The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1918-01-13
By SOL METGZER


Nearly everybody in college ath-
letics is taking a crack at the salary
of the professional coach. They seem
! to have the idea that the coach has Il
soft sinecure, especially the football
coach. They say he works two or
three hours a day with a fine assert
ment of perfect physical specimens,
repeats this dose daily for something
like three months and at the end of
that time gets a check for more
money than the prexy Of the college.
OF course the suppositInn is that
! the coach spends the other nine
months in idle luxury and tnst at the
I age of fifty or sixty he resir,s with
nothing to do but eXercise his mus
cIes the first Of each month clipping
| coupons. One. may pictura 4 life Of
dreamy outdoor existence GOr the
/ coach. and most everybody does. Ac-
cording to many Of the academic men
mixing in college sport tn" coach IL
getting too much out of i md he
| isn't doing his bit" az others are.
That is just about the way the
National Collegiate Athletic A".oSia-
ton thinks Of a coach. At is recent
holiday meeting il spent much tims
lampOoning this product OF inter
collegiate athletics and il devoted as
much as one line To him in its recon-
mendations anent the guidance of in
l. rcoIlegiate sport. But that line was
full OF pep.
1t said that coaches were overpaid.
and il really had back of il a hope
that tine professional coach should get
Il I'm the neck. He's considered bad
form. has never been worthy of his
hire and il responsible FOR all the ills
Ia college athletics.
Would Defend Coaches.
As a recent member Of the coaching
fraternity. which - not a union for
seIf-prcscrvation though it should
be ] rise to the occasion and asiS
FOR space in which to defend the
coach. Upon several occasions | have
probably been guilty of drawing down
more cold cash than som" eminent
professors. and at other times have
not.
Upon occasions | have had jobs OF
three months duration that netted
me more than these same self-made
college prOfS got in one year. But !
have never been paid an adequate
salary. \ football coach the worst
Of the breed rarely is.
Looking back as ] now may-upon
the coaching proposition. ! unhesi-
taIingly state that the game is not
worth she candle: that il is the hard
est job a young man can tackle. and
that after his years of usefulness are
az an end he is fitted for nothing
but the scrap heap.
! have never known a coach who
advised others To coach. Ny old col
legc chum Pop Warner. perhaps the
most successful OF coaches. tells IN.
il Is no Mt job IVr a man, and that
other hoI = in education are more
lucrative in the long run.
Coaching. at it's b-a;. j. the most
competitive Of Jobs in all creation.
excepting possibly leading armies.
But being 4 general has its line points
II YOU win. Then one may Tun for
md be elected President. or ioin n
Wall Street firm and he MIXED All
Of which occupations serve [" con
tlnue the excitement Of lif"
Iiut coach who ~ successful even
tually gets to th'. srl.ap h-up-and
ther" he stays. Politics has nothing
ON coaching.
A Turn I'm the Road
The trouble with coaching at its
best, even when Won are winning ana
getting top salaries and all that. is
that there is a turn in the road just
ahead. In order to be popular the
coach must win. and in order to win
Their" must be material Of the ultra
physical type. ] hav" heard coaches
deny this. In fact one oil my own
college mates went 50 far as to state
he could develop teams without ma