Coaching the Professor

There can be no objection to the theory, which is once more attracting public attention, that the coaches of athletes in educational institutions should be appointed to the Faculty and put on the same basis with the members of the teaching staff; but the friends of that reform should not expect it to be a panacea for the ills which have developed in school and college athletics in this country. The coach who has hitherto spent his time on the side lines or in the launch will not change his spot, if he has any, when he takes a place in the company of those whose chief interests are academic. His new relationship will not make him a new man. The high-minded coach does not need such a contact in order to acquire proper ideals, and the bad coach will not develop them merely because he is called a "Professor," or because some other academic title is bestowed on him. It is possible that mutual reactions may come about in the course of time, but that process will be slow.

Some people, especially those who took part in athletics many years ago, believe "the good old days" will not return until the conduct of intercollegiate sports is placed wholly in the hands of the undergraduates--until coaches are abandoned, and the captain of each team, receiving from his successor year after year what the latter has learned, goes on as best he can without other advice. It is certainly true that under existing conditions the success of a team, as measured by the number of victories won, depends quite as much on the coach as on the players. Perhaps that is as it should be, but something can be said in favor of "giving the game back to the boys." --Harvard Alumni Bulletin.