“Here in spirit”: Teevens missing first Manning Passing Academy, but on minds of many

THIBODAUX – Missing, but certainly not forgotten.

The 27th edition of the Manning Passing Academy is underway, where more than 1,000 campers and more than 100 coach/counselors, including some of the nation’s best college quarterbacks, have again made Nicholls State University the hotbed of football for four days.

But a constant for the first 26 editions is not here this year – former Tulane head coach Buddy Teevens, who helped found the event along with the Manning family back in 1996.

Teevens, now in his second stint as head coach at Dartmouth, was seriously injured on March 16 in St. Augustine, Florida. He and wife Kirsten were on bicycle when Buddy’s bike was struck by a pickup truck.

“He may not be here physically,” said Jeff Hawkins, who was on the Tulane staff when the MPA was founded and has, like Teevens, remained a part of the event ever since, “but he’s here in spirit.”

That spirit is everywhere.

In the meeting room in John L. Guidry Stadium where the media met the Mannings and college quarterbacks Friday, there is a photo collage of Teevens through the years at the MPA.

The red baseball cap worn by Archie Manning and dozens of other staff feature the event logo on the front and the phrase “BT STRONG” above the left ear.

Staffers have wristbands reading “PRAY FOR BUDDY” and “COUNT ON ME.”

“Buddy’s been the rock,” Archie Manning said. “He brought in our coaches, he ran our practice sessions, all these qualities he has as a … very successful coach.”

The camp began in the summer of 1996 at Tulane with 185 campers. Peyton Manning, then a star at Tennessee, was a counselor, along with University of Louisiana at Lafayette standouts Jake Delhomme and Brandon Stokley, the latter of which would become Manning’s future teammate in the NFL.

“I got to know Buddy (at Tulane), and it was actually Peyton’s idea (to start the Manning Passing Academy),” Archie Manning said. “He had gone to the Bowden Academy. He said, ‘Dad, we ought to start a football camp.’ I went to Buddy, and he said ‘let’s do it.’

“We used every inch of space we could at Tulane.”

The next year, the camp moved to Hammond, and in 2005, it relocated here, where it is called home ever since.

“We’ve all really had to pull up our boots,” Archie Manning said. “It’s a lot of work. The majority of our coaches … have probably been coming 15-20 years, so they know what we do. We’re off to a great start, but Buddy’s on our mind.”

Dartmouth went through spring drills without Teevens, so quarterback Nick Howard – who is working his second straight MPA as a counselor – understands first-hand what it means to miss his coach.

“Coach T’s done an amazing job building our program, building our culture,” Howard said. “From a football standpoint, we’ve had great continuity with our staff.

“The biggest thing is feeling the absence of someone who cares about you and that you care about. It’s definitely an adjustment, but as Coach T always says, ‘A&I – adjust and improvise.’”

Adjustment and improvisation is part of what the MPA staff has had to do in Teevens’ absence.

“It’s a motivator. It’s inspiring,” Hawkins said. “We all know we want to do it the way Buddy would do it. Everyone puts that little extra into it.”

David Morris, a former teammate of Eli Manning at Ole Miss and the founder of QB Country, a training program for quarterbacks throughout the southeast, has taken on some of Teevens’ job this week.

“The basis, the foundation, is all Buddy,” Hawkins said. “We’ve put a new face on it.”

If by miracle Teevens walked into the door and saw all the tributes?

“Anybody who knows Buddy knows what a humble person he is,” Hawkins said, “and he’d probably be embarrassed.”

To a man, everyone is hopeful that Teevens is back next June for the 28th edition of the MPA.

“We miss him, we love him,” Archie Manning said, “and we’re going to get him back.”