Arnold Horween '21 will return to Harvard next fall as the head coach of the University football team.
Cheering which echoed through the dining room of the Harvard Club of Boston, where the announcement was made last night at a dinner to the University eleven, sounded acclaim for five minutes after the statement was made by W. J. Bingham '16, director of athletics.
All the rumors of change in the Harvard coaching staff which have been current since the close of the football season were laid low in the first speech of the evening. T. W. Slocum '90, president of the Harvard Club of New York city, toastmaster at the dinner, called on Mr. Bingham as the first speaker.
"I have an announcement to make," said Mr. Bingham at the conclusion of his speech. "The Harvard football coach for next year will be Arnold Horween."
As speaker of honor at the dinner last night, Coach Horween stated that there had never been in his mind any question of wanting to return as head coach of the Harvard gridiron forces; it was mainly a question of whether he could come back. "The warm reception which has been accorded me here this evening has more than answered my doubts," he said. Speaking of the past three years as mentor, he continued. "I have attempted to build up and firmly establish a system based on a principle of attack. The team has been sent onto the field with the idea of trying to score, rather than waiting for a break which might carry with it the fortunes of victory."
The need of money for the new gymnasium, the Stadium question, and the expansion of the athletics-for-all policy were the main topics treated by Mr. Bingham in the course of his speech. In spite of the fact that the full quota necessary for the construction of the new athletic plant has not yet been reached, he stated that work on the gymnasium would be carried on as rapidly as possible.
"Harvard is divided on the question of the enlargement of the Stadium," Mr. Bingham continued. "The Corporation and the Overseers of the University have declared their opposition to such a step and, as a result, the Alumni may be limited to one seat for the Yale football game. It is to be hoped, however, that the Alumni, who through their representatives, the Overseers, have turned down the proposition of a larger stadium, will accept this enforced limitation without complaint."
Although no definite statement to that effect was made, the general impression gathered at the dinner was that the open end of the Stadium will be filled in with steel stands to replace the much-discussed wood structure which has been in use during past years.
Horween assumed the duties of head coach at Harvard three years ago under a decided handicap. He had been called in following a gloomy era of defeat and the first two years under the new regime were marked by ups and downs. One major victory and three major defeats comprise the record of this period, during which the Harvard elevens were introduced to the Horween system. That the ultimate goal of these coaching principles was nearing attainment was revealed to followers of Harvard football during the 1928 campaign, which culminated in the 17 to 0 defeat of the Yale eleven
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