W. S. Whitney

Who is W. S. Whitney?

W. S. "Bull" Whitney was an American football coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Georgia during the 1906 and 1907 seasons. Whitney coached at Georgia when the forward pass became legal in 1906 and was the first coach there to implement passing plays. During his two-season stint as head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs, he compiled a 6–7–2 record, including the last three games of the 1907 season which were actually coached by Branch Bocock.

Whitney graduated from Syracuse University. In 1907, he was caught in the "ringer" controversy. At that time, there were no football scholarships, but enthusiastic alumni often raised money to pay professional players who were referred to as "ringers." After the 1907 game with Georgia Tech, it was revealed that there were at least four ringers on the Georgia and Georgia Tech teams. Thereafter, Georgia removed known ringers from its team and Whitney was forced to resign, handing the coaching duties over to Branch Bocock.