New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-08
Nelson Metcalfe Prefer.
the Style of Football
Evolved in West
FIRM BELIEVER IN
ATHLETIC CONTROL
Will Have Only Five Week, !,
Which to Develop Eleven On
Morningside Heights.

"eiS'" "e'ea'Ie' tne man who Ia,
been chosen TO coach the Colurh;.
University football team next fall 80
resents the new idea in college a,LI...
directors. He is a trained foo,b,r
coach and director Of physical exer,i,,
and he was taught his football +,
school that for the last decade has bs.,
a progressive among progresslves. A,
/ least, that is what one gathered fro-
/ him in an hours conversation in -.
Thompson Gymnasium, at Columbia
University, yesterday, where re 4,
/ spending the summer teaching physical
training and directing a class in foo.
/ ball coaching.
/ Metcalfe is young man, not 70.
past his twenty-hfth birthday, and 4,
is mild hammered TO an exten, Ia.
! affords a striking contrast 70 the usuai
mental picture of football coach. n,
/ ideas concerning football are not mid
hammered, however, and the kind ).
! football that Columbia will play n.r,
fall will be the fast, aggressive styl. Al
play that has marked the Western tyre
: Of game since the new rule have been
in vogue.
Where 70 make a beginning is the
problem which seems 20 be pulling
| Metcalfe more than anything else jus.
now. Although he was az Columbia al
( last year as a graduate student, he did
not come into touch with the studen,
body, and therefore knows scarcely am
more about the type Of men he will
/ have TO coach than II he were Der.
feet stranger.
He has roughly outlined his plans,
/ however. He will have complete per.
sonal jurisdiction over the entire coach.
/ ing system, but he viii have a staff o,
volunteer coaches drawn from old Co.
/ lumbia players and graduate students
in the university who have played var.
s.ty football at other colleges.
Inasmuch as freshmen viii be barred
from the varsity eleven, there will be
freshman coach, who will take the
I first year men and pilot them through
a schedule of their own. This fresh.
man coach will work in harmony with
Metcalfe, but the varsity coach will
have no direct supervision over the
freshman team.
Metcalfe is a thorough believer IN
the Western style OF open play, and
he believes that this will be particular.
~ well adapted 20 the material with
which he will have 10 work on Mora.
ingside Heights. The statistics which
have been gathered By the Columbia
athletic committee show that the mes
from whom the team will be drawn
are light, as a general rule Hene.
Metcalfe will coach a style Of game
best suited to light players
BY delving into the football coach.
irg systems in vogue at Oberlin one
soon finds that Il is indebted 70 Hir.
ward for its fundamentals. These were
impaired 70 the Oberin players BY
Harvey Snyder Snyder left 0berlin
in 1910, and since then 0berlin has
evolved a modified system o. play that
has been highly successful Me.calt.
is a product of this modified Harvard
! system.
Metcalfe is a firm believer in Ii,
scheme of athletic control, Whereby
the coach is directly amenable 10 the
university authorities, and all his foot.
ball as player and coach has been ii.
rected by a man who was a faculty
officer. Il is an advantage, he thinks,
! rather than a handicap 20 have the
coach responsible in this way 20 the
q university. for il gives him better cor.
troll over the players.
There will be five full weeks Of prsc.
/ tice between the first call for eancl'
dates and the opening game, and a.
though Metcalfe will be obliged 70
begin at the very bottom, with no .oun'
dation whatever upon which 70 WORK
he believes he will be able 10 put
representative eleven on the field. ID.
opening practice session will be bed
on September 81. and the first gazs
will be on October %. In this tine 3
team will have TO be moulded from rs
terial which has never played college
football
Naturally, under these condi,ios:
Metcalfe does not desire 20 be rl''ee
against teams of more than ordinsIy
ability in his first year IL is proosoS
that games will be scheduled With sN'
vens Institute, s.. Lawrence tnlyG'
sity, New York University and hsr
leyan. The Wesleyan game will q
played on Thanksgiving Day an WI
, bring Metcalfe against Edgar FaHVs'.
another Oberlin man. By another ysn
Metcalfe feels he can point bis ,eIn
higher than the elevens he VIII |"
matched against this season. -
Columbia will set about the coup
ping of South Field for football WIZ
out delay. now that a coach has 9eea
named. The field will be resodcea /.
part, and grandstands will be 0u1y,
along the north and south sides .
the crowds at the early games gans...
it, stands will also be built on tne e',;
and west ends. The total NUMBER
seats will accommodate about se''-
thousand spectators.
Unless unforeseen changes are ieess
sary in the plans, all the games o. ~
schedule will be played on the n'@'