BY PETE SCHLEHR - Director of Athletic Media Relations

BE ON TIME:

When you travel with Rob Ambrose's Tiger Football team, you'd better be early because if you show up on time, you're probably going to be late.

In my 34 years of traveling with the various Towson teams, Coach Ambrose is at the head of the class when it comes to leaving on time. If the itinerary lists an 11:00 am departure, you'd best have your gear stowed and self in a seat no later than 10:50. This is a good thing. It's part of his strategy to change the football culture at Towson.

But what impresses me most about this time thing is the guy who makes it work -  coordinator of football operations, Jon Dahlquist. The entire travel party moves smoothly because Jon's attention to detail has every minute accounted for.

We got an indication of how well Jon would perform on our first trip when we opened at Northwestern in Evanston, Ill. Our travel party was somewhere around 80. From the time we left the Johnny Unitas Stadium Field House on buses, it was great sailing. Jon had the boarding passes in advance, a huge plus since we were flying commercial. The only line we encountered in two days was the dreaded security check points at the airports. After each flight the team walked straight to charter buses that were providing our ground transportation..

Do you know how long it takes a travel party of this size to check into a hotel? About four minutes. Meals are on time. If the itinerary states dinner begins at 6:30, Jon has forks in the air at 6:30. The food - well, let's just say it isn't a piece of dried chicken parmesan and the eggs at breakfast are real, not powdered.

This jaunt to Williamsburg is Jon's fifth trip of the season. I'm giving him all A's. There is much more to his job than making these arrangements but it's a part that he performs very well.

ALMOST A TRIBESMAN:

During Friday afternoon's visit to Zabler Stadium I asked Coach Ambrose if he remembered his last trip to historic Williamsburg in 1992 when he was the Tiger's wide receivers coach. It was our first meeting with William & Mary (Tony Vinson's first year with us after transferring from Purdue). He did but another vivid memory for him was the two days or so he spent on the William & Mary campus as a recruit in 1988. Just before signing day in his senior year James Madison withdrew its scholarship offer. The Tribe's coach, Jimmye Laycock, contacted Rob and asked him to visit, offering him the scholarship that the Dukes had spurned. After the visit Rob turned down the Tribe's offer. Instead, he put a call in to then Tiger assistant coach Jay Robinson. The rest of the story is part of Tiger Football history.

T.O'S DILEMMA:

Terry O'Brien, our head athletic trainer, took a lot of ribbing last week leading up to this afternoon's game. His son, Kyle, is a junior defensive lineman for the Tribe. T.O. is a 1975 Towson graduate, former Tiger football player and a member of our sports medicine staff for almost three decades. So ... who was he going to yell for? After careful consideration, he decided to sit in the stands where he could assume a neutral position and keep quiet. He wore a pair of blue jeans, a nondescript sweatshirt and a fishin' hat. Chris and Deborah Potts, on the other hand, are free to back the Tigers. From 2003-07 they wore the Tribe's colors while supporting their son, Mike Potts, a former W&M quarterback. Now they cheer for the Gold & Black and their son, Brian, a redshirt freshman quarterback with the Tigers.