Current:Home > StocksDartmouth football coach Buddy Teevens, an innovator and the school’s winningest coach, dies at 66-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Dartmouth football coach Buddy Teevens, an innovator and the school’s winningest coach, dies at 66
View Date:2024-12-23 20:38:22
Buddy Teevens, the successful and innovative Ivy League football coach who brought robotic tackling dummies to Dartmouth practices and strived to make the game safer, died Tuesday of injuries he sustained in a bicycle accident in March. He was 66.
School president Sian Leah Beilock and athletic director Mike Harrity announced Teevens’ death in a letter to the Dartmouth community.
“Our family is heartbroken to inform you that our beloved ‘coach’ has peacefully passed away surrounded by family. Unfortunately, the injuries he sustained proved too challenging for even him to overcome,” the Teevens family said in a statement. “Throughout this journey, we consistently relayed the thoughts, memories and love sent his way. Your kindness and letters of encouragement did not go unnoticed and were greatly appreciated by both Buddy and our family.”
Teevens, the winningest football coach in Dartmouth history, had his right leg amputated following the bicycle accident in Florida. Teevens and his wife, Kirsten, were riding on a road in the St. Augustine area when he was struck by a pickup on March 16.
Kirsten Teevens said her husband also suffered a spinal cord injury in the accident. The couple had moved to Boston to continue his rehabilitation closer to loved ones.
Buddy Teevens’ longtime assistant, Sammy McCorkle, has been leading the Dartmouth football team this season as interim coach. The Big Green opened the season last weekend with a loss to New Hampshire.
The school said McCorkle informed the team of Teevens’ death Tuesday, and the Big Green planned to play its home opener Saturday against Lehigh. There will be a moment of silence before the game and a gathering of remembrance afterward.
Teevens was a former star Dartmouth quarterback who went on to become the school’s all-time leader in wins with a 117-101-2 coaching record in 23 seasons. He coached the Big Green from 1987-1991 and returned in 2005. His teams won or shared five Ivy League championships.
In 1978, Teevens was the Ivy League player of the year, leading Dartmouth to a league title. He also was a member of the school’s hockey team.
He began his coaching career at Maine and in between his stints at Dartmouth he served as head coach at Tulane and Stanford. He was also an assistant at Illinois and at Florida under Hall of Fame coach Steve Spurrier.
But Teevens’ lasting legacy will be in his efforts to make football safer.
He reduced full-contact practices at Dartmouth in 2010 by focusing on technique, while still leading winning teams.
He also led the development by Dartmouth’s engineering school of the the Mobile Virtual Player, a robotic tackling dummy that has also been used by other college programs and NFL teams.
“Either we change the way we coach the game or we’re not going to have a game to coach,” Teevens told the AP in 2016 after Ivy League coaches voted to eliminate full-contact practices during the regular season.
Teevens also tried to create more opportunities for women in college football, hiring Callie Brownson to be an offensive quality control coach for the Big Green in 2018. She was believed to be the first full-time Division I female football coach.
“Buddy was a Dartmouth original,” Beilock and Harrity said in their letter. “He will be greatly missed and dearly remembered by so many members of the community whose lives he touched and changed for the better.”
Teevens, who was born in Massachusetts, is survived by his wife, their daughter, Lindsay, and son, Buddy Jr., along with four grandchildren.
___
AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll
veryGood! (1834)
Related
- Whoopi Goldberg Shares Very Relatable Reason She's Remained on The View
- King Charles' coronation will draw protests. How popular are the royals, and do they have political power?
- Deepfake video of Zelenskyy could be 'tip of the iceberg' in info war, experts warn
- Mystery recordings will now be heard for the first time in about 100 years
- NY forest ranger dies fighting fires as air quality warnings are issued in New York and New Jersey
- One year later, the Atlanta spa shootings; plus, tech on TV
- Sleep Your Way to Perfect Skin With Skincare Products That Work Overnight
- Can the SEC stand up to the richest man on the planet?
- Jennifer Garner Details Navigating Grief 7 Months After Death of Her Dad William Garner
- With federal rules unclear, some states carve their own path on cryptocurrencies
Ranking
- The ancient practice of tai chi is more popular than ever. Why?
- China public holidays bring a post-COVID travel boom, and a boost for its shaky economic recovery
- A Russian court bans Facebook and Instagram as extremist
- Facebook and TikTok block Russian state media in Europe
- Subway rider who helped restrain man in NYC chokehold death says he wanted ex-Marine to ‘let go’
- Second convoy of U.S. citizens fleeing Khartoum arrives at Port Sudan
- Sephora 24-Hour Flash Sale: Take 50% Off Too Faced, StriVectin, and More
- Fidelity will start offering bitcoin as an investment option in 401(k) accounts
Recommendation
-
Justine Bateman feels like she can breathe again in 'new era' after Trump win
-
4 reasons why social media can give a skewed account of the war in Ukraine
-
Fidelity will start offering bitcoin as an investment option in 401(k) accounts
-
Elon Musk saved $143 million by reporting Twitter stake late, shareholder suit claims
-
Arkansas governor unveils $102 million plan to update state employee pay plan
-
Biden administration to let Afghan evacuees renew temporary legal status amid inaction in Congress
-
Russia-Ukraine war: What happened today (March 21)
-
A firm proposes using Taser-armed drones to stop school shootings