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Show Backseat "Driving - By FRANK K. BAKER Telegram Sports Editor Tiny Thornhill's uncertain position at Stanford reminds re-minds us once again that this coaching business isn't always the pleasant sinecure it appears from the sidelines. Big, burly Thornhill was a wonder when he was putting three Stanford teams In the Rose Bowl, but a lot of the wolves have forgotten all about those successful years in their demand for his scalp this season in what has been a losing campaign. Did Thornhill suddenly forget all he ever knew about football? foot-ball? Has he forgotten how to teach It? Or has he simply not got the football players he had when he made the Rose Bowl? These and a flock of similar questions present themselves them-selves as on views Tiny's plight His contract expires in April and that august body governing the athletic destinies at Stanford has recommended that the school look for somebody some-body to take Tiny's place. If Tiny has been shirking his work or if he has had difficulty handling his manpower, that would be a different differ-ent situation. There are no charges of that being so, however. The dissatisfaction simmers down to the fact that Stanford isn't winning and it appears that Thornhill will be the "fall guy" which hardly seems fair and logical in an activity that is supposed to teach sportsmanship and fair play. Far too many athletic councils and alumni like to keep their coaches on the uneasy seat. The recent signing of jimmy Fhelan at the Vniversity pf Washington to a year's contract is a shining example. The officials at Washington might just as well have said something like this: "Okay, Jimmy, we'll give you another year's reprieve. If you don't win a majority of your games in that time and otherwise other-wise keep us and the wolves in general satisfied, we'll get somebody some-body else." i Blunt? Tea, but In effect not a bit more so than what they have Intimated by their actions. In fact, they have made the situation tougher for the coach. Ho knows he's In constant con-stant dread of falling out of the frying paa into the fire, aorta n probation. It should not be necessary to point out that this sense of uneasiness is not conducive to a man's best effort ef-fort It doesn't give time to complete a rebuilding program. And I'm sure that the institution hasn't encouraged general public support by publicly Indicating that It hasn't a groat deal of confidence In the coach either. This situation also does much to foster the "crying towel" attitude of the coaches who go to such pessimistic lengths each fall in their attempts to get themselves off the spot. The loss of one man sometimes is enough o turn a winner into a loser. This is especially so in baseball base-ball and it is sometimes true in football. For example, Colorado's conference champions of two years ago would undoubtedly have been lost had a serious injury happened to Byron (Whizzer) White. After all, he was the man who made the Buffalos click that season, the difference between victory and defeat in nearly very game they won. It is the same all down the line. Grand Old Man that he is, even Connie Mack has been ridiculed a lot during his bleaker years with the Philadelphia Athletics in baseball. He was a genius when he was winning pennants with Home Run Baker, Barry, Collins and Mclnnis. He was well on the road to being a "bum," though, as he kept finishing in the American league cellar with a crop of misfits. He was the identical individual, endowed with the same baseball theories and ideas on leadership who dominated the league again when Simmons, Dykes, Grove and Company began clicking. And of course he was a genius again. It takes a lot of things to develop a winner good material, ma-terial, sound coaching, team morals and good breaks. A lot of these things like team spirit are more or less intangible and nexplainable, but they're mighty important nevertheless. never-theless. Some teams look mighty good on paper. They are physically great and harmonious lot, but they simply don't catch fire and click.- Maybe the players aren't Inspirational competitors like others, bat the wolves who cry for a coach's scalp forget these things. |