George James Sweetland was a physician as well as a coach of many sports including basketball, track and field and football at several American universities.
After Sweetland returned from the war, but before he was officially mustered out of service, he served as coach of Alma College football team. George B. Wells a student got the Alma football team ready before the season with Sweetland taking over once the season started. Sweetland served as the head coach at Iowa State Teachers College in 1899. In 1901 he took over the coaching duties at Ishpeming High School in Ishpeming, Michigan. He took over a team that had just won the state championship. He continued the school's winning ways by coaching Ishpeming to the state championship in 1901 and 1902. In his first season his team was declared the best team in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and was invited to play in the Michigan's State Championship Game sponsored by State Athletic Committee and the Interscholastic Department of the University Athletic Association. His team faced Kalamazoo High School, the Lower Peninsula champion, who outweighed Ishpeming by 30 pounds a man. Ishpeming won by a score of 27–21. The following year, they beat another larger team in the State Championship Game by defeating Benton Harbor High School by a score of 35–12. Earlier in the season one of Benton Harbor's coaches received special access to Sweetland’s team by claiming to be a reporter from the Milwaukee Sentinel. Sweetland got wind of the deception and let it continue. When his team played Benton Harbor in the state championship, Sweetland had totally changed his formations and attack. This confused his opponent and allowed Ishpeming to take an early lead from which Benton Harbor could not recover. After watching Ishpeming victory over Benton Harbor, University of Michigan head coach Fielding H. Yost called Sweetland's team the "finest School team he ever saw." Sweetland later credited Ishpeming's success to the "superb physical condition" of his players from working long hours in the mines during the summer and many hours of practice. Sweetland left Ishpeming and take over the Department of Hygiene at the University of North Dakota. Part of his duties was to be in charge of the University Athletics including coaching the football and basketball teams. His football team won three state titles. He coached the basketball team from 1904 to 1908 and had a career record of 29 wins and 3 losses. In 1908 Sweetland moved to the Pacific Northwest to pursue his interest in fruit tree cultivation. While there he took a job as athletic director and football coach at Everett High School in Washington. He transformed the team into winners and brought them financial stability. He coached the Everett High School for one season losing only one game. On the recommendation of Yost, Willamette University in Salem, Oregon hired Sweetland as athletic director and football coach. He coached the football team from 1909 to 1913 for a combined record of 20 wins and 4 losses. Throughout his tenure as coach he consistently won even with smaller and less talented players. Many times his team were smaller than high school team in the area. At Willamette he was known for taking ordinary talent and making very strong team. The most notable win was in his last year when his Willamette team beat University of Oregon by a score of 6–3. After the victory over Oregon, Willamette named the athletic field after Sweetland. By end of tenure at Willamette, there was a lot of speculation that he would be hired away by larger colleges in the Pacific Northwest including the University of Washington and the University of Oregon. In the local paper in the city that the University of Oregon was located said that "...If Oregon does not drop her petty feud and secure the services of the doctor, she will have missed one of her golden opportunities." The paper went on to say “…He has done more for athletics at Willamette University than all the athletic directors of Oregon have accomplished together..." Sweetland did not take a job with another college in the Pacific Northwest. Instead he returned to upstate New York to take a job with Hobart College his alma mater. In 1914 Sweetland was named physical and athletic director at Hobart as well as being in charge of physical training of young women at William Smith College. He was paid approximately $3000 a year to run the athletic department, coaching several sports including football, basketball, and baseball. Hobart President Lyman Powell wanted "...to make the college one of the best in the United States and he is selecting on his faculty the strongest men that can be obtained." In football Sweetland was 1–5 the first year and 5–0–1 in his second year, one of few undefeated seasons in its history. In basketball Sweetland won his first five games with Hobart, winning all four games in 1914–15 and the 1915–16 season opener. No Hobart head basketball coach repeated this feat until Mike Neer on 2011.
After coaching
Sweetland abandoned his coaching career in 1916 due to the death of his brother Dr. John J. Sweetland who was killed in a car accident. He left his position at Hobart moved to Constantine, Michigan to take over the medical practice of his brother. He lived there the rest of his life until he died at Three River Hospital in 1954. He was active in the community and was elected several times to the local school board. While in Constantine he remained active in athletics by donating the money for the high school athletic stadium in the name of his youngest child who died of Polio in 1937. He was also instrumental in creating the Tomahawk Trophy that is played for each year between Constantine High School and White Pigeon High School football teams.
