This is not meant in any way to disparage Hafley, but the man has never been a head coach. Not for a single game until he makes his BC debut this fall.
Hafley may well end up being a fine coach but to pick him over Harvard's Tim Murphy, who has a career record at Harvard of 178-81, a 124-58 Ivy League record and nine Ivy League championships, is beyond ludicrous. Granted, his team was 4-6 last fall but that was the first time he's had a losing record since, wait for it, the last century!
And consider this: A column that says it is picking the best college football coach in any division went with Brown's James Perry in Rhode Island. Look, I'm a huge fan of Perry's and really do think he'll get it going at Brown but the Bears were 2-8 last year and his career record is 13-15. Salve Regina coach Kevin Gilmartin has had one losing record and is 47-25 in seven years.
Now that the bona fides of the Hero story have been established, here's what it has for the Granite State:
Sean McDonnell (New Hampshire)
The state of New Hampshire hasn't hired a Division-I head coach in 15 years.
New Hampshire's Sean McDonnell is entering his 22nd year (21st season after missing last season while battling cancer), while Dartmouth's Buddy Teevens is entering his 16th year. McDonnell's longevity and several 10-win seasons make him the best in the state.Yale's Tony Reno is the pick in Connecticut and Princeton's Bob Surace gets the nod in New Jersey.
I wondered if the author of the piece would even be able to make a choice in our fair state across the river from New Hampshire but it might have been about as easy a pick as the writer had:
Bob Ritter (Middlebury)
Three NCAA teams went undefeated last year: LSU, North Dakota State, and Middlebury.
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Speaking of coaches, STATS has a story under the headline, During pandemic, Towson's Ambrose gives back to community about the coach Dartmouth is slated to face in its first road game this fall. From the story (LINK):After COVID-19 began to force statewide stay-at-home orders in March, Towson head football coach Rob Ambrose started to post on Twitter that he and his family are willing to assist others in the nearby community with running errands, particularly the elderly, sick and single parents. It's grown to him not just picking up medication or food, but running to the local landfill and doing yard work for others.Find Ambrose's Towson bio HERE.
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The Dartmouth is doing its 2019-20 sports awards and has opened voting for the Moment of the Year.(LINK)Green Alert Take: With all due respect for the drama on the hardwood, ice and playing field, there's only one choice here and we all know what it is. Here's your chance to watch it again:
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Browns Nation writes about onetime Dartmouth assistant Callie Brownson HERE.
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And finally, circling back to current events, working off the announcement that Notre Dame is bringing back its students early for the fall semester, Football Scoop has a story under the headline, Early start, earlier finish: This could become the normal academic schedule for fall 2020. From the story (LINK):The thinking here is obvious: leaders across all spectrums are trying to avoid an anticipated second wave, which experts believe could arrive alongside the normal flu season.
Breaking at Thanksgiving allows colleges to avoid a scenario where students contract the coronavirus back home, then unknowingly bring it back to a chilly campus populated by students stuck inside studying for finals. The risk is especially high at a school like Notre Dame, where many students take airplanes home and back to campus.Green Alert Take: Or at Ivy League schools, which also draw national student bodies.
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EXTRA POINTEvery time I hear Tom Brady, Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods being referred to as The Goat I find myself amazed at how the meaning of a word can change. Today the Goat is used to mean the Greatest Of All Time, but when I was a kid watching the World Series you were either the hero OR the goat. You certainly couldn't be both.
The Hero and The Goat were complete opposites thanks to the work of legendary New York Daily News cartoonist Bill Gallo. After each game of the he'd post something like this from the 1986 Red Sox-Mets World Series:
Bruce Hurst pitched eight innings of shutout ball, allowing just four hits in a 1-0 win. Second baseman Tim Teufel let Rich Gedman's grounder go through his legs in the seventh inning to allow Jim Rice to score the game's only run.
