Nonetheless, coaches are continually advising admissions officials. They call or talk to officers in person, trying to persuade the Admissions Office that key athletes are also qualified applicants.

Alumni also get into the act of trying to sway admissions officials. "You have to hope that the Admissions Committee is strong," Reardon says. "I've never seen undue influence that is outrageous. But it is a subjective process."

"Pressure? Never. Input? Yes," he says of alumni lobbying. "Pressure is all in one's mind."

As director of athletics, Reardon rarely gets personally involved in admissions decisions for recruited athletes, although he often is asked about sticky cases because of his admissions background. "I would not hesitate to talk to Bill Fitzsimmons about a great person," Reardon says.

Admissions officials say they never get any explicit pressure from superiors within the Harvard hierarchy on behalf of recruits. Such pressure, Jewett says, is "almost unthinkable."

Nonetheless, Jewett, an enthusiastic sports fan who often travels to away football and hockey games, believes that his pro-athletic bias occasionally might have influenced his decisions to admit recruited athletes. At the football banquet this fall, football Coach Joe Restic noted, "One of the biggest losses we suffered was when Fred left the Admissions Office."