SPORTS
University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, January 22, 1992
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Spurs terminate Brown's contract
The Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs fired Coach Larry Brown at his own request yesterday, ending his 31/2 years with a team that won two Mid-West Division championships.
Brown's termination followed two road losses and two stormy days of dealings with owner Red McCombs in which Brown reportedly was fired then rehired before being dismissed a second time.
It marks the first time Brown has been terminated in his 20 years of a roller-coaster coaching career.
"I Larry was more and more feeling that I didn't have the confidence in him that he would have liked to have had," she said. "I wanted to news conference yesterday morning."
"He requested that he be terminated. I didn't expect that. It certainly was not contemplated," McCombs said. "It's a very unusual situation to be asked to be terminated."
Brown will be replaced for the rest of the season by Bob Bass. Spurs vice president of basketball operations, who has coached the team in the past.
Brown told KSAT-TV, "I was fired. I was fired at the meeting, I thought, yesterday morning. The statement Red prepared with me said to that effect."
- Bass, who last coached the Spurs in the 1983-84 season after Morris McHone was fired, was to lead the team in last night's home game against the Los Angeles Clippers. The assistant coaching staff will remain with the team the remainder of the season. Bass said.
But forward Sean Elliott said the move was unexpected.
"We were all just kind of shocked about it. Nobody knew anything about it," Elliott said. "We're sad to see coach go. I'm personally sad to see him go. I think he did the best job that
he could."
Elliott said he believed assistant coach Gregg Popovich would be the obvious choice to replace Brown.
The Spurs will begin a search for a new head coach for next year. Texas Longhorns coach Tom Penders has been mentioned before as a potential Spurs coach, and as recently as last week McCombs said Penders would be a likely candidate to fill any vacancy.
Despite published reports that McCombs had fired then rehired Brown after a turbulent meeting Monday, the owner said he considered Brown the head coach until he didn't show up at a meeting yesterday and the team's shoot-around.
"Larry has made a great contribution here," McCombs said. "We are all the better for it. I wish it was the kind of thing that could have lasted forever."
Brown reportedly was in the fourth year of a five-year contract worth $3.5 million. Brown's record was 153-131 as coach of the Spurs. He experienced his first season with San Antonio, when he team finished 21-61 in 1988-89.
Then, in 1989-90 with the addition of center David Robinson, he guided the Spurs to the best single-season turnaround in NBA history with a 56-26 finish, the franchise's best ever. The Spurs ended last season at 55-27, winning the Midwest Division for the second consecutive year.
Before coming to the Spurs, Brown shuffled between the college and professional game, usually leaving following a successful stint.
He coached the Carolina Cougars in the ABA from 1972-1974, then moving to Denver until 1979 when he left for a two-year tour at UCLA. He then spent two years with the NBA's New Jersey Nets, moving to Kansas in 1983.
The Jayhawks won the NCAA championship in 1988.Brown returned to the pros in San Antonio the next season.
'Hawks to attack Iowa State tonight
By Cody Holt
Kansan sportswriter
On the back of the Lady Jayhawks' practice shorts Coach Marian Washington had "9440" printed as a constant reminder of the team's goal.
"We want to play 94 feet of defense for 40 minutes." Washington said. Ninety-four feet is the distance from baseline to baseline on a basketball court and 40 minutes is the length of a collegiate basketball game.
Washington said defense was an essential element for Kansas' sue-
Kansas, No. 22 in this week's Associated Press Top 25 rankings, maintains the nation's best defense, holding opponents to 54.7 points a game. The Lady Jayhawks ended a two-game loss streak Saturday against Colorado at Allen FIELD House behind a strong defensive effort. Kansas scored 66 points and held the Lady Buffs to a season-low 48 points.
"Defense is going to be a key for us the remainder of the season," Washington said. "I think defense comes from the heart. You have to want to play hard. You can't just go through the motions and be successful. We take pride in that."
The Lady Jayhawks will face another test tonight when they play the Iowa State Cyclones at the field house. Iowa State, 2-12, is led by senior guards Tynetta Rasheed and Leslie Maple, who average 11.2 and 9.5 points a game, respectively.
Although the Cyclones are 2-0 in Bigh eight Conference play and losers of their last seven games, Washington does not think they should be taken by the Nets.
"They have one of the premier backcourts in the conference," Washington said. "They're very quick and they work very well together. They should prove to be a very difficult test for our defense."
Kansas improved to 12-3 overall and 1-1 in conference play with Saturday's victory. The Nebraska Cornhuskers currently lead the conference with a record of 12-3 overall and 2-0 in conference games. Oklahoma State, 7-8 overall and 2-0 in the Big Eight, is the only other undefeated team in conference play.
The Lady Jayhawks will play Nebraska Saturday in Lincoln and then Oklahoma State in Stillwater on Jan. 29. After tonight's game, Kansas' next home game will be Feb. 5 against Oklahoma. 8-4 and 1-1.
Probable women's basketball starters
Game time: 7:30 p.m. tonight in Allen Field House
**Kansas** 12-3, (1-1) **Position** Year Height PPG RPG
33 Kay Hart Kay Hart G Sr. 5-7 10.0 3.5
20 Tonya Bonham G Sr. 5-8 6.5 1.6
24 Martha McCloud C Jr. 5-10 7.1 5.5
23 Terrion Johnson F Sr. 5-11 7.1 9.6
30 Angela Aycock F Fr. 6-2 9.8 3.9
**Iowa State** 2-12, (0-2)
04 Leslie Maple G Sr. 5-7 9.5 3.7
05 Tynda Rasheed G Sr. 5-10 11.2 4.5
50 Barb Gordon C So. 6-1 5.7 4.3
21 Shanda Fitzgerald F Jr. 5-11 5.8 4.5
24 Lauren Miller F Fr. 5-11 4.7 2.9
Almee Brainard, Daily Kansan
During an evening practice, Shelly Sack, Platte, Neb., junior, takes in some batting practice.
Coach plans to win Kansas softball coach Kalum Haack hopes returning stars are key to successful season
By Jerry Schmidt
Kansan sportswriter
With four returning All-Big Eight Conference players and good depth, Kansas softball coach Kalum Haack thinks his team will vie for the conference championship.
"I feel this year we're going to be the team to beat," Haack said. "One thing that's going to help us this year is that we have more depth than we've ever had."
"If we were to get an injury, we've got somebody to stein and take their place."
Kansas was 38-14-1 last year and finished fifth in the Bie Eight with a 5-1 record.
First team all-conference third baseman Camille Spitaleri and shortstop Christy Arterburn, both seniors, will lead the 'Hawks defensively and offensively this season.
"They have been the best left side (of the infield) in the conference for a long time and they have gotten better and better," Haack said. "I would put them up against anyone in the country. Not many balls get by the left side of our infield."
Spaliteri led the team in four hitting categories last season. She hit .377 with 23 RBs and had 10 doubles and seven triples. Spaliteri was almost perfect in a one-hit, corrim, committing only nine errors in 122 attempts.
Spitalari said she set a lofty goal for herself before the season started.
Arterburn, a three-time All-Big Eight selection, holds the Kansas record for stolen bases with 106, including 41 last season. For earlier this month she was named a 1991 Academic All-American by the National Softball Coaches Association.
"A goal I set is not committing one error," Spitalari said. "I work on defense a lot."
"She's my left arm and I'm her right arm," Spitaleri said of Arterburn. "I feel very comfortable with her next to me."
Arterburn said the relationship they have on the field was special.
This will be the fourth season with Arterburn and Spitaleri on the same side of the infield. Both said that it helps to see the same person next to you day in and day out.
Arterbium hit .349 last season with a team-leading 85 hits. More than 85 percent of her stolen ballers were in the top 10.
"It's the greatest thing about playing," Arter-burn said. "It took us a while when we were freshmen, but now we can tell what the other is going to do."
Sophomore Stephani Williams, a second-team all-conference player last season, should lead Kansas on the mound.
As a freshman Williams was 17-9 with a 70 ERA, fifth best in the conference and 27th in the nation. She had 12 shutouts and 156 strikeouts. Williams was also named a 1991 Academic All-American.
Senior Shelly Sack, a second-team all-conference pick, and junior Jill Bailey will also see time on the mount.
Haack said Bailey was slowed by knee surgery last year.
never got in really great pitching shape," Haack said. "This year she's not having any problems with her knee and we expect her to get a lot of pitching time."
Haack said he hadn't originally planned on having Sack pitch when he recruited her but that she had pitched well enough to stay in the rotation.
Sack was 142 with 9.19 ERA in 99 innings. Sack also solves first base and hit, 288 last year.
The outfield will be anchored by senior Jennifer Frost, who hit .255 last year with 17 RB. Bophome Kelly Bongatti and juniors Ty Saxby and Shanna Cole will also see action in the outfield.
Haack said the offence will feature more talent from the top of the order to the bottom this season.
"In the past we've been strong in the top four hiters," Haack said. "In the fall the bottom half of our lineup hit as well as the top half. It strengthens our whole lineup."
Haack said a good crop of younger players will help solidify an upperclassman-oriented team. The team features four seniors and four juniors.
"We had a good recruiting class and I expect them to get a lot of playing time this year," Haack said. "It's going to give them good experience for next year when they are sophomores."
The freshman class includes second baseman Krissy Carpenter of Newall, Calif. and catcher Joy Herrera of Corona, Calif. Kansas signed two Irving, Texas products: shortstop Leah Rogers and second baseman Lora Richardson.
Spitaleri said that if the team performs the way it has in the past, success would follow.
"If we play the way we did in the fall we didn't need to do anything special," she said.
"If we play the way we do, we should need to do something special," she said on Wednesday as the march month 10 in Texas
The 'Hawks open the season March 10 in Texas with a doubleheader against Illinois State.
KU runner was so mad, he saw pink
By Chris Jenson
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas trackster Jack Greenwood got lost in the shuffle in 1951. The experience was enough to turn the team pink.
The 60-yard high hurdles race at the Big Seven Indoor Conference meet was a close one that year. Greenwood, wearing KU's traditional crimson and blue, was in the far left lane of the track in Kansas City's old Municipal Auditorium. He swears he crossed the line first.
"I remember holding the string in my hands," Greenwood said in a phone interview from his home in Aurora, Colorado. "I looked to my right and could see the other runners finishing."
Track officials did not have the luxury of photo finishes in 1951. They had to rely on their eyes, often making split-second decisions. In Greenwood's team, the players wore white blenders with the other competitors' uniforms.
Greenwood said the judges saw something different; however
When the final results were announced, Greenwood's sname was not read. Not in first place or in any other place down the list. Head track coach Bill Easton was furious.
"Coach got all the other coaches together, and they tried to some of the runners," Greenwood said. "That didn't work."
That evening Easton told his wife the story
The standard uniform in 1951 was a dark-blue jersey with red trim and white shorts. The dark colors made it difficult to distinguish KU's uniforms from those of other teams.
"Bill vowed he would 'tell that happen to one of his boys again,' Alda Etton said.
Later that spring, the track team traveled to California and was put into contact with Gilbritt Sports Goods, the owner of which was an avid Jayhawk fan. When he was told the reason for Kansas' poor finish in the 60-yard high hurdles, he showed coach Easton some fluorescent pink material he had.
Easton decided that the fluorescent color was what the uniforms needed and integrated the pink into the uniform, if only sparingly at first.
"Originally we just had a pink stripe under the arm," Wes Santee, a member of the 1931 team, said. "When you're running, that part of the jersey is highly visible from the side."
Santee said the team later added the pink shorts and pink lettering on the jersey. Today the uniforms still retain the pink stripe under the arm and the pink sleeve under the bright blue jersey. The shorts also are still pink
Santee said the team wasn't sure if it liked the colors when they were first introduced, but that once the benefits they brought were realized, they became as true as the crimson and the blue.
"I think it was a very successful change." Santee said
In 1952 Jack Greenwood returned to the Big Seven Indoor Conference finals. Once again Greenwood finished first. This time everyone else knew, too.
Chief's Cowher hired as new head coach of Steelers
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH — The Steelers yesterday hired Bill Cowher as their coach, making the 34-year-old the NFL's second-youngest head coach.
Cowher, the Kansas City Chiefs' defensive coordinator for three years, is a Pittsburgh native who became an assistant coach with the Cleveland Browns at age 28. The NFL's only younger head coach is Cincinnati's David Shula, the 32-year-old son of Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula.
Cowher accepted the job as Chuck Noll's successor during a meeting Sunday with team president Dan Rooney, Rooney's son, Art II, and director of football operations Tom Donahoe. Cowher then returned to his Kansas City home and did not take phone calls from the media prior to yesterday's announcement.
By contrast, the phone in his father's home in the Crafton section of Pittsburgh rang frequently as former teammates, Pop Warner coaches and family friends called to offer congratulations.
"I've gotten more phone calls today than we did in the whole year of 1991," said Laird "Bill" Cowher, the coach's father. "As soon as you put the phone down, it rings again. It's just a dream come true."
"When (Noll retired) I knew they might talk to Bill, but I wouldn't let myself dare to think he'd become the coach. To say the least, it will cut our travel bill. I won't have to travel 1,400 miles to watch my son coach anymore."
Cowher has been described as hard-working, organized and well-liked by his players, and he certainly meets all of Dan Rooney's criteria for the job.
"He has to be a person who appreciates the Steelers and Pittsburgh," Rooney said. "He has to have the values of the community."
Last week Bill Walsh accepted an offer to become the football coach at Stanford University, making the airwaves safe for objectivity and good journalism.
Walsh's move makes airwaves safe for real journalists
In 10 years as the coach of the San Francisco 49ers, Walsh earned the respect of American football fans, guiding the 49ers to three Super Bowl victories. Unfortunately, in one short year as an NBC analyst, he wore out his welcome in American living rooms.
Rather than doing the analyst's job of simply explaining why plays did or did not work, Walsh found it necessary
to compare every team's offense with his innovative 49er attacks. Consequently, NBC Sundays deteriorated into a how-to video: Bill Walsh's The 49er Way to Play Championship Football.
Under Walsh's watchful eye, every quarterback was belittled by comparisons to San Francisco's Joe Montana, a former MVP and perennial Pro bowl selection. Even stranger were Walsh's further comparisons of quarterbacks to former-49er Steve DeBerg. Walsh showed his obvious bias toward his former club by using DeBerg as a standard of comparison.
David Mitchell
Sports columnist
Before coming to the desperate Kansas City Chiefs, DeBerg spent the bulk of his career backing up rookie quarterbacks.
Though he may be the worst, Walsh is not the first offender. Rather than
niring aspiring journalists, the major networks continue to hire ex-jocks and ex-coaches that know nothing about broadcast journalism, neutrality or good taste. While some ex-coaches and players like John Madden and Pat Summerall are entertaining, they are overshadowed by the likes of Dick Vermeil, Hank Stram and Joe Namath. These sportscasters had already set bad precedents before Walsh scored his big-time contract with NBC. The network's message seems to be that there is no room for journalists in sports broadcasting.
After the Denver Broncos knocked
off the Houston Oilers in the AFC Playoffs, former Buffalo Bill O. J. Simpson asked Bronco quarterback John Elway how Denver would match up with the Bills in the conference championship. This was the day before the Bills eliminated the Chiefs.
Walsh himself made the mistake of admitting on the air that he did not do a thorough job of research before games. Thanks for the news flash. Bill. This shocking revelation was not much of a surprise to viewers who had heard Walsh refer to Buffalo running back Thurman Thomas as a former Oklahoma State Aggie, a nickname
the school hasn't officially used since it joined the Big Eight in 1968.
I hope Walsh can redeem himself at the helm of the Cardinals. But Walsh's return to the sidelines may be only a brief vacation for viewers. He will probably be replaced by yet another out-of-work coach.
Perhaps students like me hoping to break into sports journalism have been taking the wrong approach, and my last four years at Kansas have been wasted. I wonder if Coach Mason needs another student assistant?
David Mitchell is a DeSoto senior majoring in journalism.