Overall Kentucky Record: 13 - 8
Years Coached: 1909-10 to 1911-12 (2 seasons)
Date of Birth: January 10, 1875
Date of Death: October 21, 1950
Hometown: Dryden, NY
Alma Mater: Cornell [1899]
| Season | Won | Lost | Rank | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1909-10 | 4 | 8 | - | Robert Spahr assumed coaching duties while E.R. Sweetland was ill |
| 1911-12 | 9 | 0 | - | - |
Obituary: Unknown Reference
Dryden - Edwin R. Sweetland, 75, a one-time big-time football coach at Syracuse, Ohio State, Colgate and Tulane, New Orleans, died Saturday, October 21, 1950 at his home here after a long illness.
At the time of his death his only outside activity was a member of the local draft board, but earlier in his residence in this community he had participated actively in Democratic politics.
A prominent member of his party in this township, he served as Supervisor of the Town of Dryden from 1938 to 1944 and had held numerous other Town offices. He was a member of the World War 2 draft board for Tompkins County.
In the pre-war state fair setup he was supervisor for the sheep and swine department at the New York State Fair.
Mr. Sweetland attended Union College and was graduated from Cornell in 1899. Later he took a law degree from the University of Kentucky.
While attending Cornell he was a tackle on the football team, and in later years he was just as good a coach as he was a player. Later he had a career of coaching at Tulane, Ohio State, Syracuse and Colgate. An interesting sidelight on his Colgate-Syracuse coaching, his team always won from the other rival team.
Mr. Sweetland took over the football and crew coaching reins at Syracuse University in 1900 and remained there for three years. He was Syracuse's first crew coach. He went from Syracuse to Colgate. His last full time coaching job was at Tulane in 1914. Thereafter, he returned to this area and spent several autumns in a part time job as football coach at Alfred.
One of the highlights of his coaching career was that he coached the first intercollegiate basketball championship team in the south when he was at Kentucky State University.
When he attended Cornell, Mr. Sweetland rowed on the Varsity crew, was a member of Phi Gamma Delta, and was a member of the Phinx Head, the honorary society for Cornell athletes.
After he had given up coaching as a career, he moved to this township, but never fully relinquished his touch with football. Occasionally, when Gloomy Gil Dobie was at the Cornell football helm, Sweetland journeyed from Dryden to give him a hand.
All through his coaching career his wife, Mrs. Hester Donnelly Sweetland, enjoyed his success at the various universities. Mrs. Sweetland died in June 1936.
He was a member of Dryden Methodist Church and Dryden Lodge 471, F&AM.
Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Marian Marble Sweetland: a son, Edwin R. Sweetland, Jr.: three grandchildren, all of Dryden; a brother, Dr. George Sweetland of Constantine, Mich.; two sisters, Mrs. Alice Ross and Miss Libbie Sweetland, both of Dryden and several nieces and nephews.
Services were held at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Strong Memorial Chapel, Dryden. The Rev. Vernon Martin of Dryden Methodist church officiated. Burial was in the family plot at Green Hill cemetery, Dryden.