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  * Non-conference games

Big changes were taking place at the Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1899. For starters, A&M purchased the land that would become their new on-campus athletics field around February. The grounds were located at the present-day location of Thompson Theater, and were used briefly for on-campus athletic events. The grounds allowed the school to begin profitting from their athletics, a luxury previously not afforded to the school as all previous home playing grounds were not enclosed. Additionally, the school began search for their second President, after Alexander Holladay, who had been President since 1889, retired due to failing health. The search was mainly between three candidates: William S. Primrose, leading founder of the Watauga Club and namesake of Primrose Hall, George T. Winston, who had served as President of UNC from 1891 to 1896, and since then had been president of the University of Texas, and Jonathan B. Brewer, of Wake Forest, who had worked for several years as the president of Chowan Female College. Despite Primrose's longstanding ties to the school, the voting was deadlocked between Primrose and Winston, with UNC's professor Joshua W. Gore and even Holladay receiving votes by the trustees. Eventually, however, Winston was elected (Chancellors and Presidents; News and Observer, June 4th, 1898, p. 10; The North Carolinian, June 15th, 1898, p. 8; The (Raleigh) Morning Post, July 6th, 1898, p. 5).

In addition to getting a new college president, A&M was also growing faster than its buildings could handle. By mid-September, "The Agricultural & Mechanical College, at Raleigh, is already crowded beyond the capacity of its dormitories." Official school enrollment was tallied to be 298 students, up from 242 in 1898 (Daily Charlotte Observer, September 14th, 1899, p. 4; Enrollemt History - NC State 1889-Present).

Alongside the physical growth of the school and the many great changes taking places, the football team was growing. For the first time in several years, as best as I could find, A&M's football team got a brief pre-seaosn writeup in 1899, indicating informally the forward momentum of the team. The team had arranged to have James Morrison, former University of Virginia football captain, coach the team. Unfortunately, Morrison telegraphed Raleigh the day before he was expected to arrive in the city to inform the school that he could not coach the team; Morrison instead went on to coach at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI, now Virginia Tech) for the season, where he earned a 4-1 record. In his place, McKee returned to continue coaching the Farmers (The Times-Visitor, September 21st, 1898, p. 1; The Times-Visitor, September 22nd, 1898, p. 1).

In addition to returning the coaching of McKee, the prospects for the season were bright. One report wrote that "The A. and M. boys are very enthusiastic over foot ball this season and the indications are they will put up some splendid games," and even as early as September had arranged dates with the Robert Bingham School (of Asheville), Oak Ridge, and even the University of Maryland (now the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, not to be confused with the present University of Maryland, who at that time was known as Maryland Agricultural College). A&M even reportedly received a request to play the University of Virginia, who had recently severed ties with their former rival UNC after a spat over the professional status of Koehler, a player on UNC's team. Following their 2-6 loss, Virginia wrote that Koehler, one of UNC's players, was a professional athlete and not a student, and that the game should thus be nullified. UNC claimed that this was not true. The disagreement garnered national attention, with one journalist even claiming that Koehler was the reason UNC had declined to join the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA), who banned professionals from playing; UNC claimed that they declined to join the SIAA because it would have prevented them from playing against teams with professionals, writing "As is well known many of our preparataay [sic; preparatory] schools give inducements to students in order to strengthen their teams.... According to the ruling of the Association, this would debar us from our practice games with these teams, an event which would practically destroy our Athletics, since owing to our geographical situation, it is extreenly [sic] difficult for us to reach more than a very few southern colleges." Though the teams skipped meeting in 1899 and reportedly did "not care to see them restored," the two teams restored relations in 1900. A&M had to decline the game due to the fact that A&M was playing UNC on the date requested (The Times-Visitor, September 21st, 1898, p. 1; The Times-Visitor, October 4th, 1898, p. 1; The Tar Heel, January 18th, 1899, pp. 1-2; The Tar Heel, January 26th, 1899, p. 2).

That year, A&M's team was reportedly an average weight of 162 pounds at the start of the season, returning much of their team from the previous year and gaining new talent from massive lineman Paschal. Reportedly, "The boys have been practicing several hours each day and expect to go into the [UNC] game in excellent condition considering it is the first of the season" (News and Observer, October 4th, 1899, p. 8).

The 1899 season will be recalled as a season of what could have been. After opening the season strong with a 1-1-1 record, the Farmers caught the injury bug, playing with several of their best players below peak performance, or in some cases, completely out, for several games. The Farmers mediated the damage at first, tying a weak Guilford team and barely managing a tie against a stronger Davidson team, but the wheels came off in the final two games of the season, with the Red and White being totally outclassed by Clemson and losing a closer game to a strong Oak Ridge. Despite the injuries, however, the A&M team was one of the strongest and best-organized in recent history under the leadership of Dr. McKee and the management of F. D. Ross, playing a schedule of more than 4 games for just the 3rd time in school history.

The campus ball grounds, which had been hastily constructed the prior year, were graded by penitentiary convicts with the hopes of having the grounds ready for the football season; they were likely used mainly for practicing, as all games played by the Farmers in Raleigh were instead played at the state Fair Grounds following their highly-attended State Fair game against Bingham. The team disolved on December 2nd, shortly after their Thanksgiving Day game against Oak Ridge Institute. The season would mark a new trajectory for athletics and A&M, but the last year of Dr. McKee, who had greatly helped in improving the record of the team since he took the reigns as coach in 1898.

McKee had helped bring the team to new heights. Early NC State football historian C. D. Harris wrote that McKee "worked faithfully with the material and developed a team, which was defeated the year before by the university (UNC) by a score of 34 to 0, into a team that played the university to a tie." An article published in the Morning Post wrote "The boys of the A. and M. College are unanimous in their praise of Mr. John McKee.... Mr. McKee has a thorough knowledge of the game, and to him is largely due the credit for the great improvement in the team play. He is a splendid coach, and deserves much credit for his work" (The (Raleigh) Morning Post, October 29th, 1899, p. 5).