Betterton watches changes in over 30 years as coach

To most people on campus, Don Betterton is the director for undergraduate financial aid: the guy who was at the core of the drive to implement Princeton's current "no-loan" policy, which replaces loans with grants so that the over 50 percent of students currently helped by financial aid don't have to repay anything. Students may also know Betterton as the guy who makes it possible for students to be admitted on a "need-blind" basis, a policy that only a handful of schools in the United States can claim.

But Betterton's role at the school does not end there. For nearly 40 years, he has also coached soccer at Princeton. Junior varsity and varsity. Freshman team and club. Men and women. Betterton has coached them all.

"I guess for me, I enjoy working with young kids and seeing them change every year and have new ones coming in," Betterton said. "Staying connected with what's going on with the younger generation and comparing them with kids five years ago, 10 years ago even. It's interesting to see the college age and how they develop and how they change and the trends they go through."

Betterton was born in Sacramento, Calif., but went to high school on Long Island, N.Y. He went on to attend Dartmouth on a Navy ROTC scholarship, graduating magna cum laude in 1960. Betterton played soccer both in high school and for Dartmouth, but he had no idea how this would help shape his life in the years to come.

"I had a Navy ROTC scholarship, and so the obligation there was to go and serve in the military," Betterton said. "I picked Navy flying, which I did for eight years on active duty, and I flew in the reserves for a number of years after that, so my Navy duty ended up being about 24 years."

Betterton flew Navy carrier-based, low-level antisubmarine planes and left the Navy as a captain. It was during his time with the Navy that Betterton came to Princeton.

"One of the choices I had after my first tour of sea duty was to come to Princeton," Betterton said. "Back then, Princeton had a Navy ROTC unit, so I taught the Navy unit."

During a pickup basketball game among faculty, a friend asked Betterton to coach the JV soccer team and he accepted. From there, his soccer coaching career took off. After two years as the JV coach, Betterton became the freshman soccer coach.

"Back in those days, they had freshman teams before they made freshmen eligible for varsity sports," Betterton said. "It was interesting when they had freshman sports back then. There was a group that played together. They knew each other. They had time to adjust to college life. Ideally, we'd still do that nowadays."

Betterton continued teaching the freshman men's team during the 1960s through the mid-1970s until freshmen were declared eligible to play varsity sports.

"So they did away with the freshman team. There were about two years where I didn't coach any soccer at Princeton," Betterton said. "Then the women came to me when they wanted to form a soccer team. I coached them for the three or four years that they were a club team, and then I organized and started the women's soccer program. And when they became a varsity sport, I assisted the full-time women's varsity coach."

After getting the women's soccer program on its feet, Betterton switched over to serve as an assistant men's soccer coach in 1998. He still serves in that position, helping mainly with the offense.

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"They call me the 'Shot Doctor,'" Betterton said. "I basically try to get the guys to score more goals, take shots better, get open. Leave a soccer player out on the field, and he'll try and put it high in the corner, and the ball sails over the goal. I try to get them to adjust their mental thinking to get them to put the ball where it's most likely to beat the goalkeeper, and clearly that's on the ground and in the corner. You don't want to whack the ball. You want to place the ball.

"I think the message gets across. I can see that the kids this year, they're trying to have better shooting habits, and I think it's helped us. We've had some pretty good games. A little up and down, but our Brown game was a nice example."

During the Brown game last weekend, Princeton downed the Bears, 3-2, after twice coming back in the second half from one-goal deficits. Betterton's influence can also be seen in the fact that the Tigers lead the Ivy League in goals this season with 18.

Betterton's life is not only about Princeton and soccer. He has three kids and five grandchildren and considers his experiences coaching as helpful with his children.

"I'd say the family, the job, the soccer and staying in shape are probably the four things that I spend most of my time on," Betterton said. "It makes for a busy day."

Describing his day as "busy" is quite the understatement. Along with responsibilities on several naional committees, Betterton has also found time to publish books on topics that include financial aid, a subject on which Betterton is widely considered to be a leading figure.

Currently Betterton is working on another book, unwittingly reemphasizing just how multifaceted his life really is. Betterton is drawing from his experiences in his 34 years as a soccer coach at Princeton to pen yet another book called "Soccer That Works: A Simple Plan for Coaching Success."

But soccer and career successes aside, Betterton makes sure to keep his jobs in perspective and even finds a way to use them to facilitate his family life.

"I think coaching has probably helped me with my own kids," Betterton said. "[It] keeps me somewhat younger, so I know what's going on in their lives, and that's valuable."