A video snippet from practice courtesy of the Dartmouth football Instagram account:
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Buddy Teevens Q&A: Part II
The head football coach at Dartmouth answers questions you sent to BGA Daily. (Second of two parts. Find the first part HERE.)
Q: If there is a modified spring season, when would it be held? Dartmouth’s northern location and quarter system seems as if they would pose problems.
A: Because we're on a quarter system, we get back later in the spring and are in class until just before the summer. I voiced that in our meeting and they are still thinking about it. Would Dartmouth have to come back early? Or not have a spring break with the guys who are playing football because the season would be starting? If you start later it's a problem because a bunch of schools get out in May. If you start earlier, the weather comes into play. In March, when we are on spring break, we might still have snow on the ground. So there are a lot of questions to consider.
Q: How would a short spring season impact eligibility of this year’s seniors for next fall?
A: There’s talk about a round-robin deal with four teams competing for a championship. The NCAA rule is you can play in four games and not lose your eligibility, so seniors could play four games and not lose their NCAA eligibility. They would lose their Ivy eligibility, but could play an extra year at an NCAA program someplace else as a graduate student.
Q: What have you told your fifth-year seniors who were scheduled to graduate after this fall?
A: That’s the hardest thing. It's hard to advise them. We don't know what the future is going to hold. What I've said to all of the fifth-year seniors and the seniors is, look at the thing that's most advantageous for you and your family. Most of the seniors have said they will play if there's a spring season. The fifth-year guys? Some of them have gone into the transfer portal. I’ve advised those guys we will help them whatever they do. It’s really awkward.
Q: Bottom line, will there be football games played in the spring?
A: The one AD on the conversation said they really want the graduating seniors to have an opportunity to play one last season, so they will do what they can do to ensure that there is a season, although to be honest, I don't think there's much of a chance.
Q: If you don't have a spring season have you thought of asking the Ivy League to let you have outside scrimmages against a couple of other conference teams in the spring?
A: Yes. That was on the table when we talked. If we do it, it might be a proximity thing with Dartmouth and Brown and Harvard for example. But that would come down to numbers, which is why some guys said they would not play this spring. And so it could be like in the pros where you take a group down to do some one-on-one things, or maybe a small scrimmage.
Q: Harvard was supposed to be in Hanover this year. Will that game be played here one year from now, and the whole schedule simply shifted one year?
A: I don't think so. To the best of my knowledge we would probably just skip a year, although I don't know that for sure. It has not been addressed, or no inquiries about that have been made. I think what a lot of it comes down to is, is there a spring season? And if the spring season comes about, who's playing? We'd probably just go ahead and play the 2021 season the way it was scheduled, but that’s just conjecture on my part.
Q: A lot of people were interested in seeing how Dartmouth fared against a strong Towson team this year after playing some weaker out-of-league teams in recent years. Will that game be rescheduled?
A: It has been rescheduled but it may be when I’m not around. I don't remember exactly when. Maybe 2029?
Q: For the half of the team that’s not on campus, are you having virtual events to develop team chemistry?
A: Nothing official yet, but we do have (virtual) team meetings, positional meetings and special teams meetings with everyone. And then the guys have a real strong chat line going on. That's beyond my technical capability but they've interacted well. Some of the guys have actually moved into the same locations, and are doing virtual things. So there's a variety of things. We have a very cohesive group. And it's nice to see with Zoom and the connectivity capabilities that technologies allow, they are staying all plugged in.
Q: What has the pandemic meant for recruiting?
A: Normally we'd be having unofficial visits and some official visits for game weekends, and they're all shut down. Some recruits have come up on their own. Flown into Boston and driven through a number of Ivy campuses. But that's a very, very small number. We are doing a variety things. Coady Keller (Director of Recruiting), Dino Cauteruccio (Football Operations) and Parker Thurston (Video Coordinator) have done a great job putting together tours, guides, presentations, images of all the different things that go on during the course of the year with us. So we've really tried to create an official visit virtually. We've actually hit far more student-athletes and their families than we ever have before. We've had an incredible number of kids on Zoom calls. A Zoom walking tour, a Zoom "Into The Woods," presentation, all different kinds of things. People are being more thorough in their research, because they can't get up to see us. And we feel have a lot more to show than some schools. I just sent out a video of a moose running down Wheelock. You've not gonna see that in Cambridge.
Q: One of the places you would be taking recruits this fall is the new indoor practice facility. How was it practicing in there?
A: We were only in one time but it is awesome. None of the players had actually been in it. They've been around it, but never been inside. It was jaw-dropping and eye-popping for the guys when they walked in. And it was fun watching their reaction because it is so impressive. It's enormous. It allows us to do everything: punt, kick, pass skel. It's dry. It's warm. It'll be so helpful for us with the inclement weather, the cold weather coming. As the season progresses we'll probably get in a little bit more. It's the best in the league. It's the only permanent structure in the league. When you compare that to the bubbles, it doesn't smell, it's not humid, it's not musty.
Q: It has been an unusual fall to say the least. Have you and Mrs. T had a chance to do anything at this time of year that you've never done before?
A: Last week, Chris Jenny '77 and his wife, Andi, invited us up to Stowe, Vt. We had practice Saturday afternoon and then made the beautiful drive up there. I made a couple of Zoom calls from Stowe with some of the alumni because it was Homecoming Weekend. We had a great dinner and the next day we hiked Mount Mansfield. I told Chris that for 40 years, probably 45 years, I've never had a Saturday off in the fall. Because of the limitations this year I've been able to take some bike rides on the weekends, and they're absolutely beautiful. I never really appreciated (the leaves) because I never really saw it except from the practice field.
Q: Every good team has a gameplan. Does Team Teevens have a gameplan in mind for when retirement might be considered? Or is it just too good coaching against Al Bagnoli, Tim Murphy, etc. and positively influencing young men at Dartmouth each year to give it a thought right now?
A: You've got to go contract to contract. Obviously you get older every year, but physically I'm in good shape. You think about it when you see guys you’ve been around start to step aside. I've talked about it a little bit with some of the guys like Bobby Stoops, Steve Spurrier and Billy Donovan down in Florida. And I've talked to Murph a little bit about it, but it's not really compelling right now. I always see the older guys doing that, not me.
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Chris Rorke '89, former Dartmouth quarterback and quarterback coach, landed a college-hopeful QB to play for him at Tabor Academy in Massachusetts thanks to a recommendation from his brother, a teacher across the state. (LINK)
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Viking, which bills itself as the “nation’s first high school sports-exclusive magazine,” has a story about “college level athletes who have spent years perfecting their game were confronted with the news that their sport had been cut indefinitely.”
The first athlete in the story is a golfer who was recruited to play at Dartmouth. She told the magazine (LINK):
“(W)hen the news came out it really made me reflect, why did I pick this school?”
From the story:
Before Sung verbally committed, she had to decide whether or not she wanted to continue her education at a prestigious university while playing golf or take time to further the recruitment process and enter as the class of 2025 somewhere else. Ultimately she chose to attend Dartmouth and is now reconsidering her decision.
Several of Sungs teammates have begun the transfer process to other universities whose golf teams are still up and running this season and for seasons to come. Sung is also thinking about transferring after her first year at Dartmouth to further her golf journey.
Green Alert Take: The photo of a smiling Sung that accompanies the story with her wearing a Dartmouth shirt, surrounded by a green “D” cake as well as a Dartmouth shirt, cap and pennant is heartbreaking given how things worked out.
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From a story in the local Valley News under the headline, College Has Fresh COVID Cluster (LINK):
Dartmouth College said three undergraduate students living off-campus have tested positive for COVID-19, but authorities would not identify the town where the cluster is located.
And . . .
In addition to the three students, Dartmouth’s COVID-19 dashboard shows two members of its faculty or staff also are infected currently. The college has reported a total of 12 cases since July 1.
A number from the story that was a lot bigger than I would have thought:
About 2,000 Dartmouth students, including graduate students, are living off campus.
The Dartmouth has a story about the cluster HERE.
