Yale Coach Makes Game Debut

When the Harvard football team travels to Yale tomorrow for yet another episode of The Game, the old adage, "You can throw the statistics out the window," will face its biggest test.

Yale Coach Jack Siedlecki hopes it passes.

"Winning this game would make our season, without a doubt," Siedlecki says. "Every season we have two goals--to win the Ivy title, and beat Harvard. I don't know which is more important, or if you can be happy with one and not the other."

The first-year skipper took over for legendary Carm Cozza this season and, one year later, it looks like a poor career choice. Last year Siedlecki was piloting Amherst to a 7-1 record en route to American Football Coaches Association District I Coach of the Year honors. The Bulldogs enter tomorrow's season finale against Harvard with just one victory--34-14 against lowly Valparaiso.

If Yale loses to Harvard, Siedlecki will have the dubious distinction of having been at the helm of the Bulldogs' first winless Ivy season since 1958. Part of Yale's problem has been injuries, including both its tailbacks--seniors Jabbar Craigwell and Jeremy Garelick--but a large part is simply lack of personnel.

"Of course I'm disappointed in our record," Siedlecki admits. "But our kids have played hard and played together--there's been no fingerpointing. The only two times I've really been disappointed have been in the games against Brown and Cornell."

The grittiness of his team aside, 0-6 is a grim introduction to the Ivy League for a coach who, like Harvard's Tim Murphy four years ago, brought a winning track record to a sagging program. In 1993 Siedlecki took over an Amherst team whose last win had come in 1991, when it was 1-6-1. He compiled a winning record in three of his four seasons with the Lord Jeffs and went 20-11-1 overall.

The parallel between Siedlecki and Murphy does not end with the Ivy League. The two coaches were both assistants at Lafayette--they even roomed together.

As it was for Murphy and Harvard four years ago and Siedlecki with Amherst five years ago, this is a rebuilding year for Yale. Grades are not due for a year, or two or four. Thus the question of whether Old Eli can be resuscitated has yet to be answered.

As for The Game at hand, the one thing Yale has going for it is incentive. The Elis may have been dealt a bad hand in life, but they've got an awful lot to play for, from pride to revenge to outright spite.

Last season Harvard gave Cozza a rude farewell with a 26-21 win in Cambridge. And in 1995 the Crimson entered The Game without a victory in Ivy play and upset the Bulldogs, 22-21.

"Yale is not unlike us two short years ago--scrappy, kind of tough," Murphy says. "You can forget their recent history and ours. We expect a tough, hard-fought game--we would be surprised if it was anything but that."

It is a David and Goliath story whose end has yet to be written.

Or so Siedlecki hopes.

"Everything will have to go right to be honest," Siedlecki says. "We're the underdog and we know it, but it's important for us to believe we can win."