You're going to want to read this, so if you aren't going to buy it, be sure to bug your local librarian to order it!
John Feinstein, who wrote about the Indiana basketball team and coach Bobby Knight in the seminal sports book Season on the Brink, spent last fall embedded with Ivy League football teams. Surprisingly – to me at least – his new book, The Ancient Eight, won't be out for the beginning of the Ivy League season but is scheduled to be released on Nov. 12. From the teaser to the book:
On the field, inside the locker room, and around campus, The Ancient Eight reveals the phenomenal stories of the young men who play in today’s Ivy League and those who coach them.
Check out the Amazon page for the book HERE.
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A former coach of another Ivy League football program once described the Academic Index system the league uses in athletics as the salary cap of the Ivies. To be successful, he explained, coaches have to spend their AI capital wisely. He made the point that the AI puts even more of a premium on skill positions – particularly quarterback – than there is in leagues with essentially open enrollment.
All that being the case, here's a look at Dartmouth's QBs courtesy of the college's office of strategic content and brand management:
🏈 @DartmouthFTBL Preseason Camp Update: Quarterbacks#TheWoods🌲 | #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/UiUqXErm1q
— Dartmouth Athletics (@dartmouthsports) September 1, 2024
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EXTRA POINT
New Jersey takes a lot of hits but give the Garden State credit for this: most school districts don't start classes until after Labor Day. The holiday, the lake or ocean getting it little chilly for swimming and then the start of school combined to signal the end of summer.
There's only one elementary school in our sweet little Vermont town and classes began a week ago today. Sorry, but that's just wrong. ;-)
