Woodrow Wilson Football Coach

[kensmind]

Woodrow Wilson is often thought of as an egghead or an academic. He hardly has the image of a football coach. Yet Wilson was an enthusiastic supporter of the game. On several occasions he debtated those who thought the game to be too violent for college sports and he lobbied for the promotion of the sport in colleges. From 1888 to 1889 Wilson was a Professor of Political Economy at Wesleyan University. For two seasons served as an assistant coach of the football team. Biographies of Wilson do not offer enough detail as to how the coaching responsibilities were divided and what Wilson's responsibilities were. We do know however that the football team at Wesleyan University had a winning record under Wilson's watch. In addition to being an assistant coach, Wilson also served as co-director of the Foot-Ball Association. Wilson continued to promote the sport when he was a Professor and later the President of Princeton University.




Years later, it was ironic that the prissy frail Wilson would be advocating in favour of keeping football as a college sport, while the rough and robust Theodore Roosevelt would be on the side of those who claimed that the game was too violent.