Siedlicki Will Replace Carm Cozza As Coach of the Yale Football Team

The rivalry is heating up.

Come next Harvard-Yale weekend, newly appointed Bulldog head coach Jack Siedlicki will face off against his former roommate and fellow assistant coach, Harvard's own Tim Murphy.

Siedlicki was chosen from a field of more than 100 applicants on Dec. 19 to succeed Bulldog football legend Carm Cozza as the head of Yale's feeble football team.

Like Murphy, who led a resurgence in Division I-A Cincinnati during his tenure there, Siedlicki is known for turning around mediocre teams.

Before his arrival at Amherst, where he has spent the last four seasons, the Lord Jeffs had amassed a less than stellar 1-22-1 record during the previous three seasons.

Siedlicki led the Lord Jeffs to a 20-11-1 record over the last four years.

"Jack Siedlicki is the kind of guy who I think will work well at Yale," said Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Athletic Director Raymond Gilbert. "He has proven that he can do the job coaching-wise, and he is also an excellent recruiter."

Prior to taking the Amherst post, Siedlicki coached at WPI for five years, where he amassed a 36-11-1 record.

"Jack is a fundamentals, nuts-and-bolts type of guy. Yale certainly picked an outstanding guy for the job," said Murphy, who worked and lived with Siedlecki for one year in 1981 when they were both assistant coaches at Lafayette.

Despite their common past, Murphy and Siedlecki differ in one important respect.

Siedlecki is known for emphasizing offensive strategy on the field, while Murphy builds his teams around defense.

"The ball was up in the air pretty often when Jack was coach," Gilbert said. "He always made the game exciting."

If Yale's offense takes the shape of Air Siedlecki, gridiron fans can be sure that Murphy's steel curtain will thwart any attacks.

"Defense has been our focus since we got here," Murphy said. "The number one thing you have to build to be able to have a chance to win football games is defense."

While Murphy may be Siedlecki's foremost foe during The Game, the newest Bulldog's greatest challenge will be filling the shoes of his vaunted predecessor.

In his 32 years at Yale, Cozza amassed an Ivy League record 179 victories.

"[Siedlecki] is obviously going to have a lot of challenges," Amherst Athletic Director Peter Gooding told The New York Times.

But Siedlecki's backers said he has all the necessary skills to fill Cozza's massive football cleats.

"He has all the attributes of a great head coach," Gilbert said. "We'd hire him back here in a minute."