HANOVER — Dartmouth College football began spring practice this week without head coach Buddy Teevens, who remains hospitalized in Florida with serious injuries weeks after being struck by a pickup truck while riding a bike.

On Tuesday, Dartmouth named longtime assistant coach Sammy McCorkle as acting head coach for the spring.

“We’re doing what (Teevens) wants us to do,” McCorkle, who also coaches the defensive secondary and special teams, said after the practice. “We’re going to push forward, just like he would expect us to.”

Dartmouth has given no updates on Teevens’ injuries or specific condition. Mike Harrity, the college’s first-year athletic director, told a Zoom audience comprising Friends of Dartmouth Football members Tuesday that his department will defer to Teevens’ wife, Kirsten.

McCorkle was the only person from the football program made available for interviews after practice.

McCorkle said Big Green players and staff have leaned on one another as necessary since learning about Teevens’ accident.

“Everybody handles the situation in their own way,” he said. “If you’re struggling and having a tough time ... reach out.”

McCorkle, who played safety at Florida, was hired by Teevens when the latter returned for his second stint as Dartmouth’s head coach in 2005. He’s carried the associate head coach tag since 2014 and is known for creating deep relationships with Big Green players.

“Everybody thinks it’s the coaches supporting the kids, but it’s actually the opposite,” McCorkle said, recalling his emotions at the Big Green’s first team meeting after Teevens was hit on March 18 while biking home from dinner with his wife in St. Augustine, Fla. “Just seeing our players made me feel better… because you’re back to normalcy a little bit.”

Dartmouth’s assistant coaches have mostly served long stints under Teevens and in the Ivy League. Teevens’ willingness to cede more control to his staff roughly a decade ago has been credited as a major reason why the Big Green has become a championship-level program.

Dartmouth was limited by injuries last fall and endured a 3-7 campaign, but the silver lining of having used an astounding 80 players in games is the resulting depth. There are six fifth-year seniors on the roster, including returning captains Nick Howard, a quarterback, and Quinten Aiello, a safety.

“That’s huge,” McCorkle said. “They know the expectations. They know, like (Teevens) talked about all the time, the importance of doing the little things right.”

Another key to keeping the program running smoothly in Teevens’ absence is ninth-year director of football operations Dino Cauteruccio, a wealth of knowledge and organization who meets with McCorkle daily.

“He and I sit down for hours and we schedule every single thing,” McCorkle said. “He’s a machine.”

The acting head coach, identified on the field by his trademark wide leg stance and frequent arm gestures, said playing at a fast pace is the emphasis of Dartmouth’s 12 spring practices. The approach forces players to pay strict attention to the learning process.

“Even with our injuries, we were in most of our games last year,” McCorkle said. “I think our guys know that if we’d done a little bit extra, it might have made a difference. They know that every play is important.”

Still for all that was the same on Tuesday, a veteran observer of Big Green practices, could discern Teevens wasn’t present. A glance at Memorial Field’s sidelines indicated something out of the ordinary.

Teevens is a stickler for keeping the Big Green’s playing surface immaculate and orderly. He would pick up the smallest bit of trash or debris, and constantly move unused footballs, blocking pads and water carts off the sidelines, in an effort to keep players safe.

Notes: McCorkle’s oldest daughter, Maddie, is a Hanover High graduate and a lacrosse midfielder at Duke, which is 6-6 overall and 1-5 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. She has played in every game with eight goals and an assist. A sister, Kimball Union Academy senior Allie McCorkle, has committed to play at the University of Colorado… Dartmouth defensive line coach Duane Brooks, whose mobility has declined in recent years, now uses a wooden staff for support as he travels the field… We all the know the sound of a metal whistle, the type blown with a “pea” inside. That’s been replaced at Dartmouth by the distinctive chirp of an electronic version… Big Green baseball coach Bob Whalen, a gridiron enthusiast, popped his head in briefly after an adjacent loss to UMass-Lowell dropped his team to 1-20… Offensive line coach Keith Clark stood through the entire practice despite being only three weeks removed from his second hip-replacement surgery… Freshman defensive lineman Joe Onuwabhagbe, a Texan, is nicknamed “Joe O.”

Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.

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