Coaches' Corner
McCullers breaks down Kansas season
Coach Charlie McCullers
Charlie McCullers, KU's offensive backfield coach, propped himself up in a chair in his Allen Field House office, lit up a cigarette, and offered a few candid statements about KU's football squad yesterday.
McCullers, who was a star half-back at the University of Tampa during his college days, summed up the KU players and coaches sentiments about the remaining season when he stated, "We haven't quit and you can bet that we'll have something to say about the final outcome of the Big Eight race. We'll improve in the future games if everybody puts out a good effort. What we need more than anything is a good win—a win that will build up the squad's confidence in themselves."
McCullers then turned his attention towards his specialty—the offense and in particular, Phil Basler. Basler, who was forced into play during the final seconds of the Nebraska game due to an injury to starting quarterback Jim Ettinger, and who directed last week's attack against Iowa State, drew praise from his tutor for his play against the Cyclones.
"We didn't expect to see a lot of action out of Phil this year," McCullers said. "We are basically a one quarterback team. The things we teach offensively require a lot of experience on the part of the quarterback. Phil hadn't had this experience but his performance against Iowa State was a pleasant surprise for us."
McCullers continued, "Except for two mistakes on interceptions he played very well. Phil was under a lot of pressure in his first start and playing away from home at Lincoln, a place where it is very hard to win, didn't ease any of the stress."
Oct. 31 1969 KANSAN 9
McCullers, continuing his praise for Basler said, "Phil has worked hard this year at his passing and has taken giant strides molding himself into a starting quarterback." A quick smile spread across McCullers' face as he said, "At the start of spring drills last year Phil even had trouble throwing a spiral."
Commenting on recent backfield changes, the backfield head said, "When we started shifting our backfield around it was mainly to try and open up the offense. We are still looking for
the big plays that we got last year. We moved Jessie to flanker against Nebraska because he is a great outside threat and because with John Riggins at tailback we thought we would have a more balanced attack. This also enabled us to run Riggins more."
Injuries have forced McCullers and the other coaches to make a few changes since the Nebraska game. McCullers said that the coaches will go with Basler at quarterback, Chuck Schmidt at fullback, Riggins at tailback and Willie Amison at wingback.
wide open offense and the big gainers which characterized last year's Orange Bowl squad.
Last week against Iowa State Amison, running inside reverses and scissor plays to perfection, picked up 87 yards on seven carries and provided KU with the
KU will have another newcomer in its starting backfield when the Jayhawks square off against Oklahoma State this Saturday. Chuck Schmidt, a sophomore from Hays, will start at fullback. Schmidt, expected to be red-shirted this season, has seen
action in each of the last two ball games.
McCullers explained Schmidt's current status by saying, "Injuries have kind of forced us to use Chuck at fullback. We were thinking about red-shirting him at the start of the year because of the talent and depth in our backfield. Chuck has improved (Continued on page 11)
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