Dartmouth is the Big Green. Tulane is the Green Wave. Dartmouth plays at Memorial Field. Tulane plays in the New Orleans Superdome. Most importantly, Dartmouth is Division 1-AA. Tulane is Division 1-A, and one step closer to the big show for former Dartmouth football coach, Buddy Teevens '79.
"In terms of the football end of it, it's very similar." Teevens said. "The X's and O's, strategy and so forth . . . I think the Ivies do a very good job in that regard."
Still, the size of the stakes and the players have increased dramatically. Tulane plays its home games in the Superdome in front of crowds of 30 to 50,000. The big games are no longer against Penn, Princeton and Harvard. They are against Alabama, Florida State and Boston College.
"Playing Alabama over in Birmingham really was a thrill," Teevens said. "We played well in front of their home crowd."
"I also remember Florida State, going down and seeing the level of athletes that they have participating, the tremendous fan support that they have," he said. "Certainly the score is one that I'd like to forget (Tulane lost 70-7), but it was interesting just to see the spectacle."Still, the big crowds and big scores have not clouded over the big picture. In 1991, Tulane went 1-10, the team's 10th consecutive season with a winning percentage below .500. For the third time in his coaching career, Teevens is faced with reviving a floundering football program.
In 1985 and 1986, Teevens coached the Maine Black Bears to consecutive winning seasons for the team's first time in 21 years.
In 1987, he returned to Hanover and lost eight of his first 10 games with his alma mater. But by the end of 1991, Dartmouth had won its second straight Ivy League title, and Hanover was too small to contain Teevens' potential.
Now Teevens prepares to enter his third season with Tulane, after going 2-9 and 3-9 in his first two seasons in New Orleans. Despite the difficulties and the pressure, Teevens remains optimistic.
"Coming in, we had a scheduling situation which was quite challenging," he said. "Now the young kids are progressing. We feel we're bigger and stronger and faster than Tulane has been in a long period of time."
Even at Division 1-A level, Teevens maintains an Ivy-like commitment to educated athletes.
"I think the school is pleased to see that we're improving not just athletically but academically," he said. "The student athletes are doing a much better job across the board. We're really pushing the idea of graduation in four years with a fifth year used towards graduate study. We've had a number of guys involved in the graduate program while they've been competing and that's a unique opportunity."
After two seasons of adjusting to a new system of recruiting and training, Teevens is finally ready to put his team on the field.
"With the redshirt situation, you don't really have an impact until your second year," he said. "The first two years here I've really been playing with someone else's guys."
The players, too, have had to adjust to 'The Buddy System'.
"It takes a bit of time to understand what your expectation level is, especially when you've come into a program that's lost for a number of years." Teevens said.
"Now I really believe that we're heading in the right direction."
As for Teevens' direction, the National Football League is still a distant goal.
"It's been interesting, being able to go over and see the Saints play on a regular basis [New Orleans] and getting to know some of their coaches," he said. "It's a different environment, really more of a business at the pro level."
The soft-spoken Teevens refuses to look too far beyond the present. "Certainly Dave Shula ('79, head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals) and the success he's had has been fun to follow," he said. "But right now, I've got a job to do here."
The move to New Orleans has not been all hard knocks for Coach Teevens and his family. The New England snow has given way to the New Orleans sun and Winter Carnival has been replaced by Mardi Gras. Teevens had the opportunity to ride in one of the parade floats with two other Dartmouth alumni from his class of 1979.
"People ask me what it's all about and I can't tell you," he said. "It's colorful. It's indescribable."
Teevens continues to keep tabs on Big Green quarterback Jay Fiedler '94 through the New Orleans Saints' scouts. During the season, he also continues to "check the box scores every Sunday and wish Dartmouth well."
In the meantime, loyal Dartmouth fans can keep track of their rising star and look forward to bigger things from Buddy Teevens at Tulane.
"The attitude is slowly taking shape and the kids are coming along," Teevens said. "The success will follow."
