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Kansas University Weekly.
not laziness notwithstanding a certain outward similarity. But the force of the criticisms stated depends entirely upon this; Has he had opportunity to apply his methods?
To my snrprise, the answer seems to be No. His quietly spoken advice has been quietly disregarded, while those who have disregarded it have yet been willing to have him held responsible for results. In this way our team was crippled last season; and in this way it was crippled again this season. The game with Doane is alone sufficient to account for the loss of the game with Missouri.
This is not all. Early in the present season, either because his methods were not understood, or because they seemed too slow—and in either case, respect for his reputation apart, it was assuredly human nature for those most deeply interested to grow impatient,—something of a counter authority was, with the best of intentions, set up. After some friction, the work was divided, and thus in effect, though not intentionally, he was hindered from carrying out his original plans.
Lastly under this head he has been refused credit for what he has actually accomplished. With the team crippled at the pleasure of others, he yet won the important game last of season. Working to suit others rather than himself, and with a team again weakened by the mistakes of others, the important game of this season still was lost only because both sides could not win it. The sole touchdown of that game was made by a plan of Professor Cowan's; the staying power developed by his policy of training brought Kansas, her ranks full of substitutes, irresistibly to Missouri's goal line at the end of the game—and in the reports of the game another name was usually substituted for his whenever coaching was mentioned.
Another criticism of his work I have reserved till the last, because it seems to me the most important, and the most just. This is, that he should have asserted his real authority throughout; and have insisted that his plan should be carried out in every detail, since it was evident that he must shoulder the responsibility in any case.
Some of these things in exaggerated form may have suggested the recent attacks upon him. But, to return to the original question, the immediate source of those attacks is apparently not in the University. Nor is it likely in the most recent instance to have proceeded from any one in the city of Lawrence. One does not need to be a friend of the University to see that Professor Cowan's place cannot be filled by another. Coaches may be had, the more the better, perhaps, but the Board of Regents will not pay their salaries, and the writer is not prepared to say who will. All except honorary signers have grown tired of subscription papers. It is perhaps only proper to say at least once that Professor Cowan is not a professional foot-ball coach but a minister of the gospel, a member of the Faculty of the University, who fortunately happens to know enough about foot-ball to do a coach's work, and, if not interfered with, to win games.
If the attack proceeded from some one in Kansas City, it is as stated at first, of little importance to him, but of somewhat more to the University. For the reason implied in the last paragraph, no friend of the University could have written it, and if it proceeded even indirectly from a certain person who has been associated with our athletic work this year, no further proof is needed, that even if his personal character were irreproachable, his connection of that person with this institution has been discreditable.
My conclusions are—naturally somewhat colored by my close personal acquaintance with Professor Cowan, for which I wish readers of this article to make due allowance. That if he had been permitted to carry out his own policy through the season, we should have lost no game. That criticism of his work is always in order, and should be frank and direct, in which case it is sure to be helpful and well received. That the severest criticism upon his work this season is that he failed to insist upon his own authority, methods, and policy, until he had secured a fair trial. That if his plans fail after a fair trial, he will know it as soon as anyone