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University of New Hampshire Athletics
Football coach Sean McDonnell is excited about the renewal of the Dartmouth series.
Rivalry Renewed: McDonnell Excited for Dartmouth Series
12/20/2016 1:57:00 PM | Football, UNH Insider
The rivalry's been revived and University of New Hampshire head football coach Sean McDonnell is relieved. And excited.
It was McDonnell who expressed perhaps the most dismay when his football team played what at the time was its last scheduled game against Dartmouth College in September.
"I was disappointed, to be honest with you," McDonnell said shortly after four new games in the series were announced late last week. "It's a game I think should be played. It's the two Division I schools in the state playing each other. The Ivy League and the CAA, both very good at what they do, and they should be playing each other every year."
UNH and Dartmouth are taking a break for a bit in a series that dates to 1901 and that the Wildcats narrowly lead with 19 wins against 18 losses with two ties.
The two schools announced last week that they will resume their rivalry when they meet four times in a five-year span starting with a game in UNH's Wildcat Stadium on Oct. 16, 2021.
"Nobody knows where everybody will be when we get to that time," McDonnell said. "But when we do, it's an easy trip for both schools and an easy trip for their support people and fans and everyone else. In the end, I just think it's the right thing to do for college football and especially for college football in New England."
UNH athletics director Marty Scarano and deputy athletics director Steve Metcalf share McDonnell's enthusiasm for the series.
"I think it's fabulous," Scarano said. "It's fabulous for the fans of football in the state as well. I'm appreciative of the fact (Dartmouth athletics director) Harry Sheehy and the administration at Dartmouth find it of equal value and we're delighted we worked out this four-year series and hopefully it goes through perpetuity."
Dartmouth had scheduled both its nonconference and Ivy League games out several years and thus it will be a few years before the series resumes.
"Dartmouth and UNH continue to play each other in I think every sport that the two of us have," Metcalf said. "We have a great relationship with their administration. They're just great colleagues. Generally scheduling between the two institutions is very agreeable and is easy. We just had to go back and forth and find good dates."
Dartmouth owned the early games in the series that was played sporadically and UNH turned the tables in the 1970s. The Wildcats beat Dartmouth for the first time in 1973 and the teams tied 10-10 in 1979. UNH was unbeaten in 20 straight meetings until a 22-21 loss at Dartmouth in September.
McDonnell has been involved in the game as a player, as a UNH assistant under Bill Bowes and as head coach.
A couple of games in the series in Hanover stand out as particularly memorable to McDonnell.
He was a UNH defensive back in 1976.
"We went up there and thought we had a really good team and had guys like Billy Burnham and Jeff Allen and they beat us pretty good (it was 24-13)," he said. "I'll never forget the razzing we had to take after the game walking by the fraternities up there."
In 2002, McDonnell was in his third year as head coach and his teams had beaten Dartmouth a couple of times and were back in Hanover.
Dartmouth took a 26-22 lead with a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. Quarterback Mike Granieri led the Wildcats down the field and hit Michael Taylor with an 8-yard scoring pass for a 29-26 lead with 2:48 left in the game.
The Big Green drove the other way and had a first down on the UNH 13-yard line.
Linebacker George Yasso intercepted a Brian Mann pass to seal the UNH win.
"John Perry was their offensive coordinator and John Lyons was the head coach," McDonnell said. "They had us and George made a great play. We had been struggling that year and we found a way to win on the road."
Perry, a standout wide receiver at UNH, later was an assistant coach at UNH under McDonnell and now is an assistant in the NFL with the Houston Texans. Lyons has been the defensive coordinator at UNH the last six seasons.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
It was McDonnell who expressed perhaps the most dismay when his football team played what at the time was its last scheduled game against Dartmouth College in September.
"I was disappointed, to be honest with you," McDonnell said shortly after four new games in the series were announced late last week. "It's a game I think should be played. It's the two Division I schools in the state playing each other. The Ivy League and the CAA, both very good at what they do, and they should be playing each other every year."
UNH and Dartmouth are taking a break for a bit in a series that dates to 1901 and that the Wildcats narrowly lead with 19 wins against 18 losses with two ties.
The two schools announced last week that they will resume their rivalry when they meet four times in a five-year span starting with a game in UNH's Wildcat Stadium on Oct. 16, 2021.
"Nobody knows where everybody will be when we get to that time," McDonnell said. "But when we do, it's an easy trip for both schools and an easy trip for their support people and fans and everyone else. In the end, I just think it's the right thing to do for college football and especially for college football in New England."
UNH athletics director Marty Scarano and deputy athletics director Steve Metcalf share McDonnell's enthusiasm for the series.
"I think it's fabulous," Scarano said. "It's fabulous for the fans of football in the state as well. I'm appreciative of the fact (Dartmouth athletics director) Harry Sheehy and the administration at Dartmouth find it of equal value and we're delighted we worked out this four-year series and hopefully it goes through perpetuity."
Dartmouth had scheduled both its nonconference and Ivy League games out several years and thus it will be a few years before the series resumes.
"Dartmouth and UNH continue to play each other in I think every sport that the two of us have," Metcalf said. "We have a great relationship with their administration. They're just great colleagues. Generally scheduling between the two institutions is very agreeable and is easy. We just had to go back and forth and find good dates."
Dartmouth owned the early games in the series that was played sporadically and UNH turned the tables in the 1970s. The Wildcats beat Dartmouth for the first time in 1973 and the teams tied 10-10 in 1979. UNH was unbeaten in 20 straight meetings until a 22-21 loss at Dartmouth in September.
McDonnell has been involved in the game as a player, as a UNH assistant under Bill Bowes and as head coach.
A couple of games in the series in Hanover stand out as particularly memorable to McDonnell.
He was a UNH defensive back in 1976.
"We went up there and thought we had a really good team and had guys like Billy Burnham and Jeff Allen and they beat us pretty good (it was 24-13)," he said. "I'll never forget the razzing we had to take after the game walking by the fraternities up there."
In 2002, McDonnell was in his third year as head coach and his teams had beaten Dartmouth a couple of times and were back in Hanover.
Dartmouth took a 26-22 lead with a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. Quarterback Mike Granieri led the Wildcats down the field and hit Michael Taylor with an 8-yard scoring pass for a 29-26 lead with 2:48 left in the game.
The Big Green drove the other way and had a first down on the UNH 13-yard line.
Linebacker George Yasso intercepted a Brian Mann pass to seal the UNH win.
"John Perry was their offensive coordinator and John Lyons was the head coach," McDonnell said. "They had us and George made a great play. We had been struggling that year and we found a way to win on the road."
Perry, a standout wide receiver at UNH, later was an assistant coach at UNH under McDonnell and now is an assistant in the NFL with the Houston Texans. Lyons has been the defensive coordinator at UNH the last six seasons.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
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