WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1949 THE MICHIGAN DAILY ONTHE SPOT. By BOB SANDELL Sports Night Editor MINNESOTA'S DECISIVE and surprising rout of Iowa's Hawkeyes last Saturday may quiet a lot of the squawking that has been heard from Gopherland the past few weeks, but whether it is enough to save Coach Bernie Bierman's scalp is another question. Following the successive losses to Michigan and Purdue, Min- neapolis newspapers were deluged with letters from irate fans who blamed everybody from the. sports writers to the Gopher's water boy for the two disasters. Naturally Bierman came in for his share of criticism. In fact, there seems to be quite an active "anti-Bierman" organization that has been getting stronger and more outspoken than ever this year. Long before the first pigskin was ever tossed out onto the practice field last August, Minnesota's football fans had figuratively already bought their Rose Bowl tickets and were planning for the trip to Pasadena. A long overdue Western Conference title was practically in the bag. And they had reason for their optimism, too. No less than 28 lettermen, 23 of them seniors, answered Bier- man's first call for practice last summer. A sophomore, Dick Greg- ory, appeared to be the scat-back that Bierman had been looking fbr for several seasons. When the Gophers, paced by All-American candidates Leo Nomellini and Clayton Tonnemaker, nearly blew their first four opponents right off the field, it looked as if the "Golden" boys were on their way. It was a typical Bierman team with a huge line that was being compared with the greatest in college history. It relied on sheer pow- er to bowl over its opponents, a system which had worked pretty well for Bierman before the war. He was getting away with it again this year until' an aroused Michigan outfit showed him that modern foot- ball is played with a little more than line plunges mixed with an oc- casional pass and end sweep. * * * * TYPE OF OFFENSE, by the way, is the big bone of contention of Bierman's critics. One fan was enraged by the "deception" of one particular play in the Michigan game when, with fourth and four on the Wolverine eight yard line, a straight buck by Kuzma was called for against a line that had been giving very little ground that afternoon. But worse, it has been reliably reported that some of the players are not satisfied with the way the team is being run. Even in the modern era of unlimited substitution, Bierman has not made any basic changes in his style of slowly grinding out yardage and hoping to wear down the opposition with. a bulk- ing line. It worked in the days of Bruce Smith and George Franck, but the trend today is that if you can't move the other team, you go over or around them, or better yet-hide the ball from them until you've got it in their defensive backfield. The stigma .of seven straight defeats by Michigan is just about all loyal Minnesota fans can take. A good share of them are after Bierman's hide, and the only thing that might save him now is a trip'to the Rose Bowl for the Gophers. Even so, it appears to be a pret- tysafe bet that there will be a new man to guide the destinies of the on,e fabulous Northmen next year, a man with a type of offense to put the Gophers back on top of the gridiron heap. Lilich igan 0 Pime~s " . IU Threatens M' Grid ders' Crown Drive Kempthorn Set For Saturday Tilt Three weeks ago an Indiana football team took the field against an unbeaten Pittsburgh eleven that was rated a two touchdown favorite to beat the Hoosiers. But when the game was over, the score stood 48 for Indiana and 14 for Pittsburgh in one of the greatest upsets of the 1949 foot- ball season. In their two succeed- ing games, however, the Hoosiers were given a thorough working over by Wisconsin and Illinois, and the Pittsburgh game became "just one of those things" to most sports fans. COACH BENNIE Oosterbaan, however, hasn't forgotten the fate which befell the Panthers on that October afternoon in Bloomington, Ind. "The Pittsburgh game," said the Wolverine mentor, "showed what Indiana can do when they start clicking. We can't afford to underestimate them this Satur- day. A repetition in the Indiana game of the impotent offense displayed by the Wolverines in the second half of therPurdue game coupled with a strong case of overconfidence could well provide a stumbling block to Michigan's bid for its third consecutive Western Conference title, so Coach Oosterbaan isn't allowing his charges to forget that Pittsburgh game either. There wasn't any sign of "let- ting up" in practice at Ferry field yesterday as Oosterbaan ran his Wolverines through a long scrim- mage session. Both defense against SPORT S BOB VOKAC, Night Editor the Indiana offensive attack and a polishing up of the Michigan single wing offense were stressed in the rugged drill that lasted well past sundown. * * * THERE HAS been considerable speculation that wingback Leo Ko- ceski would return to action against the Cream and Crimson Saturday, but Oosterbaan, while not denying the possibility, stated that the speedy back's seeing serv- ice in the Indiana game was still doubtful. Defensive guard Lloyd Hene- veld's knee injury also lists him on the "doubtful" side for Sat- urday's game. Fullback Dick Kempthorn has completely recovered from a head injury sustained in the second quarter of the Purdue game and the 195 pound defense specialist saw considerable action both on offense and defense in the practice scrimmage. -Daily-Ed Kozma THANKS - Mack Suprunowicz looks appreciatively at the giant trophy awarded him by sports admirers of Schenectady. * * *P Home Town Grop Gives Recognition to S-uprunowiez EXECUTIVE CAREERS IN RETAILING -One-year Course 'leads to t Master's' Degree Prepare to step into a responsible executive position in the retailing field: buying, advertising, fashion, G personnel. Specialized training, ex- # clusively for college graduates, covers merchandising, personnel manage- ment, textiles, store organization, sales' promotion, and all phases of store activity. Realistic approach under store-trained faculty. Classes are com- bined with paid store work. Students are usually placed before graduation. Co-educational. Master's degree. Limited enrollment. Write Admissions Office for Bulletin C. RESEARCH BUREAU FOR RETAIL TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH . Pittsburgh 13, Pa. By TED PAPES Among the many forms of ac- claim afforded to young sports celebrities, there is probably none which surpasses recognition by home town folks. Such was the honor bestowed upon Michigan's basketball whirl- wind, Mack Suprunowicz, last Fri- day night by the townspeople of Schenectady, New York. At a lav- ish banquet Mack was designated the co-winner of the Schenectady's Most Valuable Athlete title along with Lt. Jim Scholtz, who set two world records in the hammer throw while at West Point. THEY WERE named by a com- mittee of local press and radio men as well as representatives of the award's sponsor, the Mount Pleasant Athletic Club. Each year selections are made on the basis of who contributes most toward put- ting the city on the sports map nationally. "Supy" was nominated for his stellar play in Western Conference basketball. Phil Rizzuto, fiery shortstop of the World Champion New York Yankees was the principal speaker at the affair which in- cluded talks by the Yanks' pub- licity director, Jack Farrel, and Maxie Rosenbloom. It was a fitting sendoff for Su- prunowicz who is about to embark on his fourth and last basketball campaign for the Wolverines. He is the captain of this year's squad and probably will be the nucleus around which coach Ernie McCoy will build his offense. S * * * LAST SEASON he was Michi- gan's leading point-maker, and much depends upon his resuming that role with the current cagers. He is a master of the fast break and a constant threat from any point on the floor. He ,,olds Michigan's individual scoring mark for a single game, 28 points against Purdue last winter. Suprunowicz was the spark that touched off a drive to a Wolver- ine Big Ten Championship under Ozzie Cowles in the 1947-48 cam- paign, and was a big reason why Michigan finished third in the NCAA playoffs that season. 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