The Whale House

Craig Haley used to write for the Trenton Times, and much of what he covered by the end of his time there involved Princeton football and basketball.

TigerBlog can't remember when he left the beat, but Craig has been one of the leaders in covering college football on the FCS level for a long time. Recently, he sent an email out saying that, even without the usual FCS season to be played in 2020, there would be a one-time Top 25, as if it was back in March or so and whoever was going to be playing would actually be playing.

That poll was released yesterday.

Not surprisingly, North Dakota State was the No. 1 team in the preseason. For that matter, it's also not surprising that the Bison received all 147 first-place votes.

No Ivy League team was ranked in the Top 25. There were three league teams in the "others receiving votes" category, with Dartmouth, Yale and Princeton tightly bunched.

For full disclosure, they went in that order, at what would have been 31st, 32nd and 34th. The competitive side of TB doesn't like to admit that Princeton was the third in the group, even if it's a hypothetical ranking for a season that won't happen.

As TigerBlog has mentioned before, this will be the first fall in which Princeton has not played an official varsity football game since 1871. The Tigers played in 1869 and 1870, all against Rutgers, and then played Rutgers again in 1872. 

In 1871, there were only unofficial games against the Seminary, and those aren't counted in the records.

Between 1872 and 1877, Princeton added games against Penn, Columbia, Harvard and Yale, and Tiger football was off and running.

Now it's taking a pause, along with much of the country, due to the COVID-19 situation. 

There will still be football this fall, presumably, and there will still be Princetonians to root for, at least on the professional level.

As of now, Princeton has five players on NFL rosters. In a normal year, they'd all be well into the preseason, hoping to make a big impression there to secure their roster spots. Instead, there is no preseason, only the coming season openers in a little more than two weeks.

There's also a Princeton connection in the NFL coaching ranks, one that is far easier to root for this year than in year's past. 

That, of course, is Jason Garrett, the 1987 Bushnell Cup winner as the Ivy League Player of the Year as Princeton's quarterback. He set records back then that still stand at Princeton, including lowest career interception percentage.

If you followed his career at all, you know that he spent a great deal of time as a player (winning two Super Bowls) and ultimately head coach with the Dallas Cowboys.

Ah, but that's all in the past. Now he's back where he should be, in New Jersey, as the offensive coordinator for the Giants, the team he rooted for as a kid. 

If you're looking for the definitive story about Jason Garrett, then click HERE and read Ryan Dunleavy's piece from the New York Post earlier this week. There's a lot in there in general, and there's a lot in there from Princeton head coach Bob Surace, a teammate with Garrett at Princeton.

In fact, Surace was the center when Garrett won the Bushnell Cup. That's like catching a great pitcher. 

The story in the Post includes this:

“There’s an old-school mentality to Jason,” Surace said. “He and his dad both have a way of making you feel like they believe in you. He makes average football players feel great.”

What Surace said there is so true. It's a trait of the best coaches, and it's something TB has always said about Bill Tierney, the Hall of Fame lacrosse coach who won six of his seven NCAA titles with Princeton.

When you're around Jason, you can't help but get swept up by his energy and passion. It's just something that oozes out of him, and it inspires the people around him.

One of the best parts of being in the job he's had for the last 30-plus years is that TB has heard some of the greatest public speakers out there. The way some people can capture a room is so impressive, and there is a very short list of people TB has heard through Princeton Athletics who stand out more than any other.

Pete Carril is one, but in a bit of a different way, as he is more of a professor than an orator. His words have always carried great weight, even if he wasn't a booming physical presence in the room. 

Dick Vitale, though not a Princetonian, spoke at halftime of a Princeton-Wake Forest men's basketball game at the Meadowlands in the 1996-97 season, and TB had never felt anyone dominate an audience like that. 

Jason Garrett is just as good, as good at it as anyone TB has ever heard. He has the presence. He has the enthusiasm. He has the message. 

And, like the very best of them, everything is coming straight from the heart.

Anyway, read the story about Jason and his family. It's really good.

And root for him this fall. 

It's never been easier.