A member of the Denver Broncos, an academic All-American, a national rebounding champion, and a four-time all-conference selection comprise the field of former Fighting Scots to be inducted into the Monmouth College M Club Hall of Fame Saturday as part of the college’s Homecoming weekend festivities.
Quarterback Mitch Tanney ’06, now the director of analytics for the Denver Broncos, track and football speedster and academic All-American Dante Daniels ’08, women’s nantional rebounding champion and two-sport athlete Ashley (Yeast) Tanney ’08 and volleyball’s four-time all-league honoree Jamie (Jones) Goins ’02 are slated to become the 36th class to be inducted into the college’s athletic Hall of Fame. The 8:30 a.m. ceremony on Oct. 19 will be held on the main concourse of the Huff Athletic Center. The inductees will then be recognized during pregame festivities and coin toss ceremony before the Scots’ football team hosts Illinois College in a special 2 p.m. kickoff at April Zorn Memorial Stadium.
Jamie (Jones) Goins ’02 (Chatham, Ill., formerly of La Harpe, Ill.)
A combination of height and elite athleticism made Jaime Jones one of the most formidable hitters in Fighting Scots volleyball history.
Despite playing her first college match two decades ago, Jones sat at or near the top of all the program’s major hitting and blocking records at the time of her induction. One mark that will never be surpassed is her four first-team All-Midwest Conference selections.
Jones had a record 1,754 kills – more than 300 ahead of the No. 2 slot -and also held the season (568) and match (35) records. She had the top four solo block seasons in school history, finishing with 263, and a match-record 15 blocks. Her .292 career hitting percentage ranked second.
Monmouth won at least 19 matches in each of her seasons, finishing a collective 82-54.
Mitch Tanney ’06 (Aurora, Colo., formerly of Lexington, Ill.)
The analytics can be simplied to this: In the two years Mitch Tanney started as quarterback for the Fighting Scots, they lost only two games. The Scots nished 9-1 his junior year, and followed that up with a 10-0 regular season in 2005, securing Monmouth’s rst-ever NCAA playoff appearance.
As a senior, Tanney set an NCAA single-season record, completing 73.6 percent of his passes. That year, he made Football Gazette’s All-West Region rst team, was Academic All-District V and was the Midwest Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year.
In two years at Monmouth, Tanney threw for 4,539 yards and 57 touchdowns. His 9.0 yards per pass attempt and pass efciency rating of 177.5 stood as school records at the time of his induction.
After a brief quarterback career in Europe and arena football, the summa cum laude math and Spanish major became a pioneer in the new eld of pro football analytics, successfully putting his skills to the test as director of analytics for the Super Bowl 50 champion Denver Broncos.
Ashley (Yeast) Tanney ’08 (Aurora, Colo., formerly of Macomb, Ill.)
Most post players would be happy to collect 13 rebounds in a game a couple times a year. During a season that saw her lead the nation, 13 rebounds was just an average night for Ashley Yeast.
As a junior, the three-time first team All-Midwest Conference center pulled down 13.7 boards per game, which led all NCAA Division III women’s basketball players.
For her career, Yeast snared a program-best 1,008 rebounds, an average of 10.9. That helped her set the Fighting Scots’ standards for double-doubles in season (15) and career (40). At the time of her induction, Yeast was 10th in career scoring (990 points) and eighth in career steals (170).
For three straight seasons, Yeast was selected second team academic all-district by ESPN The Magazine.
Yeast also excelled on the volleyball court, placing in the career top 10 in block assists and attack percentage (.227) while helping the Scots to two runner-up league finishes.
Dante Daniels ’08 (Acworth, Ga., formerly of Waukegan, Ill.)
Opponents had a difficult time keeping pace with Dante Daniels.
At the time of his induction, no Monmouth College sprinter was ever faster in the outdoor 100- and 200-meter dashes than Daniels’ best times of 10.49 and 21.33.
That speed translated to the national stage, as Daniels ran legs on two All-American relays, including the outdoor runner-up 4×400 squad in 2007, helping Monmouth finish as the No. 3 team in the nation. At Midwest Conference meets, he won 14 titles and earned two Most Outstanding Performer honors.
In football, Daniels ran fast, hard and often. He holds the school record for average rushing yards per game (122.2) and carries in a season (271), while several other rushing records he established are ranked second, including 247 yards in a game and 1,557 yards in a season.
As a senior in 2006, Daniels was a first-team Academic All-American, an all-region selection and the MWC’s Offensive Player of the Year.
***Report Courtesy of Monmouth College***
