School players are of course simply at the dawn of the game; they are more prone to nervousness than their elders of the colleges, and few coaches can hope, under the present rules, for that smart handling of the ball that will enable the coach to build up a complicated style of play. It is usually a good plan for him to adhere to the simpler formations, to grind into the boy, at an age when he is extremely eager to learn anything to be learned outside the class room, those everlasting fundamentals of football that will be his greatest asset once he enters college and tries for the "big" team. It is the well-grounded boy who gets the quickest opportunity when the first call for Freshmen candidates is issued at the university, and it is the knowledge of fundamentals in a recruit that first catches the university coach's eye. He trusts to himself to provide the rest. There are of course a few exceptions to the general rule prescribing simple formations for schoolboys. "Pa" Corbin of Yale once turned out a school team that for variety of play and deftness of execution was on a par with any of the college teams of that year. This, however, is a rarity.

In the case of a single coach at one of the smaller colleges, the situation is very nearly the same as in that of the school, save that the college coach will have opportunity to draw upon a few graduates for assistance in individual instruction. In selecting these men it is an invariably wise plan to turn their appointment over to the captain. As a rule, before the season opens, both coach and captain write to all the prominent football men of former years, the captain, however, being allowed to send out all those invitations to return marked "urgent." The ideal plan, of course, is to welcome all the old-timers whenever they show up, but this is feasible only when the college has had a long and fairly successful career on the gridiron.

The returned graduate who played on an inferior eleven inspires little confidence in the players, for he has not the bearing of the man who has been in the habit of achieving victories, and it may be, indeed, that his own knowledge of the game is faulty. Uniformity is best obtained by getting together only a selected few. These return in rotation for more or less general coaching, or in squads, the members of which are told off as instructors in certain positions.

It is always a good plan to make absolutely sure of the return of an old-time punter and drop-kicker who has the knack of imparting his knowledge to the candidates, for this will take a heavy burden off the shoulders of the regular coach, and will assure strength in the most important department of the game to-day.

To the average spectator at the big football games it would be a revelation could he peep behind the closed doors at a coaching council at one of the great universities. He would find anywhere from six to twelve men in solemn, and sometimes heated, conclave, around a big table, studying the situation and mapping out plans with all the earnestness of a cabinet or a ministry.

The head coach, not necessarily at the same time the strategist, is in absolute charge, and his word is law, but he is a poor head coach indeed who does not welcome an occasional clash of opinion among the members of his staff, even when that clash involves some of his pet theories. The chief has necessarily a bird's-eye view of the situation, and must rely upon his aides for intimate reports on the problems at hand. If he is the right sort of chief he is even tempered, with incredible patience, and the firmness that comes only of long experience and due deliberation. He must be ready and willing to meet openly and frankly every challenge of his policy, and to meet it with convincing argument.

His is a sort of benevolent despotism, and he must be a devotee of absolute justice, to be rendered only when every man has had his day in court. There will be times, however, when he will have to stand firmly on one policy or another against his entire staff, as well as the captain of the team, convincing his aides if possible that he is right, or staking his all on the chance that he is right and all the others are wrong. Fortunately such a situation seldom arises.

There is only one man upon whom the head coach has no veto, and that is the trainer. In all other matters his authority is supreme. Now if the relations between the coach and the captain are of the best and the captain in consultation with the coach, has chosen the assistants, it would seem to follow that there should be little friction. Unfortunately that is not always the case, for football coaches are apt to be men of strong opinions, opinions for which they will make a reasonable fight, and the head coach therefore must be a man of supreme tact.

Granted that the coaching staff moves as smoothly as a machine, there will be differences in the matter of detail from time to time, and the chief occasionally has to stand between the team and his own assistants, and with his strategist, if he has an assistant acting in that capacity, and against the other coaches.

The view of the head coach is perforce the larger view, and he must maintain his eminence in that respect at all cost lest his own judgment be warped and disaster follow. Through his scouts he will know more than the other men of what the other great teams are doing, and he will naturally be broader in his treatment of his team and its theory of play than any of the specialists under him possibly could be. It is a poor sort of assistant coach who does not at times doubt the wisdom of his chief and go to him frankly with his doubts. The "Missourians" of football are usually the defensive coaches, who believe so thoroughly in the efficacy of their own defensive methods that they cannot see how the plan of attack laid out for the team is ever going to gain ground against an eleven that appears, at least on paper, to be equally strong. These men are often difficult indeed to convince that things are as they should be, and, indeed, the rivalry between the attacking and defensive coaches - the attack almost always invariably in sole charge of the head coach - is keen throughout the season; this in spite of the fact that the chief is also presumably a well-equipped defensive coach as well. It is here that firmness and tact count heavily.