Not-so-raw recruits
After losing seasons in football, hockey, men's basketball, and women's basketball, Dartmouth Athletics has some good news for next year: Recruiting for the 1985-86 freshmen is complete, and coaches seem pleased with the results. Here's a look at how Dartmouth fared in a few sports:
Football
Coach Joe Yukica and his staff focused on recruiting players for the "ball-handling" positions and seem to have found them. On offense, Dartmouth needed quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers, while defensively there was a need for linebackers and secondary personnel. Last year, Dartmouth concentrated on recruiting offensive and defensive linemen.
Looking at both the classes of '88 and '89, Yukica likes what he sees. "When you put the two of them together, they blend real well," he says. "We went heavy after big linemen last year, and this year we got more quality athletes than we've had in any class for at least the past four or five years." When recruiting players for ball-handling positions, Yukica says it's vital to have versatile athletes with a lot of natural ability. "Athletic ability is either there or it isn't," he says. "You can't teach quickness and speed."
At quarterback, the prize recruit appears to be 6'0", 170-pound Jim Horvath of Phillipsburg, N.J. Last year, Horvath completed 102 of 172 passes for some 1,500 yards and 23 touchdowns.
The pressure to find quality running backs was off by mid-December, when three promising ball-carriers signed on through Early Decision: Chris Pollard, who broke all of Deerfield (Mass.) Academy's rushing records last fall; Jeff Lambert of Twin Falls, Idaho; and Brendan Lesch of Westport, Conn.
The top wide receivers are Craig Morton of Plymouth, Mich., and Trevor Russell of Dekalb, Ill. Both were offered scholarships by Mid-American Conference schools.
There are two tight ends whom Yu- kica considers excellent prospects. Matt Ridenour, 6'5", 195 pounds, caught 46 passes last fall for his high school in West Lafayette, Ind. David Gazzaniga of Santa Ana, Calif., at 6'5" and 220 pounds, has the size to be a first-rate tight end. His father, Alan B. Gazzaniga, is a '58.
Defensively, Dartmouth did extremely well in recruiting players for its secondary. Yukica is counting on Paul Michael of Tampa, Fla., and Tim Williams of Sarasota, Fla., at defensive back. Michael was also recruited by the University of Florida. The top recruits at linebacker are Paul Sorenson, 6'2", 210 pounds, from Cupertino, Calif., and Matt Heywood, 6'0", 205 pounds, of Sunrise, Fla. Sorenson was Player of the Year in his high school conference.
Yukica says there's not a lot of size as far as incoming linemen are concerned, but a few players stand out: Richard Outzen, 6'3", 225 pounds, of San Mateo, Calif.; Karl Muehlheuser, 6'2", 240 pounds, of Richmond, Va.; and Raymond Prado, 6'2", 225 pounds, a highlytouted offensive lineman.
The best kicking prospects in the class of '89 are Carl Romero of Englishtown, N.J., and Owen Desmond of Lakeville, Conn.
Men's Basketball
In an informal poll, Ivy League sports information directors said Dartmouth had the best recruiting year of the eight schools. The main reason is Dartmouth's landing of Jim Barton, a 6'4" swingman from Memphis, Tenn. Barton was offered a full basketball scholarship by Memphis State and was also recruited by Princeton, Vanderbilt, Rice, and Virginia. Barton is a scoring machine. He tallied more than 2,000 points and shot 53 percent from the field in his high school career. "He's a zonebuster," says Dartmouth assistant coach Dave Faucher. "Nobody expects him to miss." Barton, regarded as one of the top ten players in Tennessee, was spotted by Dr. Alan Nadel '64 of Memphis.
Other recruits include Darin Macoux, a 6'6" forward from Green Bay and an Associated Press first-team all-state pick in Wisconsin.
Dartmouth's biggest need is in the frontcourt, where there was no one over 6'5" on the team that went 5- 21. That will change next year with the addition of 6'11" center Jason Lobo of South wick, Mass. Lobo needs polishing, but his height will definitely be an asset.
Eugene Sims, a 6'6" forward from Amarillo, Tex., is a human flyswatter, who promises to delight fans with his shot-blocking ability. "He needs work on his offense, but he's very athletic," says Faucher. Another player who will contribute in the frontcourt is John Bean, a 6'4" forward from Dorchester, Mass.
The top two guard recruits are John Drescher of Ventura, Calif., and Tom Hogan of Green Bay, Wis. Dartmouth had two outstanding freshmen starting at guard this past season in Bryan Randall, the Ivy Rookie of the Year, and John Mackay, the team's second leading scorer.
Women's Basketball
When Jackie Hullah was named head coach last spring, she said she wouldn't shy away from recruiting players offered scholarships by big-time basketball schools. Hullah has kept her word
Liz Walter of Sheridan, Wyo., is the top catch. Walter, the state's leading scorer and rebounder the past three years, averaged 20.7 points and 11.2 rebounds per game. "She was recruited by most of the major colleges in the country," says assistant coach Ethel Gregory. "She's very strong physically, and she has the athletic intensity to be a winner."
Dartmouth got another fine player through Early Decision - Nancy Fitz, a 6'0" forward from Chagrin Falls, Ohio, who was offered a full scholarship at Cincinnati.
The team's weakest spot in recent years has been at guard. Jenny Bloom, a shooting guard with good range from 20 to 22 feet, should help immediately. Bloom, who is from Oakland, N.J., picked Dartmouth over Lafayette and Yale. Another guard with promise is Meg O'Brien of Waltham, Mass. O'Brien selected Dartmouth over Brown and Harvard.
A player to watch is Michele Ledo of Fair Haven, Vt. She's a 6'1" forward whom Gregory considers "a sleeper who has her best days ahead of her."
Men's Hockey
After getting three top-notch players through Early Decision, the hockey staff could have relaxed a little bit. But head coach Brian Mason and his staff worked right up until the May 1 deadline, landing nine more recruits. "I think we had a pretty good year," says Mason. "Out of the 12 players we got, ten of them have the potential to step right in and play."
All three Early Decision players are forwards (Tom Finks of Choate (Conn.) Academy, Andy Donohue of Belmont Hills, Mass., and Ed Cepuron of Barrie, Ontario), so Mason and assistant coaches Bob Gaudet 'Bl and Scott Borek '85 concentrated on getting defensemen. They didn't have to look far to get Doug Bowman from nearby Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, N.H. "He's got good skating skills and he can really fire the puck," says Mason.
Dartmouth had to outhustle Harvard and RPI to get Butch Coughlin of Canterbury School in New Milford, Conn. "We were really pleased to get him," says Mason. "He's a big, strong defenseman who can skate and shoot the puck."
Owen Desmond of Lakeville, Conn., has been recruited to play both hockey and football. He'll be working as a placekicker in the fall and a defenseman in the winter. At 6'3" and 210 pounds, he's got the kind of size Dartmouth hockey has been lacking in recent years. He was offered a full hockey scholarship at RPI, which won the NCAA Division I national championship this year.
Dartmouth also landed Rob Goulet of Matignon Prep School, which has one of the premier teams in Boston, and Pat Kendall of Choate (Conn.) Academy. Goulet, 5'9" and 180 pounds, was captain of his team and was pursued by Yale and Princeton. Kendall, a teammate of Finks, is a physical player who's not afraid to mix it up along the boards.
With an average of fewer than three goals per game in 1984-85, Dartmouth was looking for offensive punch, too. In addition to the three Early Decision forwards, three other forwards will be coming to Dartmouth. Tom Earl of Barrie, Ontario, is a right-winger who was a first-team all-star in his league. Mark Glover is a center who was sought by all the Ivies and the scholarship schools. He played for Phillips Andover Academy. The other forward is Derek Tweddell of St.-Foy, Quebec, captain of one of Canada's best Midget teams.
There will also be a freshman goalie on next year's team, Tim Osby of Ottawa, Ontario. "1 think he has a bright future in college hockey," says Mason. "We would like to groom him and bring him along slowly."
In last year's 5-18-1 season, one of the few bright spots was the play of goalie Mark Hoppe 'B7 in the second half of the season. Hoppe, playing 17 games, stopped 87.5 percent of the shots he faced. "The way Hoppe played the second half of the season, we didn't think goal-tending was as pressing a concern as other areas," says Mason.
The feeling around the Ivy League seems to be that Dartmouth had one of the best recruiting years of any school; probably only Harvard did better. Mason credits his assistants with most of Dartmouth's success. "They both know Dartmouth inside out and they can sell the school real well." He says the team "got a lot of good quality players whom we can build the future around. We're not going to go out and tear the Ivy League apart next year, but we'll be a much more enjoyable team to watch. The nice thing is we went head-to-head recruiting with the other schools and we won some battles."
Running back Lorenzo Chambers '85, astandout on the gridiron for Dartmouth lastfall, was signed this spring as a free agentwith the NFL's New York Giants.
