The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-12-04
BY JACK OUENTMER

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 New York, Dec. 4-(UP)-He was widely heckled for playing dull ball, yet he unveiled the most spoctacular scoring trick of the season. He was supposed to command moro man. power than any other coach, yot he was forced to squeeze through most of two games without q regular halfback. The United Press presents as ie4i coach Of the year MinneHo- ta's white.haired boy--Dernie Bier man.
 He wins the selection by c slim margin oyer two standout chatlen- gers, Frank Leahy of Notre Dame and Lon Stiner Of oregon State, be- cause he never needed on excuse, His tam faced power speed, rain and snow, and Q schedule almost As tough AS any in the ration-ard he answered every question with q triumph until his Golden 0ophefs were hailed as national champs.
 Fav0Ftte Son
 DierTnan is 6 chunky, methodieas veteran who has devoted all but 90 of his e years to football and he is aS good Q choice as any aS the top man in his trade. Ae is MlnneeotA born, Minnesota bred and MinnoBota schoolod, and right now he could well rank as his states savorito son. For in five Of the ten years he has spent At Minneapolis, he has brought Qophers football teams through their season without defeat.
 DiermAn first arrived on the Mifis nesota campus in iei2. By iei4 he was performing aS a regular hAlf- back and in his senior year he was famed aS c brilliant player and lFl- spirA tlonAl captain although he EnlAsed several games because Of on injured him. His first coaching job was At Butte, Mont, high school and his 1916 team scored 900 polna to six.
 After Q few months as . second lieutenant in Cuba during the war. he went to University Of Montana to coach football, basketbau and track. In his three years there hia teams maintained Q 800 average Then ho left sports again for tw0 years to sell bonds, but bobbed 4lp aA assistant to Clark @haugnessy at Tulane. Then he went to Mlasisalppl A. & M., and in 1927 h0 returned to Tulane as head coach until 1881. At Tulane he became famous. Ills green wave eievens won 3B games, lost 70 and tied two in five years, were uGidefeated in both 1929 and 1881 and finally won SO much prosSar hence that his last team went Co tho Rose Bowl. Herman lost that game, 2o.i2, to Southern California, but his success had been recognized at his Alma Mater and he went back to Minnesota.
 Ho has been there ever since, and he can probably stay as long As he likes. Scarcely a month goes by that BieETnan sin't tpaped as tho probable new cocRh ct U. 6. C., Ohio State, Princeton, California or @Awnlli Tech, but the busy Gopher coach doesn't even bother to deny the rue mors. He iS more concerned with conditions ct Minnesota and the coming year.
 DieFman has won 0s games, lost i2 and tied five in his nine years at Minneapolis. Ills 1888, 1884. le3B, iel0 and io4i teams were undefeat- cd and four of them have been lauded As mythical national chATn- picns. The major factor In the guc- cess has been, of course. Q good gup- ply Of powerful boys. But Minnoao- to has always had that power; it. took Herman to provide direction. Changes Made
 ETla Ql1aeIlR tlsts ssAaa ta a Atean nnra pie of his ability. First, he realigned his entire offense. Last year he had George Franck, who was great around end or through tackle. This season he had Bruce smith, who was best on cutbacks. So he SnAased his guards and backs into interfor~ ence, swung them wide, and then cut them back over holes ct center or guard.
 He lost Smith in the first half of the Michigan game, SO he was forced to devise hackfieid made up of two normal quarterbacks and two normal fuilbacks. Each worked as If he had played the position all his life. Then, with Smith out Of the game, he beat Northwestern with the sensational play of the year. the freak huddleless, shiftless maa- euver in which the center tossed the ball to Bud Higgins with one hand without stepping over. Higgins scored. and Minnesota went through unbeaten. P. S.-Bierman was 60 sure of this play that he told the officials to watch for 1t SO they wouldn't rule it Illegal.