Is Coach Rod the second coming of the great Fielding Yost?

Submitted by JCM26 on
This might not be as far fetched as it may seem at first glance.  RR and FY were born 4 miles apart in WV; both were inovators and developed prototypical offenses; both were known for speeding things up on the field; both were defensive minds turned offensive gurus; both believed in super conditioning; both traveled from the south to the west then north to Michigan; FY made Michigan his last stop - will RR do the same?
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Jivas

August 1st, 2008 at 9:53 AM ^

Fielding Yost's father was a Confederate soldier, and Yost himself was a racist bigot. Regardless of what he did for the program and the University as a football coach and AD, his name should not adorn any University buildings.

Joined: 07/06/2008

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mjv

August 1st, 2008 at 11:36 AM ^

and I'd be ok with a return to the days of Yost for our football team. I'm cool with average scores of 60-1. Didn't Yost have a team that only allowed one TD over the entire season? And we thought that 1997's Defense was special. And as often as Yost punted, Zoltan would be a god.

Joined: 06/30/2008

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hat

August 1st, 2008 at 12:29 PM ^

This may come as a surprise to some posters here, but 100 years ago, American society (both North and South) was not exactly enlightened with regard to racial matters. Yost's views, as objectionable as they appear to us now, basically reflected the mainstream opinion of his time. Heck, Woodrow Wilson (considered by some to be the first "progressive" president) publicly praised the KKK a number of times. To condemn an individual from that era using our 21st-century standards is ultimately useless.  Let's just stick to football discussion.

Joined: 06/30/2008

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spartyNO

August 1st, 2008 at 2:19 PM ^

One Michigan's best QB's under Yost was a guy by the name of Benny Friedman - a Jew. So Evidently Yost was all for Jewish emancipation in sports, but told the Catholics to fuck off? And let's keep in mind he was operating in 20th century Michigan here, not 1840's-Gangs-of-New-York-era-Daniel-Day-Lewis-run New York City.

Joined: 07/16/2008

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Jivas

August 1st, 2008 at 5:34 PM ^

There's clearly a lot of room for reasonable people to disagree on this matter, and we should discuss sports here, so I apologize for starting the discussion down a path it should not take in this forum. I also won't fan the flames any further, other than to point out that: (1) I've performed a cursory review on this matter, and it's not entirely an ND-contrived myth, and (2) I'm perfectly aware of the context of American racial thoughts and beliefs in the early 20th century, and my opinions on Yost are in full consideration of the context of his era. As I said, reasonable people can disagree on the matter; I choose to not glorify Yost in any way. Back to our regularly scheduled programming. Pardon the tangent.

Joined: 07/06/2008

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MNTN33R

October 6th, 2010 at 1:16 AM ^

RR second coming of Fielding Yost?

Perhaps.

Not only were they born in the same end of Marion County, WV, you Wolverines may not be aware that Yost PLAYED at WVU in 1895-96 - and, like RR - abandoned WVU in the lurch.

In 1896, WVU played THREE games in three days (Oct. 15-17) against Lafayette, losing 18-0, 6-0, 34-0, after which Yost, applying a bizarre "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em,"  transferred TO Lafayette.  A week later, Yost was playing for Lafayette against Penn.  Two weeks later, after pressure by Penn officials and the Philadelphia Ledger, Yost was back at WVU.

To add insult to injury, in their only meeting in 1904 at Ann Arbor, Yost coached Michigan to a 130-0 (sic) victory over WVU.

Given that debacle, plus the thefts of Beilein and Rodriguez (not to mention the subsequent wooing of our talented womens soccer coach), to say WVU owes UM is an understatement.  Perhaps in my lifetime...

 

Joined: 10/06/2010

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