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Former Oklahoma Sooner great Jarrail Jackson, who turned Texas and Oklahoma into Dartmouth recruiting hotbeds and brought quarterback Dalyn Williams to Hanover, is heading to the Pioneer Football League school as quarterbacks coach (and ace recruiter) according to an SI.com story. (LINK)
Jackson had been working as "director of player operations" at Washington State for three years since leaving Dartmouth. Find his WSU bio HERE and his old Dartmouth bio HERE.
The move reunites Jackson with former Dartmouth defensive line standout and assistant coach Derham Cato '05, who coaches the Wildcats' offensive line and tight ends. Find his bio HERE.
Davidson is 1-22 over the past two years with the lone win coming in last year's bizarre opener against the College of Faith. (LINK)
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An ESPN capsule on the ownership/management group of the Pittsburgh Steelers includes a mention of former Dartmouth quarterback Dan Rooney '12, who is working for the team. (LINK)Following in Rooney's path as a grandson of an NFL owner playing QB in Hanover this fall will be Harry Kraft, whose grandfather is Robert Kraft of the Patriots.
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Dartmouth defensive lineman Evan Chrustic and former safety Garrett Waggoner '14 were scheduled to take part in the UNH Pro Day today in Bedford, N.H.The 6-foot-4, 285-pound Chrustic (BIO) was a member of the All-Ivy League first team last fall and the second team a year ago.
Waggoner (BIO), a member of the All-Ivy first team his final two seasons, attended a minicamp with the Detroit Lions a year ago and went on to play for the Boston Brawlers in the Fall Experimental Football League.
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The Washington Post writes that the league trotted out Dr. Joseph Maroon, "the Pittsburgh Steelers’ neurosurgeon and a board-certified clinical professor of neurological surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center," to share his opinion on the NFL Network that, "riding bicycles and scooters are more dangerous to youngsters than playing football." Find the Post story HERE.From the story:
The NFL isn’t taking the debate about its long-term future prospects lightly. It is fighting back by reminding people that the game has never been safer.And . . .
“The rule changes, the safer tackling techniques, the medical management of concussions is so much better than it ever has been in the history of the sport,” Maroon said.Green Alert Take: Maybe the NFL has been visiting this electronic precinct ;-). Check out yesterday's BGA Take HERE.
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We watched the streaming video of Dartmouth's 87-72 loss to Canisius last night in the opening round of the CIT basketball tournament. One bad stretch bracketing halftime left the Big Green in a hole it tried valiantly, but unsuccessfully, to escape.The CIT picked up the Canisius video feed which, to put it kindly, had technical difficulties. In addition to the ghostly quality of the picture, the audio in the first half consisted entirely of "crowd" noise accompanied at times by a looping Delta Sonic car wash commercial that played over, and over, and over again. Someone finally threw the right switch at the break and there were announcers for the second half.
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One more thought on the undefeated Princeton women's basketball team being tagged as an eighth-seed.What are the most compelling games in the NCAA Tournament prior to the Final Four? They are when a Davidson, or a Cornell or a Florida Gulf Coast makes a run. It's David and Goliath on the hardcourt.
Now, what's the biggest problem with women's college basketball? Not that other than Brittney Griner the players don't dunk. It's the incredibly lopsided scores that are so frequent when the haves play not just the have-nots, but even the have-a-littles.
The NCAA had something special in Princeton, a 30-0 Ivy League team that was on the ESPN crawl almost every day in the second half of the season and made headlines from coast to coast. By seeding the Tigers fourth or fifth or even sixth, the ruling body of college sports had a chance to keep that narrative going and get curiosity-seekers to actually tune in to a few games before the Final Four. But as an eight seed facing a very good No. 9 and then Maryland, Princeton could be gone quickly.
Could the NCAA have jury-rigged the brackets to give Princeton a more favorable seed? Of course it could have. It has messed with the seedings before. (In fact, many pundits think the NCAA did just that in 1996 when, in Pete Carril's last season, the Princeton men were gifted with a game against defending national champion UCLA, a team tailor-made to be upset by the Tigers, which it was.)
But here's the thing. Virtually no one would have complained if this year's only undefeated women's team, which ran roughshod over very good non-conference opposition, had gotten a four or five seed because, frankly, that's what the Tigers deserved.
The NCAA blew it.
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Speaking of Princeton, Bill Carmody, who had a great run as Carril's successor, is expected to be named head coach at Holy Cross. While Carmody didn't win enough to keep his job at Northwestern, he'sa tremendous hire at Mount St. James. Plus he can keep his purple wardrobe ;-)
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It was 4 degrees here on Moose Mountain this morning. Good thing spring begins tomorrow.