Thursday, September 12, 2019

Recruiting List Grows

Thomas Hartnett, a 6-foot-3, 290-pound lineman from Pittsburgh Central Catholic has Tweeted his intention to continue his athletic and academic career at Dartmouth HERE. Find his highlight video HERE.

Hartnett, who also plays rugby, becomes the sixth Dartmouth commitment dug up by BGA's crack research team to date ;-)

The list so far (and the expectation is there are more we haven't yet found):
• Dario Arazi, 6-6, 225, DE/OT, Brooklyn Tech/Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Jack Dyett, 6-5, 210, DE/TE, Brentwood School/Los Angeles, Calif.
• Thomas Hartnett, 6-3, 290 OL, Pittsburgh Central Catholic
• Devon Lingle, 6-2, 202 QB, Fletcher, HS/Neptune Beach, Fla.
• Marcus Romboli, 6-3, 270, DE, Deerfield Academy/Everett, Mass.
• Paxton Scott, 6-1, 183 WR St. Mark’s/Dallas 
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The Green-White scrimmage is on tap at 10 this morning on Memorial Field. And no, they won't be tackling.

Check BGA Premium tonight for coverage of the scrimmage and click in tomorrow for the second of a three-part look at how this year's freshman class is settling in. This is how last night's posting began:
Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens really liked this year's recruiting class when it was officially announced in the spring.
He likes it even more this summer after having had the group on the field for the better part of three weeks.
"It is probably as solid and talented a freshman class as we have had since we’ve been here, right across the board," the head coach said without reservation after Wednesday's practice. "There’s a lot of competition, which is great. There's a lot of inexperience but a lot of guys who will play early – because they can."
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OK, I stumbled across this on FootballScoop and it's not to be missed. You are under orders to watch these two videos featuring retired Montana Tech football coach Bob Greene. Be ready to laugh:



And . . .


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Those videos got me thinking about the funniest coaches I've known in all the years I've covered Big Green sports.

I'd have to give the nod to former Dartmouth women's basketball coach Chris Wielgus. Some of you may have heard this story but during the press conference after the Big Green lost a tough NCAA Tournament game at Virginia some years ago, I asked Chris a question about the next year's team, given all the talent returning.

Sitting up on the dais with all the NCAA logos behind her, a crowd of reporters around me and the TV cameras rolling, Chris locked her eyes on me and with a straight face, and in that street-smart but charming New York accent of hers said, and I quote her exactly:

"Brrrrruuuuce! That's like asking a woman in labor if she wants to have another baby."

Well said Chris. Well said.

I remember covering a Dartmouth game at Rice or maybe it was Texas A&M when the Big Green players were continually doing something that was drawing the attention of the officials. It might have been hand-checking. I don't remember.

Anyway, Chris called the official over and in a voice loud enough for everyone in the small crowd – and most importantly her team – to hear, she said, "Write it down for them. They are Ivy Leaguers. They remember what they read."

Here's the funny thing about Wielgus, if you'll pardon the pun. Sometimes she was funny without even knowing it.

A lot of people might not believe it because they never saw it but former Dartmouth football coach John Lyons was hilarious in a droll way. On my computer somewhere I have a list of "John Lyons sayings" that one of his former assistants pulled together. I laugh every time I read it as if I had never seen it before.  His nicknames for players were drop-dead hilarious.

Buddy Teevens is right up there in the tier just below Wielgus as well. I'm not sure a day goes by – other than game days – when he doesn't say something that makes me laugh. Who else would nickname a skier/kicker as his "skicker?"

Mickey Kwiatkowski, who coached Brown football from 1990-93, was easily the best quote among Ivy League football coaches I've known and he could be pretty funny as well.

As for men's basketball, Dave Faucher and Paul Cormier were both pretty funny at times when they were coaching the Big Green. Still, neither could hold a candle to Princeton's Pete Carril, who is one of the all-time greats, although his humor sometimes had a pretty good bite. His quote when asked if a foul should have been called in that legendary 50-49 loss to Georgetown in the NCAA's:
""I'll take that up with God when I get there."





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