WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2003
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3B
Brett to limit role with Royals
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. George Brett played his entire Hall of Fame career with the Kansas City Royals — but that was back when they were annual contenders.
Now, with the Royals mired below. 500 year after year, Brett can't say he'd stay if he were still playing.
"I can't see myself staying in Kansas City as a player," he told The Kansas City Star. "Not now. It's all changed. I would sign one-year contracts."
"And I would ask myself, 'Do we have a chance to win in the next two or three years?' Right now, looking at the Royals, I would have to say 'No.'
Brett played under founding owner Ewing Kauffman, who wasn't shy about spending money
"Really, how can you compete when somebody is spending 80 or 90 million more? The only thing you can do is catch lightning in a bottle like Oakland or Minnesota. We haven't caught lightning in a bottle."
George Brett former Royals player
to keep stars in Kansas City.
The Royals' current owner, David Glass, has let many of the team's promising players get away through free agency or trades.
"Really, how can you compete when somebody is spending 80 or
90 million more?" said Brett, who was part of a group that made an unsuccessful attempt to buy the Royals after Kauffman's death. "The only thing you can do is catch lightning in a bottle like Oakland or Minnesota. We haven't caught lightning in a bottle."
Brett, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999, played 21 seasons for the Royals before retiring in 1993. He is still listed as the team's vice president of baseball operations, a position he has held since his retirement.
But with three baseball-age sons and three of his own businesses to run, his involvement with the team is increasingly limited.
"My life has changed, man," he said. "It's about my sons now. I want to see them play ball. I need to slow down."
Brett plans to attend spring training for only 10 days or so, and he won't even be able to continue his tradition of throwing batting practice for the team.
"I can't throw," he said. "I can't even sleep on my right shoulder. It just aches all the time. I need to get that thing checked out."
Brett, a California native, now lives in Mission Hills.
"I love Kansas City," he said. "I really do. The people here are genuinely nice. That's why I made this my home for 30 years."
But he also said that he didn't know whether he'd stay in the city where he won batting titles in three decades (1976, 1980 and 1990) and a World Series title in 1985.
"Who knows where I'll be in 10 years? I might be in California or Florida," he said. "I have no idea."
Eddie Sutton to coach 1,000th game
The Associated Press
STILLWATER, Okla. — The first time Eddie Sutton stepped on a basketball court as a Division I head coach, Richard Nixon was in his first year as president.
The year was 1969 and Sutton was at Creighton. That was 999 games ago. Tonight he will coach his 1,000th game when his 11thranked Oklahoma State Cowboys play Kansas State.
"It doesn't seem possible, but I guess I've been around a long time," Sutton said.
That he has. Sutton, who turns 67 in March, is in his 33rd season
as a Division I coach. He spent five years at Creighton, then moved on to Arkansas, where during his 11 seasons he turned the Razorbacks into a force in the Southwest Conference.
From Arkansas it was on to Kentucky. He won 32 games in his first season with the Wildcats, but stepped down after just four years amid a messy NCAA investigation that resulted in the school being placed on probation for recruiting violations.
Sutton off the sidelines for one year after he left Kentucky, returning to his alma mater in 1990 when Oklahoma State
offered him the job.
He won his first game as a Division I coach — Creighton beat Wisconsin-Oshkosh 84-64 — and hasn't stopped. He is 719-280 entering tonight's game, with one losing season in his first 32.
Sutton has taken two schools Arkansas and Oklahoma State, to the Final Four and was the first coach to take four schools to the NCAA tournament.
He has transformed Oklahoma State's program. Sutton has taken the Cowboys (17-2, 6-1 G1 12) to the NCAA tournament 10 times; they had gone just twice in the previous 31 seasons.
"He's withstood the test of time and I think has just gotten better and better," Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy said recently. "He's a better coach now than he has ever been, and I don't think you can say that about a lot of people."
He doesn't expect many of today's coaches to stick around long enough to reach similar milestones.
"I'll say this again. I don't think there'll be as many young coaches who coach as long as some of us have, for a lot of reasons," he said.
"But somehow we've been able to hang in there. As long as my health is good, I'll probably coach a little bit longer."
Performance of team, not milestone, concern for Texas Tech coach
The Associated Press
LUBBOCK, Texas — Bob Knight is concerned about needing another try for his 800th career win. But not because of the milestone.
Knight. Texas Tech coach.
maintains the big number only proves that he's coached a long time, 37 seasons, and doesn't grab his attention. The recent inconsistent performance
of his Texas Tech team has, and
he is not happy about it.
After a 10-1 start, the Red Raiders (12-5) have lost four of six games since Big 12 play began. Their 64-59 loss Saturday at Texas A&M ruined Knight's first shot at becoming just the fourth men's basketball coach to win 800 games.
Texas Tech will be at home tonight to play Nebraska (9-11, 1-6 Big 12), giving Knight a chance to get his latest milestone win in front of an arena full of Red Raiders fans.
"Our team has had a tremendous slippage from practice to play in the conference season thus far," Knight said. "That slippage has occurred here as well as on the road. It has nothing to do with where we've played."
Only Dean Smith of North
Carolina (879), Adolph Rupp of Kentucky (876) and Mount St. Mary's Jim Phelan (827) have won more than 800 games. With Phelan set to retire after this season, Knight (799-303) would become the active leader.
Knight got his 100th victory
Feb. 27, 1971, at Army, where he began his career in 1965. He got Nos. 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 and 700, along with his three national championships, while at
Indiana from 1972-2000.
The coach has never needed more than two tries to reach one of the century milestones.
Knight notched his 100th, 200th and 500th wins on his teams' first tries; Nos. 300, 400, 600 and 700 came on his teams' second effort.
The Red Raiders were off to an incredible start this season, but have struggled since conference play began last month. Tech has fallen behind early in all six Big 12 games and had to claw its way back into games.
There have been good stretches and bad stretches of play along the way, Knight said.
"We just are not able to put enough of really good play together or get enough of it into a game to make it possible for us to win right now," Knight said.
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