University Daily Kansan Tuesday, Jan. 20.1953
KANSAS FORWARD—Jerry Alberts, Lincoln, Ill., sophomore, while no longer a member of the starting five, remains one of the strongest reserve members of the Jayhawk squad. He has seen little action during the last few games since he was displaced from his starting slot by junior forward Allen Kelley. He is a good jumper and a promising outside shooter, but he needs to improve his quickness and speed.
Two Platoon System It Came, Saw, Lost
By STAN OPOTOWSKY
United Press Sports Writer
Rocke started it. Fritz Crisler perfected it. And Red it legal.
were the three men behind the two-platoon system
Once football was a game of 60- minute iron men, replaced only for injuries. Then came substitutes for rest, and, finally, substitutes for specialization.
For all practical purposes, the pre-war substitution rule said a player pulled out of a game in one quarter could not re-enter until the next quarter. So coaches did not need to keep a player in desperation, or else they'd lose the use of these first stringers for the remainder of the quarter.
But Rocke, with his great manpower resources at Notre Dame, started the two-platoon system with his "shoek troops." At first, this meant that a "second team" started the game and blasted the foe with ferocity for five minutes or so.
These Notre Damers did not have to worry about getting tired—as the opposing team did—because they knew suddenly an entire new team would come in. This was the real "first team," and it entered the game fresh just when the foe was reeling from the blows of the "shock troops."
That produced the first major rule change—the first step toward legalizing the two-platoon system. The limitation on the player re-entering the game was removed. He could come back in any time. But there was still one hitch. Each team was allowed only three time outs. And substitutions could be made only during time outs.
From here football progressed to a two-platoon system of one team for the first and third quarters, another team for the second and fourth quarters.
That's where Crisler, then coaching at Michigan, stepped in. He dreamed up the two games, one for defense and one for offense, and fielded them in 1941. He decided that he was willing to pay the price of too-many time outs (a five-yard penalty) in order to get a fresh
batch of specialists in the game.
Football was revolutionized. Across the land, the coaches saw the great possibilities of the two-platoons. But some did not want to pay those penalty prices. Of all people, Crisler was the one who warned them to go easy—to avoid following his example until they knew what they were doing.
It has not been revealed before, but Crisler told a private meeting of the football coaches rules committee in 1941:
But Army's Blaik moved in. His manpower reservoir then was similar to the one which blessed Rockne at Notre Dame. He enlisted the aid of Columbia's Lou Little, chairman of the coaches' rules committee and one of the most influential men in football.
"Gentlemen, I am opposed to legalizing this. It will make changes in football we don't want."
Step by step, the two platoon system became legal. First, time outs were ordered automatically every time the ball changed hands. This provided the breathing space for the coaches to swap offensive and defensive units without being charged for a time out.
Even at the NCAA convention in Washington this month—as the death knell of the two-platoon system was sounding—Blaik fought for even more liberal rules. He wanted to make it possible for a team to substitute after every play.
But not even this was enough. Coaches dreamed up field goal platoons and kickoff platoons. So even more time outs were needed. The legal number—in addition to the automatic "changing hands" time out—was upped to four per team, and then to five.
But the two-platoon system was taking a toll in money, in coaches' time, in recruiting woes.
Jayhawks Meet CU Tonight As KU Seeks 4th Loop Win
By DON NIELSEN
Kansas' hustling Jayhawks will face Colorado's bristling Buffaloes tonight in the Colorado fieldhouse in Boulder.
Kansan Sports Editor
Kansas will put a 9-3 record on the line against Colorado's 6-5 mark. In conference play the Jayhawks are ranked second with a 3-1 record, while Colorado has not won a game but has dropped three.
The Jayhawks, who have shown a great preference for knocking off high ranking teams, will meet a team which is rated in the cellar of the Big Seven ratings, but which has a great deal more strength than the record indicates.
In conference play, Colorado has lost to Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Missouri, while Kansas has been beaten by Oklahoma, and has beaten Nebraska, Iowa State, and Kansas State.
If the Jayhawkers are able to put away the rest of their conference foes as handily as they did Kansas State and Oklahoma A&M, two of the toughest teams in the nation, they will be among the top contenders for the Big Seven title. KU will meet the Kansas State Wildcats once more on the conference schedule, this time in Manhattan. If the Jayhawks are able to maintain their sizzling pace, should make that contest one of the most important of the season.
But that is looking a long way ahead. The games which may foul up the Jayhawk hopes for glory are those with the more innocuous-appearing teams. Oklahoma appeared to be less troublesome than
was the case, and so the case may be with the Colorado contest.
The Buffaloes seem to be less troublesome than the Oklahoma Aggies or the Wildcats, but the Jayhawks are bound to be a little down for the game after a victory like that of last Saturday. Colorado, on the other hand, will be up as much as possible. Not only with the hope of upsetting our applecart, but with the hope of rebounding from their last three defeats.
The game will be the first meeting of the foes this season, but the 23rd meeting since the series began in 1951. Kansas has won 14 of the 22 contests. Colorado has not beaten the Jayhawks since 1950 when the Buffs edged the Jayhawks 50-48. Since then the Kansans have racked up six straight victories against the Colorado teams.
The Buffaloes were one of the few conference teams to give last year's championship basketball team a hard time in season play. The Buffs came within five points of upsetting the high-riding Jayhawks in Hoch auditorium. The Jayhawks won, 73-68.
By CHUCK MORELOCK
Kansan Assistant Sports Editor
There's a lot of time left before the 1952-53 college basketball season winds up competition for another year, but barring a complete Kansas collapse, this writer is ready to praise "Phog" Allen for turning in one of the outstanding coaching performances of the year.
The veteran Kansas mentor took more than his share of honors last year. The Jayhawks won the Big Seven pre-season tournament in Kansas City, copped the conference championship, won the NCAA title at Seattle, and whipped LaSalle to place seven men on the United States Olympic cage squad.
Phog received the plaudits of sports writers from all over the nation for guiding the Jayhawkers to the victories. Kansas fans took pride in the fact that Allen, although 66 years old, finally received the one honor that had escaped him all his life—a national title.
But when the shouting was over, most KU fans resigned themselves to the apparent fact that the Jayhawkers would be anything but a powerhouse in '52-'53. The only first string men returning, they saw, would be Dean Kelley and Charlie Hoag.
Prospects for a successful season became even more gloomy later on as Hoag was lost to the team for the season because of a knee injury. That left only Kelley with first string experience.
To make matters worse, LaVannes Squires, a promising junior cager, contracted TB and was forced to give up basketball.
Thus, when the Jayhawkers launched their 1952-53 season against Tulane, Phog was faced with the tremendous task of putting together a squad of Big Seven caliber with one returne from the 1952 team plus a host of willing, but green sophomores and reserves.
Sports writers were reserving a second division spot for the Jayhawkers in the Big Seven. They figured Kansas would be lucky to win half of its games.
Yet look at the KU record today. It stands at an astounding nine wins, three losses, including victories over powerful Oklahoma A&M and, most gratifying of all-Kansas State.
The Kansas strategy this season is in direct contract with last year's tactics. Phog has injected hustle, spirit, and fire into the Jayhawkers. Last year, led by the one-and-only Clyde Lovellette, Kansas rolled to a 28-3 record, but in several games the Jayhawkers acted as if they were playing under wraps.
Saturday's game at Hoch auditorium demonstrated beautifully what an inspired team can do. The Jayhawkers, with a tremendous height disadvantage, fought for every rebound, guarded the Wildcats relentlessly, and never gave up battling from the starting whistle.
We would much rather watch the present Kansas crew in action than the 1952 national championship club. The '53 outfit doesn't have the polish and experience of last year's squad, but few teams in the nation can match the Jayhawkers in terms of hustle and fight.
He may not see his team win the conference championship or a high spot in press polls, but Phog Allen has shown college basketball fans that he still has a few tricks left. Any coach who can produce a winning team with so little material has to be good—very good.
JAYHAWK GUARD — Larry Davenport, sophomore from Newton, is a member of the Kansas roster who has helped more than once to stem late rallies by opponents in Kansas victories. He is extremely accurate from a distance, and is a fair ball-handler. He recently was displaced from the starting five, but continues to break into games at the rough spots.
spots
'Phog' Blasts Pact-Breakers
"If the NCAA is as powerful as it's supposed to be, why does it permit coaches to break contracts before getting releases from the schools with whom they have entered agreement?"
In a tape-recording interview with KU Sports network director Merle Hieman, he joined the mission of the National College Athletics association, the veteran coach said:
Contract-breaking college athletic coaches were criticized by basketball coach Phog Allen during the weekly "Phog Allen Scrapbook" show over station KANU, the University's FM station.
Dr. Allen said that this situation has provoked criticism of college professors who emphasized that pacts should be observed seriously since they are made in good faith.
He said that a school must pay a coach the salary the contract calls the time the pact is meant to covert in use if it breaks its contract with a coach.
Dr. Allen added that "there's no such protection for the school when a coach leaves, however." He said that most coaches who are guilty of this practice get a better-paying job lined-up, then use it in order to obtain a better offer from the schools with which they are employed. He called the practice "highly unethical."
In discussing the NCAA, Dr. Allen pointed out that the group is doing its best possible job under the circumstances, but that it is still "an advisory and not an enforcing agency." He said that the NCAA, however, can influence public opinion against athletic evils.
The dean of the nation's basketball coaches asserted that the recent NCAA rules committee's action to abolish the platoon system "should balance the budget for a lot of schools."
Dr. Allen urged that a national commissioner of collegiate athletics be appointed to deal with such activities as recruiting, subsidization, and contract-breaking.