HANOVER — With no competition this fall or winter, Dartmouth College athletic director Harry Sheehy hasn’t had to make any decisions about coaches’ futures.
When any collegiate athletic director sits down to evaluate a coach, a large part of the process revolves around the program’s success under a coach’s watch. But since the Ivy League made the decision to call off games due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sheehy doesn’t have an updated body of work to judge.
“Certain people are in different situations, but our intention is to be fair with those folks,” said Sheehy in a November interview. “Even if we had a partial schedule, I’m not sure it’s fair to evaluate coaches on that. We could very well do something like (a one-year contract extension).”
Because Dartmouth is a private college, the school’s records cannot be requested. The Big Green doesn’t release contracts upon signing, either, making it nearly impossible to determine which coaches are currently in the final year of their contracts.
Four-year contracts are the industry standard, allowing new hires a full recruiting cycle to build the program into what they envision.
That cycle has been thrown off by the pandemic. Dartmouth’s coaches have seen a large part of their jobs change, substituting Zoom calls for practices. Making it even harder is when competition returns, teams won’t have played together for roughly a year or more.
Around the NCAA Division I landscape, colleges that are playing still have continued the process of firing and hiring coaches.
But at lower-tier schools where cash isn’t flowing, most deals expire, so colleges aren’t forced to make significant payouts.
Recent coaching moves in Hanover include the decision to not bring back field hockey coach Amy Fowler after the 2019 season. Laura Schuler was also let go in August after three seasons with Big Green women’s hockey resulted in 19-61-6 overall record.
“We have not asked anyone to take any pay cuts,” Sheehy said in November. “I don’t know what’s ahead of us because there are quite a few places, including Penn, that has furloughed quite a few people; we have not gotten there yet. We already had problems at Dartmouth; nonetheless, throw the pandemic on top of it, I don’t think anyone knows what this is going to look like when we come out on the other side.”
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Former Dartmouth wide receiver Drew Estrada has landed at Baylor as a grad transfer, announcing his commitment on National Signing Day on Dec. 16. Located in Waco, Texas, Baylor is less than two hours from his hometown of Argyle, Texas. His final list of schools included Florida State and TCU.
In the 2019 season with the Big Green, Estrada hauled in 51 passes for 827 yards and eight touchdowns and added 222 yards and a touchdown on the ground en route to being named to the All-Ivy League second team.
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Drew Estrada@drewestrada
Wide Receiver
Dartmouth#SicEm | #BUiltDifferent pic.twitter.com/6Yh9cfdy31— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) December 16, 2020
Estrada also returned 15 kicks for 225 yards and a touchdown, adding to his value in the transfer portal as an All-Ivy League return specialist.
His former teammate, Jake Guidone, announced on Twitter he was entering the transfer portal Dec. 8 as a grad transfer with two years of eligibility remaining.
A native of East Walpole, Mass., Guidone earned a spot on the All-Ivy League honorable mention list for exceptional blocking at tight end in 2019 despite not catching a single pass. He caught two touchdown passes in the 2018 season.
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CollegeHockeyNews.com reported on Dec. 23 that former Dartmouth men’s hockey forward Matt Baker is transferring to UMass. He ranked fourth in scoring last season for the Big Green with 24 points (six goals, 18 assists).
Baker will play for the Hockey East program in 2021-22 as graduate transfer. His departure is part of a larger movement of players from Ivy League institutions who are deciding to transfer because their schools decided not to play this winter.
NCAA recently announced players in such situations could transfer and play immediately with a new school instead of having the typical one-year wait.
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Matt Kaskey became the second Dartmouth football alum to see NFL regular season action this year.
An offensive lineman and 2019 grad, he played special teams for the Carolina Panthers on Sunday in their 33-7 loss to the New Orleans Saints. His first official NFL snap came in the first quarter when he lined up for the Panthers’ PAT try.
Kaskey has been on the sidelines for two games this season, earning promotion from the practice squad. He was added to the permanent 53-man roster prior to the season finale on Sunday.
Niko Lalos signed a free-agent contract in April with the New York Giants. A practice squad player most of the NFL season, Lalos got the call to join Big Blue for a Nov. 29 win over Cincinnati in which he contributed an interception.
It is the first time that Dartmouth has had two active NFL players since 2005, when quarterback Jay Fielder was with the New York Jets and fullback Casey Cramer saw action in a game with the Panthers.
Pete Nakos can be reached at pnakos@vnews.com.