Following the Big Green's first winning season since 1997, the Dartmouth football team announced a "mutual parting of ways" with offensive coordinator Jim Pry who has only coached at the College since the fall in an e-mail sent by Rick Bender, Dartmouth's director of varsity athletic communications, on Wednesday. Head coach Buddy Teevens and the team cited "philosophical differences" as the reason for Pry's departure, according to the e-mail.
Although players are confident they will be able to build on the Big Green's past-season's success as they prepare for spring practice, Pry's departure caught many members of the team by surprise.
"I had no idea," quarterback Conner Kempe '12 said. "We had no word of it until Tuesday afternoon."
Teevens has not thoroughly explained Pry's departure to the team, according to Kempe. Some players have considered calling Pry himself for more information, Kempe said.
"The thing I've come to realize and understand throughout my collegiate athletic experience is that you have to remember at this level, the coaching profession is a business," tri-captain Tim McManus '11 said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth. "Change is constant within the coaching ranks of Division I football programs."
Dartmouth hired Pry last offseason to replace former Big Green offensive coordinator Mike Hodgson, who served in the role from 2006 to 2009. The team chose not to renew Hodgson's contract in Dec. 2009.
No candidates have been announced to replace Pry.
With Pry's departure, the 2011 season will become the third consecutive season under a different offensive coordinator. Both Kempe and McManus said they are optimistic that the team's offense can move forward, as the team's offensive system has remained consistent for the past several years.
"We'll keep running the same offense," Kempe said. "It's really not that big of a jump it's more the offensive coordinator adapting to our system. We may have changed schematically, but not as far as the plays we run."
McManus agreed that the Big Green's offense will not suffer as a result of the staffing change.
"We have a firm grasp of the offense and its nomenclature, and that's something that won't change with Coach Pry's departure, which is helpful," McManus said in the e-mail. "We won't have to learn a completely new offense rather, we can continue to expand and improve it during spring ball."
Dartmouth's offense showed broad improvements under Pry's guidance. The team jumped from seventh in scoring offense in the Ivy League to third, averaging over 10 points per game more in the 2010 season than it did in 2009.
Dartmouth also improved from a League-worst 293 offensive yards per game in 2009 to 344 yards in 2010.
The program will begin its search for a new offensive coordinator as the team prepares for spring practice. McManus said he is optimistic that Teevens will find a good fit.
"I know that whoever Coach Teevens chooses to appoint as our new offensive coordinator will be a great addition to an already superb staff," McManus said.
Kempe and running back Nick Schwieger '12 progressed under Pry, both improving statistically from the 2009 season. Kempe passed for over 600 more yards in 2010, and his completion percentage jumped from 51.5 percent to 54.2 percent.
"As any quarterback coach does, he helped me personally simplify a lot of the reads, different audibles, stuff like that," Kempe said. "I think he meshed pretty well with a lot of the players. He was able to get people to perform for him."
Schwieger experienced success in the position of running back, rushing for a League-high 1,133 yards second-most in Dartmouth history and tying the Dartmouth record for rushing touchdowns, with 14.
For his efforts, Schwieger was named League Co-Player of the Year, the first Big Green player to receive the honor since former NFL quarterback Jay Fiedler '94 in 1992.
Dartmouth will begin the 2011 season against Colgate University on Sept. 17 at Memorial Field.
The 2010 season was Pry's 34th as a professional coach, and his first with Dartmouth after a four-year stint as a wide receivers' coach at the University of Illinois. Pry has also coached at Duke University, the University of Akron and the University of Buffalo, among others. At Akron, Pry was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks' coach for quarterback Charlie Frye, who started 23 games for three NFL teams from 2005 to 2009. Frye played for the Oakland Raiders last season.
