Sanders says that he will pattern his coaching style after Auerbach, the man under whom he played for most of his career. "I guess you could say that I'm from the Red Auerbach school of coaching," he says. Sanders said that Auerbach's philosophy is based on "getting players to work overly hard on the defensive end of the floor," because "the offensive end is always appealing and will take care of itself." Sanders said that he will also take a page from the coaching book of Tom Heinsohn, his coach for the last three years. Heinsohn relies heavily on scouting reports and film studies in determining his strategy.

Sanders, who is the first black to become a head coach at Harvard and the first black to coach basketball in the Ivy League, was not even considered a serious candidate for the post until two weeks before his selection. But in his first meeting with the selection committee, Sanders impressed the search group with his poise, intelligence and depth, and immediately became one of the group's top choices for the coaching position. Sanders said that the Harvard job had been mentioned to him several times during the Celtics' season, but it was not until the season ended that he became seriously interested in the job. Harvard signed Sanders to a multi-year contract. "I think we're talking three years," he said at the time of his selection. "It's a no-cut, no-trade deal," he added with a laugh.

Reaction among the returning ballplayers was generally favorable, especially to the new coach's emphasis on defense and discipline. However, some players were a little uneasy about Sander's lack of coaching experience. Nevertheless, the Crimson players recognize that Sanders has always been a winner, and feel that with that background, he will have no trouble adjusting to coaching.

At the press conference introducing Sanders as the new Harvard coach, Watson said that while Harvard realized that Sanders has had no professional coaching experience, "we feel his personal qualities and excellent knowledge of the game will hold him in good stead as coach."

Crimson captain for next season, Tony Jenkins, who accompanied Sanders at the press conference, said he was "pleased" with the selection. "I've been around here for a few years, and I've seen the potential for a successful basketball program go down the drain," he said. "I hope Mr. Sanders will be able to change these things around." Sophomore forward Len Adams, who served on the search committee, said that Sanders would be a "definite credit and help" to the Harvard program. "He was a winner in both college and the pros, and he is going to bring that attitude to Harvard," Adams said.

Besides this winning tradition, the biggest thing Tom Sanders has going for him at Harvard is Tom Sanders. The soft-spoken NYU graduate is cut from an entirely different mold than his predecessor. According to everyone who has known him, he has always been able to communicate with young ballplayers.

Hank Finkel, a Celt teammate, says "I don't think you could have picked a better man. He knows how to handle kids and he really has an art of communication with ball players."

But what is even more important, Sanders realizes that the ballplayer who "will run through walls" for basketball is a thing of the past. He acknowledges that the modern college basketball player has other interests that compete with basketball. "It used to be that you were either one thing or the other, either a student or an athlete," Sanders said. "But the young ballplayer growing up now has a lot of other interests. They're interested in world and community affairs as well as basketball and studies." Sander's awareness of the different interests vying for a young ballplayer's attention should serve him well amid the diversity of the Harvard community. Many people, including Harrison, have said that the very nature of the Harvard atmosphere is antithetical to establishing a good basketball program. Such an attitude assumes that athletics cannot be integrated into the Harvard sceme of things. But anyone who has followed the successes of Harvard crew, swimming, soccer and baseball in the past few seasons will easily see that this argument is unfounded. Sanders, at least from his early statements about Harvard, seems to realize that basketball is only one part of the whole of undergraduate life, not the whole in itself. And he seems dedicated to making that part a rewarding one.

Tom Sanders says that he came to Harvard "to bring basketball into the proper perspective as far as winning is concerned." But from all early indications, he brings much more than that. He brings, after five years of turmoil in Harvard basketball, a sense of direction for the program and insight into the nature of the Harvard position. And after five years of frustration, perhaps he brings a chance for productive end to "the great Harvard basketball experiment" as well.