Ex-Freshman Players Laud Margarita, Would Regret His Leaving for Rutgers

Recent reports that freshman football coach Bob Margarita may leave the Crimson staff to take over as head coach at Rutgers brought quick and varied reactions from former Yardling players. But the gist of it seemed to be this: coaching freshmen is a headache and nobody could be blamed for wanting to stop, yet Margarita does it well and the Crimson would suffer it he left.

Usually, the biggest problem in forming a freshman squad comes in training T-formation high school players to handle varsity coach Lloyd Jordan's version of the single-wing. Ted Metropoules, captain of next year's varsity, made the point: "We were mostly follows who had never played the single-wing before."

Metropoulos was seconded in this opinion by everyone from last year's Captain Bill Meigs to Larry McCully, captain of the '59 Yardlings. In between were such varsity players as Matt Botsford, Ted Kennedy, and Orville Tice.

The annual turn-out of prospective Yardlings is always a group of strangers: strange to Margarita and strange to itself.

To take such a group and not only teach it a whole new set of fundamentals but also come up with a homogenous playing unti is a job that calls for a thorough knowledge of the game and an aptitude for handling people.

Larry McCully observed that Margarita "really knows how to handle boys." And every player that has come into contact with him seems to agree.

A disrupting influence on his efforts with the Yardlings has been weekly scouting missions against coming varsity opponents. Sources at Dillon Field House say it was his efforts in diagnosing Crimson troubles against Columbia that helped the varsity pull their win over the Lions last fall.

Like every coach, he must meet a schedule, but Margarita lays heavy emphasis on giving everyone the experience necessary for future varsity play. Last year's halfback, Matt Botsford, noted that "he kept alternating us while other teams kept their first string in."

Fundamentals have always been Margarita's strong point. Many former players said that he always took a man aside to show him personally what was wrong with his form. Others laid special emphasis on his skill at handling the defense, especially pass defense.

University, it is felt that Margarita's ability as a coach doesn't stop when he's off the field. Orville Tice, varsity tackle last year, concluded, saying "he was a great help in helping us make the change from high school to college."