Book reviewer Edward Udd of Taylor & Francis Online wrote a short but glowing analysis of Stagg vs. Yost: The Birth of Cutthroat Football. In a review posted in November 2017 Udd said Stagg vs. Yost "is a furiously paced book that starts with outrage and indignation and ends with outrage and indignation. In between is a book that is scrupulously researched and documents a time period in American football that is little known and, after reading this book, you will likely agree that what little you knew was wrong. Worth the read right there."
Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14927713.2017.1399566?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=rloi20
Tuesday, 7 August 2018
Monday, 4 July 2016
Stagg vs. Yost among Sports Biblio's Top 15 football books of 2015
The sports book website Sports Biblio ranked Stagg vs. Yost: The Birth of Cutthroat Football among the Top 15 about American football in 2015:
http://www.sportsbiblio.com/sports-biblios-list-of-notable-football-books-for-2015/
Writer Wendy Parker said she narrowed down "a long selection of American football books for this post," but included author John Kryk's latest work among the year's best, concluding:
"If you think college football today is awash in greed, corruption and a win-at-all-costs ethos, this book is a useful reminder that those things are nearly as old as the sport itself."
http://www.sportsbiblio.com/sports-biblios-list-of-notable-football-books-for-2015/
Writer Wendy Parker said she narrowed down "a long selection of American football books for this post," but included author John Kryk's latest work among the year's best, concluding:
"If you think college football today is awash in greed, corruption and a win-at-all-costs ethos, this book is a useful reminder that those things are nearly as old as the sport itself."
Sports in American History recommends 'enlightening, accessible' Stagg vs. Yost: 'a solid example of primary source research'
Scholar Michael T. Wood offers a hearty recommendation of Stagg vs. Yost: The Birth of Cutthroat Football in his review for the group blog Sport in American History:
https://ussporthistory.com/2016/01/31/review-of-stagg-vs-yost/
A doctoral candidate in the Department of History and Geography at Texas Christian University, Wood writes that he "would recommend Stagg vs. Yost to both a scholarly and general audience. It serves as a solid example of primary source research and is an enlightening, accessible account of the personalities and contradictions in early college football history."
The book was released last summer. Numerous scholars have praised author John Kryk's second book on college football history.
Wood writes that Kryk offers "a revisionist history of Stagg, consistent with Robin Lester’s Stagg’s University (1995) and counter to the popular image of Stagg as an 'all-American paragon of virtue.' Stagg v. Yost also offers an argument for greater consideration of Yost’s achievements and his place in college football history.
Beyond the Yost-Stagg contrasts and illuminations, Wood says that "Kryk rightly describes both the violence and brutality of the game and the search for order that began in the 1890s, with the founding of regional conferences. As members of the Big Nine, representatives from the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan often squabbled over scheduling, eligibility requirements, and rule changes. Here, Kryk challenges Stagg’s pristine image, arguing that it was a calculated façade that hid his true win-at-all-costs behavior. He also exposes the University of Michigan’s “loan” scheme that existed from the 1890s to the 1920s whereby instead of payments, administrators and alumni would lend athletes money to defray the cost of attendance."
Wood furthermore writes that Kryk "provides engaging narratives" of each season from 1901 to 1905, "correctly marks" 1905 as an epochal year in football, "successfully supports Lester’s depiction of Stagg as not just college football’s 'Grand Old Man' but as a calculating, hypercompetitive coach willing to compromise amateur ideals in order to win, [and] also provides a strong argument for Yost to be considered alongside Stagg, Glenn “Pop” Warner, John Heisman, and Knute Rockne as the best coaches in early college football history."
What's more, Wood writes that even beyond Kryk's "intended focus, the amount of turnover year-to-year on college rosters and the competition among teams for current players were particularly interesting. With eastern schools raiding western teams and western teams raiding smaller schools, I gained an increased appreciation for just how 'cutthroat' college football was at the time."
https://ussporthistory.com/2016/01/31/review-of-stagg-vs-yost/
A doctoral candidate in the Department of History and Geography at Texas Christian University, Wood writes that he "would recommend Stagg vs. Yost to both a scholarly and general audience. It serves as a solid example of primary source research and is an enlightening, accessible account of the personalities and contradictions in early college football history."
The book was released last summer. Numerous scholars have praised author John Kryk's second book on college football history.
Wood writes that Kryk offers "a revisionist history of Stagg, consistent with Robin Lester’s Stagg’s University (1995) and counter to the popular image of Stagg as an 'all-American paragon of virtue.' Stagg v. Yost also offers an argument for greater consideration of Yost’s achievements and his place in college football history.
Beyond the Yost-Stagg contrasts and illuminations, Wood says that "Kryk rightly describes both the violence and brutality of the game and the search for order that began in the 1890s, with the founding of regional conferences. As members of the Big Nine, representatives from the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan often squabbled over scheduling, eligibility requirements, and rule changes. Here, Kryk challenges Stagg’s pristine image, arguing that it was a calculated façade that hid his true win-at-all-costs behavior. He also exposes the University of Michigan’s “loan” scheme that existed from the 1890s to the 1920s whereby instead of payments, administrators and alumni would lend athletes money to defray the cost of attendance."
Wood furthermore writes that Kryk "provides engaging narratives" of each season from 1901 to 1905, "correctly marks" 1905 as an epochal year in football, "successfully supports Lester’s depiction of Stagg as not just college football’s 'Grand Old Man' but as a calculating, hypercompetitive coach willing to compromise amateur ideals in order to win, [and] also provides a strong argument for Yost to be considered alongside Stagg, Glenn “Pop” Warner, John Heisman, and Knute Rockne as the best coaches in early college football history."
What's more, Wood writes that even beyond Kryk's "intended focus, the amount of turnover year-to-year on college rosters and the competition among teams for current players were particularly interesting. With eastern schools raiding western teams and western teams raiding smaller schools, I gained an increased appreciation for just how 'cutthroat' college football was at the time."
Journal of Sport History: Stagg vs. Yost 'adds to our knowledge' of sports history
In the Spring 2016 issue of the Journal of Sport History (Volume 43, Number 1), Gerald R. Gems reviews Stagg. vs. Yost: The Birth of Cutthroat Football:
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/619842
A professor of health and physical education at North Central College in Naperville, Ill., Gems says author John Kryk's work is "a worthwhile effort, with very noticeable research that covered several years in primary archival sources as well as secondary works and newspaper collections."
While Gems's assessment is that Kryk's "sentiments clearly lie with Yost and Michigan," Gems points out that Kryk's book "is not a hagiography.
"Kryk is intent on dismantling the stellar reputation enjoyed by Stagg, offering plenty of evidence that he was not the morally upright saint of amateurism that he and many historians have portrayed. In this respect, the book offers a good supplement to Robin Lester's seminal work, Stagg's University, a North American Society for Sport History book award winner.
"The final chapter offers helpful biographical sketches of players and principal characters, and the numerous photos and illustrations from the era add to the context. The presentation and discussion of the primary source materials shed light on the internecine quarrels of the athletic administrations, adding to our knowledge of the sporting past and its continuing influence on current events."
Friday, 27 November 2015
Mike Mayock: Stagg vs. Yost a 'highly revealing & entertaining' read
Stagg vs. Yost: The Birth of Cutthroat Football is a "highly revealing and entertaining read," according to long-time NFL Network analyst and commentator Mike Mayock.
"I can't imagine the number of hours of research John Kryk put into writing Stagg vs. Yost -- really impressive," Mayock says. "I particularly enjoyed the direct irony of 'What goes around, comes around' in college football. Recruiting and cheating scandals? Tempo offense? Are we talking 1905 or 2015?
"Highly revealing and entertaining."
Kryk's book from Rowman & Littlefield went on sale in July. Mayock's is the latest enthusiastic endorsement from football experts, journalists and literary critics alike. See other posts here at staggvsyost.blogspot.ca for those.
To purchase Stagg vs. Yost at a special 25% discount, go to Rowman.com, type "Stagg vs. Yost" in the search engine, click on this title, click to check out, create an account, then at checkout use the following promo code: 7A3AUTHF
"I can't imagine the number of hours of research John Kryk put into writing Stagg vs. Yost -- really impressive," Mayock says. "I particularly enjoyed the direct irony of 'What goes around, comes around' in college football. Recruiting and cheating scandals? Tempo offense? Are we talking 1905 or 2015?
"Highly revealing and entertaining."
Kryk's book from Rowman & Littlefield went on sale in July. Mayock's is the latest enthusiastic endorsement from football experts, journalists and literary critics alike. See other posts here at staggvsyost.blogspot.ca for those.
To purchase Stagg vs. Yost at a special 25% discount, go to Rowman.com, type "Stagg vs. Yost" in the search engine, click on this title, click to check out, create an account, then at checkout use the following promo code: 7A3AUTHF
Wednesday, 21 October 2015
Gridiron Greats recommends Stagg vs. Yost 'for any football library'
Gridiron Greats: The Digest of North American Football & Its Memorabilia is the latest periodical to praise Stagg vs. Yost: The Birth of Cutthroat Football.
In its Fall 2015 edition (Vol. 14, No. 50) the magazine recommends Stagg vs. Yost "for any football library."
The book's author, John Kryk, "has developed an interesting comparison and review" of the principal coaches, Amos Alonzo Stagg and Fielding H. Yost, according to Gridiron Greats.
"Stagg may be viewed in a much different light after reading this book, while one may embrace more fully Yost and his impressive offense schemes," the reviewer states. "This is a well researched and interesting book that looks at Stagg's career more closely, and embraces what I have always felt was the overlooked career of Yost."
Stagg vs. Yost went on sale in July. For more on Gridiron Greats magazine, click here.
In its Fall 2015 edition (Vol. 14, No. 50) the magazine recommends Stagg vs. Yost "for any football library."
The book's author, John Kryk, "has developed an interesting comparison and review" of the principal coaches, Amos Alonzo Stagg and Fielding H. Yost, according to Gridiron Greats.
"Stagg may be viewed in a much different light after reading this book, while one may embrace more fully Yost and his impressive offense schemes," the reviewer states. "This is a well researched and interesting book that looks at Stagg's career more closely, and embraces what I have always felt was the overlooked career of Yost."
Stagg vs. Yost went on sale in July. For more on Gridiron Greats magazine, click here.
Tuesday, 15 September 2015
Christian Science Monitor weighs in
The Christian Science Monitor includes Stagg vs. Yost in a feature promoting eight new football books.
"Anybody who assumes that friendly rivalries characterized college football in the early 1900s only has to read Stagg vs. Yost to revise their perceptions," writes the story's author, Ross Atkin. "John Kryk paints the period as one in which corruption, under-the-table payments, and overzealous boosters were beginning to sully the sport's image."
Atkins concludes that Stagg vs. Yost is "a case study in how two prominent coaches pushed the boundaries."
For the full Christian Science Monitor passage, click here.
"Anybody who assumes that friendly rivalries characterized college football in the early 1900s only has to read Stagg vs. Yost to revise their perceptions," writes the story's author, Ross Atkin. "John Kryk paints the period as one in which corruption, under-the-table payments, and overzealous boosters were beginning to sully the sport's image."
Atkins concludes that Stagg vs. Yost is "a case study in how two prominent coaches pushed the boundaries."
For the full Christian Science Monitor passage, click here.
Wednesday, 26 August 2015
Library Journal awards Stagg vs. Yost with coveted 'starred' review
Library Journal has awarded Stagg vs. Yost: The Birth of Cutthroat Football a "starred" review.
In an August feature previewing fall football books, the respected and widely read magazine within the book industry gave a starred review to only one other of nine new books on football.
Books that did not receive starred reviews include the coming unauthorized Nick Saban biography, a biography on Junior Seau by a senior Sports Illustrated writer, and a book on college football finances by a former Pulitzer Prize winner.
Library Journal calls John Kryk's new book "essential reading for those interested in the early history of college football." For more on LJ's review, click here.
Stagg vs. Yost (from Rowman & Littlefield) went on sale in July.
In an August feature previewing fall football books, the respected and widely read magazine within the book industry gave a starred review to only one other of nine new books on football.
Books that did not receive starred reviews include the coming unauthorized Nick Saban biography, a biography on Junior Seau by a senior Sports Illustrated writer, and a book on college football finances by a former Pulitzer Prize winner.
Library Journal calls John Kryk's new book "essential reading for those interested in the early history of college football." For more on LJ's review, click here.
Stagg vs. Yost (from Rowman & Littlefield) went on sale in July.
Saturday, 25 July 2015
John U. Bacon: 'Real scholarship, original insights, page-turning stories'
Best-selling author John U. Bacon is the latest sports historian to praise Stagg vs. Yost: The Birth of Cutthroat Football.
"The best cure for nostalgia is a healthy dose of honest history," writes Bacon, author of Bo's Lasting Lessons, Three and Out, Fourth and Long and his new book due in September, End Zone: The Rise, Fall and Return of Michigan Football. "[John] Kryk delivers that by the bucket in Stagg vs. Yost, where wax figures come to life, revealing themselves to be far more clever, corrupt, complex and occasionally noble than we ever could have imagined.
"Kryk provides real scholarship, original insights and page-turning stories. In the process, he shows us how it all started -- and why it still matters. If you care about college football, and especially Michigan football, you'll devour Stagg vs. Yost."
Bacon parenthetically provides this spoiler alert: "When you finish, you might conclude that [Amos Alonzo] Stagg's name should be taken off the Big Ten trophy, and [Fielding H.] Yost's should replace it."
Kryk's book from Rowman & Littlefield can be ordered online in either hardcover or electronic format.
"The best cure for nostalgia is a healthy dose of honest history," writes Bacon, author of Bo's Lasting Lessons, Three and Out, Fourth and Long and his new book due in September, End Zone: The Rise, Fall and Return of Michigan Football. "[John] Kryk delivers that by the bucket in Stagg vs. Yost, where wax figures come to life, revealing themselves to be far more clever, corrupt, complex and occasionally noble than we ever could have imagined.
"Kryk provides real scholarship, original insights and page-turning stories. In the process, he shows us how it all started -- and why it still matters. If you care about college football, and especially Michigan football, you'll devour Stagg vs. Yost."
Bacon parenthetically provides this spoiler alert: "When you finish, you might conclude that [Amos Alonzo] Stagg's name should be taken off the Big Ten trophy, and [Fielding H.] Yost's should replace it."
Kryk's book from Rowman & Littlefield can be ordered online in either hardcover or electronic format.
Friday, 24 July 2015
'Essential reading': Library Journal
Library Journal, a trade publication for librarians, calls John Kryk's Stagg vs. Yost: The Birth of Cutthroat Football "essential reading for those interested in the early history of college football."
The book from Rowman & Littlefield went on sale this week.
In a review posted to the web on Thursday, July 23 and appearing in the August print edition of Library Journal, John Maxymuk of Rutgers University's Paul Robeson Library wrote, in part:
"Using archival materials, Kryk (Natural Enemies) chronicles the lives of two pioneering coaches: the University of Michigan's Fielding H. Yost (1871-1946) and the University of Chicago's Amos Alonzo Stagg (1862-1965). While Yost is mostly forgotten today, his fast-paced 'point-a-minute' offense was an early precursor to modern no-huddle attacks.
"The venerated Stagg, who coached into his 90s, carefully burnished his pristine reputation as a paragon by moralizing about corruption in college football while demonizing the professional game as pure evil. Kryk discovered Stagg to be a shady recruiter and found that his dubious sportsmanship was expressed by publicly questioning the eligibility of players on rival teams . . . .
"Kryk doesn't dispute Stagg's greatness as a coach and innovator but suggests a fuller perspective of him, also advocating a reassessment of Yost as an imaginative strategist in football history."
Library Journal's "verdict" on Stagg vs. Yost: "Essential reading for those interested in the early history of college football."
Click here for the full review.
The book from Rowman & Littlefield went on sale this week.
In a review posted to the web on Thursday, July 23 and appearing in the August print edition of Library Journal, John Maxymuk of Rutgers University's Paul Robeson Library wrote, in part:
"Using archival materials, Kryk (Natural Enemies) chronicles the lives of two pioneering coaches: the University of Michigan's Fielding H. Yost (1871-1946) and the University of Chicago's Amos Alonzo Stagg (1862-1965). While Yost is mostly forgotten today, his fast-paced 'point-a-minute' offense was an early precursor to modern no-huddle attacks.
"The venerated Stagg, who coached into his 90s, carefully burnished his pristine reputation as a paragon by moralizing about corruption in college football while demonizing the professional game as pure evil. Kryk discovered Stagg to be a shady recruiter and found that his dubious sportsmanship was expressed by publicly questioning the eligibility of players on rival teams . . . .
"Kryk doesn't dispute Stagg's greatness as a coach and innovator but suggests a fuller perspective of him, also advocating a reassessment of Yost as an imaginative strategist in football history."
Library Journal's "verdict" on Stagg vs. Yost: "Essential reading for those interested in the early history of college football."
Click here for the full review.
Wednesday, 22 July 2015
Book now on sale, in both hardcover and electronic forms
Stagg vs. Yost: The Birth of Cutthroat Football is now on sale, publisher Rowman & Littlefield confirmed on Tuesday, July 21.
John Kryk's newest book chronicles the untold story of how Amos Alonzo Stagg covertly punted many of his pious principles to dismantle one of the most powerful machines in college football history, Fielding H. Yost's "Point-a-Minute" Michigan Wolverines of 1901-05.
The book, which already is receiving rave reviews, can be purchased at Rowman & Littlefield's website, here -- as well as at other popular book-selling websites, such as Amazon.com, BarnesAndNoble.com and, in Canada, at Chapters/Indigo.
John Kryk's newest book chronicles the untold story of how Amos Alonzo Stagg covertly punted many of his pious principles to dismantle one of the most powerful machines in college football history, Fielding H. Yost's "Point-a-Minute" Michigan Wolverines of 1901-05.
The book, which already is receiving rave reviews, can be purchased at Rowman & Littlefield's website, here -- as well as at other popular book-selling websites, such as Amazon.com, BarnesAndNoble.com and, in Canada, at Chapters/Indigo.
Tuesday, 14 July 2015
'Excellent book' of 'meticulous research' ... 'deserves a wide reading': Yost biographer
Dr. John Behee, a pioneer revisionist-sports historian, calls Stagg vs. Yost: The Birth of Cutthroat Football an "excellent book" that "deserves a wide reading."
Behee in 1971 authored the definitive biography on one of the principal builders of Wolverine football tradition, titled Fielding Yost's Legacy to the University of Michigan. Behee's bold revelations about Yost debunked many time-honored legends about the coaching icon, and in that respect Behee was years, even decades, ahead of his time in employing such an honest, warts-and-all approach to sports history.
Behee was the first author to painstakingly peruse the tens of thousands of correspondences included among surviving papers of both Yost and the UM athletic department, circa 1890s through the 1930s. (In 1974 Behee chronicled the accomplishments, hardships and prejudices experienced by African-American athletes at his Alma Mater, in Hail to the Victors!: Black Athletes at the University of Michigan.)
Yost is one of two principal figures in Stagg vs. Yost, along with the head coach and athletic director at UM's athletic arch-rival at the turn of the 20th century, the University of Chicago's Amos Alonzo Stagg.
"Meticulous research allowed John Kryk to write this story of the Chicago-Michigan football rivalry as if he were there," writes Behee, a retired phys-ed professor at Indiana's Trine University. "He came to know more behind-the-scenes facts than any of the decision-makers on either side knew. He could see how they bent rules, both written and unwritten, and cleverly concealed their tracks from each other.
"This work features two great coaches, Stagg and Yost, but it lets the reader gain insight about many 'big time' rivalries in the early years of college football. It is an excellent book and deserves a wide reading."
Behee in 1971 authored the definitive biography on one of the principal builders of Wolverine football tradition, titled Fielding Yost's Legacy to the University of Michigan. Behee's bold revelations about Yost debunked many time-honored legends about the coaching icon, and in that respect Behee was years, even decades, ahead of his time in employing such an honest, warts-and-all approach to sports history.
Behee was the first author to painstakingly peruse the tens of thousands of correspondences included among surviving papers of both Yost and the UM athletic department, circa 1890s through the 1930s. (In 1974 Behee chronicled the accomplishments, hardships and prejudices experienced by African-American athletes at his Alma Mater, in Hail to the Victors!: Black Athletes at the University of Michigan.)
Yost is one of two principal figures in Stagg vs. Yost, along with the head coach and athletic director at UM's athletic arch-rival at the turn of the 20th century, the University of Chicago's Amos Alonzo Stagg.
"Meticulous research allowed John Kryk to write this story of the Chicago-Michigan football rivalry as if he were there," writes Behee, a retired phys-ed professor at Indiana's Trine University. "He came to know more behind-the-scenes facts than any of the decision-makers on either side knew. He could see how they bent rules, both written and unwritten, and cleverly concealed their tracks from each other.
"This work features two great coaches, Stagg and Yost, but it lets the reader gain insight about many 'big time' rivalries in the early years of college football. It is an excellent book and deserves a wide reading."
Tuesday, 7 July 2015
Michigan football historians praise book as 'brilliant' ... 'can't recommend it highly enough'
Two prominent Michigan
football historians have heaped heavy praise on Stagg vs. Yost: The Birth of Cutthroat Football, just weeks before the book goes on sale.
"This book is a masterpiece," writes Greg Dooley, proprietor of the blog MVictors.com and one of the leading authorities on Wolverine football's rich history. "Through his meticulous research, (John) Kryk deftly weaves the tale of this remarkable drama that played out at the
dawn of the 20th century, much of it unknown until now. By tying together
private correspondence with news accounts of the day, Kryk cuts through the
façade of purity and reveals the Machiavellian maneuvering of these two iconic
coaches and their alumni supporters.
"Stagg vs. Yost also provides a fascinating look at football at the start
of the 20th century, a period that gave birth to the unwieldy modern football
behemoth and the wild popularity that the sport enjoys today. Particularly
striking is Kryk’s exposure of Stagg, a man associated with the idealism of
amateur competition and whose name alone adorns the Big Ten championship
trophy.
"Stagg vs. Yost is a brilliant follow-up to Natural Enemies and
Kryk once again raises the bar for college football historians."
Craig Ross, author of two Michigan football books (The Oscene Diaries of a Michigan Fan, and The Search for the Unified Field Theory [Football Version]), writes that Stagg vs. Yost "ranks with my favorites in the genre.
"The writing is as clean as the history is rich and heretofore un-mined. Kryk’s
genius is that he makes events 115 years in the past feel like last week. I
read the book over a couple of days and then, lamenting that it ended, read it
again. I can’t recommend it highly enough."
The book goes on sale soon in both electronic and hardcover forms. It can be advance-ordered, here.
Monday, 15 June 2015
'Revisionist sports history at its best': Sperber
Murray Sperber, America's pre-eminent college sports historian, has weighed in with a powerful endorsement of the new Rowman & Littlefield book, Stagg vs. Yost: The Birth of Cutthroat Football.
"This is revisionist sports history at its best," said Sperber, author of numerous award-winning college athletics histories, including Shake Down the Thunder: The Creation of Notre Dame Football.
A professor at University of California, Berkeley, Sperber is an authority on college sports' evolution, off the field and on.
"Generations of football fans have grown up with the legends of the founders of the game, particularly the great coaches Amos Alonzo Stagg and Fielding Yost. Stagg created the famous Chicago 'Monsters of the Midway' and Yost created University of Michigan Big Blue football. Stagg also applied religion to sports and Yost exemplified the spirit of the American Age of Invention. Sports history has long marked them as exemplary individuals.
The book goes on sale later this summer in both electronic and hardcover forms. It can be advance-ordered, here.
This is Kryk's second book, after Natural Enemies, the three-times published chronicle of the long, stormy Michigan-Notre Dame football relationship.
"This is revisionist sports history at its best," said Sperber, author of numerous award-winning college athletics histories, including Shake Down the Thunder: The Creation of Notre Dame Football.
"Generations of football fans have grown up with the legends of the founders of the game, particularly the great coaches Amos Alonzo Stagg and Fielding Yost. Stagg created the famous Chicago 'Monsters of the Midway' and Yost created University of Michigan Big Blue football. Stagg also applied religion to sports and Yost exemplified the spirit of the American Age of Invention. Sports history has long marked them as exemplary individuals.
"John Kryk overturns the legends and myths
on Stagg and Yost. Basing his book on pain-staking research in the archives of
the universities where Stagg and Yost worked, and turning up many
never-previously-seen memos and correspondence,
he convincingly portrays these men as swashbuckling entrepreneurs — overwhelmed
by ambition. In so doing, Kryk strips Stagg and Yost of their sainthood but
reveals two fascinating characters, men who created many of the elements in
what became America’s most popular sport, football.
"Stagg vs. Yost is a must-read for every fan of college sports history -- in fact, for every person interested in how college sports grew to its gargantuan form. Highly recommended."
Stagg vs. Yost: The Birth of Cutthroat Football is the untold story of how Stagg -- held up for more than a century as America's most incorruptible sportsman -- early in his career covertly punted many of the principles he espoused and nearly worked himself to death, all to dismantle football's first hurry-up machine. Namely, Yost's "Point-a-Minute" Michigan Wolverines of 1901-05, one of football's iconic dynasties.The book goes on sale later this summer in both electronic and hardcover forms. It can be advance-ordered, here.
This is Kryk's second book, after Natural Enemies, the three-times published chronicle of the long, stormy Michigan-Notre Dame football relationship.
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