Saturday, September 14, 1974
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Nine
BO WANTS HIS SCALP
Stolz hopes for Spartan revival
By JOHN KAHLER
Denny Stolz, the head coach
of the Michigan State Spartans,
has been feeling sorry for him-
self lately. And for good reason.
Michigan State, formerly one
of the nation's gridiron power-
houses, has fallen on hard times
of late. Stolz could manage on-
ly a 5-6 record in his inaugural
season as Spartan mentor, a
mark that contrasts badly with
the Big Ten championship
teams fielded in 1965 and 1966.
MSU may have difficulty
reaching even 5-6 this year. A
large share of last year's best
players have grluated.
There is no junior or senior
talent to speak of on the ros-
ter. The schedule, featuring
Notre Dame and UCLA, is a
tough one.
And if that isn't enough, the
Green Meanies have been hit
by a wave of injuries. Hawaiian
center Charles Ane is out with
a broken foot, ("He drooped a
cocoanut on it," says Stolz in
a display of gallows humor),
second string quarterback Mar-
shall Lawson has a broken
hand, and tackle Paul Smolin-
ski is out with a knee injury.
But the most damaging in-
jury was that suffered by a
freshman tailback, Ted Bell.
The best high school player in
Ohio last year, he was the
prize catch of Spartan recruit-
ers. Bell was to add some dash
to what shapes up to be a
punchless Spartan attack.
But Bell didn't even last til
contact drills before getting.
rung. His twisted knee re-
quired surgery, and he will
be lost for the season.
So. Stolz has reason for tears.
The behavior of the MSU alums
has often been compared with
that of the piranha, and another
Farmers' almanac
S. 14 Northwestern
S. 21 Syracuse
S. 28 at UCLA
0. 5 Notre Dame
0. 12 AT MICHIGAN
0. 19 at Illinois
0. 26 Purdue
N. 2 at Wisconsin
N. 9 Ohio State
N. 16 at Indiana
N. 23 Iowa
losing season woeld put his job
in serious jeonardy.
The task of pilling MSU
through will once again fall on
the Spartan defense. This unit
shapes up as being potentially
good against the run and po-
tentially disasterous against the
pass.
MSU spokesmen are very
high on the middle of the Spar-
tan line, consisting of Jim Tau-
bert and Greg Schaum at the
tackles and Kim Rowecamp at
middle guard. Terry and Pat
McClowry, a set of identical
twins, man the linebacking
posts, and man them well. De-
fensive ends Otto Smith and
Mike Duda are not particularly
outstanding, but they are all
Stolz has.
The Stnartan coaches are
proying that the opposition
sticks to the ground against
them, for the secondary was
wied out by graduation, and
the replacements, Joe Hunt,
Ken Jones, John Breslin, and
Tom Hannon are as geen as
their home jerseys. Their
first test, incidentally, will be
against Northwestern and
Mitch Anderson, who has led
the Big Ten in passing yard-
age the last two seasons.
But Stolz feels the secondary
will be better than last year's
bnch. "Defensive backs are
sumposed to be the fastest peo-
ple on your team, right? Well,
we clocked our defensive backs
last year, and they were the
slowest people we had."
The defense will have its
work cut out, since the Spartan
offense does not appear to be
very potent. Popular Charlie
Baggett comes off knee surgery
for another season at quarter-
back, and fullback Clarence
Bullock is being mentioned as a
possible all-conference selec-
tion..
With Bell sidelined, the tail-
back position will be manned by
either Rich Baes, a sophomore
walk-on, or Tyrone Wilson, who
has yet to live up to his poten-
tial. Flanker Mike Jones, split
end Mike Hurd, and tight end
Mike Cobb are 'a capable corps
of receivers for whatever pass-
See DENNY, Page 11
MSU's Baggett launches a bomb
Candid Canham continued
(Continued from Page 3)
that was a hundred years ago, we could
not initiate contact with a high school
athlete even by letter. The athlete had
to write to you, and usually an alumnus
would go and see the athlete and say
"Hey, Michigan's interested in you. If
you're interested in them, write them a
letter"
We had great teams in those days. Na-
tionwide the good teams are still the
good teams. Maybe you can't go back
that far, but something has got to be
done.
DAILY-What is your feeling toward
professional leagues who sign athletes
with college eligibility remaining and
what do you think its long range ef-
fect will be on college athletics?
CANHAM-Well, of course, we're pret-
ty bitter about it. We're extremely bitter
about the basketball and the baseball
people. Professional baseball has ruined
the college game. They sign kids right
off the campus and have been for
years. Today, with certain exceptions
college baseball across the country just
does not draw people anymore. And the
reason is that you can't fool the public.
They know that all the good high school
kids and most of the college aged play-
ers of top quality have been signed to
pro contracts. They have ruined the col-
lege game.
NOW basketball is starting it. For in-
stance, this year basketball has gone
into Marquette, Notre Dame and Michi-
gan and taken their outstanding player.
Now those were three teams, any one of
which could have been a national cham-
pion next year. It's very difficult to see
how any one of the three can be a na-
tional champion because professional
basketball has wrecked their teams.
We're going to have a good basketball
team, and you know Marquette and No-
tre Dame are, too. We would have had a
super basketball team and the resulting
publicity is going to hurt our attendance.
Without Campy Russell our kids are go-
ing to have to play super basketball to
be a real contender like they would have
been with him. So, all of us in intercol-.
legiate athletics are really upset about
the pros.
Of all of them, only Pete Rozelle of the
NFL is genuinely concerned with pre-
serving college football. You'll never see
the NFL sign an O. J. Simpson or a Den-
nis Franklin off of a team. Pete's too
smart for that and the league is too
smart for that, but I don't know about
the rest of these guys, even hockey and
track and field now.
DAILY-If the W o r l d Football
League started signing off college
campuses do you think the NFL would
have to keep pace?
CANHAM-That's our worry. If the
World Football League, out of despera-
tion, turned to that then there's no as-
surance that the NFL won't be signing
players off the campuses in self defense.
That's the concern that we have. I've
talked with quite a few of the WFL peo-
ple and they claim that they're not going
to do that. If they don't, then fine. Who
knows what someone will do when they
are in a financial bind.
DAILY-In the book, "Hail to the
Victors" by John Behee, your conduct
over the years in helping black ath-
letes at the University was praised.
Some of your predecessors as athletic
director, especially Fielding Yost had
no such reputation. Why the differ-
ence?
CANHAM-In my particular case, I
guess the book is flattering in that re-
spect. I think circumstances dictate a
lot of what happens also. I had black
friends as I was growing up and I
roomed with a black athlete when I was
a student at Michigan. This was 35 years
ago. I just don't look at it in racial
terms, to this day I don't. I've hired sev-
eral blacks here recently and if I had
found a white for those particular jobs
I would have hired whites.
I don't really know about Yost's feel-
ings. I didn't know him that well. Yost
had a Southern background and in those
days it would not be hard to see a man
having some kind of a prejudice, but I
really can't speak about Yost. I do know
there were some problems with black
athletes in those days here, and I sup-
pose the athletic director has to be the
responsible party.
DAILY-Yost was the athletic direc-
tor when a football game between
Michigan and Georgia Tech was
scheduled at Ann Arbor in October,
1934. Tech and most Southern schools
practiced "Jim Crow" separation of,
the races, barring blacks from par-
ticipating in games for or against
Tech. One of Michigan's best players,
end Willis Ward, was forced to the
sidelines because of this rule when
Yost refused to cancel the game. What
would you have done in that situa-
tion?
CANHAM-I'd like to think that I
would have cancelled the game. Sure.
But you'd have to go back in that time
span. Maybe I'd have been a prejudiced
guy in those days, too. You don't know.
Willis Ward today is a judge in De-
troit and one of my very close friends.
I've known him for years and years.
That game was a very, very bad spot in
intercollegiate athletics. It also was not
uncommon. What happened at Michigan
was just one incident. It happened al-
most every time a Northern team played
a Southern team.
DAILY--Do you remember Jerry
Ford when he was in school here?
CANHAM-Well, Jerry was a little bit
ahead of me.' To tell you the honest
truth, I don't know him well. I talked
with him several times after he became
Vice President, but I haven't had any
contact with him since he's become
President. I really don't know him well.
DAILY-Ford was never known
when he was in Congress as being any
kind of a civil rights advocate, but
you'd like to think that a man who
w- s going to be President of the
United States would stand up when
some injustice like that did occur, on
a team of which he was a member?
CANHAM-Well you see there again
you've got to be fair. You've got to look
at the time span.
You know his voting record better
than L All I know is my feeling is that
he will be very good on civil rights as
a President. I think that he's just an
honest man. Everybody I talked to that
played with him and knew him says so
and that's what we're looking for today.
DAILY-Do you think that because
intercollegiate athletics have become
so much of a business that it is de-
tracting from the sports themselves?
CANHAM-Intercollegiate athletics it-
self has not changed. The athletics them-
selves hove not changed, it's the tremen-
dous crunch in trying to raise enough
money to keep the program going. Infla-
tion has hit intercollegiate athletics like
you wouldn't believe. Let me give you
an example. When we flew out to Los
Angeles to play UCLA two years ago,
we chartered an airplane for about $16,-
000. This year we're playing out in Palo
Alto, and it will cost us $27,000 for the
same plane.
THOSE of us in administration realize
that unless you can keep the ship afloat
financially then the actual competitive
end of intercollegiate athletics will
change dramatically. We don't want to
see that happen. We want to field good
teams. We want to field well equipped
teams. We want to have adegate travel
bhdgets. I really think the sports them-
selves have not changed-administration,
through necessity has changed.
DAILY-Last year at the NCAA bas-
ketball tournament in Alabama, John-
ny Orr said, "Don Canham just ex- r
tended my contract from a month to a
year-Hell with .C-nham, that's ten-
ure." Orr's comment was made in fun,
but what kind of boss do you feel you
are?
CANIIAM-4 think I'm fair. I think I
make every effort to run it like a busi-
ness, frankly. You hyave to first of all
realize that the management, at least,
of intercollegiate athletics is not fun
and games. If we fail on the field, we
have to go to the university for funds. I
try to hire people who are capable and
then let them handle their program. If
they don't handle their program right
and properly, I have to do something
about it. I think any good administrator
has to do the same thing.