The Washington times., 1906-05-06
GRADUATE CREW
COACH WILL CONE
Bangs Says Competent Pro-
feSsiOnals Limited.
AMATEURS MUST IMPROVE
College 0arsmen Know Little or Moth
ing About Rigging a Boat
at Present.
AMATEURS MUST IMPROVE

T. S. Bangs. chairman of the board of
stewards of the intercollegiate Rowing
Association. in an article in Illustrated
Sporting News, declares that the coach
ing Of college crews will eventually be
in the hands of competent graduate
coaches as opposed to professionals.
Mr.. Bangs does not say that this will
be brought about by compu'sion, but
asserts that the present professional
coaches who have turned out winning
college crews are gradually getting
older and must retire sooner or later,
and that there will be no others 10
take their places. He attributes this to
the fact that interest IN professional
sculling has to al large extent died
out.
Mr. Bangs does not attack protes-
sionaI coaches for college crews. In
fact, he points out several reasons why
they are better than the graduate
coaches at present. He says in part:
No One to Take Their Ilaces.
The number of professionals compe-
tent TO teach rowing and fitted to con
troll young college men is limited and
Is not increasing Thcre are no longer
professional sculleTs Of the ability and
prominence of those Of the 'TOs and sos,
and professional sculling has lost public
interest. When the coaches of today
retire, how viii their places be fllled2
Between the professional and the
graduate coach, the prof ssional. as a
rule. is far superior not ocly in handling
an oar and knowing why. lat especially
in rigging boat to fit the man or
crew. TO the experienced I need not en-
large upon the value OF the knowledge
and skill of the professional in such
details The professional has been =
sculler. accustomed to work out for him.
self every seeming trif1e that makes his
boat easier and so contributes tot sDecd /;
he knows whether his seat or his out
rigger is too high or too low, whether
his Oar-lOck is in the right place or
whether the size or weight or shape OF
his oar is wrong; he comprehends faults
almost instinctively and corrects them
himself; If he has the teaching faculty
at all he IS a good teacher; he gathers
together a crew, gets rid Of some OF its
personal defects, compromises the re-
mainder. and adjusts his men into a
harmonious whole with the oar, how
ever ragged they may otherwise appear
10 be; he gets speed out of a crew. re-
gardless often of in-board form. while
the average amateur produces a pretty
crew without speed.
Undergraduate Dependent.
''On the other hand. the undergraduate
learner OF the common modern type is
apt 10 be a dependent He learns 70
handle one sweep on one side of a she'll
As an oarsman he is lop-sided and does
not try tC Re anything else. He relies
upon the coach TO note and to correct
his every fault and dlsdains attention
10 details. If his slide cuts his legs.
If his oar handle skins his knees, if
his blade does not drop into the water
on time. he complains to the coach. who
knows II already. and go, hack to
quarters. The coach stays IN the boat
house alters the rig and overcomes the
mechanical difficulties, buI he under
graduate makes no inquiry, cares moth
ing, learns nothing. What Ie does. he
does because he is told. He is an un-
intelligent Oarsman, unable TO impart
even his limited knowledge TO others.
This sort OF thing need not be. It
was not so in the days that produced
Blaikie. r Cook. a Eustls. and a Good
win There is nothing in rowing that
forbids a college man to become as in
telligent an oarsman as a professional
and just as good a teacher. If he Will
Columbia has had its greatest successes
under graduate coaching and under a
system intended to develop individual
intelligence in the boat. Between 1886
and 1897 there occurred a period Of
abject dependence upon a coach which
added nothing TO our available coaching
material: but in the later years we have
endeavored 10 build anew. and for re-
vival and continuance of the old spirit
I pIead- Columbia in thirty-four years
OF rowing has had five years of profess
sicnal coaching. Its successes have been
won under the graduate
Columbia's Bes- Work Undergrad.
when, therefore. we had occasion TO
seek a coach II was natural that out of
the men available TO US. we should
choose cne of our own gra 1ua-es. par
tlculariy one who had been a member of
our best self-cosched crews, and the