overall record of 156-63. He has won nine Ivy League championships and has guided the Crimson to 13 straight winning seasons. In 2004 when Murphy led Harvard to an Ivy League title and a 10-0 record, there were plenty of calls for the Crimson to play in the postseason. Harvard was, in fact, the only unbeaten team in all of the then Division I-AA. Murphy pulled off the same feat exactly 10 years later when his 2014 squad went 7-0 in Ivy League play and 10-0 overall. The Crimson finished the season ranked 14th in the final FCS coaches poll.
Despite not permitting postseason play, plenty of Ivy League football players have moved on to the NFL. Harvard quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, an Ivy League MVP, has played for six teams in his 11-year career. At the 2016 NFL Draft, Princeton wide receiver Seth DeValve was selected in the fourth round by Cleveland and Harvard offensive tackle Cole Toner went in the fifth round to Arizona. The Crimson had four other players that signed on as free agents after the draft. Dartmouth had two free agent signings and Penn one.
While football is clearly not what it used to be, the Ivy League is not
completely out of touch with the benefits of big-time college football. In 2009, a new tuition policy was instituted at Harvard, Yale, Penn, Princeton, and Dartmouth. All students accepted into these schools from families that have incomes less than $ 60,000 per year would go to school for free. Those coming from families that earn less than $ 180,000 per year would spend just 10 percent of that income toward tuition. The idea could lead to more superior athletes who also excel in the classroom giving the Ivy League a try. Still, suiting up to play against Brown on a Saturday afternoon in front of 10,000 fans just isn’ t the same as running through the tunnel in the SEC or Big Ten.
“ Playing in the Ivy League was truly an honor,” said Royce Novosel-Johnson, a former strong safety at Dartmouth in the early 2000s.“ The players’ time commitments to practice, weight training, meetings, and film are just as rigorous as larger programs. The misconception people have with Ivy League schools is related to scholarships.” As mentioned, Ivy League schools still do not offer their football players scholarships of any sort.
“ It’ s a challenge and Ivy League coaches have a tougher job than their counterparts at larger schools,” Novosel-Johnson said.“ They spend as much time recruiting, watching film, coaching, etc. as coaches at FBS schools. The difference is that Ivy coaches have to find kids who are 1) good enough to play at a high level, 2) smart enough to make it through the course load from an academic standpoint, and 3) willing to play without a scholarship.”
The league continues to be ahead of the curve when it comes to things like concussions. Ivy League presidents formed a committee in 2010 to determine how the league could limit the number of concussions in a given season. The result was a move to limit the number of full contact practices( two) per week. In March of this year, the league became the first at any level to eliminate full contact practices during the regular season.
While a landmark move, the Ivy League is still hindered by its tradition. On one end are the hardliners who stick to the status quo. The Ivy schools are about academics, and any emphasis on sport takes away from the mission of America’ s finest institutions. On the other end are those who see the benefits of more national exposure to their schools via athletics. The Ivy League continues to renew its TV deal with NBC Sports Network that televises between four and ten football games each year. The Game, Harvard versus Yale, is a staple that the network has broadcast every year since 2008.
For now, it appears that the Ivy League will continue to remain somewhere between tradition and big-time football.
Photos Courtesy of: Princeton University Athletics
28 www. coachandplayer. com
In 1950, Princeton’ s # 42, Dick Kazmaier, was the last Ivy League Player to win the Heisman Trophy.
* Bednarik was a three-time All- American at Penn and went on to star for the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL. He was the last full-time two-way player in professional football. He is the only Ivy League football player in both the college and professional Halls of Fame.