Corruption, scandals, and reports of wrongdoing in college football are constantly in the news. From Penn State’s Joe Paterno to Ohio State’s Jim Tressel, we have come to learn that some of the most lauded coaches don’t always live up to their saintly reputations. Perhaps no era of college football was ever more emblematic of this than the early 1900s, a time when coaches worked the system with merciless flair to recruit the best players and then keep them eligible to play, even while other coaches were trying to steal already-enrolled players from rival universities. Amos Alonzo Stagg of the University of Chicago and Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan were no exception, and their bitter rivalry is one for the ages. In Stagg vs. Yost: The Birth of Cutthroat Football, John Kryk brings to life a story that is both timeless and familiar to all football fans, indeed to all sports fans: one man’s obsession to end the pain of a long losing streak to a hated rival. This is the story of how Amos Alonzo Stagg covertly punted many of the principles he espoused in order to dismantle one of the most powerful machines the game has known—Fielding Yost’s Michigan Wolverines. Kryk reveals the extent to which Stagg schemed to achieve victory against the “Point a Minute” Wolverines and the lengths Yost went to prevent that from happening. In addition, this book provides insight into college athletics’ corruption as a whole during this time, from under-the-table payments to recruits to contracted loans from wealthy boosters—and why the current NCAA rulebook contains page after page of recruiting and eligibility regulations. Featuring never-before-published internal correspondences of UM athletic leaders, Stagg’s surviving letters and notes, and reports from newspapers of the day, Stagg vs. Yost brings fresh insight into two legends of college football who would do almost anything to win. This book is a noteworthy and fascinating narrative for football fans, historians, and anyone interested in seeing where cutthroat college recruiting and coaching all began.

"Using archival materials, Kryk 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 prior to each game. There was a great deal of open resentment of Stagg’s duplicity and insincere, ostentatious purity by his early contemporaries; for example, some referred to him as 'Great-I-Am.' 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. VERDICT Essential reading for those interested in the early history of college football." - Library Journal

"At the start of this account of one of the rivalries in early American collegiate sports, Kryk, the national NFL columnist for The Toronto Sun and Sun Media, promises a no-holds-barred battle royal between two iconic football coaches, University of Chicago’s Amos Arnold Stagg and University of Michigan’s Fielding H. Yost. Football, which caught America’s attention in the 1890s, first attracts fans with a violent gladiator edge, where linemen stood and mauled opponents at the scrimmage line, often injuring them with fractured skulls, dislocated shoulders, broken noses, and an occasional death. Neither of these coaches, Stagg nor Yost, lives up to their pristine reputations, Kryk writes, with serious violations in eligibility, tactics, and illegal payments to players from alumni despite their winning ways. A surprisingly large number of innovative rules and regulations occur during the reign of the combative pair, obsessed with victories at all costs. . . .Kryk shows a real knack for the turn-of-the-century period, sport, and the bitter rivals." - Publishers Weekly

"Anybody who assumes that friendly rivalries characterized college football in the early 1900s only has to read Stagg vs. Yost to revise their perceptions. 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. The author zeroes in on the fierce competitiveness between two legendary coaches of the day, Michigan’s Fielding H. Yost and the University of Chicago’s Amos Alonzo Stagg, as a case study in how two prominent coaches pushed the boundaries. Stagg was obsessed with toppling the powerhouse Wolverines to the point that he was willing to hedge on the principles he publicly proclaimed. Access to newly available correspondence helps to authenticate the intensity of the rivalry." - The Christian Science Monitor

"The University of Michigan's Fielding H. Yost and the University of Chicago's Amos Alonzo Stagg are two coaches and two different styles of coaching that are featured in this new book written by John Kryk. Mr. Kryk is a NFL columnist for the Toronto Sun and Postmedia. He has developed an interesting comparison and review of both coaches examining some overlooked aspects of Stagg's career and dealings especially when looking at his recruiting techniques and constant questioning of other teams players eligibility before the game. Stagg may be viewed in a much different light after reading this book while one may embrace more fully Yost and his impressive and innovative offense schemes. 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. I especially enjoyed the chapters on the 1904 season also. I would recommend this book for any football library." - Gridiron Greats

"I read and enjoyed Stagg vs. Yost: The Birth of Cutthroat Football by John Kryk this month, which chronicles the early days of college football when the Ivy League schools ruled the East, and a handful of schools that would eventually be part of the Big Ten ruled the West. The teams in the West really revolved around the rivalry between the University of Chicago coached by Alonzo Stagg, and the University of Michigan coached by Fielding Yost. Access to a large volume of official documents from both schools as well as personal correspondence allowed Kryk to reconstruct the ways teams even in the earliest days constantly tried to one-up each other for recruits, including cutting corners and offering benefits. The big takeaway is that there was never a 'good old days' where college football was pure; free from all the temptations and extra incentives offered to today's players. . . . [T]his is a great historical gem for any college football fan regardless of affiliation." - Jeff Nelson | Pastor, Spiritual Director, Writer

"How a famous University of Chicago coach (Amos Alonzo Stagg) pulled out all the stops to reverse his team’s fortunes against a dominating rival at Michigan (Fielding Yost). 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 Biblio: The Athletic Experience in Books, History and Culture

"Overall, Kryk 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 . . . Kryk 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. This is especially true in an age where 'Hurry Up' offenses and playing with tempo are stressed in college football. Yost pioneered that strategy over a century ago and should be remembered for it. Beyond the author’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. I 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." - Sport in American History