JayPa Opines On Picking a QB

With Alex Jenny graduating this spring and new offensive coordinator Jim Pry in place, all eyes will be on the quarterback position when spring practice kicks off Tuesday afternoon on Memorial Field. There will probably be as many opinions as there are quarterbacks, which is almost always the way it is.

With Penn State also replacing a starting quarterback this spring, assistant coach Jay Paterno has written a column that hits home. The column features a Letterman-like, "Top Ten things I've learned over the years about a being involved in selecting and coaching the Penn State starting quarterback."

While the younger Paterno reminds us that, "These are all in good fun and are not to be taken too seriously," his points are all spot on. Each of the items excerpted below is expanded upon in the column, so do read it. In the meantime, from JayPa's Top Ten:

• As a coach, be prepared to get asked about who will be the next starter early and often.
• Expect lots of help and advice in your evaluation — almost all of it random and unsolicited.
• Everyone who asks expects advance notice or inside information.
• There are always a couple of guys on message boards who report information from an "inside source" at practice.
• Some fans will be convinced that you will always start the older guy ...
  
• There will always be fans believing that a quarterback's Rivals or Scout recruiting rating is the reason he should or should not start.
• As a coach you realize that with one decision, you make one student-athlete the most scrutinized athlete on campus...
  
• Always be prepared to have some fans unhappy ...
  
• College coaches do not select starters for any reason other than who they think will give their team the best chance to win.
• The only way you'll ever convince everyone is if the team wins EVERY game.

Looking ahead to next year's recruiting class, Dartmouth gets a mention, along with Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn and Cornell in a look at Peoria Arizona Centennial center Jake Abbott.

The New Haven Register has a story about the two transfers in Yale's recruiting class. While it is tempting to call them both transfers from FBS schools (Boise State and Florida) the Gator transfer did not play football in Gainesville, and in fact hoped at first to transfer into Yale as a baseball player. He is a punter and the Boise State transfer is a tight end.

While the Boise State transfer apparently flirted with Dartmouth before landing at Yale, the transfer cupboard might not be bare. Stay tuned.

The local newspaper has a couple of stories today about the Dartmouth basketball coaching search. Unfortunately – but not surprisingly – neither story was posted to the website.

The story says St. Anselm coach Keith Dickson was on campus this week. Of note: former Dartmouth administrator Joe-Ann Nester is the athletic director at St. A's.

The column suggests former Dartmouth coach Paul Cormier (a longtime NBA scout currently under contract to the Golden State Warriors) might well be in the final group of interviewees. Cormier had the most successful run of any Dartmouth basketball coach in the past 50 years. Here's a link to his hiring by the Grizzlies several years ago.

Stonehill coach coach David McLaughlin might also be in the mix according to the story. McLaughlin played at Colby under legendary coach Dick Whitmore, whose son Richard is associate director for facilities and operations at Dartmouth.

Among other familiar names mentioned is Jay Lawson, a Dartmouth assistant under Cormier who has had a tremendous run at Bentley and Northwestern assistant Mitch Henderson, a former Princeton standout who was heavily recruited by Dartmouth as a high schoolers.

While a few high-profile names have also been floated, the newspaper is clearly playing a hit-and-miss game. That said, don't be surprised if at least some of those names are among the finalists.

An aside: At least one of the names on the list in the newspaper went to a certain wedding some years ago and at least a couple are familiar to the mother of those certain two kids. ;-)

The story strongly suggests that interim coach Mark Graupe is not in the mix and reminds readers that Williams coach Mike Maker, the longtime Dartmouth assistant, withdrew his name.

Speaking of basketball, the New York Times had a column about the Portsmouth Invitational, a showcase for potential NBA players. From the story:

“I can’t remember a time that we’ve had three Ivy guys at the same time,” said Marty Blake, the N.B.A.’s director of scouting. “We’d get one or two from Penn or Princeton, but not much beyond that.”

Found the following mentioned on another message board and it makes for intriguing reading. It's a link showing, "U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2009 Endowment Market Value and Percentage Change* in Endowment Market Value from FY 2008 to FY 2009." Harvard, of course, is listed as having the most "endowment funds in 2009 with Dartmouth 22nd overall and seventh in the Ivy League. Brown is listed eighth in the Ivies and 26th in the nation.

Not being an alum, I've always found the attention given to Dartmouth trustee elections a little curious. To be completely honest, when I get trustee ballots and information from Penn State it's a real yawner and I rather think it is that way for most graduates of American colleges and universities. (Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so.)

As they like to say, it's different at Dartmouth. There's an update in the Daily Dartmouth about the results of this year's election and a posting on the PowerLine blog that is a little bit uncomfortable.