Crouthamel Named Football Coach

Dartmouth's new head football coach is hardly a stranger to Dartmouth football.

John Jacob Crouthamel '60, or more simply Jake, has been part of the Dartmouth football landscape for the better part of the last 15 years — first as a player and for the past six years as a member of Bob Blackman's coaching staff.

"I like to think that we are continuing an era of Dartmouth football," he said at the Boston press conference announcing his appointment as Blackman's successor.

"Bob Blackman established a Dartmouth tradition. I've been a part of it both as a player and a coach. An era is not ending. Rather, our goal is to produce a football team that is in keeping with Dartmouth's great winning tradition."

Dartmouth's football teams will play Jake Crouthamel's style of game. "It won't be an extension of Blackman," he said, although his thinking has obviously been influenced by Blackman.

"We will make some changes with the offense," he said, "adapting the system to the players. The defenses will remain intact."

Coordinating the development of Dartmouth's defensive strategy has been Crouthamel's responsibility for the past two seasons. The Indians have been extremely effective — shutting out six of nine opponents in 1970 and ranking no lower than fifth in the nation in the four major categories of defensive statistics.

Still, this 32-year old native of Perkasie, Pa., isn't totally oriented to defense. As a player he made his reputation as one of the greatest running backs in Dartmouth and Ivy League history. He also was a defensive halfback for Dartmouth when he wasn't piling up enough yardage to make him the Green's all-time rushing leader. "Defense was a necessary evil in those days," he admits.

Crouthamel came to Dartmouth in the fall of 1956. He was in the starting lineup as Dartmouth opened the 1957 season with a 27-0 win over New Hampshire and he was still there on a late-November day in 1959 when the Indians trimmed Princeton 12-7 to come within a whisker of successfully defending the Ivy League title they had won in 1958.

He started all 27 of Dartmouth's games during three varsity years and the Indians won 19 of them and tied two others. His most spectacular day was against Cornell at Ithaca in 1958 when he carried the ball 15 times, gained 140 yards, and scored three touchdowns.

In both 1958 and 1959 he was picked on the All-Ivy team and his selection by the late Stanley Woodward nearly ten years ago as one of the Ivy League's all- time backs is still a totally valid accolade. His career rushing total of 1763 yards still stands as a Dartmouth record.

Crouthamel had two alternatives when he graduated in 1960: he had been accepted into Stanford's business school but he first had to satisfy a stronger desire — a whirl at professional football.

He went to training camp with the Dallas Cowboys, starred in the preseason exhibition season, and seemed to have made the squad before being released on the final day of pre-season practice.

From there he went into the Navy, playing and coaching for three years at Pearl Harbor. When he was discharged he turned immediately to coaching, taking Mercersburg Academy to a 4-4 record in his first season. The following fall he was back in Hanover, the first man who had played for Blackman at Dartmouth to renew contact as a member of the varsity coaching staff.

He was party to immediate success as the Indians ripped to an undefeated season in 1965 and added the Lambert Trophy to their Ivy title. By the time the 1969 season rolled around, Crouthamel had become the senior member of Blackman's staff.

When Blackman announced his decision to accept the head coaching job at Illinois, Jake and his wife, Carol, made a pact not to discuss the chances of his being named the successor.

"Sure, I wanted the job, but I didn't think they would consider someone without head coaching experience," he said.

Seaver Peters was thinking otherwise. The Dartmouth athletic director first approached Joe Yukica, a former Blackman aide and the successful head coach at Boston College. When Yukica chose to remain at Boston College, Crouthamel immediately became the leading candidate.

A day-long series of meetings with members of the Athletic Council and President John Kemeny, plus a flock of impression-building phone calls to members of Dartmouth's undefeated 1970 squad who had yet to return from Christmas vacation, solidified Crouthamel's position.

So, after having one foot out the door for a move to Illinois with Blackman, Crouthamel became the first alumnus coach since Jackson Cannell '19, who preceded Earl Blaik and bracketed the Jesse Hawley era of the 1920's.

"Jake knows Dartmouth football," said Peters. "As a player and coach, he has developed an understanding of all areas of the football program at Dartmouth. I'm particularly pleased that we could go into our staff to find a successor to Bob Blackman."

If anything, Crouthamel is a realist. He invited the guests at the January dinner of the Dartmouth Trustees and Alumni Council to join him in shedding tears over the departure of a group of seniors who formed the nucleus of the great 1970 team.

But, in the same breath, he said, "I believe we know what it takes to win and this is our objective. I approach my new job with pride and humility — pride in the opportunity to uphold the Dartmouth tradition and humility in knowing that everything I am and hope to be I owe to Dartmouth."

John (Jake) Crouthamel '60