Watson Endorses Limit On Coaches' Recruiting

The letter in the Nov. 26 Alumni Bulletin pointing out the disparity between Harvard's stand on recruiting by coaches and the policies of certain other Ivy schools closely reflects the College's official position. Dean Watson said yesterday, "Harvard is very anxious to have a certain uniformity in the Ivy Group with respect to the role of coaches."

"When it comes to the role of coaches," Watson noted, "there is some disparity in the Ivy Group. It would make a lot of sense to have more uniformity. On the one hand, you have coaches doing a lot in recruiting. On the other, you have very restrictive policies on coaches' activities."

In the Bulletin letter, Bayley F. Mason '51, a member of the Schools and Scholarships Committee of the Harvard Club of Boston, wrote, "Harvard's policy on recruiting by coaches is essentially that this is not their normal function." The letter charged that most of the Ivies have more liberal policies than Harvard's, and that at least one institution allows its coaches "virtually a free rein" in recruiting.

The writer later told the CRIMSON that Pennsylvania and Yale were the Ivy schools with rules on coaches' recruiting similar to the College's. "At the other end of the spectrum, where coaches have varying degrees of freedom -- within basic Ivy Group and NCAA rules--are Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, and Princeton," he said.

College Opposes Recruiting

In explaining Harvard's stand, Watson stated, "We feel that anything to do with admissions should be handled through admissions offices. It's wrong to have coaches out beating the bush. The role of coaches is to stay at college to coach and teach."

"I believe in the Ivy Group," he continued, "but there are still areas in which it could be improved. This is one area in which the members of the Group have not seen eye-to-eye."

DeLaney Kiphuth, Director of Athletics at Yale, last night described the Eli policy as "basically the same as Harvard's." "A coach should not be interested in calling on a boy at home to recruit him. This is an admissions officer's business," he declared.

The Ivy Group Agreement, drafted in 1954, states in Section III, "The Group affirm their conviction that under proper conditions intercollegiate competition in organized athletics offers desirable development and recreation for players and a healthy focus of collegiate loyalty. These conditions require that the players shall be truly representative of the student body and not composed of a group of specially recruited athletes."

Favors Academic Control

It also provides, in Section II, "The Group reaffirm the principle that in each institution the academic authorities should control athletics." And it specifies the Presidents' Policy Committee, made up of all eight presidents, as the body that ultimately determines all Group policies.