McCorkle Named Ivy Coach of the Year; Dartmouth Earns 18 All-Ivy Honors

HANOVER, N.H. — Sammy McCorkle, Dartmouth's Robert L. Blackman Head Football Coach, was selected by his peers as the Ivy League Coach of the Year after his first year at the helm of the Big Green, the conference office announced in conjunction with the naming of its All-Ivy League honors. Dartmouth, which won a share of its 21st conference crown this fall, had a total of 18 honors bestowed upon its players, most of any team in the league. Three Big Green made the first team, six more earned a spot on the second team and eight were honorable mentions, plus one member of the Academic All-Ivy Team.

Picked to finish sixth in the preseason media poll, Dartmouth was coming off a 3-7 season and a pair of tragedies in March — one a bicycle accident that ultimately led to the passing of long-time head coach Buddy Teevens in September, the other the death of Josh Balara '24 following a lengthy battle with cancer. McCorkle, who had spent 18 years on Teevens' staff in Hanover, started out as the acting head coach during spring practice, became the interim head coach prior to the fall campaign and was elevated to the endowed position mid-season. In the face of all the swirling emotions, McCorkle was the Big Green's rock, guiding the team to a share of the program's 21st Ivy League title (most in conference history) with a 5-2 record in the Ancient Eight. He also became the 10th person in conference history to win the crown in his first year as a head football coach in the league.

The three first-team selections represented each unit of the squad — Nicholas Schwitzgebel (offense), Charles Looes (defense) and Owen Zalc (special teams). Schwitzgebel, a 6-1, 300-pound senior on the offensive line, started all 10 games at left guard and played nearly every snap, anchoring a line that yielded the second-fewest sacks (5) of any team in the FCS while also opening holes for the second-best rushing attack in the Ivy League (174.4 yards per game). The native of Cleveland, Ohio, was an honorable mention a year ago when he started all 10 games at right guard.

The Ivy League leader in sacks with 7.5 for the Big Green this year, Looes came on strong toward the end of the season with six sacks in the final three games, including four against Princeton to tie a Dartmouth single-game record. The 6-3, 275-pound defensive end from Hillsdale, New Jersey, had a total of 43 tackles, 9.5 going for a loss, and 7.5 sacks while hurrying the quarterback five times, batting down three passes at the line, forcing two fumbles and recovering one, plus blocked a field goal attempt in a two-point victory over Princeton.

Zalc, a 5-10, 160-pound first-year place kicker from Cary, North Carolina, broke Dartmouth and Ivy League records in his first season in Hanover. He not only set a new standard for field goals in a season by a Big Green kicker, converting 17 in 21 attempts, but he also broke the Ivy record for field goals in league play (14). He booted three field goals in a game, including the game-winner in overtime at Penn to lift Dartmouth to a 23-20 victory in its Ivy League opener. His 1.7 field goals per game are the third most in the FCS, and his 81.0 percent accuracy ranks 17th nationally as well. Combined with his 25-of-26 PAT conversions, Zalc led the Ivy League with 76 points and set the program's scoring record for a freshman, while his 7.6 points per game ranks 25th nationally.

A total of five players garnered six selections on the second team — Macklin Ayers and Marques White at linebacker, Josiah Green on the defensive line, Paxton Scott at wide receiver and Sean Williams as both a defensive back and a return specialist.

A 6-3, 235-pound senior from Elizabethville, Pennsylvania, Ayers led Dartmouth and ranked fifth in the Ivy League with 79 tackles, three of which went for a loss with a sack, a team-high six quarterback hurries, three pass breakups and one interception. Ayers also was named to the Academic All-Ivy League Team with a 3.82 GPA while majoring in sociology modified by environmental studies.

White, a 6-2, 245-pound fifth-year senior from Glendale, Arizona, missed the first six games with an injury but returned with a vengeance with three sacks at Harvard. A second-team selection in 2021, he played in the final four contests, collecting 11 stops with 3.5 sacks and a forced fumble.

Green proved to be a handful at defensive tackle, starting all 10 games and leading the Big Green linemen with 46 tackles, 7.5 for a loss, and 1.5 sacks. The 6-0, 265-pound junior from Indianapolis, Indiana, chipped in on a tackle for a loss in eight of the 10 contests, plus had three quarterback hurries, two pass breakups and a fumble recovery to his credit.

One of just five receivers in the league to catch at least 50 passes, Scott was Dartmouth's most consistent offensive player throughout the season. A 6-1, 200-pound senior, the native of Dallas, Texas, had at least one reception in every game and twice recorded a career-high 10 catches, topping 150 yards in both instances. An honorable mention two years ago, Scott finished the year with 51 grabs for 630 yards, both figures good for fifth in the conference.

Williams, a sophomore from Nolensville, Tennessee, is a 5-9, 190-pound safety who started every game and was second on the squad with 55 tackles and second in the Ivy League with four interceptions, all of which came in the final four contests. He also contributed five pass breakups, forced two fumbles and recovered another. As the Big Green returner on kickoffs and punts, he ranks second in the league in both categories as well as among the top 20 nationally — 17th in punt returns (10.9 yards per return) and 20th in kickoff returns (24.4 yards).

Eight players received honorable mention: offensive linemen Kyle Brown (Sr., Marcellus, N.Y., started every game) and Delby Lemieux (So., Duxbury, Mass., played in eight games and started last seven); quarterback Nick Howard (5-Sr., Green Bay, Wis.) who was fourth in the league with 613 rushing yards and ran for 10 touchdowns; running back Q Jones (Jr., Fountain, Colo.), sixth in the league with 572 rushing yards and four scores plus caught 26 passes for 108 yards; tight end Nic Sani (Sr., Turlock, Calif.) who was an excellent blocker and caught a pair of passes, linebackers Danny Cronin (Sr., Elmhurst, Ill., 55 tackles, five for a loss, one sack and one interception in eight games) and Braden Mullen (Jr., Glenview, Ill., fourth in the Ivy League with 5.5 sacks despite missing the entire second half of the season with an injury); and cornerback Leonard St. Gourdin (Sr., Malden, Mass.) who had 48 tackles, broke up eight passes, forced two fumbles and recovered two as well.

Notes: This is the third time a Dartmouth coach has been named the Ivy League Coach of the Year since the award was instituted in 2014, more than any other team; Teevens was honored in both 2019 and 2021 … over the last 10 seasons, Dartmouth has had more first-team, second-team and honorable mention selections than any other team with 150.

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