by jksander » Tue May 02, 2023 3:49 pm
From the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, June 2, 1954, Section B, p.4
Wildcat Whirlwind: Concerns Mount over Disciplinary Meltdown in Northwestern Basketball Program
Richard Elmore, Staff Writer
EVANSTON, Ill. - When Northwestern Athletic Director Aaron Eckerly hired wunderkind head coach Rolf “Tex” Kauferhalter to helm the Wildcats’ struggling basketball program, he was hailed as a miracle worker for bringing in the hottest defensive-minded coach in college basketball. Kauferhalter, a discipline-minded leader of young men, came in having won five Patriot League titles, an NIT Title and with a Sweet Sixteen under his belt. He had a 100-percent graduation rate at Army, and his players had routinely been nominated for the prestigious Norton Award for overall excellence.
For Northwestern, a team which had never made it into the top half of the ever-brutal Big Ten, this seemed a no-brainer brilliant hire, one which would allow Northwestern to continue fielding a basketball team with the potential to eventually make it to the NCAA Tournament, while also fielding the best student athletes available at any given time.
What has resulted, however, has been less of a “no brainer” and more of a failure in discipline.
Since taking over at Northwester, Kauferhalter has indeed helped the program improve, at least ostensably, if you’re looking at overall wins and losses. Though the team posted a 15-16 record during the 1951-52 season, the Wildcats won 24 games during the 1952-53 season and wound up winning the Collegiate Insider Tournament outright after finishing ninth in the Big Ten with an 8-12 conference record. But last year the team backslid, barely posting a winning record, and the situation in the locker room and at practices was much more dire.
Early in January, Kauferhalter dismissed the team’s freshman center and leading scorer, Petrick McAfee, for assaulting another player physically in the locker room over a dispute over playing time. The remainder of the season persisted under a cloud of chaos, with reports, off the record, from within the program of a team essentially playing to get through the season, of a team atmosphere that was utterly degraded.
With four additional players on the team having transferred out officially yesterday, citing an inability to work with the other players on the Northwestern basketball team, it’s time to ask the question: Is Kauferhalter over his head trying to lead a team that isn’t beholden to him under Army service contracts and standards?
Eckerly certainly thinks so, having offered Kauferhalter a four year extension worth $219,000 per year to remain Northwestern’s coach potentially through the 1958-59 season. And it’s understandable that he would fight to keep a coach who has gone 56-46 over three seasons after the prior three Wildcats coaches combined for a 80-105 record from 1945 through 1951. There is something to be said for keeping some sense of constancy within the program.
But it is clear that Kauferhalter has let discipline be relaxed since he left Army, and that’s a concern for a program that still has yet to appear in the NCAA Tournament, that still has yet to place within the top six of what has become the preeminent conference in college basketball.
Can Kauferhalter step up and become the leader we all hoped he’d be when his hiring was announced? This upcoming season may prove to be something of a referendum on how he can handle this adversity which is at least partly of his own making.