THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Thursday, January 9, 1969
THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, January 9, 1969
l1ott moves in as assistant athletic director
By KEITH R. WOOD,
ump Elliott is now associate
ctor of intercollegiate athle-
This impressive sounding post
created last April by the
rd of Regents when the whole
letic department was restruc-
d.
.liott will have varied respon-
ities in this new position. He
aid new head coach Bo
embechler in recruiting, and
dIe player-coach relations.
lliott will also have to deal
i Michigan's 230,000 alumni,
.g primarily concerned with
d-raising,
ew grid coach Bo Schembech-
has also asked him to continue
a recruiting capacity for the
ball 'team.
lliott hasnot had much of a
ious past according to the
higan football tradition, but
reign at head coach was not
strous either.
Mlott began his coaching career
Michigan in 1959. He finished
l'ast season on a high point
a 8-2 record, good enough
second place in the Big Ten
nd Number One Ohio State.
Elliott compiled an overall rec-
ord of 51-42-2 and a Big Ten rec-
ord of 32-34-2 as head coach of
the Wolverines.
His best season was in 1964
when he and All-American Bob
Timberlake led Michigan to the
conference title with a 9-1 record,
an impressive Rose Bowl victory
over Oregon, and a ranking of
fourth in the, nation in the foot-
ball polls.
Bump also contributed to Wol-
verine football history as a player.
He played halfback for Coach
Crisler's 1947 Big Ten and Rose
Bowl champions.
Bump was endowed with five
All-American players during his
Michigan coaching career. Bob
Timberlake was an All-American
quarterback in 1964. Bill Yearby
was an All-American for two
years, 1964 and 1965.
His 1966 team produced two
All-Americans, Rick Volk, now a
safety with the champion Balti-
more Colts, and Jack Clancy,
presently with the AmericanE
League Miami Dolphins. This sea-
son he coached the greatest back
in Michigan football history, Ron
Johnson.
Four left to carry on
RETURNING WITH new football coach Bo Schembeehler next
year will be four of Michigan's present coaches. From left to right
they are: Hank Fonde, Bob Shaw, Frank Maloney, and George
Mans. Fonde will move into an administrative post as a scout
and recruiter. The rest will continue in their present jobs as as-
sistants. Shaw and Maloney have been at Michigan for one year.
COACHING GOLD MINE:
Chalmers 'Bump' Elliott
Bo latest Miami of Ohio export
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
All Games
W L T
4 5 0
5 4 0
6 3 0
2 7 0
3 4 2
9 1 0
4 6 0
6 4 0
4 6 0
8 2 0
51 42 2
W
3
2
1
2
6
2
4
6
Big Ten
L
4
4
3
6
3
1
5 !
3 1
4 1
1 I
T
0
0
0
0
2.
Q
0
0
0
0
By KEITH R. WOOD piled an impressive 31-6-1 record
With Bo Schembechler moving with the Redskins. Gillman is now
up to head coach at Michigan, coaching the American Football
Miami of Ohio continues its tra- League San Diego Chargers who
dition of producing big-time foot- have had more than their share
32 34 2
Totals
ball coaches.
Some the most prestigious
names in football were once rep-
resentatives of Miami University,'
Stu Holcomb, Sid Gillman, George
Blackburn, Woody Hayes, Ara
Parseghian, and John Pont are all
part of the Miami tradition.
Stu Holcomb started it all in
1942 as he led Miami to a 10-8-1
record in two seasons. He then
moved up to coach at Purdue and
presently is vice-president in
charge of public relations for the
Chicago White Sox.
Sid Gillman took over the
reins at Miami in 1944 and com-
- - - - - - - --
of success.
George Blackburn coached at
Miami for one season in 1948 with
a 7-1-1 record. He is currently
coaching at Virginia.
Woody Hayes (three yards and
a cloud of dust) was voted coach
of the year for his success with
the Number One Buckeyes this
season. He ocached at Miami in
1949-50. The Redsknis continued
their success under him with a
14-5-0 record.
Ara Parseghian followed Hayes
at Miami from 1951-55. His Miami
teams produced a 39-6-1 record.
Parseghian currently heads the
Notre Dame football dynasty1
which is rarely seen out of the1
top ten in the football polls.
And Johnny Pont, who coached
COME TO
Student Book Service
and visit
LIZ HAHN'
CLIFF
CAROL LOFTUS
from 1956-62 at Miami, brought
powerless Indiana to a Big Ten
title in his first season there, and:
promises to keep the Hoosiers a
threat. Now Bo, who coached the
Redskins from 1963 until the pres-
ent with a 40-17-3 record, has a:
five-year contract at Michigan.
His teams won two Mid-American
co-championships, finished sec-«
ond twice and third once.
If you are still not convinced
of the Miami football tradition,
there are a few other names of
Miami alumni that are also im-
pressive. Paul Brown, who coach-
ed the Cleveland Browns and now
coaches the Cincinnati Bengals;
Weeb Ewbank of the AFL cham
pion New York Jets and former
coach of the Baltimore colts; Pa
Dietzel at South Carolina; Carm
Cozza at Yale; Doc Urick at Bu
falo; Jim Root at New Ham]
shire; Ed Biles at Xavier; an
John McVay at Dayton are a
from Miami.
Parseghian has three form
Miamites at Notre Dame with hir
Hayes has two Redskins as a
sistants. Pont has two, and Alf
Agase of Northwestern has one.
Schembechler has brought thr
of his assistants with him, and
will be interesting to see if he ca
continue his winnin traditi
with the Wolverines.
L,
the vandal
x ...howard kohn
.k
.'* .
UMP ELLIOTT'S dreams were made of mended knees and short-
er crossbars.
Elliott coached football when other coaches manipulated, ana-
lyzed and stampeded their players through the mechanics of winning
games. Elliott won but he didn't have the guts or the insensitivity
to win as much as he could have.
He's gone now, coveyed aside for a winner. He's the new asso-
ciate director of athletics, which is much like being a second-string
stud at a cattle farm. "I gave up coaching because I didn't know if
this job would be offered again," Elliott said. What he meant of
course, was that he didn't know if his coaching job would be offered
again - once he returned to losing as he inevitably would have.
ELLIOTT'S FIRST five years at Michigan were equivocating
years filled with fifth-place finishes and criticism tempered by the
: caution he needed time to build a Yostian dynasty. But when he won
it all in 1964 with a heavily sophomoric team Elliott placed himself
in double jeopardy.
He was expected to continue to win. And he expected to continue
to win.
But the gods were not kind. He did not win in 1965, ending up
with a mediocre 4-6 record and a seventh-place tie.
Even more damaging than the humiliation on the field were the
charges levelled at Elliott's coaching motives.
The 1965 offense was geared to the running of halfbacks Jim
(Diesel) Detwiler and Carl Ward. In the season opener played in
atrociously humid weather in Durham, N.C., Detwiler tore the carti-
lege in his knee. The seriousness of a Detwiler injury was obvious.
Without Detwiler the Wolverines were without a ghost of a chance
at a repeat championship.
But the actual seriousness of the injury to Detwiler was in doubt.
Elliott refused to discuss the injury with reporters, saying simply that
he didn't know when Detwiler would be back.
n- DETWILER SAT OUT the next game. But he played against
ly Georgia in the third game, running heavily and favoring his injured
ul knee. Then on a power sweep around end he jerked his knee upward
en and stopped, suspended like a hydraulic pump in midlift. He under-
went a serious operation and was officially out for the season.
nd The following reports will always remain in conflict. But one of
al the attending doctors did say that Detwiler should never have played
in the game. I did some of the reporting on the story and The Daily
er sports pages hinted with very visible innuendo that Elliott had jeopar-
m dized Detwiler's career to further his own.
s- THE NEXT DAY Elliott walked up to me in the athletic depart-
ex ment with tears in his eyes and asked me what I believed. He said he
had played Detwiler with the doctor's go-ahead.
ee Elliott has always given the impression he's unaware of the eco-
it nomics of bigtime football, unaware that college football buys tackles
on and fullbacks on the hoof and conditions and markets them accord-
,n ingly. He was the clean-cut Appollo out of the 40's who ignored the
Bacchanalian life of the 60's and subsequently gave it tacit approval.
Maybe, yes. Maybe, no. I guess Elliott was caught in the crush of
100,000-plus gates and recruiting payola as much as any of them.
But he did care about his players.
Maybe too much. Elliott could and should have gone to the Rose
Bowl with his 1966 team. Michigan couldn't cope with nationally-
ranked Michigan State (which won its second straight title) but it
could easily have taken second and the roses.
MICHIGAN LOST the Purdue game, 22-21, and missed Pasadena.
Michigan lost because Bump Elliott sent Rick Sygar into the game
with just under two minutes left and fourth and one on the Purdue
25 and asked him to boot a field goal. Elliott asked Sygar to do it,
even though Sygar had never kicked one that far in practice. Earlier
in the game Sygar had accidentally touched a punt that rolled into
the end zone for a gifthorse Purdue touchdown. The field goal was
Sygar's chance for redemption. Sygar missed. And Elliott was at fault.
The 1967 season was another 4-6 episode. Alumni groups pres-
re sured the athletic board (on which I was a student representative)
'e for Elliott's "resignation." One group even nominated a replacement
n- in Forrest Evashevski and actively campaigned for a change.
rs The athletic board didn't fire Elliott. But it did issue an ultima-
th tum that Elliott win in 1968 or work elsewhere in 1969. Elliott did
not tell his players of the ultimatum. But they won for him on a com-
of bination of willpower and good fortune and less overall talent than
be two and three years previous.
It's all over now.
Ten years. 32-34-2 in the Big Ten. 51-42-2 overall.
on "BUMP'S TROUBLE is that he doesn't run the team himself,"
I a H. O. (Fritz) Crisler would say. Cisler should' have known. He ran
n- his teams his way in the 40's and won (especially when a guy named
es Elliott ran the ball). Crisler's the retirdd athletic director who de-
n livered the ultimatum.
"Bump's trouble is that he's too nice a guy," Tony (Mouth) Ma-
son would say. Mason should have known. Mason was a bastard to his
team and won (in high school). Mason's out chasing cats now with
some of the other deposed assistants and will likely end up in pro
football somewhere.
Crisler and Mason are poles apart in football philosophy. But
they both adhere strictly to the creed that a winning team is a good
team. They don't really care as much about sports as they do about
winning.
ELLIOTT CERTAINLY does not believe in the grade school
theme that college football is just good clean fun and that winning is
incidental. But he does believe that it isn't how you win or lose but
whether you play the game. He's a true sportsman. He cares about
sports for the sake of sports.
Maybe that was his problem.
1
*
Seasons
Stu Holcomb.................1942-43
Sid Gillman......... .......1944-47
George Blackburn ................1948
Woody Hayes .................1949-50
Ara Parseghian ................1951-55
John Pont ...................1956-62
Glenn Schembechler ..........1963-68
Record
10- 8-1
31- 6-1
7- 1-1
14- 5-0'
39- 6-1
43-22-2
40-17-3
SuTbscrie o
The most complete
supply of
NEW and USED TEXTS
and PAPERBACKS
is at the
Student Book Service
Coaching opening less
as Bo males choices
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
(Continued from Page 1)
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