ELI COACH'S ANGER MAY HAVE CAUSED TIGER'S HEAVY LOSS

Because Coach Bob Kiphuth's Yale swimmers handed Princeton a merciless 61 to 41 shellacking Wednesday night, followers of the tank sport in Cambridge have begun to wonder if the top heavy more wasn't caused by a remark Tiger mentor Howie Stepp was alleged to have made.

"After Harvard and Princeton swim each other," Stepp was reported to have said, "the amateur competition ends and we all start swimming the professionals."

It is possible that the remark was passed around to Kiphuth, and so irritated, him that he failed to make the customary gesture of throwing a few events Princeton's way so that the score might be toned down a little. The Eli tank impressario had previously eased up on a mediocre Dartmouth team with a 43 to 32 score, apparently because Karl Michael, former assistant coach at Yale, is just beginning his career as Indian head coach this year.