WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.980 Imagine a coach who outscored his opponents 2821 00:00:04.980 --> 00:00:08.939 to 42 over just a five year span. Yeah. That 00:00:08.939 --> 00:00:11.839 is a completely insane statistic. Right. And 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:15.339 a tactician who accidentally invented the linebacker 00:00:15.339 --> 00:00:18.539 position. Purely by accident. And, as if the 00:00:18.539 --> 00:00:20.199 history books weren't already tacked enough, 00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:22.539 he actually had the man who invented basketball 00:00:22.539 --> 00:00:24.859 serving as his assistant football coach. Which 00:00:24.859 --> 00:00:27.320 still blows my mind every time I hear it. Welcome 00:00:27.320 --> 00:00:29.800 to the Deep Dive. Today we are unpacking the 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:32.420 chaotic, controversial, and entirely fascinating 00:00:32.420 --> 00:00:35.289 life of Fielding H. Yost. Definitely one of the 00:00:35.289 --> 00:00:37.810 most polarizing figures in sports history. Absolutely. 00:00:37.909 --> 00:00:40.369 So whether you're a diehard fan gearing up for 00:00:40.369 --> 00:00:42.530 the weekend games or, you know, you're simply 00:00:42.530 --> 00:00:45.369 curious about how a disorganized collegiate pastime 00:00:45.369 --> 00:00:47.530 morphed into this multi -billion dollar national 00:00:47.530 --> 00:00:50.369 industry we have today, you are in the right 00:00:50.369 --> 00:00:52.429 place. We are so glad you're joining us. We're 00:00:52.429 --> 00:00:54.469 looking at a really comprehensive Wikipedia article 00:00:54.469 --> 00:00:57.399 today detailing Yost's career. And this deep 00:00:57.399 --> 00:00:59.759 dive is custom tailored for you. And our mission 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:02.719 here goes well beyond just reciting old win -loss 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:04.780 records. Right. Nobody wants just a list of numbers. 00:01:04.900 --> 00:01:07.599 Exactly. The goal is to fundamentally understand 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:10.260 the transition of college football. We're looking 00:01:10.260 --> 00:01:13.280 at how it went from this highly unregulated, 00:01:13.379 --> 00:01:17.019 incredibly brutal club activity. Borderline dangerous, 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:20.500 really. Oh, completely dangerous. Into a professionalized 00:01:20.500 --> 00:01:23.060 national phenomenon. And we get to watch that 00:01:23.060 --> 00:01:25.659 entire evolution unfold through the lens of one 00:01:25.659 --> 00:01:30.989 of the... So to really understand how Yost maneuvered 00:01:30.989 --> 00:01:33.030 through that evolution, we have to start with 00:01:33.030 --> 00:01:34.950 where he came from. Right. His background sets 00:01:34.950 --> 00:01:37.069 the whole tone. It really does. He was born in 00:01:37.069 --> 00:01:41.469 1871 in Fairview, West Virginia. And right from 00:01:41.469 --> 00:01:44.579 the start, he had this rugged. Almost cinematic 00:01:44.579 --> 00:01:47.000 persona. I mean, he was working as a teenage 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:49.659 deputy marshal in his hometown. A teenage deputy 00:01:49.659 --> 00:01:52.120 marshal. Yeah. And he earned a public school 00:01:52.120 --> 00:01:54.760 teaching certificate at the age of 17. Wow. And 00:01:54.760 --> 00:01:57.719 spent his early years doing grueling manual labor 00:01:57.719 --> 00:02:00.180 in the local oil fields. So he was not afraid 00:02:00.180 --> 00:02:02.500 of hard work. By the time he enrolled at West 00:02:02.500 --> 00:02:04.680 Virginia University to study law, which was in 00:02:04.680 --> 00:02:08.460 1895, he was a six foot, 200 pound mountain of 00:02:08.460 --> 00:02:11.479 a man. And he naturally gravitated toward playing 00:02:11.479 --> 00:02:13.909 tackle for their football team. Which makes sense. 00:02:14.090 --> 00:02:17.050 It does, but it is worth pausing just to consider 00:02:17.050 --> 00:02:20.810 human scale at that time. A 200 -pound man in 00:02:20.810 --> 00:02:23.969 the 1890s was a massive physical presence. Because 00:02:23.969 --> 00:02:25.750 people were generally just smaller back then. 00:02:25.810 --> 00:02:27.889 Exactly. And football back then was essentially 00:02:27.889 --> 00:02:30.789 a rolling rugby scrum. The forward pass wasn't 00:02:30.789 --> 00:02:33.310 legalized yet. Right. No throwing the ball downfield. 00:02:33.430 --> 00:02:37.169 None. It was a game of brute force. Mass momentum 00:02:37.169 --> 00:02:40.689 plays like the flying wedge. And severe injuries. 00:02:41.009 --> 00:02:43.810 So a guy of Yost's stature and background was 00:02:43.810 --> 00:02:45.990 tailor -made to dominate the line of scrimmage. 00:02:46.150 --> 00:02:48.729 Completely. But what he did off the field during 00:02:48.729 --> 00:02:51.050 those playing days tells us far more about the 00:02:51.050 --> 00:02:52.870 environment of college athletics at the close 00:02:52.870 --> 00:02:55.250 of the 19th century. Okay, let's unpack this. 00:02:55.370 --> 00:02:57.310 Because the story of what is now known as the 00:02:57.310 --> 00:02:59.650 Yost Affair. Oh, this is a great story. It really 00:02:59.650 --> 00:03:02.650 perfectly captures that wild environment. So 00:03:02.650 --> 00:03:06.289 in October of 1896, Yost's West Virginia team. 00:03:06.830 --> 00:03:09.069 played a three -game series against Lafayette 00:03:09.069 --> 00:03:11.289 College. Who was coached by a guy named Park 00:03:11.289 --> 00:03:14.430 H. Davis. Right, and West Virginia lost all three 00:03:14.430 --> 00:03:17.349 games. Which, by the way, were played on three 00:03:17.349 --> 00:03:19.710 different fields over three consecutive days. 00:03:19.990 --> 00:03:23.030 Just a grueling schedule. Now, logic dictates 00:03:23.030 --> 00:03:25.949 you take your lumps, head back to campus, and 00:03:25.949 --> 00:03:27.889 go to class. Right, you go back to studying law. 00:03:28.069 --> 00:03:31.629 Not Yosis. The very next week, he transferred 00:03:31.629 --> 00:03:35.469 mid -season. to lafayette he literally joined 00:03:35.469 --> 00:03:37.990 the team that had just battered him for three 00:03:37.990 --> 00:03:41.030 days straight solely so he could play for lafayette 00:03:41.030 --> 00:03:43.370 in their historic rivalry game against the penn 00:03:43.370 --> 00:03:46.009 quakers he helps lafayette win that game six 00:03:46.009 --> 00:03:48.750 to four packs his bags and transfers right back 00:03:48.750 --> 00:03:51.449 to west virginia two weeks later and when reporters 00:03:51.449 --> 00:03:54.270 asked him to explain himself he flatly stated 00:03:54.270 --> 00:03:56.990 he only came to play football what's fascinating 00:03:56.990 --> 00:04:00.620 here is the absolute lack of infrastructure Early 00:04:00.620 --> 00:04:03.199 college sports were a total free -for -all. I 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:05.379 mean, no rules at all. There was no NCAA. There 00:04:05.379 --> 00:04:08.500 were practically no eligibility limits and concepts 00:04:08.500 --> 00:04:11.280 like academic standing or transfer portals. Where 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:13.800 players today have to officially register their 00:04:13.800 --> 00:04:16.819 intent to change schools. Exactly. None of that 00:04:16.819 --> 00:04:19.540 existed. You could hop on a steam train, enroll 00:04:19.540 --> 00:04:21.560 in a rival school for a couple of weeks to play 00:04:21.560 --> 00:04:24.379 one major game, and head home. Just a hired gun. 00:04:24.519 --> 00:04:27.800 Yeah. The Yost Affair is prime evidence of a 00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:30.879 sport operating in the Wild West. It sets the 00:04:30.879 --> 00:04:33.259 stage for why governing bodies, standardized 00:04:33.259 --> 00:04:36.759 rules, and dedicated professional coaches eventually 00:04:36.759 --> 00:04:39.680 became a matter of survival for the game. And 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:41.620 it didn't take long for Yost to realize that 00:04:41.620 --> 00:04:44.000 coaching was where the real leverage was. Not 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:46.100 at all. He starts his coaching spread at age 00:04:46.100 --> 00:04:51.610 26. in 1897 at Ohio Wesleyan. And he leads them 00:04:51.610 --> 00:04:54.709 to a 7 -1 -1 record in his first year. But the 00:04:54.709 --> 00:04:57.089 transition from player to coach wasn't exactly 00:04:57.089 --> 00:04:59.509 a clean break for him. No, it wasn't. During 00:04:59.509 --> 00:05:01.709 a game against the University of Michigan, Yost, 00:05:01.750 --> 00:05:04.410 the paid head coach and very much a non -student. 00:05:04.529 --> 00:05:06.509 Secretly suited up. He secretly suited up and 00:05:06.509 --> 00:05:08.449 played left tackle for Ohio Wesleyan. I mean, 00:05:08.449 --> 00:05:10.610 can you imagine? When Michigan figured out the 00:05:10.610 --> 00:05:13.240 massive guy blocking their defensive line. was 00:05:13.240 --> 00:05:15.420 the opposing coach. They were not happy. No, 00:05:15.459 --> 00:05:18.220 they launched a massive formal protest and blacklisted 00:05:18.220 --> 00:05:20.740 Ohio Wesleyan from their schedule entirely. It 00:05:20.740 --> 00:05:24.000 paints a ridiculous picture. The head coach hiding 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:26.439 in plain sight on the offensive line. It's hilarious. 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:29.899 But it underscores his relentless, almost manic 00:05:29.899 --> 00:05:33.259 drive to win at all costs. And crucially, that 00:05:33.259 --> 00:05:36.339 scandal didn't derail his career at all. Not 00:05:36.339 --> 00:05:38.180 even a little bit. At this point in history, 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:41.759 he was acting as a highly paid mercenary, traveling 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:44.500 the country, offering his services to the highest 00:05:44.500 --> 00:05:47.459 bidder, and building a resume based purely on 00:05:47.459 --> 00:05:49.959 wins. And the bids kept getting higher. Oh, yeah. 00:05:50.100 --> 00:05:54.759 In 1898, he goes to Nebraska. He demands and 00:05:54.759 --> 00:05:57.959 gets paid $1 ,000 for just 10 weeks of work. 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:00.439 Which was an astronomical sum for a seasonal 00:06:00.439 --> 00:06:02.879 sports gig back then. And he delivers an 8 -3 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:06.250 record. Then he heads to the University of Kansas 00:06:06.250 --> 00:06:09.170 in 1899. And it is a big turning point. Here's 00:06:09.170 --> 00:06:11.110 where it gets really interesting because we see 00:06:11.110 --> 00:06:14.250 the early roots of sports science. Yes. Yost 00:06:14.250 --> 00:06:16.569 isolated his Kansas team from the rest of the 00:06:16.569 --> 00:06:18.870 student body. He fed them a specially prepared 00:06:18.870 --> 00:06:21.589 diet. A literal training camp. Exactly. They 00:06:21.589 --> 00:06:24.250 went a perfect 10 and outscored their opponents 00:06:24.250 --> 00:06:28.050 280 to 37. But the detail that always stops people 00:06:28.050 --> 00:06:31.740 in their tracks is his coaching staff. Yes. During 00:06:31.740 --> 00:06:35.199 that 1899 season at Kansas, his assistant football 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:38.560 coach was James Naismith. The man who literally 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:41.540 invented the game of basketball. Taking orders 00:06:41.540 --> 00:06:44.490 on the gridiron from Fielding Yost. It is an 00:06:44.490 --> 00:06:47.149 incredible historical crossover, especially when 00:06:47.149 --> 00:06:49.449 you consider their contrasting philosophies. 00:06:49.490 --> 00:06:51.930 Right. They were very different guys. Very. Naismith 00:06:51.930 --> 00:06:54.910 invented basketball as an indoor activity to 00:06:54.910 --> 00:06:56.790 keep young men out of trouble during the harsh 00:06:56.790 --> 00:06:59.470 New England winters. It was about physical education 00:06:59.470 --> 00:07:02.129 and moral development. Whereas Yost viewed football 00:07:02.129 --> 00:07:05.509 as an all -consuming pursuit of victory. Exactly. 00:07:05.509 --> 00:07:08.069 But look at the broader pattern Yost is establishing 00:07:08.069 --> 00:07:10.850 by the time he hits Kansas and then Stanford 00:07:10.850 --> 00:07:14.110 and San Jose Normal in 1900. bouncing from program 00:07:14.110 --> 00:07:16.790 to program, demanding top dollar, and actively 00:07:16.790 --> 00:07:18.949 legitimizing the concept of coaching as a respected 00:07:18.949 --> 00:07:21.089 profession. Because prior to this, coaching was 00:07:21.089 --> 00:07:23.829 often just a part -time volunteer gig for interested 00:07:23.829 --> 00:07:27.009 alumni. Right. Joost was demanding to be compensated 00:07:27.009 --> 00:07:29.290 on par with university professors, and he got 00:07:29.290 --> 00:07:31.149 away with it because he guaranteed dominance. 00:07:31.629 --> 00:07:34.009 And that string of dominance led him to the job 00:07:34.009 --> 00:07:36.720 that would permanently define his legacy. Michigan. 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:40.259 In 1901, Charles A. Baird, the athletic director 00:07:40.259 --> 00:07:42.920 at the University of Michigan, hires Yost as 00:07:42.920 --> 00:07:46.060 head coach. This is the era of the point -a -minute 00:07:46.060 --> 00:07:48.980 squats. The stats here are just staggering. From 00:07:48.980 --> 00:07:53.560 1901 to 1905, Yost's Michigan teams went 55 -1 00:07:53.560 --> 00:07:56.480 -1. And the point differential is almost impossible 00:07:56.480 --> 00:08:00.259 to process. Over those five seasons, they outscored 00:08:00.259 --> 00:08:03.560 their opponents by a combined margin of 2 ,821 00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:06.439 to 42. I mean, in his first season alone, the 00:08:06.439 --> 00:08:10.360 1901 team outscored the opposition 550 to 0. 00:08:10.519 --> 00:08:12.879 Not a single point allowed all year. When you 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:14.579 look at numbers like that, it's clear they were 00:08:14.579 --> 00:08:16.579 functionally playing a completely different sport 00:08:16.579 --> 00:08:18.560 than their competitors. They were faster, better 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:21.019 conditioned, and tactically superior. And that 00:08:21.019 --> 00:08:23.759 1901 season culminated in a milestone event that 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:26.279 we all recognize today. The very first college 00:08:26.279 --> 00:08:29.300 football bowl game. The 1902 Rose Bowl. Michigan 00:08:29.300 --> 00:08:32.080 takes a train out west and absolutely steamrolls 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:34.820 Stanford by a score of 49 -0. And the irony is, 00:08:34.919 --> 00:08:37.320 Stanford was the exact team Yost had coached 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:39.940 just one year prior. Talk about awkward. Yeah. 00:08:40.220 --> 00:08:43.200 And the game was such an uncompetitive blowout 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:45.639 that the Tournament of Roses officials abandoned 00:08:45.639 --> 00:08:48.779 football and replaced it with chariot races for 00:08:48.779 --> 00:08:52.059 over a decade. Before ever trying football again. 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:54.340 Chariot races. That's how bad they beat them. 00:08:55.399 --> 00:08:58.320 So how is he physically achieving this on the 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:01.960 field? The records point to a few massive strategic 00:09:01.960 --> 00:09:05.600 leaps. First, he was a pioneer of the hurry -up 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:08.259 offense. Right. A huge innovation. Instead of 00:09:08.259 --> 00:09:11.080 slowly huddling and resting between plays, he 00:09:11.080 --> 00:09:13.039 constantly yelled at his players to hurry up 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:15.039 and snap the ball before the defense could set. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:17.259 Which earned him the nickname Hurry -Up Yost. 00:09:17.799 --> 00:09:21.019 He also utilized a short punt formation and developed 00:09:21.019 --> 00:09:23.840 a signature play called Old 83. Basically, Old 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:26.379 83 was the granddaddy of the modern option play. 00:09:26.500 --> 00:09:28.539 Where the quarterback reads the defense's reaction 00:09:28.539 --> 00:09:30.799 on the fly and decides whether to keep the ball 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:33.179 himself or pitch it to a trailing running back. 00:09:33.379 --> 00:09:35.860 Those offensive innovations were brilliant because 00:09:35.860 --> 00:09:37.799 they capitalized on the superior conditioning 00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:40.720 of his diet camp players. But we also have to 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:43.580 highlight a monumental defensive shift that happened 00:09:43.580 --> 00:09:46.750 under his watch. Okay, let's hear it. In 1904, 00:09:47.090 --> 00:09:50.730 Joost's center, a massive player named Germany 00:09:50.730 --> 00:09:54.570 Schulz, made a rogue decision. Instead of playing 00:09:54.570 --> 00:09:57.409 down in the dirt on the line of scrimmage, Schulz 00:09:57.409 --> 00:10:00.009 decided on his own to stand up behind the defensive 00:10:00.009 --> 00:10:03.029 line so he could see the play developing. He 00:10:03.029 --> 00:10:05.429 effectively invented the position of linebacker. 00:10:05.490 --> 00:10:07.850 Just right there on the field. But wait, didn't 00:10:07.850 --> 00:10:10.950 Joost pride himself on absolute control? How 00:10:10.950 --> 00:10:13.350 did he react to a player just inventing a new 00:10:13.350 --> 00:10:15.330 position in the middle of a game? Well, initially 00:10:15.330 --> 00:10:17.750 he was horrified. He ordered Schultz back onto 00:10:17.750 --> 00:10:19.909 the line. That sounds like him. But Yost possessed 00:10:19.909 --> 00:10:23.350 a crucial trait for any great tactician. Pragmatism. 00:10:23.389 --> 00:10:26.230 He watched the flow of the game, realized Schultz 00:10:26.230 --> 00:10:28.389 was suddenly blowing up every offensive play 00:10:28.389 --> 00:10:30.750 because of that new vantage point, and he quickly 00:10:30.750 --> 00:10:33.090 changed his mind. He adopted the strategy entirely. 00:10:33.470 --> 00:10:36.309 Yes. True brilliance often isn't about having 00:10:36.309 --> 00:10:39.230 every original idea. It's about recognizing the 00:10:39.230 --> 00:10:41.649 wisdom in the ideas of others and integrating 00:10:41.649 --> 00:10:44.429 them faster than your competitors. He wasn't 00:10:44.429 --> 00:10:46.710 stubborn when it came to a winning scheme. But 00:10:46.710 --> 00:10:49.509 as the history shows, he could be incredibly 00:10:49.509 --> 00:10:51.450 stubborn when it came to university politics. 00:10:51.629 --> 00:10:55.250 By 1906, the landscape of college football was 00:10:55.250 --> 00:10:58.059 shifting. The sheer violence of the sport was 00:10:58.059 --> 00:11:00.279 causing national outcry. People were actually 00:11:00.279 --> 00:11:02.340 dying on the field. Right. And the president 00:11:02.340 --> 00:11:04.500 of Michigan at the time, James Burrell Angel, 00:11:04.659 --> 00:11:08.279 wanted sweeping reforms. Angel called for new 00:11:08.279 --> 00:11:11.700 rules, like limiting teams to just five games 00:11:11.700 --> 00:11:15.039 a season. And requiring coaches to be full -time 00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:18.299 university faculty rather than these highly paid 00:11:18.299 --> 00:11:21.220 independent contractors. This was the classic 00:11:21.220 --> 00:11:24.080 clash between academics and athletics. This was 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:26.419 the establishment trying to rein in the very 00:11:26.419 --> 00:11:29.259 monster they had helped create. President Angel 00:11:29.259 --> 00:11:31.519 fundamentally believed that the sport had to 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:33.879 be subservient to the academic mission of the 00:11:33.879 --> 00:11:35.960 university. Which makes sense for a university 00:11:35.960 --> 00:11:38.860 president. Absolutely. But Yost naturally fought 00:11:38.860 --> 00:11:41.759 these regulations tooth and nail. He wanted maximum 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:44.340 games, maximum exposure and zero interference 00:11:44.340 --> 00:11:46.740 from academic administrators. But how does a 00:11:46.740 --> 00:11:49.259 football coach win a power struggle against the 00:11:49.259 --> 00:11:52.000 president of the university? By weaponizing his 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.279 popularity. Wow. Because of his unprecedented 00:11:54.279 --> 00:11:57.419 success, Yost had the backing of the alumni base 00:11:57.419 --> 00:12:00.159 and crucially, the university's board of regents. 00:12:00.279 --> 00:12:02.700 So he went over the president's head. He convinced 00:12:02.700 --> 00:12:05.220 the board to support his vision over the president's. 00:12:05.620 --> 00:12:08.720 Consequently, Michigan outright refused to adhere 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:10.960 to the new league rules. They were essentially 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:13.259 voted out of the conference. And Michigan played 00:12:13.259 --> 00:12:16.159 as an independent program from 1907 all the way 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:18.639 until 1916. It's hard to even wrap your head 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:20.659 around Michigan football not being part of the 00:12:20.659 --> 00:12:24.100 Big Ten. But Yost's leverage was just that immense. 00:12:24.750 --> 00:12:26.730 Eventually, tensions cooled, they returned to 00:12:26.730 --> 00:12:29.190 the conference, and Yost simply picked up right 00:12:29.190 --> 00:12:31.490 where he left off. He won national championships 00:12:31.490 --> 00:12:35.230 in 1918 and 1923. But he had a special fondness 00:12:35.230 --> 00:12:38.990 for his 1925 squad. This team featured the famous 00:12:38.990 --> 00:12:41.629 Benny to Benny show with quarterback Benny Friedman 00:12:41.629 --> 00:12:45.009 and Benny Oosterband. An iconic duo. Yost went 00:12:45.009 --> 00:12:46.730 on record calling them the greatest football 00:12:46.730 --> 00:12:49.710 team he ever coached and the greatest he ever 00:12:49.710 --> 00:12:52.509 saw in action, which says a lot coming from the 00:12:52.509 --> 00:12:54.610 architect of the point -a -minute era. It does. 00:12:54.789 --> 00:12:57.610 But as we move into the 1920s, Yost's influence 00:12:57.610 --> 00:13:00.509 expanded far beyond Colin Clay's on a Saturday 00:13:00.509 --> 00:13:03.769 afternoon. As he transitioned away from the sidelines, 00:13:03.929 --> 00:13:06.370 he entrenched himself in the administrative machinery 00:13:06.370 --> 00:13:08.750 of the university. Right. He took on the role 00:13:08.750 --> 00:13:12.870 of athletic director in 1921 and held that massive 00:13:12.870 --> 00:13:16.769 post until 1940. This is the era where he literally 00:13:16.769 --> 00:13:19.289 altered the physical geography of the campus. 00:13:19.450 --> 00:13:21.970 He spearheaded massive infrastructure projects 00:13:21.970 --> 00:13:25.429 that still define the university today. He oversaw 00:13:25.429 --> 00:13:28.409 the excavation and construction of Michigan Stadium, 00:13:28.730 --> 00:13:31.309 the big house. And he insisted on building the 00:13:31.309 --> 00:13:33.509 footing so deep that the stadium could eventually 00:13:33.509 --> 00:13:36.070 be expanded to hold well over 100 ,000 people. 00:13:36.309 --> 00:13:39.470 Talk about vision. He also built Yost Fieldhouse, 00:13:39.669 --> 00:13:42.029 which was an innovative, massive indoor practice 00:13:42.029 --> 00:13:45.000 facility concept for its time. And he even developed 00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:47.039 the university golf course. He wasn't just coaching 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:49.039 a team anymore. He was building a corporate sports 00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:51.519 empire. And at the same time, he was exporting 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:53.940 his football philosophy across the entire country 00:13:53.940 --> 00:13:56.899 through his coaching tree. Documentation from 00:13:56.899 --> 00:13:59.360 the time reviews an incredible statistic. Let's 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:02.320 hear it. No fewer than 77 men who either played 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:04.980 for Yost or coached under him went on to become 00:14:04.980 --> 00:14:07.279 head coaches themselves. It's a staggering multiplier 00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:09.580 effect. And these weren't just small regional 00:14:09.580 --> 00:14:11.720 programs. Two of them went on to become head 00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:14.500 coaches in the NFL. Dan McGogan. who played and 00:14:14.500 --> 00:14:17.279 coached under Yost, went on to become a legendary 00:14:17.279 --> 00:14:20.100 multi -decade head coach at Vanderbilt. Yost 00:14:20.100 --> 00:14:22.519 was effectively seeding the entire nation with 00:14:22.519 --> 00:14:25.519 his methods, his offensive schemes, and his relentless 00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:29.299 philosophy. In fact, he is widely credited with 00:14:29.299 --> 00:14:31.620 coining a phrase that is still universally used 00:14:31.620 --> 00:14:35.399 in locker rooms today, football builds character. 00:14:35.820 --> 00:14:37.840 So what does this all mean when we step back 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:40.799 and evaluate the entirety of his life? When we 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:43.039 look at a figure with this much historical weight, 00:14:43.159 --> 00:14:46.000 we have to examine the complete picture. And 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:48.000 it is very clear from the historical records 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:51.720 that Yost left behind a deeply complicated, often 00:14:51.720 --> 00:14:54.279 contradictory legacy. Very contradictory. On 00:14:54.279 --> 00:14:56.299 one hand, he was known as a devout Christian 00:14:56.299 --> 00:14:59.460 who famously refused to swear. Records also show 00:14:59.460 --> 00:15:01.460 he was among the first major coaches to integrate 00:15:01.460 --> 00:15:04.279 his programs in terms of religion, allowing Jewish 00:15:04.279 --> 00:15:06.279 players on his teams when many others wouldn't. 00:15:06.519 --> 00:15:08.360 Guys like Joe Magidson and the All -American 00:15:08.360 --> 00:15:10.519 quarterback we mentioned earlier, Benny Friedman. 00:15:10.580 --> 00:15:13.120 Yes, but the historical accounts also present 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:16.179 significant controversies regarding his prejudices, 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:18.860 particularly concerning the broader societal 00:15:18.860 --> 00:15:21.879 issues of the early 20th century regarding religion, 00:15:22.220 --> 00:15:25.299 immigration, and race. Exactly. The historical 00:15:25.299 --> 00:15:27.639 debate here is heavy. For instance, there is 00:15:27.639 --> 00:15:29.519 a prominent book by sports historian Maurice 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:31.980 Berber that places the principal responsibility 00:15:31.980 --> 00:15:34.759 for the Big Ten's blackballing and boycotting 00:15:34.759 --> 00:15:37.919 of Notre Dame squarely on Yost's shoulders. That's 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:40.179 a major claim. The claim in that text is that 00:15:40.179 --> 00:15:43.200 Yost was deeply motivated by the anti -Catholic 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:46.039 and anti -immigrant prejudice that was rampant 00:15:46.039 --> 00:15:48.960 during that era. and used his massive influence 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:51.500 to financially and competitively starve Notre 00:15:51.500 --> 00:15:54.080 Dame by keeping them off the schedule. Now, other 00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:55.960 historians push back on that narrative. They 00:15:55.960 --> 00:15:58.200 argue that the boycott wasn't rooted in systemic 00:15:58.200 --> 00:16:01.059 prejudice, but was simply the result of a bitter, 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:03.899 deeply personal, and highly petty feud between 00:16:03.899 --> 00:16:06.500 Yost and Notre Dame's legendary head coach, Newt 00:16:06.500 --> 00:16:09.320 Rockne. Furthermore, university archives show 00:16:09.320 --> 00:16:12.879 that in 2021, a campus committee officially recommended 00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:15.559 removing Yost's name from the campus ice hockey 00:16:15.559 --> 00:16:18.009 arena. And the committee specifically cited a 00:16:18.009 --> 00:16:21.009 documented history of racial issues and exclusionary 00:16:21.009 --> 00:16:23.730 practices involving him during his long tenure 00:16:23.730 --> 00:16:26.370 as both football coach and athletic director. 00:16:26.629 --> 00:16:28.879 If we connect this to the bigger picture. I think 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:31.659 it is vital to explicitly state to you, our listener, 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:34.360 that in our deep dive today, we are not taking 00:16:34.360 --> 00:16:37.659 sides, passing moral judgment, or endorsing any 00:16:37.659 --> 00:16:40.299 of these specific viewpoints. Our role here is 00:16:40.299 --> 00:16:42.700 strictly and impartially to report the historical 00:16:42.700 --> 00:16:45.179 debates and the documented facts as they exist 00:16:45.179 --> 00:16:48.059 in the records. But what this ongoing debate 00:16:48.059 --> 00:16:50.700 illustrates so perfectly is the reality of history. 00:16:51.159 --> 00:16:53.600 Historical figures of this magnitude are incredibly 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:56.330 layered. They are the architects of the systems 00:16:56.330 --> 00:16:59.210 and institutions we revere today, yet they often 00:16:59.210 --> 00:17:02.409 hold views or take actions that are heavily scrutinized 00:17:02.409 --> 00:17:04.609 through the lens of history. Modern universities 00:17:04.609 --> 00:17:06.970 and institutions are still actively grappling 00:17:06.970 --> 00:17:09.769 with how to contextualize the complex legacies 00:17:09.769 --> 00:17:12.890 of their founders. It's a stark reminder that 00:17:12.890 --> 00:17:15.609 history is rarely just a simple, clean ledger 00:17:15.609 --> 00:17:17.970 of wins and losses. That really contextualizes 00:17:17.970 --> 00:17:19.970 the weight of the history you feel when you walk 00:17:19.970 --> 00:17:22.549 into a venue like the Big House. It's never just 00:17:22.549 --> 00:17:26.259 concrete and turf. So to wrap up the sheer scale 00:17:26.259 --> 00:17:29.160 of Yost's impact, if you have ever turned on 00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:32.039 your TV on a fall Saturday and watched a modern 00:17:32.039 --> 00:17:34.359 college football game, if you've marveled at 00:17:34.359 --> 00:17:37.460 100 ,000 fans packing into a giant stadium, if 00:17:37.460 --> 00:17:39.759 you've watched a quarterback run a no -huddle, 00:17:39.779 --> 00:17:41.940 hurry -up offense to catch a defense sleeping, 00:17:42.329 --> 00:17:44.029 Or if you've read about a head coach signing 00:17:44.029 --> 00:17:46.529 a multi -million dollar contract to jump from 00:17:46.529 --> 00:17:49.009 one school to another. You are essentially watching 00:17:49.009 --> 00:17:51.750 a game shaped directly in Fielding Yost's image. 00:17:52.029 --> 00:17:54.529 His influence even trickles down to the broadcast 00:17:54.529 --> 00:17:56.930 booth. Oh, this is a great detail. Yost, with 00:17:56.930 --> 00:17:59.430 his West Virginia drawl, had this very unusual 00:17:59.430 --> 00:18:02.109 pronunciation of the state he lived in, famously 00:18:02.109 --> 00:18:05.750 calling it Mishijigan. That exact pronunciation 00:18:05.750 --> 00:18:09.049 was adopted by early radio broadcasters and still 00:18:09.049 --> 00:18:11.710 lives on in sports media today. His fingerprints 00:18:11.710 --> 00:18:14.769 are truly everywhere on the sport. And this raises 00:18:14.769 --> 00:18:16.829 an important question, something we want to leave 00:18:16.829 --> 00:18:19.789 you with to mull over long after this deep dive 00:18:19.789 --> 00:18:23.069 ends. I love this. Today, fans, analysts and 00:18:23.069 --> 00:18:25.650 lawmakers constantly debate the commercialization 00:18:25.650 --> 00:18:28.910 of college sports. We talk about name, image 00:18:28.910 --> 00:18:31.710 and likeness deals, NIL and the transfer portal 00:18:31.710 --> 00:18:34.210 as if they are modern corruptions of a purely 00:18:34.210 --> 00:18:37.509 amateur academic pursuit. But given Yost's history 00:18:37.509 --> 00:18:40.849 as a highly paid mercenary. his relentless pursuit 00:18:40.849 --> 00:18:43.930 of revenue -generating stadiums, and his battles 00:18:43.930 --> 00:18:46.450 to keep athletics independent from academic oversight. 00:18:46.849 --> 00:18:49.289 If Fielding Yost were operating in today's landscape, 00:18:49.490 --> 00:18:51.809 with private equity firms beginning to circle 00:18:51.809 --> 00:18:54.549 college athletic departments, would he even bother 00:18:54.549 --> 00:18:56.970 being a football coach? Or would he bypass the 00:18:56.970 --> 00:18:59.450 turf entirely to become a corporate CEO running 00:18:59.450 --> 00:19:01.789 a collegiate sports conglomerate? It makes you 00:19:01.789 --> 00:19:04.210 wonder if the ultimate, logical evolution of 00:19:04.210 --> 00:19:06.329 college football won't be decided on the field 00:19:06.329 --> 00:19:08.880 at all. but rather in the boardroom. That is 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:10.980 a fascinating angle to consider as the business 00:19:10.980 --> 00:19:13.480 of the sport keeps expanding. Thank you so much 00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:16.180 for exploring this history with us today. Keep 00:19:16.180 --> 00:19:18.200 questioning the foundations behind the headlines, 00:19:18.440 --> 00:19:20.819 and we will catch you on the next Deep Dive.