IB • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
TUESDAY,APRIL 22,2003
Quarterbacks compete for position
By Will Shanley Colorado Daily via U-wire University of Colorado
BOULDER, Colo. — Eeny meeny miny moe, pick a passer by his throws, and by his smarts and by his runs, yet Gary Barnett's job is still not done.
More specifically for Barnett, Colorado's head football coach, his decision concerning his quarterback is not yet done.
Joel Klatt, James Cox, Erik Greenberg.
Those are the varsity players vying for next year's starting spot. Between the three, only Klatt, a sophomore, has game experience, taking 10 snaps last year. After spring drills wrapped up Saturday with the Buffs' Black and Gold Scrimmage, Barnett said he would wait for another day to name his man.
"At this point, it's still up in the air," Barnett said about the quarterback position. "This is the kind of spring where you walk out and
say, 'OK,
we still got
issues that
have to be
addressed
and we're not going to get them addressed until fall camp."
The scrimmage, which used an offense versus defense format because injuries prevented splitting the squad into two teams, was won by the defense 32-26. The defense was awarded five points for a turnover, and between one to six points for stopping the offense, depending on where on the field the drive was ended. The defense earned a steak dinner for their victory, while the offense will dine on franks and beans.
Barnett had wanted a clear-cut starter to emerge during spring practice so that receivers and running backs could focus their efforts over the summer with the No.1 guy.
the others.
None of the quarterbacks, however, significantly outplayed
Cox, a red-shirt freshman, had entered spring ball with a slight lead over Klatt. But their positions were reversed midway through the spring practice season as Klatt better handled the Buffs' defensive pass rush in a previous scrimmage.
Klatt's superior elusiveness and mobility was again on display Saturday.
With 2:45 left in the fourth quarter, and the Buffaloes offense trailing 24-19, the pocket crumbled around Klatt. Instead of going to the turf, Klatt slipped away and sprinted for 18 yards. The offense then hit pay dirt one play later on an 8-yard touchdown strike from Klatt to wideout D.J Hackett.
"Joel is a little more advanced in that area; he'll make plays with his feet," said Shawn Watson, the Buffs' offensive coordinator. "That's just part what he brings to the table."
And after completing 11-of-18
pass attempts for 127 yards and a score, he certainly strengthened his grip on the starting role.
But Watson said all of the quarterbacks have developed significantly since spring practice started.
"This time last year, Joel Klatt was on some bus somewhere in Montana for a minor-league (baseball) game. Seriously." said Watson of Klatt's two-year stint with the San Diego Padres organization. "James Cox was thinking about who he was going to take to prom. I shouldn't say that. He's always had a steady girlfriend. He just didn't know how to get there. They've come a long way."
And while Cox entered the scrimmage listed No. 2, he fared worse than either of the other quarterbacks. Cox completed just 4-of-11 passes for 30 yards. Greenberg, a sophomore from Rampart High School in Colorado Springs, hit 12-of-23 passes for 117 yards. Cox was the only quarterback to throw an interception.
Kentucky pays high price for coach
By Derek Poore
By Derek Poule
Kentucky Kernel via U-wire
University of Kentucky
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Tubby Smith was all smiles on Friday as he signed a contract extension potentially keeping him at Kentucky — and out of the NBA — until 2011.
The eight-year, $20 million deal could make him the highest paid coach in the country. Kentucky administrators pledged support for Smith at the UK Athletic Association meeting Friday. Although the athletic department is self-supporting, some observers are wondering if the
nigh price is the right priority for a cash-strapped university.
John Thelin, a highereducation and public policy professor, said Kentucky should find ways to obtain the resources the athletics department uses to raise its money.
"Sophistication and effective fund raising on all levels," is key to raising money, Thelin said.
"Ivy league schools have wonderful athletic programs but raise more money [for academics] than athletics," he said.
Smith's contract extension also includes post-season compensation. Each year that Smith's team wins the SEC championship or
makes the N C A A tournamen
tion, he will receive a single payment of$15,000.
A Final Four berth would give him an additional $50,000 bonus, and he'll get $50,000 more if his squad accomplishes a cumulative team grade point average of 3.0 or better, and if 90 percent of basketball players meet the NCAA satisfactory progress requirements.
"I want to thank Dr. Todd and Mr. Barnhart and his staff," Smith said to applause from a contingent of visiting Board of Trustees members, athletic and administration staff and media. "I look forward to spending quite a few more years here."
Smith, flanked by Kentucky President Lee Todd and Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart, said
"Our industry is a crazy industry," Barnhart said, "and I'm confident he wants to be here."
Lexington, Ky., should be his home for many years to come.
"You've had a tremendous year," Todd said to Smith. "it not only the string of victories that makes us proud but it's [the way] which you've done it and the way which you continue to do it."
Illinois State hires new basketball coach
By Eric Meister
By Eric Meister
The Daily Vidette via U-wire
Illinois State University
NORMAL, Ill. — In the last few years, winning hasn't been synonymous with the Illinois State women's basketball program.
Part of it has been the attitude; part of it has been not knowing where to go next.
In hiring Robin Pingeton away from her job as associate head coach at Iowa State, Illinois State Athletic Director Perk Weisenberg hopes he can return the winning tradition to the women's team.
In Pingeton's three years at Iowa State, she has been part of a winning program with a record of 63-31 during those seasons. In
the 2001 season, Iowa State showed its mettle by winning the Big XII Championship and making it to the Sweet 16.
Even though Pingeton thought it would take a lot to move her from the success she enjoyed at Iowa State, she thinks she can put Illinois state back on the women's basketball map.
"There were a lot of factors," she said.
"First of all, I know that the program has been successful in the past and there is no reason it can't be successful again, it has a strong tradition in women's basketball," Pingeton said.
"I feel like from a recruiting standpoint it's a gold mine, there is just so much ability in the state
of Illinois," Pingeton said.
Pingeton, originally from Atkins, Iowa, said she wanted to stay close to her home and her family.
"I think a lot of that is a credit to [head coach] Bill Fennelly at Iowa State and I think his program has helped a number of us be promoted to different positions," Pingeton said.
Some of the coaches to come out of the program at Iowa State are now head coaches in Southwest Missouri State, Maryland and Akron, Ohio. She has been offered other jobs, but she said she thought she had found the perfect opportunity coaching at Iowa State.
In addition, she credits Fen
really as being a major influence in shaping her coaching style, even though she was at Iowa State for only three years.
"Coach Fennelly has been huge in molding me and shaping me into the coach that I am today. I have learned a lot about 'Xs and Os' from him. Obviously, he's had a ton of success on the court, but I think I learned the most valuable lessons off the court," Pingeton said.
Even though everything she has learned from Fennelly has come in the last few years, there has been a lot of change in women's basketball since the days that she played.
She also thinks that the women's game isn't very fur off from what the men's game is.
Columbia names new basketball coach
By Pam Wattice
Columbia Daily Spectator via U-wire
Columbia University
Bv Phil Wallace
NEW YORK — Levien Gym can now be called J.J.'s Place. Columbia has signed Villanova assistant Joe Jones to a four-year contract to become the 20th head coach in the men's basketball program's 103-year history.
Jones is the brother of Yale head coach James Jones.
"It's awesome," Jones said. "You know, outside of my wedding day and my daughter being born, this is right up there."
"[Jones] will bring a new level of intensity and excitement to Columbia
Lions men's basketball," athletic director John Reeves said in a press release. "His dynamic personality and attention to detail will captivate Columbia players, fans and alumni."
Jones, 37, has worked as an assistant at Villanova for the past six seasons.
He graduated from SUNY Oswego in 1987 and earned a master's degree in counseling from the school in 1989; he worked as the middle school and high school head coach at Comsewogue School in Long Island from 1991 to 1994. From 1994 to 1997, Jones served as an assistant coach at Hofstra, working under Jay Wright, during which time the team went a combined 72-22.
In 1997, he was hired as an assistant at Villanova, the same year that new Columbia football coach Bob Shoop was the Wildcats' defensive coordinator.
After Steve Lappas left the Villanova program in 2001, Wright was hired as the head coach, retaining Jones. Wright was one of Jones' references for the Columbia job, and was also an assistant at the University of Rochester from 1984 to 1986, while Reeves was the athletics director.
"He's got great passion for the game. He's a great, personable guy who demands loyalty from his players," Wright said. "I think Columbia is lucky because they're getting a hard-working, passionate guy. We are going to miss him."
Jones' teams compiled at 105-83 record at Villanova. He
has a reputation as an excellent recruiter, helping to bring one of the nation's highest-rated freshman classes to Villanova this past season.
"He did a great job for us. He did a good job working with the kids, and he's a great recruiter," Lappas, now the head coach at Massachusetts, said. "He's ready to be a head coach."
"I liked who [Jones] coached under very much. I liked his involvement in recruiting at Hofstra. He deserves credit for [current San Antonio Spur] Speedy Claxton," Reeves said. "I know he had a lot to do with recruitment because I know who he worked under."
jones said he would like to have Columbia play a more up-tempo style, but he added he would not make any strategic decisions until he was more familiar with his players.
Jones beat out a long list of candidates for the position, including Iona assistant Tony Chiles, former North Carolina assistant Bob MacKinnon, New York Knicks Coaching Associate Mike Malone, NBA Hall-of-Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and former Duke star Bobby Hurley.
Abdul-Jabbar's candidacy generated excitement on campus and talk across the country, and while he was seriously considered, he was not one of the three finalists for the position.
Reeves said he thought very highly of Abdul-Jabbar and added that he did not buy into perceptions from others that Abdul-Jabbar was an aloof and distant loner. He also said that Abdul-Jabbar's past legal troubles were not a detriment to his candidacy.
"It came down to we were looking for a college recruiter and a college coach." Reeves said, citing Abdul-Jabbar's inexperience in coaching at the NCAA level.
Jones has a difficult job ahead of him in trying to turn around a team that last year went 2-25 overall and 0-14 in the Ivy League under Armond Hill.
Jones said he would draw on his experience rebuilding the Hofstra program in trying to improve Columbia's team.
"I'm really excited about the challenge," Jones said. He's also excited about the opportunity to square off against his brother in the Ivy League, he said.
Graduation 2003 Jayhawk Bookstore It's Not Too Late
Featuring:
- Custom Embossed Announcements from 99¢
· choose paper, typeface, print color, and special messages
· 24-48 hr turnaround, Low minimum order
- Complete Regalia from $19.95
· Masters Regalia w/hood $42.90, Doctoral Regalia w/hood $49.90
- Diploma Frames from $99.95
- Free '03 graduation tshirt (with $50.00 order)
Congratulations on your Achievement and thanks for shopping with us over the years!
Online ordering @ www.jayhawkbookstore.com
www.jayhawkbookstore.com·1420 Crescent Rd·843-3826