This is the Dartmouth release that went out this afternoon.
HANOVER, N.H. — Mike Harrity, the Haldeman Family Director of Athletics and Recreation at Dartmouth College, today announced that associate head football coach Sammy McCorkle will serve as the Big Green’s acting head coach throughout spring practice while Buddy Teevens, the Robert L. Blackman Head Coach, recovers from his injuries suffered last month in a bicycle accident.
“Sammy has been an integral part of the staff since Buddy returned to Dartmouth 18 years ago,” Harrity said, “and he is absolutely the right person to guide the team as Buddy focuses on his recovery. In addition to working with the defensive secondary, as the special teams coach Sammy is the only coach other than Buddy to work with the entire team. The relationships he’s built with the men on the team and knowledge of every aspect of the program will help keep them focused on developing as students and athletes. Sammy is passionate about Dartmouth and the football program, and he will ensure the work is done to position the team to compete for another Ivy League title in the fall.”
In his 18 years coaching under Teevens, McCorkle has coached the defensive secondary as well as special teams and was promoted to associate head coach prior to the start of the 2014 season. A total of 26 of his players in the defensive backfield have earned All-Ivy honors a total of 39 times, including a spot on the first team on a dozen instances. That total does not include the four players to earn All-Ivy honors as return specialists five times.
Two of his players have earned All-America honors as well, most recently cornerback Isiah Swann ’20, a consensus first-team pick in 2018 when he led the nation in interceptions and on the first team again the following year. Shawn Abuhoff ’12 also was named a first-team All-American as a return specialist in 2010 by the Sports Network after returning three punts for touchdowns that season.
McCorkle’s defensive secondary unit has played a big role in the three Ivy League titles won by the Big Green since 2015. The 2021 team was fourth in the nation in passing yards allowed, and in 2019, the defense had four pick-sixes among five defensive scores, fourth among FCS programs. In both campaigns, the Dartmouth defense ranked in the top three nationally as well. And in 2015, the Big Green were ninth in the country in passes intercepted while leading the nation in scoring defense.
Prior to Dartmouth, McCorkle spent two seasons as the head coach at Martin County High in Stuart, Florida, following a three-year stint as an assistant coach at UT-Martin. He began his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, the University of Florida, where he was a standout defensive back. McCorkle played on four SEC championship teams, competed in four bowl games (Gator, Sugar twice and Fiesta) and a national title game, and graduated in 1996 with Florida’s single-season and career records for blocked punts. He was named Florida’s special teams player of the year two times.
“Buddy, Kirsten and their family know that they are in our thoughts every day,” McCorkle said. “My wife and I have known Buddy and ‘KT’ since our early 20s — we miss and love them dearly. I also would like to thank Mike Harrity and [Deputy Athletics Director] Richard Whitmore for all their support and presence during this time. They are a big part of us continuing to move forward, and I appreciate the confidence they have in me. As the associate head coach for the past nine years, Coach T has given me invaluable insight and opportunities that I will put to good use this spring. This, along with a coaching and support staff that has worked closely together for a long time, gives us the ability to move forward and win the spring.”
Spring practice will take place for four weeks on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at 5 p.m. and Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. (weather permitting), starting today, April 4, with the week of April 17 off. The annual Green-White scrimmage will conclude the spring season on Saturday, May 6. McCorkle will be available to speak to the media following practice this afternoon.