Jordan has decided to shirk his duty to this column this week to compete in rugby nationals in Atlanta, Ga., so I am stepping up as a guest columnist and will be filling in for him in this week's Toe to Toe, in which Mike and I have decided to discuss Bob Whalen's tenure as baseball coach at Dartmouth.
So the question we will try to answer is, should there be pressure on Bob Whalen as Dartmouth's baseball coach? My answer: YES. Many of you are likely to think I am a fool, especially since the team is doing so well this year -- I agree with you wholeheartedly. But let me just clarify before I continue, so when you lambast my argument later on, it will be for the right reasons. I am not saying Whalen should be fired or asked to resign or any nonsense like that. What I am saying is that other coaches at Dartmouth have faced a great deal of scrutiny this year, and I don't feel that Whalen deserves a free pass.
When I think about the Bob Whalen era of Dartmouth baseball, I just can't help but harken back to Marc Levy's tenure with the Buffalo Bills in the early 1990s. For those of you who don't remember, the Buffalo Bills went to the Super Bowl four times from 1990 to 1994, and lost every time. Similarly, Bob Whalen has taken Dartmouth baseball to the Ivy League championship four times, but has not led the Big Green to an Ivy League crown.
At some point, you have to start asking the question: Does Bob Whalen choke under pressure? It is true that a manager has only so much control of his team during a game. Yet, I can't help but respond that Bob Whalen has gone to great lengths to try to control his team. For example, during my freshman year, and at least part of my sophomore year, I remember that he called pitches from the dugout. He has also served for a time during his tenure at Dartmouth as both the pitching coach and head coach. I am sure he knows a great deal about pitching, but some might say serving as the head coach and pitching coach might be a little too much to handle.
When I spoke with Knapp, he told me that the best team during the season does not always win a short championship series. For example, no one who lives outside of the shadow of St. Louis' Arch truly believes the Cardinals were the best team in baseball in 2006, despite their World Series success in defeating the Detroit Tigers.
When it comes to a sample size of one season, I agree with Knapp -- teams may have some bad luck. But if Knapp's argument of 'randomness' in a short series is true, Dartmouth must have traded away Babe Ruth, or a fan must have brought a billy goat from Chicago to a game, because the Big Green has not won a championship in 19 years. Every other Ivy League team, except for Cornell, has won the title since Whalen came to town in 1990.
I think we should examine the statistics a bit differently than Knapp does in order to truly understand the Whalen era. While it is true that Whalen is close to becoming Dartmouth's all-time winningest baseball manager, he is already the all-time losingest baseball manager in Dartmouth history. He just has coached the most games in Dartmouth history. I am not trying to say his statistics are poor -- not in the least. He has the third highest winning percentage of active coaches in Ivy League play. What I am trying to say is that, if he has been coaching here for such a long time and his statistics are similar (or better) than everyone else's outside of championship play, then why do his statistics differ when it comes to the Ivy League title series?
Now, like Knapp, I am a firm believer that college athletics, especially in the Ivy League, are about more than just winning or losing. A good coach will teach his players valuable lessons that extend beyond the playing field -- lessons that they will remember for the rest of their lives. But, as one of my friends, who is an economics major, has told me, mentoring players and winning championships does not have to be a zero-sum game -- that is, it does not have to be one or the other. I say, let's expect our coaches at Dartmouth to do both, and if we are going to put other coaches at Dartmouth in the "Budweiser Hot Seat," as I know Mike and Jordan have done this year, let's put a little pressure on Whalen as well.
Anyway, all Whalen has to do to shut me up is win the Ivy title this year. The team is having another wonderful season, and may be well on its way.
