Evening star., 1949-12-31
Whe|che| in Picture as Navy Seeks New Coach
|Ex-Redskin Mentor
Mentioned for Post
As Sauer Resigns
By Lewis F. Atchison

BY Lewis r. Atchison
The dismissal of two football
coaching aides at the Naval Acad-
emy, which apparently backf1red
when Head Coach George Sauer
resigned, had the pigskin fraternity
guessing today concerning future
plans of both Navy and Sauer.
Evidently it was case of "love
me, love by assistants with the
one time Nebraska All-America
who chose to quit after serving
two years of four-year contract
when Navy Athletic Association
officials decided not to retain his
assistants. Bob Ingalls, and Vic
Bradford. ingalls, coached the line
and Bradfield the backfield under
Sauer.
The associations action in dis
charging the assistants was most
unusual. 1t led some observers to
believe it was used as a lever to
oust Sauer, although Navy people
seemed generally unhappy about
the unexpected turn of events.
Sauer had been hailed as Moses
to lead Navy out of the football
wilderness when he went to Crab
town two years ago.
Atmosphere of Waiting.
Capt. Howard Caldwell, director
of athletics. apparently intends to
bide his time before looking for
a successor, although he was
quoted as saying he expects ito
have something Monday or Tues
day" Earlier he declared, 1--WE
won't be rushed into the appoint
ment of a new head coach. It
will take time to look over the
field" The atmosphere in An
napolis today seemed to be one of
wait and see, with Caldwell await
ing any applications for the job
before going after a man.
Caldwell said the academy
wanted another civilian. but some
one who would be familiar with
the peculiar problems" associated
with Navy football and some
Washingtonians had strong
hunch he might be thinking of
Rear Admiral John E. (Billick
Whelchel' (retired), recent Red
skin coach and one-time Navy
backfeld star and coach.
Whelchel. reached at his home
at Virginia Beach, Va, said Navy
was one of the few teams he might
be interested in coaching, al
though he hadn't thought Of re-
turning to coaching Immediately.
Il would hate like hell to jump
from one threshing machine to
another" Billick said, referring to
his last grid post with the Red
skins. Whelchel said he had
turned down two or three offers"
of coaching jobs since quitting
the Redskins, including one in
professional ranks.
Whelchel Surprised.
Whelchel was as astonished as
everybody else when told of
Sauer's action. They had attended
high school banquet in Norfolk,
Va, several weeks ago and after
it was over had long discussion
concerning Navy football.
Whelchel said he was interested
in the Navy grid berth two years
ago before Sauer's appointment,
but now, even though he would
prefer to coach at Navy above all
other schools, he would approach
the matter with considerable
circumspection" If offered the
position.
Whelchel is a close friend of
both Caldwell and Rip Miller.
Caldwell's assistant. and was
called to Annapolis last month to
give a pep talk to the Navy foot
ball squad on the eve of its de-
parture for the Army game:
Whelchel should be thoroughly
familiar with the problems"
associated with football at Crab
town.
Sauer Uncertain About Future.
Sauer told reporters he hadn't
thought about his future but that
he would take ingalls, and Brad
ford with him wherever he. went.
Sauer piloted Navy to three vic
and two ties in his brief tenure at
Annapolis. A 21-21 tie with a
highly-favored Army team in
1948 was Navy's best performance
under him. It left Navy fans
hoping for even greater things in
1949 and the $50 drubbing the
Midshipmen received from the
Cadets last month didn't set too
we'll with Annapolis officials.
The 39-year-old Sauer. who
came to Annapolis after leading
Kansas to two consecutive Big
Six championships, said he
thought Navy was ION the way
up" and both Bradford and In
gals agreed.
Bradford said the Executive
Committee action was a surprise
and mot much of a. Christmas
present" but that the academy
was a nice place and he would
have liked to stay. Bradford agreed
that the academy was a mighty
fine institution" but. like ingalls,.
he wished to remain associated
with Sauer.
Foggy Bottom Captures
| cn,,rf To,lrnov crnwn