"Getting into coaching"
When Buddy Teevens '79 was a junior, he filled out a form for the Dartmouth Sports Information office. When he came to the space reserved for career plans, he wrote "undecided."
Now, less than eight years later, he finds himself one of the youngest Division I-AA head football coaches in the country. The 28-year-old native of Pembroke, Mass., was named head coach at the University of Maine in February. "I really didn't see myself getting into coaching," he says, looking back to his undergraduate days. "I thought about going to business school."
But soon after he graduated, Teevens got an offer from former Dartmouth assistant football coach Jerry Berndt to move to Indiana. Berndt had just been appointed head football coach at De- Pauw University and asked Teevens to come along as a graduate assistant.
A year later, Rick Taylor, another former Dartmouth assistant, asked Teevens to join his staff at Boston University as receivers' coach. Four years later, Teevens has his own program.
"Sometimes I wonder if I'm dreaming because things have happened so fast," he says, "but obviously I'm happy with the way things have gone."
Teevens was one of about 50 coaches to apply for the Maine job. Realistically, he knew he was a "longshot" because of his limited experience. But with sparkling recommendations from people like Dartmouth coach Joe Yukica, Teevens found himself among the seven finalists.
"I didn't know what they were looking for, but I felt good through the interview process," says Teevens, the youngest finalist. "I was still surprised when I received the job."
Teevens has been pulling off surprises since he was a football and hockey standout at Dartmouth. After being a second-stringer as a junior, he came on to quarterback Dartmouth to an Ivy League championship in 1978, coach Joe Yukica's first year at Dartmouth.
Teevens-became only the second Dartmouth athlete ever to win the Asa S. Bushnell Cup as the Ivy League's Football Player of the Year. Quarterback Jim Chasey '71 shared the initial Bushnell Cup in 1970 with Cornell's Ed Marinaro.
After football season was over, Teevens lettered for 'the third year as a right wing on Dartmouth's hockey team. Not only a stand-out on the field, Teevens was respected off the field as well.
Sports Information Director Kathy Slattery tells the story of the day she tried taking the team photo for the 1978 football squad. Teevens was already involved in preseason practice with the hockey team when it was time to take the football team photo. He probably could have just missed 15 minutes of hockey practice to be in the photo, but he didn't think that was appropriate. Football was over and he had to concentrate on hockey. But some members of the football team insisted Teevens be in the photo. So they waited more than an hour for Teevens to finish hockey practice and come to the photo session. "The football team's attitude was like if Buddy couldn't be in the picture, it wasn't worth taking," says Slattery.
The Teevens family has long been associated with the College. Buddy's father, Eugene 11, graduated in 1952, and his brother, Shaun '82, played football and hockey. Buddy's sister, Moira '87, is an outstanding runner for the crosscountry and track teams.
Since getting the Maine job, Teevens has been working seven days a week. In his first three weeks at Maine, he hired a new six-man coaching staff, introduced a new playbook, started a new weight-lifting program, and made plans for spring practice. He also did some last-minute recruiting.
Maine posted a 5-6 overall record and a 2-3 mark in the Yankee Conference last year. The last time the Black Bears had a winning season was 1982. It's Teevens's job to change that.
His goals for the 1985 season include being competitive in the Yankee Conference and posting an overall winning record. "It's a little bit crazy at this time, but we're on the right track." he says. "The first step is always the hardest."
Good weather and good baseball graced the Big Green's spring training trip to Florida. Theteam returned with a best-ever 4-4 record, and junior co-captain Jim Lavery, above, cameback with a .333 batting average.
