An Undergraduate View.

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

There are two sufficient reasons why the system of paid professional coaches for athletic teams should be maintained in Harvard: the first is in order that men on competing teams may do well what they attempt to do; the second is that Harvard teams should not be deliberately placed on an unequal footing with competing teams from other colleges.

As to the first argument, a thing half done might as well not be done at all. There is as good reason for employing a paid coach in athletic sports as there is in employing a paid tutor to teach the conjugation of Greek verbs,--provided we want athletic sports at all, which is assumed. If athletics are to be maintained, they ought to be properly guided and directed. They cannot be properly guided and directed by the chance and fluctuating interest of graduate coaches, much as we may owe to them. A responsible head is needed in directing the training of any team, and this place the professional coach fills.

But the proper and desirable function of a professional coach does not include the personal conduct and direction of a game from the side lines or the bench. Such a practice amounts to the same thing as prompting an actor from behind the scenes. After a man has been taught how to play the game, he should be allowed to play it; and the men on a team should oppose the idea of having their plays in a game directed by a paid coach as they would scorn the idea of having a tutor stand behind them to tell them what to write in their examination book.

The second reason for the maintainence of the system of professional coaches--that is, to be on a par with our competitors--is of great importance from the standpoint of the undergraduate, and for that very reason should be given weight. One of the few opportunities an undergraduates has of witnessing the united spirit of the University is in athletic contests; and intercollegiate games, especially those with Yale, awake in him a sense of devotion to his Alma Mater which nothing else furnishes. There are few men whose spirit has not been stirred by witnessing the tremendous enthusiasm at a Yale game, and such an event leaves a lasting impression. It is well enough to say that such devotion is not of the highest type, but few Harvard men would be willing to give up the exalted spirit of devotion which was born in them at such times, and the University today bears witness that such devotion does not cease with the close of one's College career.

Now in order to perpetuate this spirit it is necessary that Harvard shall compete on an equal footing with her opponents. It may well be that the winning of a game is not the essential thing in athletic contests, but it is surely essential that there shall not be certainty of defeat, for that kills enthusiasm.

Both from the standpoint of general policy and of undergraduate spirit, therefore, professional coaches seem desirable. SENIOR.