Over 15 seasons as Dartmouth’s defensive coordinator, Don Dobes posted up on Memorial Field’s home sideline for 75 Big Green games.
But he’s logged upwards of 1,000 practices – counting the spring, preseason and in season sessions – almost exclusively on the other side of the field.
All of which made it almost surreal to see Dobes well off the field on the home side during a recent practice, carrying a large, insulated travel mug with a Chicago Bears’ logo and dressed like a lookie-loo who wandered into the stadium to see what all the commotion was about instead of in coaching gear.
Dobes retired this winter after 16 years at Dartmouth, and it wasn’t by accident where he stationed himself to observe practice.
“I think it’s important that I give the new guys their space to do their thing,” said Dobes, who coached linebackers while serving as DC. “I think I need to be more of a shadow than a presence.”
Still, as tempting as it might have been to bark out instructions during practice, Dobes bit his tongue and let new defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Jordan Belfiori and a staff with five first-year coaches do their jobs for head coach Sammy McCorkle.”
“It’s hard,” Dobes admitted. “I knew (retiring) wasn’t going to be easy, but what makes it a little easier is we got the right guy.”
And Dobes knows that because he was part of the process that brought Belfiori to Dartmouth.
“Sammy said to me, ‘I want you to be involved in the process,’ ” Dobes explained. “I did a lot of the vetting with him and a lot of the phone calls. I sat in on all the interviews and when we met with (Belfiori) I thought it became evident that he was the guy to go with.”
It didn’t hurt that Dobes has known Belfiori and followed his career since his days at Colgate where he worked under, and eventually succeeded, longtime defensive coordinator Paul Shaffner. Nor did it hurt that Belfiori’s scheme was similar to what Dartmouth has run under its former defensive coordinator.
“We were looking for somebody that had the same presentation defensively,” Dobes said. “It helped that his defense had a lot of the same characteristics of our defenses here and that he could take it to the next stage.”
All that has made it easier for Dobes, who turned 69 in February, to make the decision to retire and spend more time with Gladys Valdesuso, his longtime partner who practices medicine in New Jersey. Still, he took a little time before making the call.
“Jerry Berndt, my original mentor and the guy that gave me the start in this business at DePauw and took me to Penn, Temple and Rice, always told me, ‘Donnie, you don’t make career decisions until after the season and you’ve had two or three weeks to sit back and think it through,’ ” Dobes said. “I just thought the program was in really good shape recruiting-wise and we had a really good young corps coming in.
“It just felt like it was the right time to step aside and start on the next journey, the challenge of being a father to my four children and my five grandchildren. It’s about Gladys having the chance to stop traveling six hours up here.”
And it’s about something else.
“I felt like 47 years of doing this was more than enough time to prove what I was all about,” Dobes said. “So it just felt right. I liked who we have core-wise, and felt like it would be somewhat of a smooth transition.”
Seeing so many players come jogging off the field to shake Dobes’ hand and give him hugs was a reminder that no matter how smooth the transition, he will be missed – and not just by the players who love him.
“We’ve been together 15 or so years,” said McCorkle. “He’s a mentor to me, but we knew this day was coming, so we’ve been preparing for it. It’s great to have him out here for us, and for him, too.
“He’s a great sounding board for me and for Jordan. I could see him watching videos and continue to help us almost like a consultant – until I get a bill from him.”
All jokes aside, Dobes recently traveled to Washington, D.C., for a chance to see his former Big Green linebacker Macklin Ayers play for the D.C. Defenders of the UFL. He’s planning to catch games featuring Dartmouth grad transfers this fall.
“I’m going to go see (former tight end Chris) Corbo at Georgia Tech and hopefully PC (defensive back Patrick Campbell now at Virginia) and (Duke defensive lineman) Dakota Quiñonez play against each other. We’re going to do down to The Citadel to watch Zyion (Freer-Brown) but I’m just not sure we’re going to make it to Wyoming to see Teddy G (linebacker Teddy Gianaris), who I guess is lighting it up.”
While he will ultimately end up in New Jersey, Dobes promised he’ll continue to be there for McCorkle, Belfiori and Dartmouth players past and present.
“Absolutely. For sure,” he said. “The plan is to go see the grad transfers playing. That should be a pretty good time. And I’ll be around and at Dartmouth games.”
Watching, evaluating and mostly biting his tongue.
A shadow, just like he promised.