Evening star., 1939-12-04
outhea Pacific Coast Title Tits This Week End Sparkling Grid Season
The
SP0RTLlGHT
Ace Coach Needs Aces
To Make Ace Eleven

nee SOOCn I\eeOS ACES
To Make Ace Eleven
BY GRANTLAND RICE,
Special Correspondent Of The Star.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark, Dec. 1
(N.A.NA).-"Don't let anybody kid
you," Herb Kopf Of Manhattan said
at football gathering in New York
just before I left, "the secret OF
success in coaching Is good ma
terial. You've heard that before,
of course. I didn't just make it up,
But every once in a while some Of
us are bound to forget it-or to
think it isn't true,
Sure, some coaches are better
than others-much better. There
are half dozen, at least, who are
away better than the rest of us
ever can hope to be-men like Lou
Little and Jock Sutherland and
Carl Snavely and Dick Harlow. And
I'm not saying that about Carl just
because he had great season. Any
time he doesn't have great season
1t proves once more that the secret
of success in coaching is good ma
terial.
Naturally a poor coach will spoil
good material. But that seldom
happens. But some first rate
coaches, simply because they haven't
had the material, have lost their
jobs and been kicked around.
All Get Same Coaching,
But Some Don't Profit
Here's how it works out in de-
tail. On my squad I have two backs
who, to look at them, you would say
were about equal In ability. They're
about the same size and the same
weight and they're both well put
together. They should make a flne
pair In any backf1eld.
I've worked hard over those kids
I've worked just as hard over one
as have over the other I've had
them in spring practice and fall
practice and I've schemed for them
and worried over them. In other
words both those kids have had the
benefit of such coaching ability as
! have-and they've had it in equal
measure
And what happens? One of them
Is as fine a back as any coach would
want to have-and the other one is
just another fellow in football suit
THE fellow who has succeeded
isn't any gamer or more willing than
the one who has failed. He simply
happens to have more speed, a
quicker mind and greater football
sense. Give me squad of boys
like that and I'd show you great
football team. Give me a squad of
boys like the other one and I'd be
hard pressed to win game.
Football No Longer
Is Team Come
Football isn't team game any
more. It's squad game. A coach
may be the best in the country and
have a fine team-1l fine players.
But unless he has fine reserves as
"CAl, llC ildo W VIC NCly luCAy AAACC0
to get by because injuries are q part
of the game and must be expected
and the damage they do quickly
repaired.
Take one outstanding player
away from any number of good
teams and see what happens. You
saw N. Y. U. sag when Boell was
hurt. Do you think 1t would make
any difference to Iowa If Kinnick
had been out? You know darned
well it would. How about Missouri
without Christman or Michigan
without Harmon?
And. if I may get personal about
1t, how about Manhattan without
Fay? And I'm not supposing about
that one. We were without him in
our most important games in the
last couple of weeks of the season.
I don't say we would have won those
games with Fay in the lineup, but
we might have. I do say that we
didn': have much Of chance with
out him.
With ToIent Plentiful,
Coach Needn't Worry