Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1917-09-03
WESTERNER TO COACH
THE middle ELEVEN
Gilmour Dobie miracle Man."
Signs Up For Year.
LIKES TO GO 1T ALONE.
Advocates Zone Man" Coaching Sys-
tenn Rather Than Squad-Com-
pares East With West.
BY FRANCIS o. WHITE. JR

College and university men are be-
ginning to train their eyes toward
the gridircn for the football season is
now near at hand Within the next
few weeks, those who love to indulge
in the great collegiate winter sport.
may be seen kicking and catering
about greenswards all over the coun-
try
Although a number of institutions
have placed the ban on all athletics
during the period of the war. and be-
sides, hundreds of students, many of
them prominent athletes, are now
serving under their country's cclors,
In one or the other branch of the serv-
ice, will somewhat lessen the intens-
ity of interest in the 1917 campaign
from general standpoint, as compar-
ed to former years, yet a sufficient
number of institutions will turn out
teams to satisfy the football appetites
of the general public.
The changes wrought by the war
will prove something of blow in the
way of intercollegiate contests. but
probably the most important develop
ment since the close of the last sea-
son is. that whereby the Navy has
dropped the Harvard system of coach
ing, which has long been in vogue at
the Naval Academy The manage
ment of athletics then began to scour
around for competent tutor, and in
securing the services of Gilmour
Dobie, formerly of Minnesota, who has
been dubbed the miracle man. and
wizard of Western football, because
of his great success as a coach, every
one in the naval contingent is highly
pleased, believing that they have the
right man to whip the Middies into
shape this year The Navy coaching
system had been a matter of more or
less criticised in certain quarters in
recent years, but that the athletic
officials had entered into negotiations
to secure the services of the Western
phenom, came as a decided surprise
except to few of those in touch with
inside affairs. Dobie has signed
contract for one year with the Navy
Athletic Association, and he has been
in Annapolis for the last several days
studying the general situation. The
mentor had practically agreed to
coach the University of Detroit this
season, but the offer of the Navy man
agement looked so attractive to him,
il is said that he made up his mind
to accept it almost in the twinkle of
an eye.
No coach, with the possible excep-
tion of Glenn Warner, the veteran
who handled the Carlisle Indians for
many years, and later took hold of
the University of Pittsburgh squad
and built it up until it was one of the
most powerful. in not the premier,
eleven last fall, has attained such re-
markable success as a mentor as has
Gilmour Dobie. Mr.. Dobie is a prod
uct of the University of Minnesota,
from which institution he graduated
in the class of 1908. His home is at
Hastings. that State. He played three
years on the University eleven, the
first year as an end, and the next two
years as quarterback. In this con-
nection he was regarded as the lead
ing football general of the West.
And during the IA years that have
elapsed since he left school, he has
devoted practically all of his time to
the study of the gridiron game, and
in coaching. Dobie is now 3S years
old. though he hardly looks it,
Upon his graduation from the Uni
versity. DR.. H. L. Williams was the
head football coach. For four years
two while he was a member of the
team. and two following graduation,
Dobie was assistant coach to Will
Jams. And he was valuable assist
ant, too. He also handled a high
school team in Minneapolis. Then
Dobie became inclined to branch out
on his own account. He accepted an
offer to become head coach at the
North Dakota Agricultural College,
and he met with success right at the
outset. He coached the Aggies two
seasons. during which he pulled the
team out of rut and established a
record of not single game lost in the
two years. During the interim follow
ing the close of the second season
with the Dakota team, Dobie heark-
ened to call from Washington State
University, although he hated to for
sake the Aggies. 1t was at Washing
ton that Dobie established the most
! remarkable record of his coaching ca
reer. He handled the wears of the
moleskins there for nine consecutive
years. adding power, speed and gen
eral ability to his football machine
with each succeeding year, until last
fall Washington was rated as the
most powerful eleven on the Pacific
Coast. Oregon University, however,
shared in this honor for when the two
teams met in the championship game
for the 1916 season. they fought a
dogged contest to a scoreless tie.
In a nutshell, here is the phenome-
nal record that has been hung up by
Dobie: He has coached elevens for
twelve consecutive years, during