Battling For Scholarship Players

Dartmouth has now had two recruiting weekends this month and while he's not at liberty to talk about individuals (except early decision admits) coach Buddy Teevens did speak to BGA in general terms recently about the caliber of players who are coming on visits. Here is an edited transcript of some of his remarks:

The talent pool appears to be the best that we’ve had. It sounds like a broken record saying that, but it's true. Part of it is the result of more success the last two years in terms of wins, a higher finish within the Ivy League, and the improved competitive level across the board. People are aware of that. Another part is postseason accolades our players have gotten.

That message is getting out to kids around the country and it's something we couldn’t say three, four, five, six years ago. The addition of lights has been huge. People are well aware of the (enthusiasm of the) president, and then (Athletic Director) Harry Sheehy and the DP2 push. (Read about Dartmouth Peak Performance here.) They have heard about our career services initiative. The fact that we have massage therapists. Nutritionists. Yoga instruction.

And then there's Dave Jenkerson's addition as a strength coach. We PR’d in 60 lifts postseason, and we have never done anything even remotely close to that. That has to do with his approach, his push, the commitment of our players and the talent pool of the players. What Jenkerson has told me, and I don’t have the exact numbers, is that my freshman class right now is stronger than my graduating senior class. That is recruiting and physical development.

Those kinds of things and the commitment to winning get out and help us get people here to visit. once they get here they like what they see.

I meet with the families of every young man who comes out. The perception of what they are going to find and what they anticipate is quite different than what they actually experience. It is not nearly as remote here is they think. It is not as cold as they expected. The friendliness of the campus is much greater than they expected.

They are impressed by the reception by the faculty. We had 'Chip' Souba, the Dean of the medical school meet and Erland Schulson (Chair, Engineering Sciences Department) of Thayer School come down. People can't believe it. They have taken visits other place and haven’t met faculty.

We are still battling everyone in the league, as well as scholarship programs. But it appears that we have more guys visiting who are considering scholarship opportunities. They have been very impressed with the quality of the people we have in our program, the attitude they have and the commitment they have to winning.