(AP) — From effigy to ecstacy in one season — that’s the story of Coach Murray Warmath and his Minnesota Gophers, crowned as national college champions in the season’s final Associated Press poll.
A year ago, Warmath was being hanged in effigy, and irate alumni were talking about buying up his contract after the Gophers had lost seven of nine and finished dead last in the Big Ten.
Yesterday Minnesota was given a clear margin over Mississippi and Iowa in the final balloting to name the 1960 champions in the poll of 48 selectors. Minnesota received 17 first place votes and 433 points.
One voter couldn’t decide between Minnesota and Iowa , co-champions of the Big Ten, and listed them as tied for first and second. Each finished with an 8-1 record, Iowa losing only to Minnesota and the Gophers to Purdue.
Unbeaten, but tied, Mississippi, champion of the Southeastern Conference, edged Iowa for second place, 411 to 407 in the point tabulations.
Points were awarded on the basis of 10 for each first-place vote, nine for second, etc., down to one for 10th place. Mississippi received 16 firsts and Iowa 12. The other two firsts went to sixth-ranked Washington.
Warmath, preparing to lead his Gophers into the Rose Bowl against Washington, Jan. 2, exulted: “I’m so proud of the team I could burst.
“For such an honor to come to a bunch of guys who took so much grief in the past and fought so hard to come back this year — why it’s the greatest thing that I’ve experienced.”