Evening star., 1917-12-23
NEED FOR COACHES
TO REBUILD TEAMS
Loss of Men viii Compel De-
veIopment of New Grid
Material in 1918.
COLLEGES LOSING STARS
BY. h. c. BYRD.

b4- II. y. d LII.
College foot ball coaches next
fall will face about the same
problems that confronted them
when the 1917 season opened:
Much OF the material developed
last October and November will
not be available for use in 1918,
many Of the players already hav-
ing left college to join some
branch OF the war service. No
doubt many others will go be-
! fore the first calls for candidates
for next years teams are issued.
Practically all institutions are
going to find themselves in the
same position, though, as in many
cases where the players have not
enlisted there will be men taken
in the next two drafts.
| Bert Bell and Howard Berry, Pennsyl-
vania's best players last fall. wero back
/ In the university on furioughs and already
have returned to their units. Both joined
the Army last summer. and It is not In
the least probable they will be back for
the 1918 campaign Several other Penn
| called In the draft Penn State loses the
services of Robb. its star haifoack InrSo
or four Georgia Tech men joined tne
Marine Corps Just as soon AS sne seasoo
| fhar nar rf11y has hfon
| issue of northern or western newspaper
for the last month that has not recorded
/ the enlistment of some mighty good 1905
ball player.
GEORGETOWN Loses Its Stars
Georgetown will be particularly hard
hit Many of its most capabale men are
gone Gilroy Maloney and Cody. three
Of the quartet OF individuals who made
up the brilliant backneld: are IN orancnes
elected captain Of the team, also is lost 1or
the same reason Harry Sullivan, Whe-
lan's running mate at end, Is another nov
working under the direction OF his Uncis
Samuel.
When Coach Exendine returns to George
town next fall he will find almost az
difficult a task as that which confronteo
him when he took up The reins in 1914.
4 That season he developed very creditaoio
team, but lack OF backheld material
was a great handicap. Next fall ne y
4 of prep or high school, around whom 70
weld a combination. 1t probably VIII n0s
be an easy task. especially when sucn
players as Gilroy. Maloney. Whelan ana
/ Sullivan must be replaced -..-.
j Maryland State will be without the
i services of several good men who have
+ | gone in the Army. Since the foot ball
(, season was finished Rich. Fletcher,
Jones, Wiseman, Wescott and Eppley
have entered the ranks of those wear
ing uniforms. Fletcher and Rich par
ticularly will be missed. as the former
| was an excellent halfback and the lat
ter a mighty good end.
i State will not lose anybody through
/ the draft. as only one of the nineteen
or twenty members of the squad icie
is old enough and he has been exempt-
/ ed. Even with the loss of some ex-
| ceptionally good men. State ought TO
be in much better shape next fall by
far than it was at the beginning OF the
4 1917 season. 1t is true that State went
through a very creditable season and
won the championship of Maryland. but
it did it on ..shoestring." to use 1T
ting oppression.
Should Develop New Men.
Coaches will not view with par
| ticular pleasure the going of SO many
of the men with whom they worked
hard in the hope of development for
/ 1918. but on the whole it would be a
| splendid thing for the nation If every
college were compelled to start tho
1918 season without a single member
| Of the 1917 squads present. Foot ball
undoubtedly offers the greatest train
| ing of all sports for the development Of
soldiers. The lines OF work on the grid
iron and in the Army are basically the
same and man must learn practically
the identical things IN order to De .
good foot ball player that he is COM
PEELED to absorb when he dons uni>
form. One Army officer says, Give mo
an army Of foot ball players and III
| ask nothing else"
Not only will foot ball lose many Of
its stars before the opening of next
year, but right now the base ball sftu-
alton in most of the colleges is pre-
carious as far as material is concerned.
Track and field sports and base ball
| will be conducted thisSyear with more
| or less inexperienced teams. Not a
college in this section has much veteran
| material to fall back upon for the dia-
mond season.
Colleges around here are going to
do one thing that should have been
| done years ago-stop paying big guar
antees to northern mines for games
there during the early part of the
spring. There is little disposition on
/ the part of the northern institutions
| to reciprocate such courtesies in other
branches of sport and colleges in this
section can get plenty of competition
among themselves. Georgetown, for
| instance, year after year has been pay
| ing out considerable sums to certain
| northern colleges and universities IN
order to help these colleges and uni-
versities in rounding out what they
consider a "spring training trip; yet
when Georgetown wants one of these
colleges or universities to reciprocate
, with a foot ball game, either here or
| elsewhere, it usually is met with the
very courteous statement that I'VE are
very sorry, but previous obligations
prevent us playing. you," or 1--WE have
already all the hard games we care to
schedule and now are trying to book
| two or three easy teams"
s. A. Colleges Should Get Together.
Already several northern schools have
been compelled to relinquish hopes for
southern trips next spring. 1t is possf-
BILE that the war, through compelling
Ireadjustment of conditions, will bring
about closer relationships between col
leges in the south Atlantic section. There
is no part of the United States in which
educational institutions are so much at
variance with one another as in Mary
land. Virginia, North Carolina and Dis
trict of Columbia A conference Of the
big colleges in these three states may be
evolved as a result Of the war, and cer-
tainly an organization developed along
lines similar to the western conferences
would seem to be the logical outcome.
II would settle many of the problems
now confronting the various institutions
4 conference made up of North Carolina
state. University of North Carolina, vfr-
ginia. Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
=