- Buddy Teevens was driving in Florida when he was hit by a pickup truck on March 16.
- Kirsten Teevens said her husband also suffered a spinal cord injury in an accident.
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Buddy Teevens, the innovative Ivy League football coach who brought robotic dummies to Dartmouth practices, died Tuesday from injuries he suffered in a bicycle accident in March. He was 66 years old.
School President Sian Leah Beilock and athletic director Mike Harrity announced Teevens’ death in a letter to the Dartmouth community.
“Our family is heartbroken to inform you that our beloved “coach” passed away peacefully surrounded by his family. Unfortunately, the injuries he suffered proved too much for even him to overcome,” the Teevens family said in a statement to Dartmouth.
“Throughout this journey, we have constantly relayed the thoughts, memories and love that were sent to him. Your kindness and letters of encouragement did not go unnoticed and were greatly appreciated by Buddy and our family.
Teevens had his right leg amputated following the crash in Florida. Teevens and his wife, Kirsten, were driving on a St. Augustine-area road when he was struck by a pickup truck on March 16.
Buddy Teevens died Tuesday from injuries he suffered in a bicycle accident in March.
Kirsten Teevens said her husband also suffered a spinal cord injury in the crash. The couple had moved to Boston to continue their rehabilitation closer to their loved ones.
Longtime Buddy Teevens assistant Sammy McCorkle led the Dartmouth football team this season as interim coach. The Big Green opened the season last weekend with a loss to New Hampshire.
The school said McCorkle informed the team of Teevens’ death Tuesday and that Big Green planned to play its home opener Saturday against Lehigh. There will be a moment of silence before the game and a gathering of remembrances afterward, the school said.
Teevens was a former star quarterback at Dartmouth who became the school’s all-time leader with a 117-101-2 record in 23 seasons. He coached the Big Green from 1987 to 1991 and returned in 2005. His teams won or shared five Ivy League championships.
In 1978, he was named the Ivy League Player of the Year, leading Dartmouth to a championship title.
He began his coaching career at Maine and between his stints at Dartmouth he served as head coach at Tulane and Stanford. He also served as an assistant at Illinois and Florida under Hall of Fame coach Steve Spurrier.
But his lasting legacy will lie in his efforts to make football safer.
He reduced full-contact practices by focusing on technique, while leading winning teams.
He also led Dartmouth’s engineering school’s development of the Mobile Virtual Player, a robotic tackling dummy that has also been used by other college programs and NFL teams.
Teevens also tried to create more opportunities for women in college football, hiring Callie Brownson as offensive quality control coach for the Big Green in 2018. She was thought to be the first women’s soccer coach in Division I full time.
“Buddy was a Dartmouth original,” Beilock and Harrity said in their letter. “He will be greatly missed and remembered by so many in the community whose lives he touched and changed for the better.”
Teevens is survived by his wife, their daughter, Lindsay, and their son, Buddy Jr., as well as four grandchildren.