In 2010 did the unthinkable and Head Coach Buddy Teevens of the Dartmouth College football team banned tackling from all practices, in-season, spring football, and the pre-season.
This is the main change he made of many to promote player safety in his program and the whole Ivy League since because of him the whole Ivy League conference bans tackling in in-season practices as well. Many football fans think taking to many precautions will ruin the game of football and make it less enjoyable, but Teevens thinks things have to change to make the game safer so it endures. ” ‘Oh, we’ll do something else,’ he said. “But I also look at the data and the medical side of it. Something has to be done.”
Also though all the rule changes in the NFL have been making it tougher for players just to play, and has made it less enjoyable, Teevens changes has improved the quality of football in the Ivy League. In the past two seasons the Ivy teams are 36-12 against non-conference opponents. The whole Ivy conference banned tackling in 2016 so that better supports the impact of this rule in that 36-2 record. More players are staying healthy and becoming more educated on CTE and other injuries in football. Before 2010 Dartmouth was a joke and Teevens was on his last straw. In 2008 they went 0-10 and in 2009 2-10. 2010 they went 6-4 and since have only had one losing season in 2016 in which they finished 4-6. Right now they are undefeated.
Of course contact still occurs in practice since even though tackling isn’t occurring helmets are still colliding when lineman clash and other contact occurs. Teevens makes sure his boys can still tackle by having them practice on moving robot tackling dummies controlled by coaches. He started doing this 2 years ago and since other programs in all levels have followed suit.
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