recovered fumble and two forced fumbles last fall.

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The Columbia Spectator writes that the school is one step closer to getting the green light from New York City to begin work on the Baker Athletics Complex, which will include the 48,000-square-foot Campbell Sports Center, a punt away from Wien Stadium. New weight rooms, coaches’ offices and study space will be featured in the building. To get a sense of the size of what Columbia is planning, Dartmouth's Floren Varsity House is 43,000 square feet.

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Brown didn't officially "release" its 2011 football schedule, but it is up on the school website and can be found here. No surprises. The nonleague dates are at Stony Brook in the opener and home to Rhode Island and Holy Cross on the first two weekends of October.

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The Ivy League likes to pride itself on being different but sometimes it's not that different at all. The Harvard Crimson has a story about a tennis player who transferred from Brown to Harvard and made no bones about the fact that the move was based on athletics. From the story:

In the spring of 2009, (Jonathan) Pearlman decided that he was not satisfied with the tennis program at Brown and left.

“It turned out to be a very negative experience athletically,” Pearlman says. “I needed to be in a stronger program with a more experienced coach, like Coach (Dave) Fish, and Harvard was the place for me to come.”

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And then there's this from the Daily Pennsylvanian about the first Penn basketball recruit from a Philadelphia public school in 30 years:

The 6-foot-5 forward, who is averaging 17 points per game, committed to the Quakers in late January, but his enrollment is contingent upon a 30-point increase in his SAT score.

If that seems kind of silly, consider this from a May 2009 issue of USA Today (italics added):

A 30-point boost in math and critical-reading scores on the SAT reasoning test is statistically meaningless yet could make or break a student's chances of admission at "a substantial minority" of colleges, a research paper says.

In case you are wondering, it happens at Dartmouth as well. I clearly remember a coach agonizing over an individual who he said needed to add one point to his ACT on what would be his final try. He got it, was accepted and became a huge asset to the school athletically as well as to the Dartmouth community as a whole.

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The Boston Globe had a story about the Dartmouth Winter Carnival that included an interesting tidbit from Jere Daniell '55, professor of history emeritus and a popular local lecturer. From the story:

The real significance of the carnival, said Daniell, is the role it played in the transformation of Dartmouth from a failing regional college at the end of the 19th century to an elite institution with a national profile.

Teevens' Take

Buddy Teevens talks about All-America returner Shawn Abuhoff and the Dartmouth football tradition with College Football Performance Awards in this piece that runs just under 8 minutes.

On the Court

Had a chance to watch incoming Dartmouth running back recruit Cody Patch and the Lebanon High School basketball team play host to Hanover High last evening in a heated rivalry that has always had a Red Sox-Yankees feel to it. Patch scored just two points, but he played stifling defense against the leading scorer in the Upper Valley, holding him to a season-low four points as Lebanon came from behind to grab a narrow win and split the season series with Hanover.

Click here for a TV report from last fall that features comments from the 5-foot-10, 184-pound Patch, along with a few highlights.

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The Corsicana Daily Sun in Cosicana, Texas, about 55 miles south of Dallas, has a story about Navarro College assistant coach Calvin Thibodeaux being named the defensive line coach at "Dartmouth University." From the story:

Thibodeaux graduated from Oklahoma in 2006 and spent one season with the Bulldogs, coaching All-American Toby Jackson and the nation's No. 12 defense.

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Week 2 opponent Sacred Heart is graduating All-New England quarterback Dale Fink. The only other quarterback who completed a pass for the Pioneers last fall also was a senior. That means there is a chance the Big Green could see a freshman QB on Sept. 24 in Fairfield, Conn. If so you can get a glimpse of him on this video of incoming Sacred Heart freshmen. There's one QB coming in from Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and another from Westwood, Mass.

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Got home last night and hit the DVR button to watch Watson, the IBM computer, play Jeopardy. Although the suspicion lurks that Watson has an unfair advantage when it comes to "buzzing in," it is certainly a lot more impressive than the computerized sportswriter that wrote this capsule on the Dartmouth-Yale basketball game last week. Find computerized recaps of all the Big Green men's basketball games at this link on Dartmouthdaily.com.

Schedules-to-States

Find a nicely done graphic of Ivy League 2011 football schedules on the College Sporting News site.

A couple of corrections I noticed right away. Harvard's game on Oct. 1 should be at Lafayette and the TBA for Harvard on Oct. 15 should be replaced with Bucknell at home.

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This hasn't been updated to reflect Dartmouth hiring Calvin Thibodeaux as defensive line coach, but the CoachTracker site lists staff openings at Brown, Dartmouth and Princeton.

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Curious about the Likely Letter? Harvard is sending out about 300 of them and this story in the Harvard Crimson has a little more background on what they are.

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Speaking of Harvard, interesting to see a story in The D this morning that a computer dating program that originated at Harvard and has now made its way to Dartmouth and Stanford. It was co-written by one of That Certain Hanover High Grad's running classmates (and frequent teammate on academic projects) from the last few years.

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Worked on this last night and posted it elsewhere, but thought it would be of some interest here. This is an unofficial list of all reported Ivy League commits by state. The list was compiled and edited by others and all I did was break it down state-by-state. I believe prep school players are listed by the state where they played last fall. If nothing else, it will give you an idea of what states and what towns are sending kids to the Ivy League next fall.

(Updated and corrected 3:45 p.m.)

ARIZONA
Brian Canavan 5’10” 185 WR Notre Dame Prep
Colton Bishop DB 5-10 180 Chaparral HS Scottsdale
Sean Coffinger LB 6-4 215 Desert Vista HS Phoenix
Ijeoma Odigwe DL 6-2 220 Chandler HS Chandler

CALIFORNIA
Jack Alvarez OL 6’4” 280 El Toro
Ade' Jackson DB 5'10 180 Christian Brothers HS
Connor Loftus PK/P 6’0” 180 Servite HS
Brendan Sofen K/P 5'9" 165 Mira Costa HS
Robby Templeton WR/DB/K 6'1" 180 Christian Bros
Fiaalii Togiaso 6’1” 275 DT La Jolla
Lucas Shapiro 6’3” 202 WR De La Salle
Curtis Arndt 6’4” 275 OT Moorpark
Ryan Ur 6'0” 175 WR/DB Laguna Hills HS
Ethan DeSilva 6’1” 190 DB Mission Viejo
Matt Spillane 6’5” 210 DE/TE Healdsburg
Parker Toms 5’10” 180 K Serra San Mateo
Marc Sasso 6’0” 205 S/RB Palos Verdes
Tyler Stout FB/LB Los Altos HS
Robert Wickers 6'1" 175 QB Atherton/Menlo HS
Reiley Higgins 6’0” 171 WR Santa Margarita
Zane Hudak OL 6’5” 270 Huntington Beach
Josh Keiles 6-3 OL 295 Lakewood HS Lakewood
Chad Washington DL/TE 6-2 220 Bishop O'Dowd
Jason Floyd CB 6'0" 190 Carlsbad HS
Andrew Strange OT 6'5" 260 San Clemente HS
Michael Schmall LB 6’1” 210 Mission Viejo
Ahmad Avery 6’0” 190 RB La Habra
Will O’Keefe OL 6’3” 270 Mater Dei
Xavier Russo 6'4” 200 LB/TE St. Ignatius
Pedro Robinson 5’9” 170 RB Sacred Heart Stanford

COLORADO
Andrew Donahue 6’1” 185 CB Mullen Denver
Michael Mancinelli OT 6'4 270 Denver

CONNECTICUT
Mitchell King TE 6’5” 231 Valley Regional
Trevor Niemann WR/DB/ATH 6’1” 180 Suffield Academy (CA)
Seth Devalve WR/QB 6'0” 200 Manchester HS
Jonathan Esposito RB/LB/KR/PR 5'11" 200 Conard HS
Ryan Peloquin OL 6'5" 270 St. Paul Catholic
Max Wardaki OL 6'5" 275 King Low Heywood Thomas
Peter McDonough 6’2” 195 DB Darien
Chris Coyne 6’4” 225 DE Staples Westport
Kahlil Keys 5’11” 200 RB Choate Wallingford (CA)
L.J. Hunt 6-0 195 DB St. Joseph Trumbull
Pat Murray 6’3” 215 DE/LB Staples Westport
Adam Conklin 6’3” 230 TE Choate (MA)
Jeff Winthrop 6’4” 285 DL St. Paul's Roxbury
Chai Reece 6’0” 175 CB Loomis Chaffee (CA)
Jim Connelly 6'1" 205 RB Stonington/Stonington HS
Chris Valenti OL 6-4” 295 Bethel

DC
Percee Goings QB 6-1 180 Friendship Collegiate HS
Ryan Simpson WR 6'4" 205 Maret School Washington

FLORIDA
Patton Chillura QB 6’1” 180 Tampa Jesuit
Jimmy Von Thron DB 6'0” 180 Providence School
Javier Rodriguez 5’10” 175 WR Belen Jesuit Prep
Sam Wood 6’5” 215 QB Neptune Beach
Evan Brovender TE/DE 6'4" 225 Pinecrest
Max Fink 6’1” 215 DL Gulliver Prep Miami
Cameron Crage 6’3” 210 QB St. Andrews School
Sean Ronan 6’3” 260 DT/OL Boca Raton
Bennie Niles 5’9” 170 CB Clearwater
John Keefe WR 6-1 185 Choctawhatchee HS Ft.
Ryan Thomas OL 6-4 275 Buchholz HS
Daniel Melow WR 6'0" 180 Gulliver Prep School
Seitu Smith II WR 5'9" 175 Deerfield Beach HS
David Bicknell K 6’1” 190 Boca Raton
Kevie Defranc CB 5’9” 160 Delray Beach
Joe Bonura FB 6'0” 210 Winter Springs HS
Will Powers RB/LB 6'1” 185 Salisbury Prep
Taylor Betros 6’0” 210 Jacksonville

GEORGIA
Matt Kiefer OL 6'-4” 280 Chattahochee
Sawyer Pettit 6'1” 220 LB
Eric Wickham 6’2” 239 ILB Savannah Christian
Kamal Brown DB 5'10” 160 Westminster Atlanta
Dylan Jeffay TE/WR/DB 6'4” 215 Westminster School
Cole Parker 6’2” 185 QB Valdosta
Jordan Richardson 6'2” 290 DL from Athens Academy
Riley Lyons 5’10” 175 KsP Blessed Trinity Roswell

IDAHO
Tyler Manu 6’1” 200 LB Rocky Mountain Meridian

IOWA 2
Drew Hansen6'4" 222 TE West Des Moines/Valley HS
Jack Verducci QB 6'1" 185 Regina HS Iowa City

KENTUCKY
Zack Fowler 6’2” 235 DL Southwestern Pulaski
Kal Prince QB 6’4” 198 Owenboro HS Owensboro
Connor Hempel QB 6'2" 210 Larry Ryle HS
Gerrit Leicht DL 6'2" 220 DeSales HS Louisville

ILLINOIS
Mike Laning S 6'1” 185 Glenbard West
Mike Mettille LB 6'2” 210 Joliet Catholic
David Strauser OL/DL 6’3” 285 St. Thomas Moore
Zack Peterson OL/DL 6’2” 280 Round Lake HS
Jakobi Johnson DB 5'10" 175 Waubonsie Valley
Ben Carbery 6’5” 265 OL Oak Park River Forest
Jeff Schmittgens 6’3” 245 DE Benet Academy Lisle
Jack Sheahan 6’2” 265 OL St. Rita Chicago
Chris Boudreaux 6’5” 240 TE Lake Forest Academy
Steve Dazzo 6’0” 205 S/QB Prospect
John Pfeiffer 6'4" 250 DT Lakes High
Abe Dube 6’5” 270 OT Evanston
Tom Callahan OT 6-6 280 Lyons Township HS LaGrange
Connor Nelligan 6-2 190 Benet Academy Lisle
Ben Falloon K 5'11" 185 Marist HS
Victor Prato DL 6'3" 275 Somers HS Lincolndale
Nick Burrello WR 5'11" 175 Glenbard West HS
Cole Stern WR 6'3” 200 Highland Park
Brion Wood LB 6’3 220 Stevenson High
Mike Skalitzky DB 6-1 180 Marist High School

LOUISIANA
Dylan Ledet 6’0” 215 FB Thibodaux

MARYLAND
Dexter Davis RB 5’10” 185 Baltimore Poly
Andrew Boseman 6’2” 195 WR Brandywine
E.J.Conway 6’2” 215 DE McDonogh Owings Mills
Ben Spiritos 6’2” 295 OL Landon Olney
Jay Davis 5'11" 175 DB Baltimore/Baltimore Lutheran
Blaine Kleinrichert 6'1" 210 RB/OLB Edgewater/SoRiv
Joe Kopp OL 6-4 260 Arundel HS Gambrills
Michael Turner 6’0” 190 DB Baltimore

MASSACHUSETTS
Matt Costello WR 6'1" 165 Everett
Alex Lavrentios 6'5” 275 OL Salisbury Prep
Charlie Storey 6’2” 190 QB Milton Academy Essex
Will Guinee 6’4” 255 OL Malden Catholic
Peter Savarese 6’2” 200 LB Browne & Nichols
Brian Strachen 6'1" 202 DB Needham/St.Sebastians CD
Conor Wyand 6'3" 230 WR Stow/Nashoba HS
Zach Smerlas 6'0" 265 DL Sudbury/Lincoln-Sudbury
Matt O’Brien Northfield Mt. Herman
Obum Obukwelu DE 6'1"255 Boston College HS
Anthony Fabiano OT 6'5" 258 Wakefield HS
Ryan Delisle TE 6'3" 230 Saint John's Prep School
Ryan Flannery WR 6-3 185 North Attleborough HS
Ben Ticknor 6’2” 205 RB Concord

MICHIGAN
Feerooz Yacoobi FB 6’2” 225 Dearborn
Andrew Nelson 6'1" 185 DB Detroit Catholic Central

MINNESOTA
Andrew Hausmann 5’10” 185 RB/WR Rosemount
Ryan McManus 5’11” 170 QB/ATH St. Thomas Academy

MISSOURI
Grant Wallace 6’0” 180 WR Burroughs St. Louis

MISSISSIPPI
William Chism 6’3” 260 OL Saint Andrews Episcopal

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Cody Patch 5’10” 184 RB Lebanon
Zachary Hodges DE 6'3" 197 Phillips Exeter Academy (GA)

NEW JERSEY
Billy Lewis QB/DB/ATH 6’1” 180 Demarest
Spencer Kulcar TE/RB/ATH 6’0” 205 Bergen Catholic
Ryan O'Malley DE 6'7" 225 Summit HS
Kevin Ijoma DB 5’11” 190 Seton Hall Prep
Mike Zeuli LB/RB 6'1 210 Cherokee HS
Nick LaTesta 5’9” 165 DB Bergen Catholic Oradell
Everett Johnson 5’10” 205 RB/LB Union
Austin Jennings 6'2" 255 OC Summit/Summit HS
Matt Garofalo 6'4" 285 OG Flemington/Hunderton
Zach Sparber 6'3" 245 OL/DL Don Bosco Prep
Spenser Huston OL 6'4” 270 Delbarton Morristown
Patrick Hand 6’4” 260 OL Lawrenceville School
Ryan Davenport DE Blackman HS
Ray Pesanello LB 6-2 215 Mahwah HS

NEW YORK
Jimmy Wagner DL 6’2” 260 Victor High
Stephen Shoemaker 6’2” 270 OL Bronxville
Kyle Cazzetta 5’10” K/P 180 Minisink Valley
William Cadell 6'1” 275 DL Brooklyn Poly
Rush Miller 6'3” 190 S Brooklyn Poly
Ryan Pearce 6'4" 260 OG/DT Poly Prep

NORTH CAROLINA
Aaron Hancock 5'9" 165 CB Charlotte
Ches Brooks 5'11" 180 LB Jordan-Matthews Prep
Brent Spisak DE 6'2" 220 Mallard Creek HS
Malcolm Thaxton CB 6-0 190 Fuquay-Varina HS

OHIO
Luke Merrell LB 6'3" 195 Glen Oaks HS
Joe Tull OL 6'3 285 Moeller HS Cincinnati
Shane McManamon 6’1” 275 DT St.Edwards
Rob Coury 6’1” 195 DB St. Edward Lakewood
Marcus Fuller 6'0" 200 QB Ashland/Ashland HS
Phillip Smith 5'9" 182 DB Twinsburg/St Edwards HS
Nick Lawley 6'6" 205 QB Cincinnati/Cincinnati Hills
Alex Viox 6'5" 225 TE Cincinnati/Cincinnati Elder
Nick Codrea 6’3” 280 OT St Vincent-St Mary
Jacob Supron WR/Safety 6'0" 165 Mansfield
John Brady LB 6-2 220 Lakota East HS Liberty Township
Vinny Pugliese LB 6-1 210 Walsh Jesuit
Jacob Lindsey ILB 6'1" 210 Elder HS
Adam Redmond DE/LS 6'6" 230 Cuyahoga Falls
Trenton Rivera OL 6’2” 275 St Edwards
Mike Ramos OL 6'4 280 St. Ignatius Cleveland
Jack Woodall OL 6'4" 260 St. Xavier HS Cincinnati
Don Pavlov 6'1" 225, St. Edwards
Bobby Grebenc 5'11 195 RB Highland Hgts/St.Ignatius

OKLAHOMA
Daniel Davis TE/DE 6'2” 225 Norman North HS
Kyle Osborn 6’5” 300 OT Tuttle
Kirby Schoenthaler 6’0” 184 WR/QB Bartlesville
Corbin Stall 6’3” 217 DE/LB Union Tulsa
Mick Miller 6’1” 225 LB Bartlesville
Dillon O'Carroll 6'3" 273 OL Tulsa/Booker Washington
Matt Connery TE/DE 6’3” 210 Norman HS
Alex Powell OL-DL/TE 6'5" 240 Bishop Kelly HS Tulsa

PENNSYLVANIA
Danny Gallagher ATH 6'1" 190 Chestnut Hill
Eric Fiore RB 5’9” 192 Whitehall HS
Guy Cook 6’1” 210 DE/LB St. Joseph's Prep
AJ Dillione 6’3” 275 OL/DL Hun School
Dan Slivka WR 6-3 196 North Allegheny HS Wexford
Chuck Dibilio RB 6'0” 194 Nazareth HS (DE)
Dave Pennoni LB 6'1" 210 Haverford

SOUTH CAROLINA
Bo Patterson 6’1” 185 WR James Island

TENNESSEE

Hunter Little DL 6-4 225 The Webb School,

Seth Walker 6-4 240 OL Pope John II Nashville

Jess Patton 6-2 210 Blackman

Davis Franks 6-4 235 DE Grace Christian Academy

Quinn Epperly QB 6'3” 200 Christian Academy Knoxville

TEXAS
Matt Schwartz DL 6’2” 237 Austin Westlake
Daniel Sharplin TE 6'5" 225 Austin Westlake
Reece Cannady OL 6'4" 275 St. Mark's Dallas
Conner Michelsen QB 6'1” 185 Plano HS
Charles Cook 6’3” 180 DB Parish Episcopal
Andy Ellis 6’3” 290 OL Cinco Ranch Katy
Avery Lewis 6’5” 200 WR Richardson
Jordan Are' 6’2” 197 QB/ATH Alief Taylor Houston
Scotty Whitmore 6’5” 300 OL Klein Collins Spring
Roy Schwartz DL 6-2 240 Westlake HS Austin
Wells Childress DE 6-4 263 Kinkaid HS Houston
Keith Hamren 6’3” 260 OL Clements Sugar Land

VIRGINIA
Mike Casias LB 6'2" 215 North Stafford

WEST VIRGINIA
Tyler Hutchison 5’11” 165 QB Huntington

Too Late for this Top 10

A Daily Dartmouth column lists the Top 10 things the writer would like to see as a Big Green sports fan. Too bad the columnist wasn't around a few years ago because a number of them actually happened:

• A Dartmouth game shown on ESPN (not what the writer calls the "B-side" stations like ESPN3 of ESPNU). Did you know Ivy League football once had a contract to show weekly games on the ESPN? The Big Green played on ESPN (yes that ESPN in 1988, twice in 1989 and once in 1990.)
  
• A WNBA player from Dartmouth because the Big Green, "will probably not produce another player in the NBA." Wonder if the writer knows that in bringing back Paul Cormier Dartmouth rehired a coach who produced not one, but two players who went on to the NBA? Walter Palmer '90 was the Jazz' top draft pick and also played with the Mavericks while James Blackwell '91 had cups of coffee with the Celtics and Hornets.
• A Dartmouth alum starting in the NFL. Hello Jay Fiedler. Hello Reggie Williams. And more recently, hello Casey Cramer one time.
  
• Hockey teams reaching the Frozen Four. Even the columnist notes that Dartmouth was there five years ago, which isn't really that long ago.
  
• An ESPN SportsCenter Top 10 number one play. Can't remember a number one, but I've seen a few make the top 10. The biggest splash was probably ESPN's Hidden Play of the Week in college football when placekicker Dave Regula scored a touchdown on his own kickoff at Penn.
  
• An undefeated Dartmouth football season. It's been a while but it's hard to complain too much about this. Here are the number of undefeated seasons (overall) for Ivy League teams since the start of formal Ivy League play:

4 - Dartmouth (1996, 1970, 1965, 1962)
4- Penn (2003, 1994, 1993, 1986)
2 - Harvard (2004, 1968)
2- Yale (1968, 1960)
1- Princeton (1964)
0 -Brown (none)
0 - Columbia (none)
0 - Cornell (none)

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Jim Fuller of the New Haven Register has a long story on Yale senior linebacker Jesse Reising, whose right arm is still in a sling and who spends around four hours a day in physical therapy as a result of the injury he sustained tackling Harvard's Gino Gordon in the final game of the season. The injury resulted in Reising being "dis-enrolled" from officer's candidate school although he still holds out hope that he will come back far enough to fulfill his dream of becoming a Marine Corps officer.

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Kyle Wilcox, the Florida running back who had expected to be "signing" with Princeton earlier this month only to learn he would not be receiving a likely letter from the school, will be visiting Bucknell and was visited by Penn coach Al Bagnoli according to this story out of Tampa. From the Tampa Bay Online story:

Wilcox is a national runner-up of the High School Football Rudy Awards for his inspirational story of overcoming the breakup of his family shortly before starting high school and becoming not only one of the top fullbacks in Hillsborough County, but also one of the area’s top students.

Making a Difference

Greenwich Time has a story about the generosity of people in the Connecticut town in giving to colleges. Among those mentioned is Doug Floren, whose gift helped make the Floren Varsity House possible.

A quote from Doug's wife Livvy: "Doug was just passionate about trying to restore Dartmouth to its winning tradition."

It's virtually impossible to talk to Coach Buddy Teevens about the future of the Dartmouth football program without him mentioning how much the facility means to the football (and other sport) programs.

Here's a story I freelanced when the Floren Varsity House opened. (There was a ton more to say but the word count I was given was frustratingly low ;-)

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This is Dartmouth's Winter Carnival weekend and having gotten a peek at large state school's version of the same, it will never been confused with the original. Speaking of the original, do check out this video of Dartmouth Winter Carnival highlights over the years.

(Did not know they once did Carnival downhill skiing up here on Moose Mountain which I learned at the 7:07 mark ;-)

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Had enough of winter yet?

Maybe this will warm the cockles of your heart: Dartmouth baseball has been picked by Baseball America to win not only a fourth-consecutive Red Rolfe Division championship, but a third Ivy League title in a row. College Baseball Today also predicts another Rolfe pennant. Find a Dartmouth press release here.

Seven Dartmouth players (four position players, three pitchers) were chosen on Baseball America's preseason all-conference team.

Baseball won Dartmouth's lone Ivy League championship a year ago. The Big Green opens the 2011 season two weeks from Friday against Central Florida in Orlando.

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Off to visit two more New England colleges today – one more "State U" and one smaller, private school for contrast.

¡Hola!

The Barcelona branch of the Dartmouth football team has been enjoying Europe with side trips to Amsterdam, Rome and Florence ... so far!

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The Dartmouth sports information website has a release on the hiring of Calvin Thibodeaux as the Big Green's defensive line coach. Coach Buddy Teevens had this to say about Thibodeaux:

“Calvin was not only a wonderfully successful player at Oklahoma, he also has a tremendous understanding of defensive line play. He really made a great impression on our staff with his presentation during the hiring process. His knowledge and enthusiasm will add to the productivity of our defensive front without question.”

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On the way from the University of New Hampshire to UMaine ...

The D Chimes In

The Daily Dartmouth writes about Dartmouth football and offensive coordinator Jim Pry going their separate ways. The story includes comments from a very surprised quarterback Conner Kempe and two-time captain Tim McManus.

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A story on NFL hopeful Julius Thomas posted on The Sports Network site caught my eye yesterday. It began this way:

This time last year, he was completing his final season on a basketball scholarship at Portland State and hadn't played football since his freshman year of high school.

The reason it caught my eye is back when 6-foot-9 senior Clive Weeden joined the Dartmouth basketball team I was Googling around for a story I was working on about the hoops recruiting class and discovered he might have been more highly regarded as a football prospect than a basketball prospect even though he only played one year on the gridiro. I wrote about that in a profile of Clive for a recent basketball program. Turns out he loves the game. Too bad he doesn't have one more season like Thomas to give tight end a shot on Memorial Field. ;-)

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Back in Buddy Teevens' first tenure one of his assistant coaches was Brud Bicknell, who lost out to John Lyons as his successor. Bicknell, who was with Teevens at Maine, followed him to Tulane before getting out of the college game after 13 years. He's been a high school coach and teacher for quite a while and now has been appointed head coach of a new Virgina high school as this Washington Post story reports.

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Dartmouth corner Chad Hollis writes about watching the Super Bowl in Spain – in Spanish and without commercials.

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Speaking of football players abroad – and I know some of you are out there reading this – if you or your folks email me a few photos from Spain or New Zealand or wherever you are, I'll be glad to toss a few up here.

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The column from a former Yale football player regarding comments from the Yale president about limiting the number of athletes on a campus has generated an abundance of comments, some pretty heated on both sides of the discussion, er, argument. You may have already read the story but do go back and check out the comments at the end.

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A little after the dinner hour last night I was working on a freelance story (gotta pay the bills ;-) and started hearing boom-boom-boom echoing off the mountain. I thought I knew what it was and headed down the snowy driveway to our (sometimes) dirt road to look down over the valley. Sure enough, I was able to catch about 10 minutes of a pretty good Winter Carnival fireworks show seven miles away. In case you didn't know, this is the 100th anniversary edition of the Carnival, something that surely sets Dartmouth apart from the other Ivy League schools. Check out the Carnival schedule of events.

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BGA will be mobile this weekend as we take That Certain Hanover High Junior on his first official college tours in New England. Unlike a Certain Hanover Grad, his interest is in bigger schools with his most intense focus on one of the biggest, a school located in on particularly happy valley.

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Former linebacker Gordy Quist '02 performs Let Your Heart Not Be Troubled with the Band of Heathens aboard the Music Fog/Celebrity Coaches bus in Nashville in this video. The Band of Heathens, which recently celebrated its fifth anniversary playing together, is on tour and will be playing in West Virginia tonight, at the Club Cafe in Pittsburgh tomorrow and at Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland tomorrow. Catch 'em if you can. The band is based in Austin, Texas. Quist, by the way, played his high school ball at Klein HS in Spring Texas, which is sending offensive lineman Scotty Whitmore to Dartmouth next fall.

New D Line Coach Reported

FootballScoop, which usually gets it right, is reporting that Dartmouth has hired Calvin Thibodeaux of Navarro College as the Big Green's new defensive line coach. Navarro would replace James Jones, now at Northern Colorado.

Thibodeaux's bio from Navarro (located in Corsicana, Texas) can be found here. Navarro won the 2010 NJCAA National Championship.

Thibodeaux was previously at the University of Houston where he spent three years as a grad assistant while working on a master's degree in social work. Find his Houston bio here.

Navarro was an All-Big 12 defensive lineman at Oklahoma. In 2005 he led the Big 12 with 10 sacks.

Thibodeaux and former Dartmouth great Anthony Gargiulo were preseason teammates on the CFL's Calgary Stampeders competing for the same position. (link)

Jimmie Lee Solomon Story, Video

MLB.com has a good story (with video) featurhing Jimmie Lee Solomon, Major League Baseball's executive vice president of baseball development and a former Dartmouth receiver. Jimmie Lee, who had an NFL tryout with the Houston Oilers before going on to law school and a successful career in baseball, addressed the Dartmouth football team last fall.

This and That

Lots to think about in the local daily's lengthy story about the departure of Dartmouth offensive coordinator Jim Pry. Discuss among yourselves.

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Big Green football recruits Jordan Are' and Scotty Whitmore have both been named Texas Sports Writers Association 5A All-State honorable mention. Are' is a 6-foot-2, 190 quarterback while Whitmore is a 6-5 offensive guard listed in this piece as 320 pounds.

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Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had a headline that might stick in the craw of Ivy League football players and alums:

Stanford Corners the 'Smart' Market

After Its Best Football Season in Years, School Chases Top Recruits With Elite Grades

It probably only adds fuel to the fire burning in Yale Daily News guest columnist Charlie Zupsic, a 1976 Yale grad who responded to a remark, "attributed to President Levin not wanting 'quite so many athletes,' as though student-athletes were some lower class of undergrads."

Zupsic writes ...

"Just from my football teammates alone, I count judges, doctors and corporate executives. And expanding my vista to the other teams (wrestling, soccer, crew, etc.) you can find many more leaders in public and private organizations. And why do we athletes go on to become leaders? Because we learn the value of teamwork firsthand through sports. Not to mention we’re usually the ones on the front lines dispelling prejudice, because we understand you cannot measure people by their sex, color, religion, or even college affiliation in lieu of their actions."

There were a lot of former football players and athletes from other sports saying the same kind of things around these parts late in 2004 and into 2005.

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Ivy League football players and other athletes not well-enough rounded? At Brown the football and track athletes have former Jockapella, an acapella group that the Daily Herald writes, "aims to allow athletes to further explore their interests in singing."

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Clearly there are problems in college sports, but for the most part they are at the big-time level. Inside Higher Ed reports that ...

"The National Collegiate Athletic Association punished nearly half of all big-time college sports programs for major violations of its rules in the last decade, an Inside Higher Ed analysis shows.

The review finds that 53 of the 120 universities in the NCAA’s top competitive level, the Football Bowl Subdivision, were found by the NCAA's Division I Committee on Infractions to have committed major rules violations from 2001 to 2010."

(Go to the bottom of the article and click on the "view full table" link to scroll through the list of schools and what rules they broke. Interesting stuff.)

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Jeff Hawkins, a boyhood chum of Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens who worked with Teevens during his first tenure in Hanover, is now the director of football operations at the University of Oregon. As this AP story notes, he is part of an NCAA panel that would like to expand the definition of an "agent." From the story:

Hawkins, who has also coached at Dartmouth and Tulane and worked in the New England Patriots' front office, said that tougher rules are needed to keep unscrupulous agents from persuading marginal pro prospects that they should leave school before graduation in search of fame and riches.

"It's not the 30 or 40 kids (who declare early for the NFL draft)," he said. "It's the thousands of them who think they should come out early."

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From the Daily Dartmouth:

Although still in its early stages, an initiative launched this month — led by College President Jim Yong Kim and Cornell University President David Skorton — will set an example for athlete safety in college athletics by developing recommendations and policies for safe play at practices and games, according to (Director of Health Services Jack) Turco.

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Penn has officially "announced" its 2011 football schedule on the school website.

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Harvard is expected to rule soon on whether it will revert to offering early admissions, which it eliminated in 2006. Story in the Harvard Crimson.

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As of 8:45 this morning, this UConn quarterback trick shot video posted two days ago had registered 1,345,971 hits. Easy to see why. There's a little more info about the video here.

(And if you liked that one, check out this one by younger kids messing around in another sport.)

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Finally, I just stumbled across how to do a Google search this way and think it's pretty cool. (It's a backhanded way of telling someone to do their own work ;-)

Go ahead, give it a try!

Dartmouth, OC Part Ways

From a Dartmouth press release that just went out:

Dartmouth Athletics Director Harry Sheehy and Big Green head football coach Buddy Teevens today announced the mutual parting of ways with offensive coordinator Jim Pry, citing philosophical differences.

Pry, a college coaching veteran of 34 years, helped Dartmouth earn its first winning season (6-4) in 13 years in his one season on the Big Green coaching staff.

Add a Stout Defender

Tack Tyler Stout of Los Altos (HS) in California on the list of Dartmouth football commits according to the Mercury News. The defensive player of the year in the All-Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division, Stout was a middle linebacker and fullback for Los Altos. Find his senior highlight film here.

MaxPreps listed Stout with 7.9 tackles per game in an 8-1-1 season on defense ,and 33 carries for 185 yards on offense. He was an honorable mention All-Mercury News selection. He was a second-team All-Daily News pick on the defensive side. The only roster a Google search turned up was from Stout's junior year and it listed him at 6-foot, 185 pounds.

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A message board poster has culled through recruiting lists from various blogs and postings and has compiled an unofficial list of commits for all the Ivy League schools not named Harvard here. (It would appear that success aside, there hasn't been anyone digging hard to build up a list of Harvard recruits so it's up to ESPN and Rivals.)

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This fall's composite Ivy League schedule doesn't show any big surprises among the Ivy League's non-league opponents. But who are the Ivies playing outside the league one more year down the road? It would appear there are still two openings – with one featuring Dartmouth.

2012 Non-Conference Opponents

(tentative)

Brown
at Holy Cross
at Georgetown
at Rhode Island

Columbia
Marist
Fordham
at Lehigh

Cornell
at Fordham
at Bucknell
Monmouth

Dartmouth
Butler
at Holy Cross
TBA

Harvard
San Diego
TBA
Lafayette

Penn
at Lafayette
Villanova
William & Mary

Princeton
at Lehigh
Georgetown
at Lafayette

Yale
Georgetown
Colgate
at Lafayette

By the Numbers

The Daily Dartmouth has a story about backup quarterback Dan Rooney's experience at the Super Bowl with the family-owned Pittsburgh Steelers.

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Three Ivy League teams placed in the top 25 in the nation in home FCS attendance last year in figures recently released by the NCAA.

Nationally Ranked
8. Harvard 16,918
16. Yale 14,592
25. Penn 11,926

Other Ivies
Brown 7,970
Princeton 7,725
Cornell 6,878
Dartmouth 5,971
Columbia 5,192

No. 1 overall was Appalachian State with home attendance of 25,715 per game. Sacred Heart, which will host Dartmouth for the first time next fall, came in at 2,203.

The NCAA also broke the numbers down by conference affiliation.

Conferences
1. SWAC 14,605
3. Colonial 11,205
7. Ivy League 9,613, (up 605 from last year)
12. Patriot League 5,295 (down 164)
14. Northeast 2,343 (last among conferences)

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If you think Ivy League attendance was up last year, wait until next year when you'll be able to factor in the Yale-Penn State Nittany Lions showdown at Philadelphia's Franklin Field. If that's not a sellout, I'm not sure what will be.

Don't laugh. Check below for the ad from the service offering the tickets. By the way, if I were you I'd scoop a few of them up right now because they are sure to go fast. Here's a link to the service offering these rare tickets.

(Click the ad to supersize.)

Two thoughts:
1. The ad says they specialize in "selling tickets to all types of sporting events." Apparently that includes fictional events.

2. How do places like this stay in business?

Filling in Schedule Blanks

The mystery of the missing Columbia game has been resolved with the release of the Lions' 2011 schedule here.

So this is what the tentative Ivy League composite schedule looks like at this point:

2011 Ivy League Football Schedule*
Sept. 17
Brown at Stony Brook
Columbia at Fordham
Bucknell at Cornell
Colgate at Dartmouth
Harvard at Holy Cross
Lafayette at Penn
Lehigh at Princeton
Georgetown at Yale

Sept. 24
Brown at Harvard
Cornell at Yale
Albany at Columbia
Cornell at Yale
Dartmouth at Sacred Heart
Penn at Villanova
Bucknell at Princeton

Oct. 1
Columbia at Princeton
Penn at Dartmouth
Rhode Island at Brown
Wagner at Cornell
Harvard at Lafayette
Yale at Lehigh

Oct. 8
Harvard at Cornell
Dartmouth at Yale
Sacred Heart at Columbia
Holy Cross at Brown
Fordham at Penn
Princeton at Hampton

Oct. 15
Princeton at Brown
Penn at Columbia
Cornell at Colgate
Dartmouth at Holy Cross
Bucknell at Harvard
Yale at Lafayette

Oct. 22
Brown at Cornell
Columbia at Dartmouth
Princeton at Harvard
Yale at Penn

Oct. 29
Penn at Brown
Yale at Columbia
Cornell at Princeton
Dartmouth at Harvard

Nov. 5
Brown at Yale
Harvard at Columbia
Cornell at Dartmouth
Princeton at Penn

Nov. 12
Dartmouth at Brown
Columbia at Cornell
Penn at Harvard
Yale at Princeton

Nov. 19
Brown at Columbia
Cornell at Penn
Princeton at Dartmouth
Harvard at Yale

* Schedules are unofficial. Email updates and corrections.

A Really Big Guy

The Klein (Texas) Sun web page has a story about offensive tackle Scott Whitmore, who ...

..."passed up eight or nine scholarship offers to play in the academically prestigious Ivy League.

The 6-foot-5, 315-pound senior chose Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. over Houston, Tulane, UNLV and New Mexico State among others."

The story includes a photo and notes that ...

"He's the fourth Klein Collins player to verbally commit to a school, joining fellow offensive lineman Garrett Greenlea (Texas), cornerback Charles Jackson (Nebraska) and linebacker David Santos (Nebraska)."

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Don't buy your plane tickets based on this information because it usually changes, but the tentative (that's tentative, folks) spring football schedule has Dartmouth practice slated for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for four weeks, beginning April 5 and culminating with the spring game on Saturday, April 30. Did I mention that was tentative?

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Brown Bear Blogger has a nice, quick summation of next year's team.

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In addition to the usual haunts, there's occasional information on incoming players in the high school paper, the local weekly, a booster club website and other places that I'm not always able to find. If you've got a link and can send it along, I'll share it here. Thanks for the help.