Indian Sports

By Benjamin Flickinger | Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Indians Basketball Seeks Head Coach

As the search for a new head coach for the men's basketball team winds down, the number of candidates has been cut to four finalists, according to a report published by the Valley News.

Dartmouth is looking for a new coach after Dave Faucher resigned after thirteen seasons with the Indians. Dartmouth finished with a 3-25 record this year, dropping their last 18 in a row.

The four finalists include University of Pennsylvania assistant coach Gil Jackson and Williams College head coach Dave Paulsen. Also in the running are Terry Dunn, an assistant at the University of Colorado, and George Washington University assistant Steve Pikiell.

Jackson and Paulsen are rumored to be the favorites. Jackson has been with the Quakers for fifteen years, during which they've won eight Ivy League titles. Jackson was in the running for Columbia's coaching job last year, which ultimately went to Joseph Jones, previously an assistant at Villanova.

Paulsen has been the head coach at Williams for four seasons, amassing a 104-16 record during his tenure there. He has also been the NCAA Division III coach of the year two years in a row.

Paulsen led Williams to the Division III national title two years ago and guided them to the NCAA finals again this season before falling to Wisconsin-Stevens Point 84-82.

Dunn has been an assistant with the Buffaloes for seven seasons, and has been coaching basketball for over twenty years. Colorado went 18-11 last year, including a trip to the NIT, where they lost in the opening round to Oregon in overtime 77-72.

Before being hired by the Buffaloes, Dunn spent time coaching at West Point and at the Air Force Academy before heading to Colorado State, where he assisted the Rams for several seasons until heading to Colorado.

Pikiell just finished his third season at GWU, helping guide the team to an 18-12 record and an NIT appearance. Prior to joining the staff at George Washington, he also spent time on the staffs at Central Connecticut State and Yale.

Dartmouth is just one of three NCAA Division I schools currently without a head basketball coach. The only other schools yet to fill their head coaching vacancies are Chattanooga and Louisiana-Lafayette.

Baseball Defeats Harvard, Hosts Princeton in ILCS

— Strong Indian bats beat the Crimson and helped win the division title. —

Dartmouth's baseball team entered the weekend series with Harvard with a two-game lead over the Crimson, needing only a split to clinch the Red Rolfe Division Title. It took a hard fought series and all four games, but they managed to win the division with a 7-2 victory in the second game of a doubleheader at Red Rolfe Field.

With the division title in hand, Dartmouth will host Lou Gehrig Division Champion Princeton in the Ivy League Championship Series on Mother's Day weekend. Dartmouth previously hosted Princeton in 2001, where they lost the series in three games after winning the opener.

With the wind howling out to right field on Friday, Dartmouth lost the first game in Cambridge 20-9. They then trailed late in the second game before some heroics by Brian Zurhellen '05 and Scott Shirrell '04 pulled Dartmouth to a 13-10 victory.

Trailing 10-7 heading into the ninth inning, Zurhellen and Shirrell each hit 3-run homers to turn the three-run deficit to a three run lead for the Indians.

Having earned the split on Saturday, Dartmouth needed only a split in the two games in Hanover to clinch the division. Harvard would not go quietly, however, using a three-run homer to break open the game and take the opener 5-0.

Game two was all Dartmouth, however, as freshman phenom Steve Perry extended his scoreless streak to 16 innings in Dartmouth's 7-2 victory. Perry took a shutout into the ninth inning before Harvard hit a two-run bomb to deep left field that nearly cleared the pine trees behind the fence. He settled down to get the last two outs for the complete game victory.

Bucs Take Cramer '04 in NFL Draft

Dartmouth tight end Casey Cramer '04 was chosen by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the seventh round of the April 25th NFL draft. The Bucs will likely use Cramer in the backfield as a fullback or second blocking back in short yardage situations.

The 6'2", 245-pound senior was just the second Indians player drafted in more than twenty-five years. Dartmouth's last draft selection was linebacker Zack Walz '98, who was a sixth-round pick by the Arizona Cardinals in 1998.

Cramer caught 180 passes for 2,405 yards in his Dartmouth career. He was the second Ivy Leaguer chosen on the weekend. Tampa Bay also tapped Yale's Nate Lawrie, a 6'5" tight end.

A unanimous first team All-Ivy selection in 2001 and 2002, Cramer earned All-America recognition as a junior, including second team honors by the Associated Press.

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