McCroskey's experience points to two crucial areas that are essential to an understanding of the current evolution of Harvard swimming, the demise of the freshman swimming program and the role personal pride and performance plays in keeping a swimmer swimming competitively.
In 1970 the NCAA decided that the decision on whether or not a freshman athlete would be allowed to compete on a varsity level in individual sports such as swimming and track would be left to each individual school or conference. The reasons for the decision were purely economic on two levels.
In most of the larger universities each team is allotted a certain number of athletic scholarships and other incentives. The number might be 16. Because you have to continue the scholarship for four years this would provide you with four scholarships for freshmen, each of whom would contribute three years of varsity swimming to enhance the team's record, prestige, and alumni support.
But without a restriction prohibiting freshmen from varsity competition the same amount of money would provide 16 varsity swimmers rather than the previous 12, or sticking with the 12 the university could save money. The more swimmers a program could recruit, the better the program and hence an increase in interest and money it would receive from alumni, athletic administration, and spectators.
The decision to allow freshman participation was a step in the formal recognition of an athlete who is paid to come to a given university to perform.
The Ivy League sports philosophy of the opportunity of intercollegiate competition for everyone was in theory dedicated to the maintenance of freshman athletics. Had the Ivy coaches and athletic directors along with Army and Navy (the other swimming members of the Eastern league) decided that freshman competition in individual sports was worth keeping, it would still be with us.
But the results show that the Ivy schools are as greedy for the big-time publicity, prestige, and money as the schools of other athletic conferences.
During the late 1960's, Yale, formerly the class of the world, began to slip in its national rank while such schools as Indiana. Texas, and Long Beach State were developing into swimming powerhouses. Where formerly the top national swimmers would apply to Yale