Omaha daily bee., 1922-03-04
Derailing the Coach


Behind tho four or nya college
presidents who have lately lifted up
their voices against tho dangerous
tendencies In intercollegiate sport
there must be many more who
would speak II they dared. For In
some Of our colleges. particularly
new colleges seeking place IN tbs
sun, or small colleges on tho make,
Il Is as much ms the presidents job
Is worth 10 come into conflict with
tho athletic coach aud tho more
worldly alumni. Something, eNl"
IDENTIFY, Is wrong and this despite the
very considerable reforms that have
taken place In recent years, tnfof-
tunateiy. there II no general agree
msnt as 10 tho exact nature ot lhs
evil.
President Ilibben, for example,
seems 10 think u centers In rough
play aud subsidized athletes, hut
these are not peculiarly American
problems, hence not the points or
greatest danger In situation Whose
threatening possibilities do seem 10
be peculiarly American. English
sport lis not free from rough play,
though probably more so than our
own; nor from the subsidized ath-
lete. though that evil also is less In
England That IN 10 say, a man
who has only physical excellence VIII
not get one Of the profitable rehol-
nrships In which oxford and Cam
bridge colleges abound; but sehol-
ar who happens also 10 be a good
athlete will find his way much
smoother than tho scholar who's.
qualifications and potencies are all
north OF his neck.
IL may appear that the root OF the
evil Is the growth OF what Is In ef-
feet n vast Industry. even though not
conducted for direct pront. In some
colleges IL certainly is conducted for
profit in that the football team Ia The
strongest advertisement for the In
stitutlon--not infrequently the only
advertisement. Championship teams
mean more students and more con-
tributions 10 the endowment; and
this evil will not disappear until
our college world has really grown
mp. In the meantime II IL question
OF remedying the existing mischiefs..
DIR. Mendell and Tad Jones OF
Yale seem 10 be on the right track
In proposing to limit the power OF
the most purely professional ele-
ment. the coaches. Modern collcgs
football tends to assume the aspect
OF a contest between two experts
who use college boys as their instru-
ments OF play instead OF chessmen
or cards. At Yale they are now talk
ing OF keeping the coaches away
from the game and letting the play
ers play 1t for themselves. This
would, of course. give an advantage
to the older and larger institutions
with a longer and sounder athletic
tradition. but 1t may be a suggestion
I'm the right direction. Modern ten
denotes are illustrated by the outcry
at Pittsburgh over Major Warmers
new contract with Stanford. The
collegians take this as seriously as
IL. for example. the French, i'm
pressed by Mr.. Hughes showing at
the late conference. had hired him
to coach their diplomats for the
next big game with England; yet
Major Warner works for living
and has a right-ruling out consid-
Grafton OF the length OF his Pitts
burgh contract-to advance himself
in his profession.
There are other serious evils con-
nected with the passionate interest
and heavy gate receipts Of big
games, but so long as hundreds of
thousands Of people are determined
to see Yale play Harvard II Is hard
to see how the overemphasis on col
lege games, with their attendant
harm to the amateur spirit, can be
prevented.