Edwin Sweetland
Edwin Regur Sweetland was an American coach, trainer, and athletic administrator at several universities. During his coaching career he was head coach of many sports including basketball, track and field, and rowing, but the majority of for his coaching work was in football. Though mainly known for football, he left his mark on several college athletics departments and other sports. This includes being the first athletic trainer at Ohio State University, the first paid coach of the Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team, and the first coach of Syracuse University rowing team.
Sweetland attended Union College and graduated from Cornell University in 1899. A gifted athlete, Sweetland was on the varsity football team at Union and Cornell and the varsity rowing team at Cornell. At Cornell he was coached by Hall of Fame coaches Pop Warner in football and Charles E. Courtney in rowing.
Early life and family
Sweetland was born to George Sweetland and Hannah Marsh Sweetland on January 10, 1875, in Dryden, New York. He had several brothers and sisters. One of his brothers was Monroe Marsh Sweetland, who founded Delta Chi fraternity while a law student at Cornell University. Another brother, Dr. George James Sweetland, was captain of the Union College football team in 1895 and later the athletic director and head football coach at University of North Dakota.College
After attending Union College for one year, Sweetland transferred to Cornell University, where he graduated in 1899 with a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture. At Cornell, he was member of Phi Gamma Delta and the Sphinx Head Society.A talented athlete, Sweetland rowed on the varsity crew team, and played tackle on the football team at Cornell. Sweetland was a considered one of the top players in the early years of Big Red football. The Sun named Sweetland to the second team of the all-time Cornell football team in an article on January 29, 1927.
Football career
Sweetland began his college football career in 1894. "Sweet" as he was nicknamed, played guard for Union College along with his brother, George. He transferred to Cornell for the 1895 season where he moved to tackle under coach Marshall Newell and helped the school to a 3–4–1 record. That year, Sweetland was part of the line that helped Clint Wyckoff become Cornell's first College Football All-American. The following year, Cornell changed coaches replacing Newell with Joseph Beacham. Sweetland helped the Beacham lead the squad to a record of 5–3–1. In 1897, Pop Warner took over as head coach. Sweetland could not play for Warner in the 1897 season. During the offseason he went through surgery and his doctors would not allow him to play. When practice started for the 1898 season, Warner had to replace many starters including the previous year's captain, William McKeever. Sweetland returned to the line in 1898. With Sweetland's help, the team won 10 of their first 11 games, setting up a big game for Cornell against national power Penn in the final game of the season. Sweetland helped Cornell take a 6–0 lead before halftime. He broke through Penn's line blocking a kick and recovered the ball for a touchdown, but Penn came back and won by a score of 12–6. With the Penn loss, the team finished the season 10–2, outscoring their opponents by a score of 296–29. After the season, he was named 3rd team All-America by Walter Camp.Sweetland planned to the return for the 1899 football season even though he would be graduating. He planned to start his medical training at Cornell. After the 1898 season he became involved in a controversy between two factions on the future direction of the football program that came to the head with the election of captain for the 1899 season. Originally a three-year starter at left guard, Daniel A. Reed was elected captain over Sweetland for the 1899 season. A very close election caused a rift in the football team. Reed won by a vote of ten to nine. Later Reed resigned as captain and the team elected Sweetland unanimously. The Cornell Athletic Council refused to ratify the election of Sweetland, stating that their decision was "in the interest of harmony among the various elements who co-operation is necessary for the success of Cornell athletics." The council statement listed two specific reasons. The first was that the Council wanted to purge all leaders of the competing factional rivalries on the team. This included coach Warner and Tom Fennell as well as Daniel A. Reed. All three stated they would not return for the 1899 season. The second reason was a large number of football alumni protested the election of Sweetland as captain. Additionally, a charge was leveled that Sweetland was a professional, not an amateur, since he was paid for playing football for Elmira Athletic Club in the fall of 1897. Sweetland denied the allegation only admitting that he received reimbursement for his expenses but not for playing. After the Athletic Council ruling the team elected fullback Raymond Starbuck as team captain.
Varsity rower
Sweetland was a member of the varsity crew at Cornell in 1898 and 1899 under coach Charles E. Courtney. In 1897, as a novice rower, Sweetland went out for Cornell rowing team but did not make varsity. Early on he was mentioned as a possible varsity rower at the No. 5 position. He had to go against more experienced rowers including E. J. Savage, who rowed varsity in 1896 and Edgar Johnston, who rowed varsity in 1895. Sweetland had trouble throughout the season. First he was thrown out of his boat when he wrecked his shell upon a snag. He also had to spend several days in the hospital due to trouble with his appendicitis. In 1898 he was a substitute on team that finished second in Intercollegiate Rowing Association Regatta at Saratoga Lake. The following year, he rowed in the No. 5 position that finished third in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Regatta at Poughkeepsie, New York. In that race, the Cornell crew had the slight advantage holding the outer course but lost to the University of Pennsylvania coached by Ellis Ward. The University of Wisconsin–Madison using a modified English stroke started quickly and held a lead at the mile and half marker but lost the lead to Penn due to bad steering. Penn finished strong using a stroke that depended on leg drive over the catch. This gave the boat a slight amount of checking between strokes. Sweetland and the Cornell crew were unable to catch Penn and finished three and a half lengths behind. They were also unable to catch Wisconsin and finished varsity race in third place.College coaching career
Sweetland started coaching football the fall after he graduated from Cornell. He would coach college sports for the next twenty years with all but two as a head coach. As a football coach he finished with a record of 100–41–10. His coaching career allowed Sweetland earn several advance degrees at the schools he coached, including a Ph.M. in Sociology from Syracuse and LL.B and LL.M from the University of Kentucky.Hamilton
After graduation, Sweetland took his first coaching job as the head football coach at Hamilton College in nearby Clinton, New York. In his first season as a head coach, he led the 1899 squad to an 8–2–1 record. That year Hamilton played a then school-record 11 games. One of the two losses came at the hands of the Carlisle Indians, coached by his former coach Pop Warner, and the other loss to Sweetland's alma mater, Cornell. He left for Syracuse University after the season.Syracuse
On January 3, 1900, Sweetland was picked to be the head football coach at Syracuse University. A month later, on February 6, 1900, Sweetland agreed to also become Syracuse's rowing coach. Even though rowing had some history at the university since 1873, including hosting professional crew races on Onondaga Lake, Sweetland became their first Intercollegiate coach. Chancellor James Roscoe Day assisted the rowing team that year by persuading Lyman Cornelius Smith to donate equipment.In Sweetland's first year as coach of the rowing team, he was basically starting the rowing team from scratch. He spent a good amount of time on basic watermanship and maintaining an even keel. He started practice in late March and was able to get the team ready for a race against the Francis Club Crew of Cornell in June. A crowd of 3000 showed up at Onondaga Lake to watch the race in which Sweetland's varsity crew lost by six seconds.
In fall of that year, Sweetland began football practice on September 4, 1900, with 10 returning players from the 1899 team. His team finished the season with a 7–2–1 record including victories over Amherst and Oberlin. One of his losses was to his former school, Cornell by a score of 6–0. Syracuse coming into the game did have several advantages that made their fans optimistic that the Orange could pull out a victory. First the game was being played early in the season, September, 29th. The Orangemen had been practicing for several weeks longer than Cornell. The second benefit was a large crowd of Syracuse rooters attended the game. Even with the game being played at Cornell's Percy Field, Syracuse rooters filled half the grand stand and part of the bleachers. The third advantage was that Cornell's captain, Raymond Starbuck, had been hurt earlier in practice and could not play. Sweetland's team started out strongly and had several opportunities to score. Early in the game, after stopping Cornell on their first possession, Syracuse drove the ball into scoring position at the Cornell's 15 yard line but could not score. Later, just before half time, Cornell returned a fumble to the Syracuse's seven yard line but Sweetland's defence stopped them from scoring and took over on downs. Then in Syracuse's next possession, Carr, Syracuse's half-back, went through a hole in the Cornell line and ran seventy yards before Cornell's halfback A. B. Morrison caught him to prevent a touchdown. The game remained tied until about two minutes to play when Cornell's Morrison ran 25 yards for a touchdown. After the game Cornell accused Coach Sweetland's team of rough and dirty play.
Sweetland again coached the rowing team for the 1901 season. The Syracuse crew took part in a regatta on Onondaga Lake on June 7, 1901. Sweetland's varsity eight again raced against the Francis Club crew of Cornell and lost by 1/4 of a boat length. They raced in spite of the fact that Sweetland was in the hospital suffering from an attack of typhoid fever just a few weeks before the race. The season ended with his team rowing in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Regatta in Poughkeepsie, New York. This was the first time in school history that Syracuse attend this event. Sweetland's varsity eight finished fifth out of six teams. Cornell finished first, but the Orangemen were able to beat University of Pennsylvania coached by Ellis Ward.
Controversy erupted before the start of the 1901 football season. Cornell refused to play Syracuse because of bad feeling about rough play from the year before. They also questioned the amateur status of the Syracuse team. Syracuse stated that there were rules in force that prevented professional players but admitted that slight violations of the rules were possible. On the issue of rough play the year before, Syracuse investigated and found the accusation to be groundless. The Syracuse General Athletic Committee severed all athletic relations with their upstate New York rivals. The two schools would not play again until 1935. The team finished 7–1, with victories over Brown, Columbia, and, and outscored opponents 150 to 27. The New York Sun rated them the seventh best team in the nation.
Sweetland returned for his third year as rowing coach in 1902. Before the season the outlook for Varsity crews at Syracuse looked to be good. Coach Sweetland had experienced rowers to choose the Varsity crew from. Most members of the 1901 Varsity and Freshmen crews returned for 1902. The team returned to Intercollegiate Rowing Association Regatta. Before the race Syracuse crew weight dropped to an average of less than. Sweetland had to reduce the training before the Regatta. In their second attempt, Syracuse finished fifth out of six teams beating Georgetown in the Varsity race. Cornell finished first followed by Wisconsin, Columbia and Penn. Even though this was the same place they finished the year before it was considered an improvement. The time of 19 minutes 31 seconds was the fastest time at that distance.
The 1903 football season under Coach Sweetland saw Syracuse outscore their opponents by a combined score of 153 to 87. The team finished the season with a record of 6–2–1. Wins included shutouts against Colgate and Amherst and disappointing lopsided losses to Army and Yale.
Before the 1903 rowing season, the Athletic Council replaced Sweetland with James A. Ten Eyck as rowing coach. Sweetland had demanded a higher salary to coach the rowing team. When his demands were not met he resigned from all athletic work at Syracuse. The rowing team threaten a revolt but no major action was taken. Even though they replaced him at rowing coach some in the council tried to retain him as football coach for the 1904 season. They were unsuccessful, with the full council deciding to go in a different direction. In the end Sweetland coached football for three years at Syracuse with a combined record of 20–5-2.