Teevens to be honored with stadium naming as Big Green face Penn
Published: 10-03-2024 7:00 PM |
How do you honor the legacy of a man whose impact on the field, on the game at-large, on a school, on a community, is so profound and far reaching?
That’s the question Dartmouth has been asking itself in the 365 days and counting since longtime coach Buddy Teevens passed away on Sept. 19, 2023 from injuries sustained in a Florida bicycle accident six months earlier.
The process of honoring the Big Green’s winningest coach in program history began in the wake of his passing, including a celebration of life in May that 1,500 people attended. It will continue this weekend when the stadium officially becomes “Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field” on Friday ahead of Dartmouth’s Ivy League opener against Penn at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
The stadium dedication will be held on Friday at 5:30 p.m., and will feature five different speakers, including Buddy’s wife, Kirsten Teevens, Dartmouth President Sian Leah Beilock, and senior linebacker Micah Green. People can still register to attend the dedication through Friday, according to a Dartmouth spokesperson.
Teevens’ legacy will be further engrained in Dartmouth’s future following the creation of three initiatives, announced by the college on Tuesday, which would have been his 68th birthday.
A new center will expand on elements of the Dartmouth Peak Performance program, with research focusing in “areas of emphasis,” including biomechanics, engineering, cognitive science and quantitative social sciences, the college said in a press release.
A scholarship fund has been established in the Teevens’ honor for “the culture of inclusivity they fostered.” Dartmouth said the goal is to have a quartet of Teevens Scholars every year, one to represent each undergraduate class. Investments in coaching endowments, facility renovations and technology upgrades will assist the continued development of the football program, too.
Teevens, who starred as a quarterback for Dartmouth before winning 117 games in two stints across 23 seasons as the Big Green’s head coach, left an indelible mark on the program.
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His ethos that Dartmouth players will be “a great football player when it’s football time, a great student when it’s academics time, and a great person all of the time,” remains central to the team’s identity, coach Sammy McCorkle said. It’s a message McCorkle continues to preach and an ethos the players continue to embody. It’s also become a component of Dartmouth’s admissions process.
“It’s part of the essay for the application this year,” McCorkle said. “So for all students who are applying to Dartmouth, they actually write an essay based on that quote. So, (it’s) pretty cool, it really is. Because that’s who he was, it was genuine. … Everybody involved with Dartmouth football, we all believe that.”
When Dartmouth (2-0) takes the field against Penn (1-1) this weekend, thus begins “playoff time,” according to McCorkle. The last two meetings between the Big Green and the Quakers have needed overtime. Ultimately, regardless of what happened to open the season, it’s all about “trying to go 1-0.”
McCorkle, now in his second year helming the Big Green, said the team learned how to balance its emotions and still play football during a turbulent 2023 campaign, one that concluded with a share of the Ivy League title — Dartmouth’s third title in four seasons.
Dartmouth will need to do it again in what will surely be an emotionally-charged weekend in Hanover.
“We’re going to enjoy this week and show our appreciation … of coach (Teevens),” McCorkle said. “But the greatest (way to honor Teevens), that I know he would want us to do, is go out there and play well and play hard.”
Here a couple other storylines to monitor ahead of Saturday’s game:
Malachi Hosley was Penn’s first freshman to win Ivy League rookie of the year honors in 30 years. He was a first-team all-conference selection and a finalist for the Jerry West Award, bestowed annually to the best freshman in the FCS, after rushing for 723 yards and seven touchdowns. It was one hell of a debut campaign.
But when the Quakers and Big Green met early last season, Hosley had just 18 rushing yards on four carries, a mark that tied his season low. He did catch four passes for 66 yards, a season-high mark in yardage.
Through just two games this season, Hosley has 43 carries for 307 yards, but he is still searching for his first touchdown of 2024.
After struggling to shut down Merrimack running back Jermaine Corbett, who rushed for 137 yards and two scores last Saturday, McCorkle heralded the Stonehill transfer as “one of the better (running backs) that I’ve seen in a long time.” Such a performance also makes the Big Green more cognizant of playing as a cohesive unit and being gap sound, McCorkle said.
“We’ve got to be able to play fast, we’ve got to be aggressive,” McCorkle said. “Like you saw last week, if you allow gaps, you allow an opportunity for Corbett to hit a hole like that. He’s going to make you pay for it.
“And Malachi will do the same thing. If you’re not disciplined, you’re not where you’re supposed to be defensively, he’s going to find that open space and he’s going to make you pay for it. So we’ve got to be disciplined.”
One of the featured storylines of Dartmouth’s offseason was the team’s diversion from the dual-quarterback system that has defined the program’s offense in recent years.
It was made clear during preseason camp that Jackson Proctor would be the team’s starting quarterback, with sophomores Woods Ray and Grayson Saunier backing the senior up. The running back room was set to field greater touches too, a reality that excited both the players in the room and the coaching staff.
But through two games, a pair of late scampers from Saunier — one 31-yard rushing score against Fordham and a crucial 10-yard rush in the fourth quarter against Merrimack — could be an early inkling that McCorkle might have found his “running” quarterback.
While Saunier is not of the same bruising body type mold as Jared Gerbino or Nick Howard, the Louisiana native does possess deceptive speed and a big 6-foot-2-inch, 210-pound frame that McCorkle said he “definitely wants to continue to utilize.” His “football savviness,” as the second-year head coach put it, is also a standout trait.
“He’s had some really good success for us,” McCorkle said of Saunier. “He’s another guy (like Proctor), who’s very composed in (late game) situations. … Nothing is too big for him.”
Alex Cervantes can be reached at acervantes@vnews.com or 603-727-7302.