Spotlight on Robby Pride

For someone who might have been a pretty fair high school quarterback had he played football, Robby Pride has made a successful audible since coming to Dartmouth.

A senior captain of the Dartmouth basketball team, Pride had absolutely no intention of playing lacrosse for the Big Green. Although he'd been a standout both on the hardwood and with a stick at Colorado's Kent Denver School, the 6-foot guard was sure basketball, and basketball only, would be his game.

It was, during his freshman year.

Then came the audible.

It started when Ian Ferrell, Pride's high school classmate and college roommate, not to mention a high school All-American in lacrosse, decided to join the team after his sophomore year as a wide receiver with the football squad. The more Pride talked with his buddy about what he was doing, the more convinced he was that it was an idea worth investigating.

"My dad really wanted me to play lacrosse to begin with, but I told him, 'No, I'm playing basketball,' " Pride said. "Then Ian decided to play and I started thinking about it.

"My dad used to say if you have the chance, why not try it? He had offers to play college basketball but didn't play and always regretted it. I realized I didn't want to look back and have that kind of regret."

And so the former Rocky Mountain News Mr. Basketball in Class 3A went to the Dartmouth basketball coaches and made them a promise.

"I told them if I could play I wouldn't touch a lacrosse stick until the basketball season was over," he said. "I told them basketball is always going to come first."

In his first year he appeared in 16 games, scoring 20 points and capping the season by earning the Alvin F. "Doggie"Julian Award for spirit and enthusiasm.

"Coming out of a smaller high school I don't think I necessarily learned the game the way I needed coming into college," he explained. "The college game is faster, certainly, but it's also a lot smarter game and I wasn't used to that. In high school I could force action and plays and get away with it because I was more athletic than a lot of guys.

"When you get to this level it's not like that. The other guys are just like you. It took me a little too long, but I learned to play smarter. I think I kind of figured it out toward the end of my freshman year."

As a sophomore Pride was one of just three players to appear in all 28 games. He hit double figures for the first time in his college career in the second game of the year when he scored 10 points in a win over VMI and topped that with an 11-point showing in a win over Maryland Eastern Shore.

"I think I was a lot smarter player as a sophomore," Pride said. "I gained confidence and the coaches gained some trust in me."

So much trust that they eventually suggested the idea of adding something besides lacrosse to his plate.

"They mentioned to me at the end of my sophomore year that I might be a captain," Pride said. "The thought hadn't even crossed my mind but I was excited about it."

As a junior co-captain, Pride helped the Big Green stay together through a rough non-conference season before helping them to a fourth-place 7-7 mark in the Ivy League with some landmark wins. The overtime victory at Harvard was Dartmouth's first at Lavietes Pavilion in 10 years, the series sweep over Penn was the first for the Big Green in 50 years, and a weekend road sweep of the Quakers and Princeton Tigers was a feat the squad had never accomplished since the Ivy League began play in 1954-55.

"The win at Harvard really opened a lot of people's eyes," Pride said. "It was the confidence boost we needed to make last season successful."

The Green are looking for that boost again this year. Some close calls have not ended in Dartmouth's favor, including losses to Harvard and Penn by a total of just six points. But as the lone captain this year, Pride is among the team's scoring leaders at eight points per game and anticipates the team turning the season around after an 0-6 start in the league.

"Our optimism has not diminished," Pride stated. "[Interim Head] Coach Graupe has us working hard and believing in each other. We just need to find a way to finish off some games."

While he doesn't get to practice his lacrosse skills Pride believes that playing and practicing against the kind of athletes he sees regularly on the basketball court really does make the transition to lacrosse defense easier. But that's not to say it is painless.

"The only transition I have trouble with is being sore," he said. "I end up being sore all the time because of the length of the strides. Basketball is choppy and side-to-side whereas lacrosse is up and down."

Sore or not, Pride ended up playing in 10 lacrosse games as both a sophomore and junior, scoring one goal and picking up two assists two springs ago. He started four of the six Ivy League contests in 2008 and finished second on the team in ground balls.

"I remember one year coming back for a workout after lacrosse and one of the coaches said, 'Would you please stop fouling people? You aren't playing lacrosse anymore.' I'm just really glad I decided to do it."

Schedules

Players Mentioned

Ian Ferrell

Robby Pride

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Schedules

Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus Yale on February 13, 2026 , Loss , 70, to, 83

Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus Brown on February 14, 2026 , Loss , 76, to, 79

Completed Event: Men's Basketball at Columbia on February 21, 2026 , Win , 64, to, 63

Completed Event: Men's Basketball at Penn on February 27, 2026 , Loss , 71, to, 80

Completed Event: Men's Basketball at Princeton on February 28, 2026 , Loss , 61, to, 82

Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus Cornell on March 7, 2026 , Loss , 90, to, 111