Evening star., 1928-12-03

n YEXT year may see considerable
N change in the foot ball coach
VI ing system and general man
agement of athletics at Cor
nell University. The alumni
as body has definitely determined
to enter the situation and has appointed
a committee to confer with the univer-
sity authorities to determine what
steps may be taken to better conditions.
There is no doubt that the alumni are
much dissatisfied, and the one-slded
defeat by Pennsylvania IN 1901 can
Thanksgiving day did not help mat
ters any.
Officially. the alumni corporation,
which is the Alumni Association, In
corporated at its meetings mere last
week appointed a committee TO deter
mine what can be done. Actually, IL
has been learned the alumni group mas
definitely decided that changes IN the
present system of control and manage
ment and coaching at Cornell muSt
take place, which in effect means tnat
the Cornell alumni are ready 10 tske
steps to institute new coacnlng poA4cy
in two sports especially and also IN
the general management OF athletlcs at
Ithaca.
See Need of Changes.
"we have reached a stage where we
are so dissatisfied with the present
situation at Cornell that We want some
changes made and are going to see wnaI
can be done to effect these changes,
said one prominent Cornell alumnus
who has taken a very active part III
the general direction OF aftalrS OF the
university for the last Is years. "Cornel
seems to be IN rut and about the only
way know to get it out is to make Some
general and specific changes, ana MAKE
these changes before the beginning OF
another year. Our foot ball teams nave
fallen to a point where they are no
longer regarded in the same breath with
PENNSYLVANIA and the other big schools,
and our crews have not oone mucn
better. If scme OF the coaches have
Outliyed their usefulness but still have
contracts that are not completed we
probably will arrange TO pay those
coaches the face value OF their contracts
so that we can wipe the slate clean ana
start anew"
While Cornell alumni are considerably
put out by Cornell's failure to maintain
certain standards in athletics generally,
it is the poor showing of the foot bal
team especially that has recently caused
SO much doleful shaking of heads. This
undoubtedly means that Gil Dobie Will
be under fire and may be replaced as
head coach before the beginning OF
another season. In fact, this prominent
alumnus did not hesitate to say that
new man would head Cornell foot ball
next year.
Dobie Not Worried.
In all probability action that may re-
in hpinQ
charge of foot ball at Cornell will not
bA looked upon with such disfavor by
T3)bie himself. Last Winter the writer
frankly asked Dobie about conditions
at Cornell and Dobie was not very we'll
satisfied. It was his feeling that while
Cornell was not winning many of its big
games, it was doing just as well as could
be done with the material at hand. AS
Dobie put 1t, Some of our alumni are
crying for better teams, but at the
university itself they are interested pri-
marily in education and do not make
any special effort to emphasize foot
ball. feel and the people at the uni
versity feel that We are getting just as
good results as could be expected from
the material we have, and as long as
they feel that way then guess ought
to be satisfied to go along and do the
AS far as Dobie himself is concerned,
whether or not he coaches does not
matter. He is financially Independent
and would have little and possibly no
concern if he never drew another cent
OF salary as coach. There also is
personal side to Dobie's affairs which
makes it entirely possible that he would
welcome change which would enable
him to go back to the Pacific Coast.
His wife died last year and Dobie would
like to have his children back on the
Coast, where all their people and his
people are. He has practically no in
terest in the East except his salary as
a foot ball coach at Cornell, and prob
ably he could get just as much out
West.
Is a Capable Coach.
Whatever changes may be made at
Cornell, and whatever may be the result
of Cornell's alumni to get better results
in foot ball and some other sports, it is
extremely doubtful if they will get a
better foot ball coach than Dobie. If
they can find one as good they will be
lucky, and just where to find man as
good as Dobie is a question that lot
of schools would like to know how to
answer. There are five outstanding
coaches in the country, and Dobie is
one OF them Getting foot ball coach
who really knows what he is doing is
not as easy as it may seem to some en-
thuSiaStic alumnus.
Georgetown lost a game Saturday by
a wide margin that was all the more
diScouraging from its very nature. The
Blue and Gray led at the end OF the
first half by 13 to 7, but was put COM
pletely to rout in the second half, and
wound up the game with 33 points
registered against it.
Notwithstanding its defeat of Satur-
day, Georgetown has finished season
in which it has little to regret. 1t beat
four of the six strong teams it faced
consecutively at the end of the season
and lost only to two outstanding elevens.
IT won from New York University, West
Virginia, Fordham and Duke, and lost
to Carnegie Tech and Detroit. 1t won
all minor games on the schedule, and
Coach Lou Little should be given credit
for bringing his eleven through a hard
season with great success.
Notre Danes defeat on the coast
Saturday by big score, Army's wal
loping at the hands of Stanford at
New York and New York UniverSity'S
defeat by Oregon AggieS indicate that
foot bali out on the Pacific Coast is
real foot ball and that unless Eastern
foot ball improves, then it will not
hold its own with the game on the
West coast.
One factor that favors teams on the
West coast is the climate, which en-
ables them to get in a lot of good
practice during the Winter, and the
greater opportunity team gets for
development the better the team is
going to be. And that holds good
for all athletics in that section, for
track and field sports especially.
There may have been some real eX-