To the Sports Editor:

I must apologize to the readers of this letter for such an ambiguous heading, but my memory recalls the past letters sent by friends to Deans, Athletic Directors, etc., which have produced no results whatsoever concerning your basketball program. Perhaps your inaction was due to the specific heading they included on their letters; perhaps it was not. My only intent in not being specific is simply to circumvent the red-tape that has obviously ensnarled your bureaucratic machinery, and communicate directly with someone who possesses the power to alter your basketball program. Your basketball program, in case you gentlemen have not heard, is not doing as well as was expected. In fact, it it hurting a lot of people, not the least of whom are the players themselves.

You must change it!

Having had the experience of playing "big-time basketball" at Harvard and under coach Bob Harrison from 1968 until February 1971, I can positively and unemotionally call it the poorest experience I have had in my entire life. To call it a meaningful experience would be a blatant lie. To say that it is a constructive program would be a gross misinterpretation of the facts. Your program, as it now stands, is corrosive not only to the acquisition of added basketball skill, but to character as well. I have neither seen, nor heard of, any one person since 1968 that has benefited from being enrolled in your intercollegiate basketball program.

Gentlemen, I an not exaggerating; the situation is that bad.

I will not attempt a summation of the facts that verify my claim, nor will I announce my credentials as a qualified observer. If you are at all interested in the situation, you should obviously know both the facts concerning the program, and my role in that program.

The purpose of this letter is not only to point out what is wrong with your basketball system, but more importantly, what you should do to correct it. The opinions voiced in this letter are completely my own, and do not necessarily reflect the exact thoughts of other basketball-team members, past or present.

The first, and most immediate correction must be made in the area of commitment. There is no possible way that an Ivy League school can maintain a "big-time" basketball program. Gentlemen, let us not kid ourselves into believing that intercollegiate basketball is an amateur event. It is strictly professional in all respects. It demands that a school cater to a superior athlete by giving him a comfortable college career financially, and an easy career academically. I am not saying that Harvard has done this in the past, but what I am saying, is that if Harvard wishes to keep its present "big-time" program it will have to abolish its present standards for the future. The Ivy League is presently asking its basketball players to compete on equal footing with other athletes who are not students first, but basketball players first. This is totally unfair to the Harvard basketball player who must choose between devoting his energy towards winning on the basketball court, or winning in the classroom. If he chooses the classroom (which he must, for Harvard gives no Lab-Credit for the hundreds of hours a player spends in the IAB) a player must sacrifice a game he has devoted his entire life to perfecting; a game that may bring him fame and fortune unparalleled in our society by even a degree in Law. The decision that such a "big-time" program forces a player at an Ivy League institution to make is unfair, for he must lose no matter how he turns. The "big-time-basketball" experiment has failed at Harvard as it will at Pennsylvania, and Brown, and Princeton, for professionalism at the collegiate level will only increase until all the "academic institutions" are incapable of competing against even the weaker members of the professional ranks.

The solution is not a simple one. Harvard must reduce its basketball profile so that it competes not with nationally-ranked powers, but with schools fielding similar teams. It cannot fall, however, into a state where the teams it plays against are not competitive. Harvard must realize that its athletes are excellent, and by sheer physical ability will overpower such teams as MIT, Amherst, Colby, etc.. Perhaps competing against a combination of Ivy League schools, local schools, and "Yankee Conference" schools is the answer? A middle road can, and should be found in the immediate future.

The next problem that must be eliminated is that of a coach. Certainly by now, it can be seen that Bob Harrison, although extremely personable, is a poor coach. His teams not only lack the fundamental skills, but also lack the discipline and the attitude necessary not only to play winning basketball, but merely to enjoy playing. He has added nothing but the element of frustration to the experiment he was hired to guide. He too, like the players, has been cheated by the unworkable situation of "big-time-basketball" and "academia," but unlike the players he has proven himself to be talentless as a coach, and detremental to any basketball program, be it amateur or not.

The solution to finding a proper coach must be made by an experienced Athletic Director, who must be told by Harvard what it wants in a coach. He must know the goals of the program, and the feasibility of reaching them. Uncertainty must be eliminated, for it was uncertainty that cost many players their happiness at Harvard.

The coach should also not be an ex-professional basketball player. From the limited experience I have had with them, and from the many basketball clinics I have attended, there is no question in my mind that a former professional player cannot adapt to the flexible program needed at a school where a player is a student, first, and an athlete second. His own devotion to the game is too great. He simply cannot see why a player would not want to practice on a given day, nor sacrifice "above and beyond the call of duty" for the "program." His mind is too structured towards one thing -- professionalism.

The next and final area I would like to see remodeled concerns recruiting. I would like to stress that no longer does the rationalization exist that a Harvard education/degree is worth four years of structured misery. Yes gentlemen, it is a misery to a devoted athlete, professionally talented, to come to Harvard expecting what he was told by zealous alumni to be true (that Harvard has a great basketball program) only to find it a myth. To him, a Harvard degree means giving up his life-long, first love, of basketball, and as I have stated before, an athlete should never be forced to make that decision once he has enrolled in a college.

In the future I would like to see Harvard stop alumni-recruiting of outstanding basketball players with the lie that Harvard can compete nationally. These athletes should be told of Harvard's "low-profile," and allowed to decide as to academics or sports, so that if they choose Harvard their disappointments/joys will be centered with those of the other students ... around the classroom.

I would also strongly recommend dropping the time-honored but naive practice of having coaches unable to recruit atheltes suited to their program. The practice to which I am referring is a farce that has not only been circumvented by the coaches themselves, but in some cases, has actually led to a coach playing a man that he does not want, simply because of alumni-recruiting-pressure. Surely the elimination of as many variables as possible will lead to a smooth, well-coordinated, honest program, and the elimination of alumni-pressure is certainly a key factor in re-structuring your new basketball program.

The agonizing task of building a healthy program cannot be done overnight, nor can it be accomplished without damaging the people responsible for the present one. It would be foolish however, to even consider the current program righting itself without major changes, for as I have pointed out, it is doomed.

The work must begin at the foundation. Goals must be redetermined. New people must be appointed. Policies, totally unrealistic in today's world, must be revamped.

Gentlemen, the basketball program must be changed for too many people have suffered too much pain for far too long a time. No basketball program at all would be better than the one you are offering your students today.  Matthew J. Bozek '72/3