Basketball Press Conference: Winning Matters

Reminder: The Green-White game is set for 10 Saturday morning on Memorial Field.

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Showers and 38 degrees are in the forecast for today's football practice. Brrr. ... Check in tonight on Big Green Alert Premium for a look at how things went Saturday and today.

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While the press conference introducing Paul Cormier as the "once and future" head coach of men's basketball was a bit of a dud from a media participation perspective – only one person asked a question until I tossed one out trying unsuccessfully to get the thing going – there was some good stuff that came out of the event, most of it from Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim.

President Kim told the audience that he watched the team closely this year, that he followed the NCAA Tournament with an eye toward what coaches might be available at season's end, and that he spent at least an hour with each of the finalists for the Dartmouth position.

A few excerpts from President Kim's remarks that Big Green football followers (and followers of all of the college's other sports) should appreciate:

A question every single one of the finalists asked me was, "Does Dartmouth care about winning?" And my answer was an unequivocal, "Of course we care about winning." Because if we win, what does it mean?

It means that these guys have worked their butts off over the spring and the summer to get ready for the next year. It means that these guys learned to work together as a team.

There was that great story about the Cornell team, all 14 living together in one house. Most of the description was frankly about how disgusting it was to be in that house. ... But that process brought them together in a way that was palpable. You could see it on the court.

That means if we win that these guys have learned how to work and play with each other in a way that goes beyond what the rest of the competition is. It means that these guys have learned something about persistence.

And you know, we are thinking now about what are the most important habits of the mind that we want to instill in our young people before they leave Dartmouth College? At the top of the list is persistence. So if these guys are persistent, if the coach can motivate them to be persistent and every day go out and work hard in preparation for the next year, it means not only are we winning but these guys have learned these skills.

So winning to me is simply an indication that our young people have done all that it takes, not only for success on the basketball court, but (they) have built skills that will serve them extremely well for the rest of their lives. Learning how to be tough. Learning how to get through when you don't think you can get through anymore.

I learned (that) first in two-a-days in football practice when I was in junior high and high school, learning how to fight through pain and get through adversity. I learned doing (what we called) killers. Those line running drills that you do at the end of practice every day.

And ...

I was a 5-10 Korean-American kid from Iowa and I wanted to play in the NBA. I was a gym rat all the way through junior high and high school. I learned lessons on the basketball court and the football field, on the golf course and the tennis courts that I know I never could have learned anywhere else.

And so I made it clear to everyone at Dartmouth College that we are going to do sports right. We are going to get it right. We are going to be competitive in everything we do. We are going to make sure that all of our athletes get the kind of support they need, but moreover, we are going to make athletics at Dartmouth a transformative experience. Not only for our athletes but for our entire community.

And ...

If in the ... sports that attract so much attention nationally, if we are doing well, the spirit of the whole campus is lifted and we want that to happen. And not only that. The spirit of all our alumni is lifted, and when our alumni spirits are lifted we do well.

And to the players who were at the press conference ...

I expect you all to come back huge and strong, jumping out of the gym and ready to work together to win an Ivy League championship very, very soon.

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While there was a story in the Columbia Spectator about the hiring of new coaches at Dartmouth and Cornell that mentioned Cormier being introduced yesterday, there was nothing in the Daily Dartmouth.

The story in the Valley News had one telling tidbit:

Cormier said he's been authorized to pursue qualified transfers from schools outside the Ivy League.

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From a Syracuse blog:

The hot rumor is that Syracuse will be filling the remaining spot on the 2010 football schedule with Colgate.

The Daily Princetonian has a look at the Princeton spring game, which wasn't really a game at all. From the story:

Perhaps the most striking change — and the one that (Bob) Surace and his coaching staff are trying to emphasize most — is the team’s pace of play. Since Surace took over at the helm of the program, one of his primary goals has been to make Princeton’s offense fast and aggressive so that opposing defenses have difficulty reading and stopping the Tigers’ drives.

As the Tigers move into their summer sessions, Surace’s focus is on improving the team’s overall strength and conditioning.

“In the spring, we went from being horrible (in terms of our strength and conditioning) to below average,” Surace said. “Now we have to go from being below average to excellent ..."

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For the second time in 4 1/2 years, there is unspeakable sadness on the Penn campus as another Quaker football player has died. Owen Thomas, chosen a Penn captain for next fall, was found dead Monday afternoon. Foul play is not suspected. The Daily Pennsylvanian has a story. In October of 2005 Penn's Kyle Ambrogi took his own life.