Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1916-04-07
CAPTAINS POWER WANING.
Harvard Sentiment is for shiftino of
Crew Head.

The curtailment of the Harvard
crew captains power in the future is
certain to result from the present ex-
position OF aquatic affairs by the
crimson, Harvard's daily Undergrad
uate paper. Alumni UNDERGRADUATES
and the athletic association are ali
understood to be in favor of shifting
the balance of power to the head coach
OF rowing, instead of placing the uIti-
mate say-so with the undergraduate
captain Of the varsity shell.
Feeling of Unrest.
The feeling of unrest with regard to
Harvard crews of the future has
served to bring the balance of power
to the debating point. In the last two
years Harvard has seen her perennial
supremacy or the water disappear
The succession of Yale victories, after
the Harvard system in rowing had ap-
parently been perfected, caused Grim
son adherents TO demand an eradica-
ton Of the trouble, even if it entailed
the dismissal of the head coach. The
virtual firing of Jim Wray marked the
beginning OF the campaign to restore
Harvard's prestige in rowing.
There is no sentiment among the
Harvard undergraduates for vesting
supreme power in the varsity captain.
At Yale, when the effort was made to
wrest control from the varsity football
captain. the student body rebelled. But
Harvard has never been brought UP
on such n tradition. The students al
Cambridge want consistent victories
over Yale in all sports, and they think
that the best way to accomplish that
in crew racing is to give the head
coach supreme power, as is done in
football, baseball and other branches
Of athletics in which the Crimson wins
over Yale.
If the balance of power is not swung
to the head coach this year the up
heaval in Harvard rowing circles will
have fallen short of accomplishing its
paramount purpose. Jim Wray was
fired less than a year after he ha6
been given a raise IN salary in order
to get a revised system of coaching il
working order. And now, if the cap.
tain of the Harvard crew is to assume
the came powers that Captain Murray
assumed last year, the new coach
Robert +. Herrick, will be Handicapped
as much as Wray was
There is no desperate battle beinl
waged between Coach Herrick anC
! Capt. David p. Morgan of the crew
Both were reticent. Nevertheless, they
| are both quietly standing for wha
they conceive to be their inheren
rights as coach and captain respective
| ly. Coach Herrick naturally will not b.
| cOnteEted to hold the subsidized jol
that Jim Wray held a year ago. Ant
| Captain Morgan is of course not cage
| to surrender the privileges and power
| that have been given to his immediate
| predecessors. But there viii be no figh
| between the coach and captain.
The opinion and advice of the row
! ing authorities at Harvard, backed b,
| the opinion of the graduates and stu
/ dents, will doubtless settle the Ques
| ton, and in that event the sentimen
J is largely in favor of giving the hea
coach absolute power.
! Next to football, the crew takes high
| est consideration in sports among tn
! alumni. Two years of defeat at tn
| hands of Yale crews after a successfU
| season by all the other Harvard team
\ in their dual contests with Yale hav
| spoiled the Crimson record at the yer
! end of the college year now. Tn
| HaugEtOn system in football and tn
| WinsOr system in hockey, the sport
in which Harvard has had the mos
| marked successes, have shown wha
| the dominance of the head coach in
stead of the captain can accomplish
| In the diplomatic manoeuvres that fol
| low as a result of throwing open tn
crew question at Cambridge, there i
| no reason to believe that the hea
coach will be denied the powers tina
head coaches in the other branches o
sport enjoy