What Appears To Be The Problem, May Not Tell All Of The Story

When a team is suffering through a losing streak, it seems more often than not, fans will look to blame someone. Whether it be coaches or players, or possibly the style of play, fans want answers or think they know the answers, and are not shy about letting their "wisdom" be known. A blog covering a particular team is a perfect forum to let fans vent. and while I do not post all of the fan comments, It does seem that there are a good number of experts out there armchair quarterbacking, picking apart certain aspects of Ferrum football.

Folks, it isn't that simple. There may be those who don't agree with who is coaching, or the decisions they make, and there may be those who think the wrong personnel is on the field, but there are usually a lot of factors that can contribute to a teams success or failure. When it comes to Ferrum, there are a variety of factors that influence the perceived "success".

Let's look at a few things that impact athletics at Ferrum College.

LOCATION:  It is a beautiful campus, but in a less that urban area to say the least. It, to many high school students that may be interested in going there, is likely too remote, and void of may of the amenities that going to a school closer to a city would offer.

COST: The tuition is a good bit higher than State run colleges for certain. This is a huge factor in a students decision on where he or she will attend.

ACADEMIC OFFERINGS: Ferrum has made huge strides in this area, and continues to work on this. I would venture to say that they are still not on the same class academically as say a Hampden Sydney, or Christopher Newport.

RECRUITING: This was a bright spot for Ferrum this year....as far as numbers go, but recruiting cannot always be about just the numbers. The ability to attract a quality athlete is paramount, and while the D3 school will be hard pressed to attract a Heisman Trophy type candidate, every effort must be made to come as close to that as possible.
Another aspect of recruiting is the ability to recruit and keep good coaches. I do not know the salaries of the Ferrum coaching staff, in fact I have no idea what would even be a good guess, but I was able to find the 2012 salary of the head coach at CNU. Coach Kelchner salary in 2012 was $80,000.00 per year. Now if I did venture a guess as to how Harper's salary compares to that, I would say there would be quite a gap to say the least. I doubt Harper is anywhere near that level of pay, and I would also guess that there is a comparable gap in the assistant salaries. If there are schools that are willing to pay huge money at the D3 level, Ferrum will suffer through having many Ralph Isernea' quality coaches use Ferrum as a stepping stone to move to something better. We have to be able to attract AND retain good coaches to be successful.

FACILITIES- The strides Ferrum has made in this department gets the an A+ in my book. This area has been a huge priority for the college and it has paid off. There have been wonderful advancements, in the athletic facilities, and I do not think that this effort has ended. There are long range plans to have lights at W.B. Adams Stadium, as well as possibly artificial turf. My understanding is that Ferrum will be looking for specifically targeted donations if these additions will come to pass.

These are just some of the issues that Ferrum faces. There are a lot of factors that go into the success of a team. It is not always the X's and O's, or who is drawing them that determines success.

Go Panthers!!

Pierre, D. Williams Honored

Yale wide receiver Deon Randall is the Ivy League player of the week after catching three TD pass, running for another and picking up a pass breakup and solo tackle after stepping in at defensive back Saturday against Cornell.

Harvard defensive end Zach Hodges is the defensive player of the week and Harvard kicker David Mothander is the Ivy special teamer of the week.

Chosen to the honor roll

Why Congressional Regulation Should Be Embraced by the NCAA

In a letter to Mark A. Emmert, Ph.D., President of the NCAA, dated October 29, 2011, I asked the following question:

I believe that given the current circumstances of the NCAA, its sustainability is questionable, and I believe that the only hope that it has for survival is to seek regulatory approval and supervision by the Congress. Given the paradox of its genesis juxtaposed with what it has become, this is something the NCAA would cringe at, but in terms of crisis management, what other choice do you really have, if you impartially consider the factors now impinging upon your organization? I am very interested to learn if you actually appreciate the severity of the current situation, and I am fascinated by crisis management or the lack thereof in such circumstances. 

In Dr. Emmert’s letter back to me, dated November 18, 2011, he chose to ignore answering this question.

So is the NCAA on its slow decline into oblivion?

Certainly, the current onslaught of major lawsuits threatens the NCAA's very existence, and the recent settlement by EA and CLC leaves the NCAA left holding the bag it created.  At the end of the day, in regards to the broadcast rights, which is the vast bulk of the money, nobody can explain how the NCAA or its members have the right to be paid for recording or televising college athletes at play, since they do not receive releases from any of them for this.  Essentially, the networks just assume that they can contract with the NCAA and its members without ever having considered why that would be so.  Video games and t-shirts won’t sink the business model, but a redistribution of this broadcast money will sink the NCAA and the major conferences like an iceberg at sea.

As the outgoing Princeton A.D., Gary Walters, said recently, the current tension is between the NCAA and its Division 1-A members and the major conferences on one side, who make the vast majority of the men’s football and basketball revenue, and everyone else in the NCAA, who do not run for-profit football and basketball programs.  These are irreconcilable.  When the NCAA gets hit for the recording and television revenue in one of these pending lawsuits, the major conferences will pick-up and go, if they haven’t by then already left, and those conferences will then negotiate a business deal with their players rather than kill the golden goose.  As they say, that will be that.  Whether the NCAA continues to exist to serve the interests of its unprofitable members, who knows, because there’s not much benefit for the remainder of Division 1 to be allied with Division II or Division III, and vice versa.

Assuming that the money issue is resolved by paying college athletes, how does this solve all of the other problems affecting college sports, other than taking a pot of gold off the table to pay for everything else that needs to be done, from the concussion issue to the insurance issue to the student welfare issue and so on?

I previously wrote about why Congress should regulate the NCAA, but if the NCAA was smart, it would have already gotten the Department of Education on board and proposed comprehensive legislation to Congress.  The fact that it hasn't shows a complete failure in leadership in the top, not just in the executive office, but also on the executive board or whatever they call it now that actually runs the NCAA, some sixteen college and university presidents.  The time is now for the NCAA leadership to actually start thinking about controlling the NCAA’s own destiny, and this cannot be done without regulation by Congress.

The Big Picture

This is what showed on Dartmouth's new video scoreboard as the team ran out on the field for Saturday night's home opener against Holy Cross:



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Click here for the Worcester Telegram story about Saturday's game from the Holy Cross perspective.

The Dartmouth daily has a recap of the shootout loss.

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With quarterbacks Ernest Evans and Thomas Militello in red shirts and whistled "down" when

774, 35, 1, 9, 9.6, 0-4

774 -   That is how many yards of offense the Huntingdon Hawks piled up on the Ferrum defense yesterday in the opening game of the USA South conference slate. Of those, 312 were on the ground, and 462 were through the air.

The Panthers lost 56-35, in a game that they only trailed by 7 at halftime.

35-The number of first downs that Huntingdon picked up in the game

1-  The number of times Huntingdon punted in the game.

9-  The number of times the Hawks kicked off in the game.
 
9.6-The average number of yards that Huntingdon gained per offensive play.

0-4   The Panthers record

Due to having to travel out of town, I only saw the second half of the game. When I was able to get to my computer, I was disappointed to see that Huntingdon had 35 first half points. The good news was that Ferrum had 28...only trailing by 7.

While it appeared that Huntingdon made some halftime adjustments on defense, Ferrum  just could not stop the Hawks. Ferrum's offense led by Tim Reynolds, had a strong performance, and delivered their best game of the season, but the defense seemed helpless to stop the Hawks. While I am seeing improvement in the offense, this week, the defense was completely ineffective. Something has to change, or Ferrum may be looking at setting several defensive records, none of which would be anything to brag about.

The saying is that defense wins championships, and if that is true, Ferrum will need to cast a critical eye on all aspects of the defensive scheme, and be willing to make major changes to insure their future ability to contend.

If there is a bright spot, it is that next week is homecoming, Greensboro has only one win, and the game should be an even match up. At this point, I am planning on attending.

Then how do you enforce rules?

I am going to take issue with Geoff on this: Penn State University as an institution was being punished. And if Penn State cannot be punished, then the entire scheme of NCAA regulations is unenforceable (and humor me for the moment and assume NCAA regs are worth enforcing). Any long-lasting institution survives its individual members; old members are replaced by new members, but the institution is understood to survive uninterrupted. And the institution bears responsibility for the conduct of its members--past, present, and future. The players and coaches who break rules are always gone by the time enforcement comes down. If that punishment is wrongful because current (rather than rule-breaking) players are in the institution at the time of enforcement, then punishment of the institution always becomes wrongful. Even in a case of lack of institutional control (as Penn State arguably was), the institution could always argue that its failure was to control previous players, but that shouldn't be taken out on current players. But then the university gets off scott-free and has no incentive to police its future members, because it always can argue against punishment falling on its current players.

Taken to its conclusion, Geoff's argument applies to any institution and institutional punishments. Germany should not be made to provide reparations or other compensation to Holocaust victims because the punishment falls on the current German government and citizens; ditto for arguments with respect to slavery. International law (which I rarely cite or discuss) recognizes the concept of successor governments. Why not for universities in the field of NCAA enforcement?

All that said, I agree with Geoff that this is an example of "punisher's remorse", a term I wish I had used in a radio interview I did last week. But the remorse is over punishing Penn State--the NCAA does not want one of its flagship institutions under such a harsh punishment.

Geoffrey Rapp: the NCAA's "Punisher's Remorse"

Geoff and I were interviewed by Mike Dawson of the Centre Daily to talk about the NCAA reducing Penn State's penalty and other challenges for the NCAA (O'Bannon case; concussions etc.).  Geoff has some powerful and smart quotes in it.  Here's a a couple of excerpts:

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“I think what’s going on here is largely ... punisher’s remorse of sorts,” said Geoffrey Rapp, a sports law expert at the University of Toledo in Ohio. “As they now have lived with the sanction for a year, they realized the victims are the current players. It’s not really putting any hurt on the people that we think are really responsible.”

* * *

“All of these are examples of duplicitousness and double standards on the NCAA, which then makes them uncomfortable with the moral high horse they were riding last summer,” Rapp said, referring to the time the Penn State sanctions were handed down.

Read more here: http://www.centredaily.com/2013/09/28/3812610/ncaa-acting-on-punishers-remorse.html#storylink=cpy

To read the rest, click here.

Read more here: http://www.centredaily.com/2013/09/28/3812610/ncaa-acting-on-punishers-remorse.html#storylink=cpy

 

How Week 2 Went Down For Big Green Opponents

A look at how opponents fared yesterday with a pithy thought or two about each one . . .

Harvard 41, Brown 23
Story and stats
The Bears jumped out to a 13-0 lead after one quarter only to see Harvard explode for 28 points in the second quarter. Three interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown, helped Harvard run its home win streak to 14 games and stay undefeated when playing under

GAMEDAY: The Rest of the Conference Slate

Here is how I see the rest of the conference finishing this weekend.

Greensboro @ LaGrange

N.C. Wesleyan @ Averett

Methodist @ Maryville


CNU is "open" this weekend. Look for this to be a tough week for the visitors.

Here We Go!

Dartmouth's game notes have been posted here.

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Click once to enlarge, twice to supersize this panorama taken at
yesterday's walk-through. (And no, the stands don't really curve ;-)




Yes, game day it is. 

Our local daily has a lengthy story today about Louisiana native Kevin Price, a 31-year-old former U.S. Army Ranger and father of two who happens to be a reserve running back for

Game Preview:Ferrum @ Huntingdon

This week, Ferrum will face its toughest opponent to date, as they take on the undefeated Huntingdon Hawks. This game will be a huge test for Ferrum as they try to get their first win of the season. While Ferrum has shown Improvement in some areas, their defense continues to struggle. In three games, opponents have scored over 40 points in all three games.

I believe again Ferrum will show improvement, but look for this to be a struggle for the Panthers.


Huntingdon  40
Ferrum    20

Listen Up

Looking for some good insights into tomorrow's Dartmouth home opener against Holy Cross?

Tune in WTSL radio (94.3 FM and 1400 AM) today at 5:30 p.m. to hear thoughts from longtime Dartmouth football analyst Wayne Young, a member of the legendary 1970 Big Green team and captain of the '71 team. Young appears on Brett Franklin Show throughout the season at 5:30 on Fridays before home games, and

Electronic Arts' Settlement is a "Win" for Consumers

Electronic Arts' settlement of the O'Bannon-Keller litigation, assuming it gets approved by the court, is a big win for the consumer because it creates a new market opportunity for numerous video game producers.  These companies can now compete against each other by negotiating with college players, collectively as a group, over the payment of a licensing fee for the exclusive right to use clear images and actual names of players, which will result in a better quality game with better graphics for the consumer.  And the payment of a licensing fee to the players might not increase the price of the game for the consumer.  Case in point, EA pays a licensing fee to NFL players for the use of their names and images, yet the price of EA's Madden NFL game is the same as the price of its NCAA Football game in which a licensing fee is not paid to the players.  According to basic principles of supply and demand, price is determined by what the consumer is willing to pay.

The underlying basis for recognition of publicity rights is the prevention of unjust enrichment.  For years EA has been profiting from the free use of college players' identities, and now they must disgorge the unjust gain.  The "Principles of Amateurism" should not be used as an excuse by a video game company or anyone else, including the hundreds of people who run big-time college sports and pay themselves multi-million dollar salaries, to unjustly enrich themselves at the expense of the players whose efforts make such revenue generation even possible.

The NCAA, the conferences and the universities can continue to dig their heels in and keep fighting this battle but, even if they end up winning the legal battle, the principles of supply and demand will ultimately prevail.  Baseball won the battle in Curt Flood's antitrust lawsuit but it ultimately lost the war, and not necessarily because of the National Labor Relations Act but essentially due to principles of supply and demand.  There is a small supply of elite college football players with unique skill and talent known as Four- and Five-Star recruits who are not fungible and are in huge demand because the product of big-time college sports, and the revenue it generates for all of those who produce it, simply does not exist unless these players agree to participate.  Can big-time college football make the same money with "scab" college players?  What would happen if these players ultimately got together and simply decided not to participate unless certain conditions were met, and not necessarily the right to compete for wages (which these players would concede changes the product of "amateur sports") but rather the right to receive payment for the commercial use of their names/likenesses, the right to have an agent negotiate with professional teams, or the right to better insurance and more scholarship funds?  And they do not have to be declared employees by law nor form a labor union to do it.      

Ed O'Bannon reaches Proposed Settlement with Electronic Arts and Collegiate Licensing Company

Some major sports law news today - my take for Sports Illustrated.

Looking Good

Picture from Thursday's practice.

TV Or Not TV, That Is The Question

Dartmouth quarterback Dalyn Williams was chosen the Big Green men's athlete of the week. He's featured in the back end of this video:



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A Dartmouth release yesterday added the Oct. 12 Homecoming game against Yale to the Big Green football TV schedule for 2013. Like Saturday's contest against Holy Cross, the game will be carried nationally on the Fox College Sports Network. The Nov. 9 game in

Don Shula - Everyone's A Coach

Perfection: the 17-0 1972 Dolphins

The NFL Network just did a great piece on Don Shula, the NFL's winningest coach with 347 wins, Don Shula on the 40th anniversary of the 1973 Super Bowl that capped off the 1972 perfect season.  One of the biggest thrills of my coaching career was from my second year in 2002 when we played at St. Thomas Aquinas and I went up in the booth and saw Don Shula and got to shake his hand.  Here are some of the notes from Shula's book with Ken Blanchard, Everyone's a Coach: Five Business Secrets for High Performance Coaching which I highly recommend.  I haven't looked at these notes in years, and I forgot how good the content was.

• When I took over the Dolphins in 1970, the press wanted to know what my three- or five-year plan was.  I told them my plan was day-to-day.
• We had four workouts a day during my first Dolphins training camp.  The players complained, but then stopped after we won a few pre-season games.  They attributed the turnaround to the hard work they’d done.  The things they complained the most about, they later credited for the change in the football team.
• KB: Don made me realize that if you’re going to compete today and be the best, you have to push yourself and others—hard.
• If you allow sloppy practice and don’t push your team to continually improve, sloppiness becomes a habit.
• The best way to continue to improve is to practice hard all the time.
• Mean Joe Greene: “You have to respect Coach Shula’s thirty years of excellence.  That’s no accident.  You’re a fool if you think so.” 
• The five secrets of effective coaching can be organized into a simple acronym: C.O.A.C.H.

• Conviction-Driven
• Effective leaders stand for something
• Overlearning
• Effective leaders help their teams achieve practice perfection
• Audible-Ready
• Effective leaders, and the people and teams they coach, are ready to change their game plan when the situation demands it.
• Consistency
• Effective leaders are predictable in their response to performance
• Honesty-Based
• Effective Leaders have high integrity and are clear and straightforward in their interactions with others.

1. Conviction-Driven

• My coaching beliefs in a nutshell are these:
• Keep winning and losing in perspective
• Lead by example
• Go for respect over popularity
• Value character as well as ability
• Work hard but enjoy what you do
• “Without vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18)
• Max DePree, on what the leader’s role was in terms of vision: “You have to act like a third-grade teacher.  You have to repeat the vision over and over again until people get it right.”
• You need to develop a clear vision of perfection in your own mind.  Know what a perfect practice or weight workout should look like.  Go watch how the best teams do it to know what it is supposed to look like.
• I’m not a real pleasant person after losing a football game, but I’d be a lot worse if I didn’t realize something far bigger than football exists.
• Norman Vincent Peale always believed that faith leads to positive thinking and patience.  When things aren’t going right, patience is an energized belief that things will eventually go your way.  As a result, you don’t give up and start to cheat or lose control or begin to take uncalled-for risks to get the results you want right now.  While Don Shula does not consider himself a patient man, his faith does not let adversity consume him or let his ego take over.
• “Success is not forever, and failure isn’t fatal.”—Don Shula’s favorite saying
• You just can’t afford to let yourself become overconfident through victory or consumed by failure.  It tends to divert attention from the business at hand—preparing for the next game.
• One of the marks of real success in life is to believe that there’s a reason for everything.  We can’t control every event, but we can control our response to it.  We need to transform bad events into opportunities to learn.
• Dean Smith: “If you make every game a life-and-death proposition…you’ll be dead a lot.”
• Respect comes from players recognizing that your actions are motivated not by your ego, but by your desire to have them be the best.  Players don’t have to like you to respect you.  If what you’re after is being liked, that’s going to dictate how hard you’ll push.  As soon as that happens, there goes your effectiveness and your respect.
• As long as you have credibility, you have leadership.
• If ever you make a mistake or don’t make the right call, and you don’t acknowledge that it was your mistake, that’ll eat away at your credibility.
• Some coaches are described as player’s coaches, they want their team to love them.  Don doesn’t care if they like him.  That is not his job.  His concern is that players be their best.
• If you worry too much about being liked, you might back off from decisions that would push people to be their best.
• I don’t know any other way, but to lead by example.  My example is in things like my high standards of performance, my attention to detail, and—above all—how hard I work.  In these respects, I never ask my players to do more than I am willing to do.
• One of the critical leadership issues in our country today is lack of respect and credibility.  The rule is, “Don’t ask people to do what you’re unwilling to do.”
• If you miss your assignment and hurt your team, you can’t ask to do it over.  In life and in football, you don’t get two chances.

2. Overlearning

• The essence of coaching is the attention to details and the monitoring of results.  This is what Shula calls overlearning.  His overlearning system is:

1.     To limit the number of goals and things players work on,

2.     Eliminating players’ practice errors,

3.     Making players master assignments,

4.     Continuous improvement. 

• Don Shula believes in practice perfection.  Perfection only happens when the mechanics are automatic, so I insist on overlearning.  Overlearning means that the players are so well-prepared that they thrive on pressure.  They have the skill and confidence to make the big play.
• A blown play is caused by a player thinking too hard about what he was supposed to do.  He’s still wondering, when he should just react.  The players must operate on autopilot.  Overlearning lets your players operate on autopilot.
• Goal setting is overrated.  What’s often more important than these goals is the follow-up—the attention to detail, demand for practice perfection, and all the things that separate the teams that win from the teams that don’t.
• It seems the American way is to set goals, file them away, and then look back at them months later and wonder why they didn’t get accomplished.
• Goals begin the accomplishment process.  But it’s the coaching—observing and monitoring, day in and day out—that makes the critical difference.
• “The destination is marvelous, but the real joy is the journey.”—Bob Small
• “Football is a game of errors.  The team that makes the fewest errors in a game usually wins.”—Paul Brown
• Our goal each and every week as we prepare to play the next opponent is to cut down on practice errors.  Affirming and redirecting is where we outstrip the competition.  I think every mistake should be noticed and corrected on the spot.  There’s no such thing as a small error or flaw that can be overlooked.
• An event isn’t over until after you’ve learned from it.  People in organizations today should develop a fascination with what doesn’t work.
• KB: My five-step plan for coaching people is:

1.    Tell people what you want them to do

2.    Show them what good performance looks like

3.    Let them do it

4.    Observe their performance

5.    Praise progress and/or redirect

• Step 4 is the most important: to observe is to catch them doing things right, or redirect their efforts.

• The Miami Herald’s Dave Barry once labeled this as a nightmare scenario: You’re in the express checkout lane, limit ten items.  You have eleven items.  Running the cash register is Don Shula.

3. Audible-Ready

• Audibles are well thought out and choreographed ahead of time.  Shula is always asking, “What if…?” so that he is prepared for any contingency.
• Have a gameplan of what your back-up QB can do.
• “Shula listens to advice, then makes a decision and moves forward to implement it, without looking back.  The coaches who burn themselves out are the ones who are always second-guessing themselves.  The players respect a coach who’s not wishy-washy.”—Joe Greene
• Shula has always been able to adjust well because the moment when the need arose was not the first time he’d thought about it.

 Consistency

• If performance is going well, Shula is ready to praise.  If the team or a player isn’t living up to his high expectations, he’s ready to redirect or reprimand.  Shula behaves the same way in similar circumstances.  It’s not the mood he’s in but people’s performance that dictates his response.
• If you are consistent, your team will soon learn what your standards are and perform accordingly.
• Correcting and redirecting performance is strategically important— it’s where we outstrip the competition.  Some coaches will let little things go.  Right there is where the difference is made.  It doesn’t matter how many times we’ve done it or how late it is or how tired the players are.  We’ll do it until we get it right.
• No matter what the reason, you can’t let poor performance go unnoticed—even from a superstar.  The same goes for good performance.  Never let your mood determine how you respond to a person.
• There are four kinds of consequences that can follow a person’s performance:

1.    A positive consequence- if praise is given for a correct action, the person is likely to repeat the action.

2.    Redirection- if performance is stopped and the correct procedure is shown, the person is likely to repeat the correct procedure.

3.    A negative consequence- if a reprimand or punishment is given for an incorrect action, the person is likely to avoid repeating the incorrect action.

4.    No response- nothing is said or done following the action.  This is the worst response.  Good actions that receive no recognition are likely to be discarded, and bad actions will continue unchanged.

• 25 percent of what impacts performance comes from setting goals, and 75 percent comes from what happens after goals are set.
• One thing I never want to be accused of is not noticing.
• In an organization, the most frequent response that employees receive about their performance is no response.
• “The key to developing people is to catch them doing something right.”—Ken Blanchard
• I like to recognize our players in front of their peers.  I have the entire team view the game film that focuses on the special teams.  It makes the special teams players feel they are an important part of the team when a star like Dan Marino says, “Hey, that was a great hit!”
• When our staff is teaching something new in training camp, we give the players a lot of support and are more patient.  Later, when the season starts, we expect more; therefore we praise less.
• KB: “People often ask me, ‘What is the one most significant thing you’ve learned about managing and motivating others?  I tell them that, without question, it’s the concept of catching people doing something right.’”
• Managers often think that the way to motivate associates is with money and promotions.  The highest incentives found, in study after study, had to do with praise and recognition.
• If I see somebody doing something casually that I don’t think should be done casually, I don’t hesitate to correct it on the spot.  I can’t let this creep into my football.
• When I get upset with a player or the team, it is always focused on performance.  Respect for my players is a given.
• I try to fit my feedback to a player’s personality.  Bob Griese was a very quiet, thoughtful person.  He did not respond well to emotional reprimands.  It was better to take him aside and talk to him quietly and in private.  Dan Marino is an emotional player and has to be treated in a completely different way.
• Redirecting is the way to correct a mistake when an individual or team has not yet learned to do what you want them to do.  It is incorrect to punish when someone is learning something.  When a learner makes a mistake, be sure the person knows that the behavior was incorrect, but take the blame upon yourself (“Maybe I didn’t make it clear enough”) and go back and give redirection.
• A reprimand is an example of a negative consequence.  Use a reprimand only when an individual or team has already proven that they can do it, but they aren’t doing it correctly now.  Use a reprimand when the problem is a lack of effort.
• After delivering a reprimand, it’s important for people to understand that you still value them.  Make sure they know that you are upset because you expect more from him (“You’re better than that!).

5.  Honesty-Based

• Effective leaders are clear and straightforward in their interactions with others.
• “I had a tough decision to make before the 1972 Super Bowl of whether to start Earl Morrall or Bob Griese, who had just come back from injury.  I chose to start Griese and had to tell Morrall.  Softening a blow is not one of my gifts.  I approached things in a straightforward manner—I sat down and looked him in the eye and said, ‘This is what I think.  You may not agree with it.  But this is the way I feel, and this is why I am doing it.  I know it’s tough to swallow, but I just want you to try to understand what I’m thinking and what my purpose is.’”  The decision hurt Morrall, but he appreciated the way I handled it.
• In a competitive environment, ethical considerations are often the first to be abandoned.  The reason this doesn’t work is that the number characteristic people are looking for in a leader is integrity.  Integrity is the only way to be successful in the long-term.
• Dealing with others in a leadership role will test your character, especially if your role is a visible one.  You should expect the pressures and be ready for them.
• There is often a big gap or difference between what managers say they stand for and how they actually treat people.  Gaps are also a problem in our personal lives.  We say our families and our health are important, but we don’t invest enough time into our families and exercising as we should.  All of us must find ways of bridging the gaps between what we say and what we do.
• Feedback is the breakfast of champions, but it can only be given effectively in an environment where people aren’t uptight and feel like they always have to defend themselves.  Humor can help to keep the environment from being too tense so feedback can be effective.
• The real difference in coaching is not about talent.  Or personality.  Or pride.  Or ambition.  It’s about you believing in someone.  And then doing whatever it takes to help that person be his or her very best.

Also, tremendous article on Shula from MMQB's Jenny Vrentas here.

Gearing Up For Holy Cross

Dartmouth linebacker Bronson Green does a TV interview before practice with WCAX-TV 3 sports reporter Scott Fleishman yesterday for airing on the Burlington, Vt., CBS affiliate. Sports anchor Mike McCune is a former All-Ivy lineman at Dartmouth.

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A reminder that the Dartmouth junior varsity will play host to Williams Sunday at 1 p.m. Check BGA Premium for full coverage.

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If you are

Aaron Hernandez Discussion at UNH Law on Friday September 27

On Friday at 2:45 p.m., I'll be giving a talk at the University of New Hampshire School of Law alumni weekend on the Aaron Hernandez case and the range of legal and business issues at stake.  Those issues include (obviously) criminal law, but also issues in tort law, contract law and labor law. I've reported on this case for Sports Illustrated and SI.com, and I'm looking forward to talking about it.

Here's an outline of my discussion:

Outline

1. A Brief History of Aaron Hernandez : From Bristol, Connecticut to Bristol County (Massachusetts) Jail.

2. The murder charges and associated evidence for the death of Odin Lloyd.  Discussion will include analysis of:

·         Roles played by the alleged accomplices, Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace;

·         Possibility of federal charges;

·         Hernandez’s possible defenses, including those connected to drug use; and

·         Hernandez reportedly being target of a Suffolk County (Boston) grand jury investigating the 2012 deaths of Safrio Furtado and Daniel Abreu.

3. Can Hernandez Receive a Fair Trial?  Lessons from People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson and Samuel Sheppard v. E.L. Maxwell.

4. Possible Wrongful Death Action against Hernandez and Possible Vicarious Liability for New England Patriots.

5. Dispute between New England Patriots and Hernandez over money purportedly owed to him under his NFL contract.

6. Duty of Fair Representation of National Football League Players’ Association to advocate for Hernandez.

7. Expectations for how Hernandez saga will impact the ways in which NFL and college teams investigate and evaluate players.

Although seating is reserved for alums of the school, a limited number of seats will be made available to others.  If you're interested in attending, please contact Matthew Solo at matthew.solo[at]law.unh.edu.

For more information about our law school's sports and entertainment law institute, click here.

See You There?

Our local daily occasionally runs specials on full-page ads and Dartmouth took full advantage to promote Saturday's home opener under the lights against the Holy Cross Crusaders.

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Kudos to Abby Cohen and Maddie Garcia of the Dartmouth staff for a column headlined More Than a Game. The lede to their well-executed piece points out a fact that some people in the ivory tower (Ivy tower?)

Dalyn Williams Co-Ivy Offense Player of the Week

From the Ivy League release:

Dartmouth sophomore quarterback Dalyn Williams (Corinth, Texas) posted his third straight 200-yard passing game (228 yards) in four career starts while recording his first career 100-yard rushing game (119 yards) to lead the Big Green to a 30-23 triumph at Butler. Williams had personal highs in completions (22) and attempts (35) and extended his streak of passes

AALS Section Call for Papers on O'Bannon v. NCAA

The AALS Section on Law and Sports is looking for one speaker to join a panel in January to explore the theme, O'Bannon v. NCAA: Is There An Unprecedented Change To Intercollegiate Sports Just Over The Horizon? The deadline is Oct. 1.  HT to the Legal Scholarship Blog.

A Little More From Butler

The daily Dartmouth reconstructs the Big Green's win over Butler and adds a few quotes.

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Butler honored the memory of an old friend with a couple of unique stickers placed on the front of football helmets in Saturday's game. Check out a brief story and pictures here.

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Princeton had a 19-point halftime lead over No. 22 Lehigh Saturday only to see the Mountain Hawks rally for a 29-28 lead. That

Interesting Results

Excuse the lateness of the blog today. Pulled into the driveway at 4:02 a.m. Had predicted 4 a.m., which is a lot better than the predictions from the BGA's Fearful Forecast.

Now, without further ado, a look at how opponents fared yesterday with a pithy thought or two about each one  . . .

Brown 45, Georgetown 7
story and stats
John Spooney, the world's fastest man – oops, the Ivy League's

Ferrum falls to BridgewaterImprovement Seen in Loss

Not many were expecting things to be much different. Ferrum, who has had a difficult time stopping any of their opponents, fell to a strong Bridgewater team, 51-28. To me, things were different. Yes the score was not pretty, but Ferrum is getting better. They came to play football, and until the 4th quarter, gave Bridgewater a fit. Entering the fourth quarter, they only trailed by six, and it ended up being two long passing plays in the fourth quarter that sealed the win for the Eagles. The final score was due to a really good throw and a really good catch while under excellent coverage. The first Eagles TD in the 4th quarter seemed to be blown coverage as the receiver was wide open.
This was a loss, but Ferrum is starting to gel. Tae Gilbert is quite a threat out of the backfield, and Reynolds seemed to have a better day passing as he was 11 of 24 for 166 yards.
Defensively, Ferrum had some bright spots also, as Lynwood Pickett had two sacks, and Chris Ham got the teams first interception of the season. Ferrum gave Bridgewater a variety of defensive looks especially as is pertained to the D line. There were sets with three up front, and some with four down linemen, and occasionally it looked as if a LB would almost serve as a fifth front man. Special shout out to Yohannes Mathyas as he was all over the field playing inspired football.

Give Bridgewater credit, they are a good team, but if it were not for the last two TD's, Ferrum may have come away with an upset.
Unfortunately, Ferrum drops to 0-3, and begins conference play next week against a Huntingdon team that is very strong, and currently undefeated. Having to travel to Alabama will only steepen the challenge.

It has been a tough start for the Panthers, but they are getting better. Look for them to come up on the winning side of the scoreboard in the not too distant future.

GAMEDAY: The Rest of the Conference

Here is what I see for this weeks schedule for USA South teams.


Emory and Henry @ Methodist

Maryville @ Sewanee

Louisana College @ Huntingdon

Averett @ Guilford

Shenandoah @ CNU

Greensboro @ Apprentice School

Salisbury @ NCW

Averett @ Guilford

Off To The Races – It's Game Day

Dartmouth players and coaches pose for pictures at the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway, home of the Indy 500. 



Kissing the bricks at the Brickyard is a tradition.

It's game day here in Indianapolis and the first surprise was how long it took to get light this morning. It shouldn't be a surprise given how far west we are in the time zone . . . but it was.

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The daily Dartmouth game preview can

Indy Bound

The new video scoreboard at Dartmouth

Thanks for a new BGA regular for sharing another thought for something to do if you are in Indianapolis this weekend for the Dartmouth-Butler game. Worth visiting is the NCAA Hall of Champions downtown. Filled with interactive exhibits and photo opportunities, it's just $5 for an adult and $3 for kids. Check out their website.

Yesterday's BGA Premium had

A Dubious Distinction . . . Or Two

From the intro to the Ivy League's game notes package:

For the eighth time in the past 10 seasons, the Ivy League will claim the distinction of having one of its teams among the last in NCAA Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision or Football Championship Subdivision) to kick off the 2013 season.
Green Alert Take:  Ivy League football also has the "distinction" of being the only sport in the

Game Preview: Ferrum @ Bridgewater

With 2 weeks of the season behind them, Ferrum will look to gain some traction as they travel to Bridgewater College to take on the 2-0 Eagles. Look for the Bridgewater offense, which has been quite impressive both running and passing, to work all angles to deflate the Panther defense.
I expect to see improvement on the defensive side of the ball, but have a hard time envisioning the Panthers ending up in the win column just yet. Ferrum has had a tough couple of games, and these next two weekends offer little relief where the opponent is concerned. Look for October to be a better month.


Bridgewater 36

Ferrum  20

Two-Deep Released

Dartmouth's Teevens Teleteaser:



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Dartmouth's game notes for Saturday's opener at Butler have been posted. The one thing a lot of people have been asking about is the two-deep depth chart. Here's what it shows:

OFFENSE 

Quarterback So. Dalyn Willliams
Jr. Alex Park
Tailback Sr. Dominick Pierre
So. Kyle Bramble
Wide Receiver Jr. Ryan McManus
Sr. Dana Barbaro
Wide Receiver Jr. Bo Patterson

Getting Close

How do you make sure all the lights on a new scoreboard work? Trying the number 8 of course ;-)
One side of Dartmouth's board was lit up Tuesday as work continues on trying to have it ready
 for the home opener against Holy Cross one week from Saturday.


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The "lede" from a Butler Collegian story under the headline, Bulldogs sneak by Franklin:

The Butler football team will return home with a

Commander In Chief

Dartmouth President Philip Hanlon visits with the team at Monday's
practice. The new president watched about half the practice and seemed
to meet and greet most of the team.


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The best wide receiver at Dartmouth not on the football team? That may well be high jumper/hurdler Jeremy Birck. A Chicago Sun-Times story about his quarterback at Libertyville HS notes that Birck was an all-county

Wilk Goes To 2-0

Former Dartmouth assistant head coach Chris Wilkerson is 2-0 as head coach at the University of Chicago as the Maroons followed their 17-0 win over Beloit with a 23-13 victory over Concordia Chicago. They open their home season Saturday night against Elmhurst.

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The daily Dartmouth has a story about the new video scoreboard that has risen behind the south end zone at Memorial Field. Sophomore

Statistics Tell Much Of The Story

Two games into the season, Ferrum coaches are likely scratching their heads trying to see what needs to be done to get the Panthers their first win. After a loss to Emory and Henry, I expected Ferrum to be much more competitive against the Shenandoah University Hornets. While some things looked better, Ferrum is not where they need to be to say the least. I have looked over the statistics from the first two games, and for the most part, am blown away by what I see, and by what I do not see.

The offense showed some improvement yesterday, but overall, it does not look to be as potent as what we saw last year. Averaging 21 points per game is not going to get it done when your opponent is averaging 46 ppg. So while the offense is struggling to find its identity, it appears that opponents are having their way with the Ferrum defense. Overall, Ferrum has given up 430 yards on the ground, and 505 through the air. Opponents have passed 73 times and completed 49 of them. That is 67.1% completion rate. There have been 5 touchdown passes thrown against the Ferrum D, and so far, Ferrum has not come up with any interceptions.

Defending the run is something else that seems to be perplexing to the Panthers. I saw some good things in yesterdays game where the rushing defense was concerned, but this was early, and it seemed that this phase of the game declined as time went on. Shenandoah's last touchdown drive was 99 yards, and consisted of 18 plays, all of them on the ground. That was just one of four rushing touchdowns scored against Ferrum yesterday.

Back to the offensive side of the ball. Overall it appears to me that there are two main issues with the offense. The offensive line is not really getting it done to the level they need to be, and the receivers are struggling to make necessary catches. Reynolds is a very capable athlete, but his effectiveness is very limited if the line does not give him the time he needs, and his passes are not caught. To have a punt blocked, resulting in a safety, and at least two others nearly blocked, along with having the ball first and goal at the 7, and not scoring does not bode well for the overall impression of the O line.

While it is easy to place blame, it is not fair to only give one side of the story. Shenandoah is a capable football team, and they have a very strong and large defensive line. Led by No. 99 Jake Payne (6'5" 285 lbs.), Ferrum had a formidable opponent, and just was not able to match up.

So where do the Panthers go from here? They travel to Bridgewater who is 2-0 with wins over St. Vincent, and Greensboro. They have outscored their opponents 95-13 in two games, and seem to be able to score on the ground, or through the air. It does seem that their tendency is to run, but I would look for them to try to exploit the secondary of Ferrum.

The next two weeks are going to be tough for the Panthers if things do not change. Bridgewater is receiving votes in the top 25 poll, as is the Panthers week 4 opponent Huntingdon. There is a lot of talent on the Panthers schedule, and some players have to step up for this team to be competitive.  Don't look now, but CNU is 2-0, having beaten #16 in the country Salisbury, and ODAC powerhouse Hampden Sydney.

If all of the head scratching that the Panthers coaches are doing does not yield positive results, they may be the next candidates at the Hair Club for Men.

On To The Season

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A few more ideas have been volunteered for a Memorial Field nickname. Have you voted yet?

The Green MileThe Nail on the TrailThe Grizzly GreenThe Freeze in the TreesThe Hood in the WoodThe Green HoleBig FootThe Green MachineThe North WoodsThe Dart PileLand's EndThe Green TundraThe Field on the HillTrail's End

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Dartmouth's jayvee team opened yesterday with a 20-7 win over Middlebury. Ernest

The Schedule Gets Worse Before It Gets Better

On a beautiful day for football, where pre -game ceremonies were set to recognize first responders, and to dedicate the colleges new press box, it turned out that these ancillary activities ended up being some of the main highlights at W.B. Adams Stadium. With the main attraction being the game against Shenandoah, the Panthers looked to rebound off of their one sided loss to Emory and Henry a week earlier..

As things got underway, Ferrum seemed to have things going their way, holding a 21-7 lead early. Soon the wheels came off. A blocked punt for a safety, a Shenandoah rushing attack that could not be stopped, and a myriad of penalties that gave the Hornets more fuel for their fire, set the stage for a disappointing 43-29 loss.

Tae Gilbert was the offensive spark plug for Ferrum with 136 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns. It was apparent that Tim Reynolds was looked at as being the key to shutting down the Ferrum offense. Gilbert did his part, but Reynolds was limited by the SU defense......and sometimes by his own receivers.  Several passes that were catchable, were not.

The struggles were evident on both sides of the ball as the Ferrum defense gave up 472 yards, and 30 first downs. For the second game Ferrum has given up over 40 points.

There are obviously many things to work on, and the fact that there was some improvement noted this week is encouraging, but the next two games are against teams that I would say are better than the two opponents just faced....and they are both on the road.

There is reason for serious concern. I am sure the coaches will be looking at all aspects of the teams performance, and making necessary adjustments.

GAMEDAY: And the Rest of the Conference

Keep a close eye on CNU today as they host Hampden Sydney College. The Captains started their year with a win over nationally ranked Salisbury, and will look to maintain that same momentum at home.

Here is how I see the rest of the USA South teams today: (Bold team is winner)

RMC at Averett

Guilford at Methodist

Bridgewater @  Greensboro

So. VA @ NC Wesleyan

LaGrange @ Millsaps

Maryville @ Emory and Henry

Hampden Sydney @ CNU

Huntingdon @ Mississippi College

You Make The Call

College football stadiums have some colorful nicknames. At Georgia they play "Between the Hedges." Clemson's home is "Death Valley." Ohio State has "The Horseshoe" and Michigan "The Big House." Florida plays in "The Swamp." Tennessee at "Rocky Top." Boise State plays on the "Smurf Turf."

If you could pick a nickname for Dartmouth's Memorial Field, what would you choose?

Could you see the Big

Of Heights And Weights

10:45 a.m. update: Dartmouth football staff completed with announcement that Kiely Nagle will coach the running backs and Derek Antonioni will be video director. Release here.

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Heights and weights have been updated on the Dartmouth football roster and, word is, these are pretty much real numbers, not so-called "program" numbers. The most frequent change seems to be younger players losing an

Game Preview: Shenandoah @ Ferrum

Ferrum returns to W.B. Adams Stadium to take on the Shenandoah University Hornets. So far, the Panthers have been greatly affected by flying, stinging insects as their trip to the Wasps nest was anything but enjoyable. This week, Ferrum is hosting an SU team that is coming off a hard fought loss to Galludet University, 31-20. As both teams are looking for their first win, both will be looking to prove that their loss was a fluke.
Past history would suggest that Ferrum has a decided advantage, and playing at home will certainly help that. I am expecting solid improvement, and with SU operating under a new head coach, I think Ferrum should get one in the win column.

Look for the Panthers to win. I am not predicting a blow out, but I see a win this week.


Ferrum 27
SU       18

Don't Mess With Texas

I am headed to a symposium in Texas, where this weekend three professional football games are scheduled. The Cowboys are out of town but the Texans, the Longhorns and the Aggies are all playing at home. The highest priced tickets according to the scalpers is that last one, a rematch of the game that last year launched the legend known as Johnny Football. 

That moniker, by the way, is pending trademark approval for JMan2, LLC, Johnny's company which has already filed two federal lawsuits against some internet tee shirt hawkers to enforce a mark which was initially denied by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Interestingly, the NCAA has taken the position that Manziel could keep the money he might win in the lawsuits, even though he would be in serious trouble if he had  sold the shirts himself. He might even face being suspended  for three whole quarters of a game. Thus rides the legend of Johnny Football, cover guy for this week's Time Magazine story on why college athletes should be paid. After the economic injustice heaped on  so many desperately poor college players in the past,  it would be ironic if Manziel, the son of a wealthy Texas oil man, becomes the catalyst for a change in the  NCAA Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Pay Student Athletes (so we can keep all the money for ourselves).

I wonder if in England there is as big a hoopla for the football (what we call soccer) game between Oxford  and Cambridge. Surely, in a land which so passionately embraces professional soccer there must be similar fervor for the college game. Of course, there is no such match. While universities in England and around the world have some intercollegiate sports, soccer is not one of them. These are strictly amateur affairs and the players actually call themselves clubs as opposed to teams; sports scholarships are almost nonexistent, and the coaches are anything but the highest paid employees of the University.  

The argument against paying college players is that what would be lost is the soulful beauty of young athletes competing for the love of the game; the word "amateur" actually comes from the Latin for "lover." There is some truth to that concept if you are watching, for instance, Oxford and Cambridge scullers rowing down the Thames.  But the argument is reduced to absurdity when one considers the billion dollar industries  of big time  college football and basketball where coaches average more than a million dollars a year and often make more in one game than most professors take home annually.

Hook 'em horns, as they say, whatever that means.

Title Focus

The Dartmouth newspaper has a preseason look at the Big Green football team that ends this way:

As all of the pieces are falling into place in the final month of training, the team is focused on a single overarching goal of an Ivy championship, something that the Big Green haven’t accomplished since 1996. 

“Obviously we want to be Ivy champs and that’s something that we’ve talked about in years

Tackling Or Not Tackling?

Action from Saturday's non-tackling intrasquad scrimmage (where you'll see some players had a hard time holding back ;-):



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Brown slipped by Yale, 14-7, in a scrimmage Saturday in Providence. The Yale Portal 31 blog has a brief mention.

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Shadowman is about to meet his match.

Perhaps you've seen pictures of Dartmouth players tackling some new kind of dummy instead of each other. Curious?

Critics Abound, but the "Homer" is still blogging

It is not a surprise that there have been a lot of critical comments posted by readers since the loss to Emory and Henry. While I still have not seen the game ( cannot get the video to play on the E&H website), it was quite evident from the stats that Ferrum has a huge hill to climb to get ready for conference play.
Frankly, I was not surprised at the fact that they loss, but it was the disproportion of the game that really concerns me. In short, Ferrum struggled in all aspects of the game.

Ferrum was not in this one much past the coin toss, and this was a bit of a shock. I was more surprised by the inability of the offense to score, rather than the defense's inability to stop the Wasps. So I am curious as to what happened since last year?

1. Offensively, Ferrum is without Derrick West, Makaya Jackson, Avery Long, Cam Bailey, Joe McDonagh, and Tyler Brubaker (all of those started in game one last year)
2. They are without Scott Puschell
3. No replacement hired for last years running backs coach Chris Warren.
4. New Offensive Coordinator.

These are not excuses, these are facts. Of course there will be people that will not want to hear that, and look to blame everyone including the guy wearing the Panther costume. The loss Saturday was troublesome, and I am sure that there are going to be quite a few wake up calls in practice this week, but one must realize that this is a young team, and this was just the first game.

OK I am a "Homer" (I am assuming that this must indicate that I am not balanced in my reporting. That I should be calling for Harper's head, Adams head, and Bache's head....probably even the Panther mascots head.) I don't see it that way. Have we forgotten that Ferrum was Co Champion last year? Have we forgotten that they have been 14-6 over Harper's first two seasons? I am a strong supporter of what Dave Harper is doing, and while Ferrum did not win its opener, they have not done that in either of the last two seasons. In fact, in 2011, the Panthers started 0-2, before ending 7-3.
This may be a more difficult year. The next two weeks will show me a lot as to what Ferrum may do in the conference. I feel confident that Ferrum will get their ship righted, and while it may not always be smooth sailing, Ferrum's process of building a winner is continuing. In my preseason predictions, I picked Ferrum to again be 7-3, but seriously considered them to possibly be 6-4, or even 5-5. I will stand by my 7-3 prediction, but this means (in my opinion) that they have to win the next 2 for this to be a possibility.

If being a "Homer" means that I am a fan Ferrum, its a moniker I will gladly wear.

Go Panthers!