Harris G. Cope

Harris G. Cope
	Coach Cope c. 1913
Biographical details
Born	March 16, 1880; Savannah, Georgia
Died	September 24, 1924 (aged 44); Birmingham, Alabama
Alma mater	Sewanee: The University of the South
Playing career
1899–1901	Sewanee
Position(s)	Third baseman/Quarterback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1904	Sewanee (assistant)
1909–1916	Sewanee
1922–1923	Howard
Head coaching record
Overall	48–28–12
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
	1 SIAA (as player) (1899); 1 SIAA (as coach) (1909)

Harris Goodwin Cope (March 16, 1880 – September 24, 1924) was an American football and baseball player and football coach. Cope was a member of the National Football Rules Committee in 1914-15.

Playing years

Cope first played at Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut.^[1]

Sewanee

Football

In his first year of varsity football, Cope was a substitute quarterback on the undefeated "Iron Men" of the 1899 Sewanee Tigers football team. He was the captain and the starting quarter for Sewanee's 1901 team.^[2]

Baseball

He played third baseman on the Sewanee baseball team.

Coaching years

Cope coached at Sewanee: University of the South and Howard College.^[3] He worked for a short time as a business man in Cartersville before returning to Sewanee to coach in 1909.^[4]

Sewanee

Cope has the third-most wins of any Sewanee coach (43), behind Shirley Majors' 93 and John Windham's 45; and has the highest winning percentage of any Sewanee coach who coached for more than 3 seasons. His continuity came after a period in which Sewanee had much talent but six coaches in seven years.^[5]

1909

In Cope's first year at head coach he led the Sewanee Tigers to an Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) championship in 1909, beating previous season's champion LSU and handing Vanderbilt its first loss to a Southern team in six years.

Howard

Former Sewanee player Bob Taylor Dobbins assisted Cope at Howard.

Legacy

Cope's disciples include:

Bob Taylor Dobbins, played for Sewanee (1913–1915), assistant for Howard (1922–1923)
Frank Faulkinberry, played for Sewanee (1907–1910), head coach for Middle Tennessee State (1926–1932)
Jenks Gillem, played for Sewanee (1910–1912), head coach for Howard (1925–1926), Birmingham Southern (1928–1939), head coach for Sewanee (1940–1941)
Frank Juhan, played for Sewanee (1908–1910), assistant for Sewanee (1913–1915)
Henry D. Phillips, assistant for Sewanee (1909–1915)
Silas Williams, played for Sewanee (1908–1909), assistant for Sewanee (1914–1915), head coach for Chattanooga (1919–1921)

Head coaching record


Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing
Sewanee Tigers (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association) (1909–1916)
1909	Sewanee	6–1	5–0	1st
1910	Sewanee	8–2	3–1	T–3rd
1911	Sewanee	6–3–1	2–3	9th
1912	Sewanee	5–1–2	2–1–2	5th
1913	Sewanee	4–3	2–2	7th
1914	Sewanee	5–3	4–2	5th
1915	Sewanee	4–3–2	2–2–2	10th
1916	Sewanee	5–2–2	2–2–2	14th
Sewanee:		43–18–7	22–14–6
Howard Bulldogs (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association) (1922–1923)
1922	Howard	2–6–2
1923	Howard	3–4–3
Howard:		5–10–5
Total:		48–28–12
National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth

References

^ Marvin McCarthy (January 2, 1922). "Howard Gets Coach Cope". Atlanta Constitution. p. 9. Retrieved February 18, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
^ John Hunter Garland (1962). The Mills, Cope, and related families of Georgia. p. 188.
^ "Harris Cope".
^ "Coach For Sewanee". Atlanta Georgian. August 31, 1909.
^ James Gregg, Jr. (1949). "Sports At Sewanee". Sewanee Alumni News: 3.

External links

[1] Marvin McCarthy (January 2, 1922). "Howard Gets Coach Cope". Atlanta Constitution. p. 9. Retrieved February 18, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.

[2] John Hunter Garland (1962). The Mills, Cope, and related families of Georgia. p. 188.

[3] "Harris Cope".

[4] "Coach For Sewanee". Atlanta Georgian. August 31, 1909.

[5] James Gregg, Jr. (1949). "Sports At Sewanee". Sewanee Alumni News: 3.

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