Friday, February 20, 2026

A Box Of That

It's become the thing for college football programs to send a "box of that" to Jon Gruden. Dartmouth jumped in with an overflowing box.

Here's a lightly edited version of much of what Gruden had to say about Dartmouth while going through the box. (Editor's note: This does not include his comments on the contents of the box.)

The Woods. 1769. This thing's been around since 1769. What the hell were they studying back then? But look at this Dartmouth box, man. They're proud of that. 1769. This is Hanover freaking New Hampshire. You ever been there? I have actually. I've been there. I went to a place called Molly's Tavern. Had a few.

But this Dartmouth is a very prestigious college. When I was coaching the Philadelphia Eagles, our quarterbacks, one of them was Jay Fiedler. Fiedler went on to start for the Dolphins. He played at Dartmouth. Jeff Kemp played quarterback at Dartmouth. Big Green. The Dartmouth Big Green. ...

 They got a hell of a coach. (Sammy) McCorkle. The Big Green has won 22 Ivy League championships, more than any other Ivy League team. How about the Ivy League? Can you imagine going to the Ivy League? It's impressive. Dartmouth right here.

This is where David Shula, the old (assistant) coach of the Miami Dolphins went. He was a hell of a punt returner, by the way,. A wide receiver.

Dartmouth football used to have a coach named Bob Blackman. Bob Blackman's in the College Football Hall Of Fame. He shredded people. ...

 The Kansas City Chiefs, they used to have a kicker named Nick Lowery. Helluva  kicker. 

We drafted a tight end from Dartmouth named Casey Cramer when I was coaching back in the day. They've had a lot of players. Reggie Williams played for the Cincinnati Bengals . Mike Brown, the owner of the Cincinnati Bengals, went to Dartmouth. 

One of my best friends I have, I don't have a lot of friends, but one of my very best friends, Len Fontes, was an All-Ivy linebacker in the mid-'80s. He had 147 tackles. Now he's doing a rock and roll band. 

Buddy Tevens was a great player at Dartmouth. He was the head coach there for like 18 years. We tragically lost him a few years ago, but he was a great friend, a great coach, inspiring. A great person, man. 

Can you imagine going there and taking classes like, I don't know, say you're in the Thayer School of Engineering and you're taking differential equations. Or let's go to multivariable calculus today. Let's study memorization and mechanism mastery. How the hell do you go to Dartmouth to get a degree? These kids have got to be freaking geniuses.

You know who really inspires me that graduated from Dartmouth? Dr. Seuss! I don't eat green eggs and ham here or there. I don't eat them anywhere. I used to say Dr. Seuss.

Wo else with the Dartmouth? Who? Mr. Rogers. Wow. His name was Fred Rogers back in the day. You ever see Mr. Rogers Neighborhood? Freaking awesome. Mr. Rogers and Dr. Seuss. 

They play at Memorial Field, they've only got about 6,500 students. 4,500 of these students are undergraduates. And about 25 percent of them play varsity sports.

You ever see that show Friday Night Lights? Yeah. They got a lady on that thing. Connie Britton. She went to Dartmouth.

There's a little note. Look right here. Wonder if it's from Coach McCorkle. "Coach Gruden, enjoy the gear, the Big Green." Say hello, Coach (Sammy) freaking McCorkle. 

Who else went there? You like poetry? Robert Frost! Remember that poem he wrote? What was it called? I Took The One Less Traveled By (sic). He was a freaking great poet. I mean Dartmouth. Dartmouth, it's cold up there

 You ever watch Fox News at all? A little bit. Laura Ingraham went right here to Dartmouth. I mean, how do you think she gets that job?

They've had a lot of great people. David Harbour went there from Strangers. I mean think of all the people that have gone through this classy place.

Dartmouth football. Dartmouth academics. I mean Mindy Kaling from The Office went right here. It's prestigious. It's one of a kind. It's the Ivy League. Dartmouth since 1769. Thank you, Coach McCorkle. Keep it going, Big Green. I'm going to go call my friend Len Fontes and tell him I got some gear from Dartmouth. Woo!

BGA Take: Someone did some pretty thorough research on Dartmouth with one absolutely glaring exception that you'll recognize if you actually listen to the video. Pretty much the only thing Gruden shouldn't have gotten wrong . . . he did. ;-) 

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HERO Sports takes a look at the 16 FCS prospects Draft Scout currently has ranked in its Top 350. Just making the cut is Dartmouth's Delby Lemieux. Per Draft Scout he is the No. 24 offensive guard, and No. 349 prospect overall, and is projected to be chosen in the seventh round or be a "high priority free agent." (LINK)

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Matthew Smiley, a charter member of the first coaching staff of Buddy Teevens' second tenure (along with Sammy McCorkle) is expected to join the staff at South Carolina after a stint as special teams coordinator for the Buffalo Bills. (LINK)

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EXTRA POINT
At the local newspaper there were file cabinets filled with clippings of every story we wrote. When I left the paper to start Big Green Alert, I no longer had access to those files.

A couple of weeks ago I received a promotional email from Newspapers.com offering a significant discount on a limited-time membership to the site, which features the archives of 30,000 newspapers and publications. When I learned my old paper was included, I bit for less than the price of a dinner out with Mrs. BGA.

With Olympics on the brain, over the past week or so I've pulled up an interview I did with Herb Brooks shortly before the 1980 Miracle on Ice. Also a story about a local man who designed the old USA hockey logo where the S becomes the flag. I found a story I did on biathlon competitors tuning their rifles in the frigid temperature inside Hanover's Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, a piece I did with Mikaela Shiffrin's father about "blood doping," and another about the sad end of Dartmouth's famed ski jump.

Two things. First, for that last one I was able to get to the bottom of the story about someone going off the jump in a baby carriage. It did actually happen, although no one would go on the record about it, even many years later.

And second, it's fun to read old stuff that I wrote as if I were reading it for the first time – and liking it.

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