Section B·Page 4
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday. April 23. 1998
Happy Birthday Johnny's
Calif. transfer to visit Kansas
By Tommy Gallagher
tgallagher@kansasan.com
Kansas sportwriter
Player could snag last scholarship
The Kansas men's basketball team is not done recruiting prospects during the late signing period.
Ashante Johnson, a 6-foot-9 swingman from Canada (Calif.) Junior College, recently told recruiting analyst Mike Sullivan that he would visit Kansas this weekend.
Johnson, who averaged 23 points and 14 rebounds last season, has visited Florida State, Xavier and Pepperdine. He talked with Kansas coach Roy Williams two weeks ago about a possible transfer.
me during our spring break. I had a nice time speaking with him."
"It's a matter of if I can come in and get some playing time," Johnson told Sullivan. "Getting my degree is important, too. Coach Williams came here and talked to
Johnson already has seen and played in Allen Field House. He played a high school all-star game in the field house after his senior season at Scripps Ranch High School in San Diego.
"I didn't see much of the campus, but I was in the field house," Johnson said.
Johnson said he would evaluate the schools after this visit and make a deci-
sion by May 15, the last day of the signing period.
He said each school had distinct advantages.
"Pepperdine is an hour from where I am." Johnson said. "Also, I have relatives in Ohio. It will be hard for me to choose which will be best for me."
Johnson signed with Utah coming out of high school in 1995. He was a redshirt freshman, then
played behind former All-American Keith Van Horn the next season.
Frustrated because he wanted more playing time, Johnson transferred to Canada as a sophomore. He still has two years of eligibility.
His coach, Michael Legarz, tailed the Cincinnati Enquirer that Johnson was more of an offensive threat than he was a defensive stopper.
Canada was 28-4 last season and made the final four of the California junior college tournament, in which 160 teams participate. Johnson also was a first-team all-state selection.
"Ashante can shoot threes," Legarza said. "He can bounce the ball like a guard. Ashante's a lot more versatile and more of an offensive threat."
Kansas has signed four players this season, all guards. Johnson probably would play small forward, where the Jayhawks have only Nick Bradford.
The Jayhawks have one scholarship remaining, which was used by former walk-on Terry Nooner last season.
New coach fills legendary shoes
The Associated Press
LINCOLN, Neb. — Frank Solich waited 19 years to take over a college football team. He figured he could sit six more weeks to take over the coach's office at Nebraska.
Besides, nobody associated with
— least of all the new coach — was going to tell Tom Osborne to clean out his desk.
"I wanted Coach Osborne to use
Sound familiar
Now, it is Solich who occupies that big desk — with plenty to do, such as overseeing spring drills for a program that has won at least a share of the national title three of the last four seasons.
that office as long as he wanted. I wanted him to feel comfortable about coming up and getting his work done," Solich said. "I knew he was going to have tons of correspondence and other things to do."
Solich, who spent 19 years as an offensive assistant until Osborne retired after the Orange Bowl, will not make many big changes.
"We're going to run the ball, mix in some play-action passes and try to make sure we're a physical football team," Solich said.
They do not take wild chances at Nebraska, and Solich, who favors business suits, is a perfect conservative fit.
"You don't want to take the apple cart and just turn it upside down because this program has been successful the way we've been operating," he said, borrowing a popular Osborne mantra.
If anything, Solich is Osborne with a wider smile and — the new coach stands 5-foot-8 — about nine fewer vertical inches.
"Everybody misses Coach Osborne. We'd like to have him here, but then again I guess we'll move on," said Bobby Newcombe, sophomore quarterback. "We know Coach Solich is going to do a great job for us."
Osborne nominated Solich as his successor when he told university officials privately last August that he was ready to leave after 25 seasons. Continuity was key, and Solich bleeds Big Red.
As a 17-year-old in the fall of 1962, Solich threw his laundry into a car and left Cleveland for the plains of Nebraska, sight unseen. By 1965, he was an All-Big eight performer and a senior co-captain for Coach Bob Devaney.
"Back then, we used the fullback differently than it's used today." Solich said with a grin. "We had halfbacks who were 200-some pounds. The right halfback may be would lead through and block the linebacker, and the fullback would get the ball."
Sollicen shout 13 years as a coach at two Nebraska high schools, then rejoined the Cornhuskers in 1979 as freshman coach.
One difference in his new assignment became evident to Solich at the first spring practice. Standing on the playing surface at Memorial Stadium, he realized nobody had brought out a whistle.
He made his mark as running backs coach from 1983-97, recruiting and developing players like Jarvis Redwine, Andra Franklin, Roger Craig, Mike Rozier, Tom Rathman, Derek Brown, Calvin Jones, Lawrence Phillips and Ahman Green.
"Around here, that's the head coach's job." Sollic admitted.
Aside from an overlooked whistle, players, assistant coaches and support personnel said they had noticed little difference between the Osborne years and this spring practice.
"Coach Osborne and Coach Solich both walk around and study things," said Steve Warren, junior nose tackle. "If something's wrong, Coach Solich will tell you, just like Coach Osborne always did, but he doesn't scream or do anything different like that."
It is hard to imagine the unflappable Osborne screaming at his players. Typically, he would describe in measured tones how it takes an obstacle to accurately measure success. Solich knows the song.
"There's only one way to respond to a challenge, and that's to attack it," Solich said. "This is certainly going to be a challenge for me to run this program. The only thing I can do is attack it, go full speed ahead and look forward to it."
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