Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Now That Was Funny

A great quote from legendary Dartmouth football coach Bob Blackman regarding his return to coaching at Cornell after a stint at Illinois:
"I like the Ivy League," he said. "It's the only conference where the coaches are paid more than the players."
That's from an SI Vault story headlined, A Big Year For Big Green about the 1970 season. (LINK)

Perhaps Blackman's most famous quote, of course, came in response to a tongue-in-cheek challenge by Penn State's Joe Paterno to play the Nittany Lions after undefeated Dartmouth won the Lambert Trophy over Paterno's 7-3 team in 1970. Said Blackman:
"Of course, Coach Paterno knows that under Ivy League rules we're not allowed to play in a postseason game, but if we were allowed to play a postseason contest, I would prefer to play a team that had a better record."
Here's something from the News-Gazette that I did not realize about Bob Blackman from his stint at Illinois (LINK):
Despite going 0-12 against the Big Ten’s “Big Two” of Michigan and Ohio State during his Illini career, Blackman’s Illini amassed a cumulative record of 24-11-1 against the other seven conference opponents.
Here's Blackman's record at each of his head coaching stops:

Denver (2 years) 12-6-2, 7-6-1 conference
Dartmouth (16 years) 104-37-3, 79-24-2 conference
Illinois (6 years) 29-36-1, 24-23-1 conference
Cornell (6 years) 23-33-1, 18-23-1 conference
Overall (30 years) 168-112-7, 128-76-5 conference
This is a new one on me ;-). In a Q&A with Tanner Cross, the incoming Big Green linebacker provides the name of another potential Dartmouth recruit. Cross told Recruiting News:
“I reached out to a guy from Springdale (AR), Jayden Minchew. He is a safety. They have been talking to him.”