Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
A look at spring football in Oklahoma, where the Cowboys are beefing up their defense and the Sooners are weighing the option.
Wednesday April 22,1998 Section:
SEE PAGE 5B
NHL Playoffs
Watch out for upsets in the first round of the NHL Playoffs, which begin today.
SEE PAGE 7B
NCAA Lawsuit
B
Testimony continued yesterday in the lawsuit against the NCAA concerning restricted-earnings coaches.
Page 1
SEE PAGE 10B
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Texas stomps 'Hawk hopes of postseason competition
By John Blakely Wilson
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas baseball team spiraled out of postseason contention by losing both games of a doubleheader, 7-1 and 5-2, last night against the Texas Longhorns (19-25) at Disch-Falk Field in Austin, Texas.
The Jayhawks (18-24) had to win eight of their last nine conference games to finish with an even Big 12 Conference record and to give themselves a chance to qualify for the conference tournament. The top six teams in the 'Big 12 qualify, and Kansas is currently 5-15 in conference play.
Yesterday's games were another bitter blow to the team's fading confidence.
In the first game, Texas pitcher Scott Dunn pitched a complete game and struck out a career-high 11 batters. Pitcher Brian Schriner picked up the loss for Kansas. Schriner pitched six innings and allowing four earned runs.
Sparky Wilhelm was the lone bright spot for the Jayhawks with two hits and a run batted in.
The second game was no better for the Javahaws.
Before the home run, Corson had pitched four scoreless innings. Starting pitcher Dan Auckland also was effective, allowing two runs in five and two-thirds innings.
"I thought we were going to win it," said coach Bobby Randall. "Anduck and Mark Corson pitched great today, and we had our chances to win. The second game, we played baseball the way Jayhawk baseball is supposed to be played."
Randall said the team needed to regroup and to prepare for the final game of the series at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow.
Kansas assistant women's basketball coach Tim Eatman talks to coach Marian Washington. Eatman has enjoyed success as a recruiter for the Jayhawks since he joined the staff in 1996. Photo courtesy of the Kansas Athletics Department
Kansas had nine hits but scored just two runs. Designated hitter John Nelson had three hits and a run batted in. First baseman Randy Case and center fielder Clint Wryrick each had two hits.
"Tomorrow is the next game," Randall said. "That's always the most important game—the next game."
TEXAS 5, KANSAS 2
TEXAS 5, KANSAS 2
R H E
KANSAS 0 01 0 00 0 100 2 9 0
TEXAS 0 01 0 01 0 003 5 7 0
TEXAS 7, KANSAS 1
R H E
KANSAS 0 00 0 10 000 1 4 2
TEXAS 1 30 0 02 10 710 1
A recruiter of many talents
Eatman's success goes with strong work ethic
By Kevin C. Wilson Kanson sportswriter
Kansan sportswriter
Tim Eatman's job is never done.
If he's not flying to visit a recruit, he's scouring a pile of videotapes, calling a recruit's school counselor, compiling a list of the best sophomore basketball players in Alabama or doing any number of things that go along with being a coach, a recruiter, a husband and a father.
"You're always busy when you’re recruiting," said Eatman, a Kansas assistant women's basketball coach and the team's recruiting coordinator. "You have to have a handle on all aspects of a recruit's life. It takes a lot of time and effort and a lot of sleepless nights."
Head coach Marrian Washington said that Eatman possessed a unique ability to relate to young people. That, combined with his exceptional work ethic, makes him one of the best recruiters in the business, Washington said.
"You have to outwork people in order to be successful in recruiting, and coach Eatman works extremely hard," Washington said. "He's taken a lot of responsibility off my shoulders and been a tremendous help."
He also has been a tremendous success.
Eatman joined Washington's staff in 1996 and since has helped the Jayhawks secure two consecutive top-10 recruiting classes, including the No. 8 class for next season.
The class includes Selena Scott and Dalton Brown, who are considered to be among the top high school seniors in Texas and Virginia, respectively. However, the Jayhawks' recruiting class is not yet complete. Eatman said.
"We are still looking to sign two more
at Talledega College in Talledega, Ala. In his first year, he led a team that was 0-26 the previous year to a 16-13 record.
In addition to his coaching duties, Eatman was responsible for recruiting while at Houston and at Iowa. In 1994, he helped sign the No.1 recruiting class in the country for the Hawkeyes and was hailed "The New King of Recruiting" by Basketball Times.
He then went to assistant coaching jobs at Mississippi State, the University of Houston and the University of Iowa.
Eatman attributes his success with recruiting to his parents' teachings.
"I was raised on a farm, and my mom and dad taught me that the harder you work, the more success you will have," Eatman said. "My mom always told me the truth and taught me that your word is your bond."
Eatman said that he used this belief to recruit a player the way he would hope to be recruited.
"Would you like a letter every day? Would you like a recruiter to watch your games? Would you like honesty, fairness and truthfulness?" Eatman asked. "The answer is yes."
Although Eatman is the lead recruiter on Washington's staff, she said that getting a student-athlete to commit to Kansas was a team effort.
Washington credited assistant coaches Maggie MaHD and Misty Opat, along with her players, with helping acquire new talent each year.
"We divide the country up into sections, and each coach gets an area," Washington said. "Once we get them interested, we try and get them to the campus and have our players finish the job."
Eatman describes the process as a relay race, with the first and second legs being his responsibility.
"My job is simple," Eatman said. "I just have to find the players and get them to take a campus visit. The third leg is the players, and they talk to the recruits and tell them about the program. The anchor is Washington. She's an Olympic coach, a grandmother and has 25 years of experience. I just put things in place."
Eatman's relationship with Washing-
on did not begin when he decided to accept the job at Kansas, but rather when he was just a teenager.
"I heard her speak when I was 19
I heard her speak when I was 19 years old and her presentation was just great," Eatman said. "I went up to her and told her that I wanted to work for her. She told me to come and help at her summer camp and we'd go from there." Eatman took Washington up on her offer, and he still has a picture hanging on his wall of the team that he coached at the
camp.
When the opportunity arose for Eatman to join the Javhawks' staff, he jumped at it.
Eatman uses his love for the University of Kansas to sell the program to prospective athletes.
"I came to Kansas because of Coach Washington," Eatman said. "And when I got here I fell in love with the campus, the people and the city."
"We have great academics, a beautiful campus and a great athletic tradition," Eatman said. "If we get them on the campus and they see what we have to offer, we're almost always able to sign them."
Although Eatman, who has ambitions of ascending to a head coaching position, has experienced tremendous success in recruiting, he said that recruiting was not the only thing he could do.
"I'm not just a recruiter, but I am a great coach and teacher as well." Eatman said.
"When you are labeled a recruiter, people forget that you can do X's and Q's, too."
One thing that Eatman never forgets about is his religion.
A daily devotional handbook sits in his office, and despite all of the responsibilities and distractions that surround him, God remains the focus, Eatman said.
"He is the head of my life," Eatman said.
"I try to put Him固定 in everything I do."
Fly optimism first everything you do.
In addition to coaching, recruiting and serving God, Eatman also finds time for his family.
He and his wife Crystal have a two-year old son, Tyler, and Eatman relates the experience of seeing his son grow with the experience of watching his recruits develop.
"My job is so rewarding," Eatman said. "It's like raising a child. When my boy said his first words, it was just awesome. It's that same type of journey that makes it so much fun."
Jayhawks shut out SMSU in softball doubleheader
Kansas
sophomore
Shannon
Stanwix
watching as
the ball she hit
goes foul dur-
ing the first
game of a
doublehead-
er against
Southwest
Missouri
State. Kansas
won the game
4-0. Photo by
Roger
Nomer/KAN
SAN
Catcher Kristina Johnson tied Sara Holland on the career home-run list, hitting her 14th career homer in the fourth inning of the first game.
The Jayhawks swept the Bears in a doubleheader, 4-0 and 1-0, and improved their record to 26-31.
By Laura Bokenkroger
Kansan sportswriter
The wind was blowing at Jayhawk Field yesterday as the Kansas softball team hit three home runs against Southwest Missouri State.
Right fielder Jennifer Funkhouk hit two home runs — one against each Southwest Missouri pitcher — and recorded the Jayhawks' only run in the second game.
"I was a little more disciplined than I have been in that I was being more patient," Funkhouser said.
In the first game, Funkhouser went 2-for-2 and put the Jayhawks in the lead 1-0 with a home run over the left-field fence in the third inning.
"I was a little nervous against the first pitcher because of the rise," Funkhouser said. "I was surprised when she came in on me because I was looking for an outside pitch."
Johnson hit a homer to almost the same spot in the fourth inning, bringing the lead to 2-0.
The Jayhawks continued the hitting spree in the fifth inning when second baseman Lezli Leathers and Funkhouker both picked up base hits. Third baseman Sarah McCann doubled to left field, bringing home two runs and increasing the lead to 4-0.
Pitcher Jessi Kowal gave up only three hits in the shutout and improved her record to 12-17 with the 4-0 win.
The Jayhawks' offense had a little more trouble against Nora Cagin, the Bears' second pitcher.
Throwing slower than most pitchers the Jayhawks have faced this season, Cagwin held the Jayhawks to only four hits in the 1-0 Kansas victory.
With two outs in the scoreless fifth inning, Funkhouser hit her second home run of the day, sending the ball over the fence in left center field.
"I was a little frustrated because she kept giving me off-speed pitches," Funkhouser said. "But I think she gave me something a little faster in the one I hit."
Funkhouser's second homer of the day proved to be all the Jayhawks needed, as Christy McPhail pitched a shutout to even her record at 14-14.
The Jayhawks have only two doubleheaders left before the Big 12 Tournament, including one against Missouri on Saturday at noon and 2 p.m. at Jayhawk Field.
Coach Tracy Bunge said two wins against Missouri could help the Jayhawks move up from the eighth seed to the sixth seed in the Big 12 Tournament.
Only the top six seeds are guaranteed to play two games in the tournament. The rest have a "playin" and the loser goes home the first day.
"These wins today were very important to the team mentally." Bunge said. "The games against Missouri are huge for the Big 12 Tournament. We need to prepare for their pitching and just stay sharp and be ready to go."
Three of Bunge's players threaten to tie or pass the record for career home runs she set during her playing days. Bunge holds the school record with 15 homers, just one more than Holland and Johnson and two more than shortstop Michelle Hubler.
"I'd be tickled pink when one of them ties it or breaks it," Bunge said. "I remember when I broke the record. The girl who I passed was there, and she ran over behind the fence to get the ball and gave it to me after the game."