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Although I'm not a huge fan of televised soccer, I tuned in to the last few minutes of the first half of yesterday's College Cup match between Notre Dame and New Mexico and stayed glued to it through the second half.
To be honest, I wasn't rooting for Notre Dame as much as for I was for the Fighting Irish coach Bobby Clark, once a record-setting goalie in Scotland, a legend at Dartmouth and someone I feel privileged to call a friend.
Ask anyone who has spent time around Bobby and you'll hear two things. The next person to dislike him will be the first. And good luck finding a better coach in any sport, at any level, anywhere.
Clark's Fighting Irish advanced to the national championship game with a 2-0 win and will now place Notre Dame in the title game Sunday afternoon. Clark also led Stanford to the national championship game in his first college stop after Dartmouth.
Googling around a bit after yesterday's game, I stumbled across a wonderful story about Bobby Clark from earlier this month. From the story:
When visiting with Bobby Clark's past players and assistant coaches - whether they be from Dartmouth (1985-93), Stanford (1996-2000) or Notre Dame (since 2001) - so many of them clearly are living testimonials to his coaching excellence. Several of them unflinchingly dub Clark the "John Wooden of college soccer," placing him on a relative level with the legendary UCLA basketball coach.The story is so detailed it even includes an anecdote about Shirley Barnes, his secretary at Dartmouth, and for a while several years ago the Dartmouth football secretary.
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Speaking of Bobby Clark and football, if you check out the Notre Dame roster you'll find the name Brendan Lesch on it. Does the name sound familiar? Brendan Lesch Sr. '89, played baseball and football at Dartmouth. Patrick Lesch is headed to Hanover next fall to play lacrosse.
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Winter must be coming. It was minus 6.7 here on the mountain last night.
