Head Coach Buddy Teevens

Eugene F. (Buddy) Teevens III ’79, the winningest coach in Dartmouth football history, will miss the 2023 season as he recovers from injuries he suffered in a bicycle accident in Florida back in March. Entering the preseason, he was continuing his rehabilitation in Boston, closer to family and friends.

In his first stint as the Big Green head coach (1987-91), Teevens led the squad to back-to-back Ivy League titles in 1990 and ’91. Following turns as the head coach Tulane and Stanford, he returned as the Dartmouth head coach in 2005 and has won three more titles in 2015, ’19 and ’21. In addition, he led the Big Green to the 1978 Ivy League championship as a player, making him just one of three Ivy Leaguers to win a conference crown as a player and a head coach.

Teevens, who will turn 67 during the 2023 campaign, won his first Ivy championship as a head coach with a 6-1 mark in the league and 7-2-1 record overall in 1990. The very next year, he matched that overall mark while guiding the squad to a 6-1 record and the outright championship with a 6-0-1 mark. His record in 23 years at the helm stands at 117-101-2.

During his second head-coaching stint in Hanover, Teevens returned the Big Green to their glory days with a share of the Ivy League crown in 2015, ’19 and ’21, posting identical records of 6-1 in conference play and 9-1 overall in all three campaigns. Dartmouth finished the 2015 season ranked 23rd among the FCS schools, the first national ranking for the Green since its previous Ivy title 19 years prior. In 2019, Dartmouth was ranked in the top 25 again at No. 21, and after missing out on the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team didn't miss a beat in 2021 with a national rank of 20.

With just four starters returning on offense and defense combined, the 2021 version of the Big Green quickly shook off the rust and turned into another juggernaut, ranking in the top three nationally in scoring defense (third) for the third straight season while finishing eighth in scoring margin (eighth) as well while earning a share of its league-record 20th Ivy League crown. The team they shared the crown with, Princeton, suffered a 31-7 shellacking at the hands of the Big Green. Quarterback Derek Kyler set school records for completion percentage in a season and career while being named a finalist for the Bushnell Cup, linebacker Jalen Mackie was a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, given to the nation’s top defender, and 17 players earned All-Ivy honors with five chosen for the first team. Teevens also received his second consecutive Ivy League Coach of the Year nod.

The 2019 squad began the year by winning its first eight games, including a 9-6 win at Harvard on a Hail Mary pass and a 27-10 triumph at Yankee Stadium over previously unbeaten and ninth-ranked Princeton. The Big Green shared the conference crown with Yale, a team they beat in a 42-10 homecoming blowout. The Dartmouth defense ranked second nationally in fewest points allowed per game for the second straight year (12.4) and was spearheaded by Jack Traynor, the Bushnell Cup winner as the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year. Fifteen players earned a total of 16 All-Ivy honors, including six on the first team, and Teevens was named the Coach of the Year for the league as well as the region by both the New England Writers Association and the American Football Coaches Association.

The Big Green ended the 2018 campaign ranked 15th in the coaches’ poll while narrowly missing out on a perfect season, posting a 9-1 record and 6-1 mark in the league. The lone loss came on the road against undefeated Princeton, 14-9, denying Dartmouth the conference crown. The defense was stout, ranking second in the nation in fewest points allowed, led by consensus All-American and Bushnell Cup winner Isiah Swann who led all of Division I with a school-record nine interceptions. Both OL Matt Kaskey and DL Rocco Di Leo were named All-Americans, and a total of 17 players earned All-Ivy honors, including eight on the first team.

In 2017, Dartmouth barely missed out on another title as well, tying for second with a 5-2 mark with the two losses by a combined eight points. The Big Green were the only Ancient Eight team to defeat Yale thanks to the largest comeback for a victory in program history (21 points), plus won their first game at Fenway Park in 73 years. No less than 16 players received All-Ivy recognition, while OL Matt Kaskey and LB Jack Traynor were pegged for the All-New England Team.

The 2016 season was highlighted by Dartmouth’s seventh Bushnell Cup winner in linebacker Folarin Orimolade, as well as a victory over in-state rival New Hampshire — ranked 22nd in the nation at the time — for the first time in 40 years.

Quarterback Dalyn Williams ’16 finished up his career in 2015, setting numerous career passing and total offense records for the program, and linebacker Will McNamara ’16 was a finalist for the Defensive Player of the Year while eight players were named to the All-Ivy League First Team as the Big Green won their first conference crown in 19 years.

Before the most recent championship, Dartmouth narrowly missed out on conference crowns in each of the previous three seasons. In both 2013 and ’14, the Big Green finished just one game back of the leaders, denying 19th-ranked Princeton an outright title in 2013 with a memorable victory in a snowstorm. The following season, Dartmouth was 8-2 overall and 6-1 in the league, plus garnered a school-record 10 first-team All-Ivy honors, 17 in all.

The 2012 campaign saw Dartmouth miss out on a share of the Ivy title by a mere eight points while Williams was named the league’s Rookie of the Year. And in 2011, the Big Green tied for second in the conference standings — their best finish in eight years — as Nick Schwieger ’12 ran wild, piling up 1,310 yards on the ground to rank second nationally and earn Third-Team All-America honors.

The 2010 season brought a return to the traditional winning ways of Dartmouth football as the Big Green secured its first winning season in 13 years with a 6-4 overall record. Schwieger shared the Bushnell Cup as the Ivy League’s co-MVP by rushing for a conference-best 1,133 yards.

Teevens holds the Robert L. Blackman Endowed Coaching Position, named in memory of Bob Blackman, who coached Dartmouth from 1955 to 1970, and created through the gift of Henry M. (Hank) Paulson ’68, an outstanding offensive tackle who played for Blackman from 1965-67.

In addition to restoring Dartmouth’s rich football tradition, Teevens has been an integral force in a series of major improvements to Dartmouth’s football facilities, including installation of a FieldTurf surface on Memorial Field for the 2006 season, the opening of the new Floren Varsity House in 2007 that includes training, dressing and meeting facilities, and the addition of lights prior to the 2011 campaign. Dartmouth also replaced the West stands and press box after the 2014 season for a more comfortable setting to watch the Big Green.

Teevens succeeded John Lyons at the helm of the Big Green and is the 21st coach in the program’s 125-year history. Teevens was Dartmouth’s 19th coach during his first tenure.

From 2002 through 2004, Teevens was the head coach at Stanford University. Prior to that, Teevens was on Steve Spurrier’s staff at the University of Florida from 1998 to 2001. In 1999, Teevens was Florida’s running backs coach. In 2000, he was the passing game coordinator while also coaching tight ends, wide receivers, kickers, snappers and holders. The following year, he was the assistant offensive coordinator and tight ends coach.

His first game with the Gators was the 1999 Orange Bowl. In his three full seasons at Florida, the Gators went 29-9, participated in three bowl games and finished among the top 12 in the final polls each season. In his final year in 2001, the Gators went 10-2, defeated Maryland in the Orange Bowl and finished ranked third in both national polls.

From 1997 to 1998, Teevens was the offensive coordinator and receivers coach at the University of Illinois under Ron Turner.

From 1992-96, Teevens was the head coach at Tulane University. He rebuilt that program and recruited most of the team that went 11-0 in 1998.

Teevens began his coaching career in 1979 as the running backs coach at DePauw University. In 1980, he became the offensive coordinator at Boston University and remained with the Terrier program until 1985 when he was appointed the head football coach at the University of Maine.

He led the Black Bears to a 6-5 record in 1985 and a 7-4 mark in 1986, the program’s first back-to-back winning seasons in 21 years. At Dartmouth, Teevens has been honored as the New England Coach of the Year three times (1990, 2015 and 2019).

Highly regarded in football circles, Teevens has been an integral part of the famed Manning Passing Academy since its inception more than a quarter century ago and has been singled out as one of the driving forces behind the camp’s success. He serves as an associate director of the camp, overseeing all aspects of the on-field operation and coaching staff. In 2018, he organized the camp’s first clinic for women coached by women in 2018, then hired one of the coaches to become the first full-time female Division I coach that fall in Callie Brownson.

Teevens has been on panels for “Practice Like Pros” to extol the virtues of cutting down on full-contact practices by focusing on technique, which in turn limits injuries suffered in practice and in games. And it was his vision that led to the development of the Mobile Virtual Player (MVP), a robotic tackling dummy, invented by staff and students of Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering. The MVP is now in use at numerous NFL and college practices to help cut down on the number of player-on-player hits and reduce injuries. In addition, he serves on the NCAA committee on competitive safeguards and medical aspects of sports.
Born October 1, 1956, Teevens earned an A.B. degree in history from Dartmouth in 1979. An honorable mention All-America quarterback in 1978, he led the Big Green to the Ivy title that year. He was named the Ivy League and ECAC Player of the Year and played in the Blue-Gray Classic. Co-captain of the 1978 team (6-3, 6-1 in Ivy games), Teevens was the squad’s most valuable player. He also lettered in hockey, helping Dartmouth to a third-place finish at the 1979 NCAA championship. He was voted the Alfred W. Watson Trophy as Dartmouth’s outstanding athlete.

The name Teevens is intertwined through Dartmouth athletic history. Buddy’s father, the late Eugene F. Teevens II ’52, was a hockey letter winner. His younger brother, Shaun ’82, was a two-sport athlete in football and hockey and also a recipient of the Watson Trophy. A sister, Moira ’87, captained the women’s cross country and track teams and earned All-Ivy and All-East recognition as a runner.

A native of Pembroke, Massachusetts, Teevens and his wife, Kirsten, have two children: Lindsay lives in Lebanon, New Hampshire, with her husband Matt, daughter Caroline and son Jack, while Buddy Jr. also lives in Lebanon with his wife McKeanna, son Eugene V and daughter Leila.