TAILGATING: Alcohol might be allowed SEE PAGE 2B FOR MORE. HEISMAN: Schools invest in player promotion.SEE PAGE 17B FOR MORE
TALK TO US: Contact Jay Krall or Sarah Warren at (785) 864-4858 or sports@kansan.com
SPORTS
1B
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
MONDAY, AUGUST 20, 2001
UNDER PRESSURE, KANSAS FOOTBALL KICKS OFF SEASON WITH CHANGES
Freshman kicks his way to the top
By Brent Briggeman
Kansan sportswriter
You'd think a true freshman would be excited to see his name atop the Kansas football depth chart.
Not place kicker Johnny Beck.
"I was happy about it," said Beck, a standout at Piper High School in Kansas City, Kan. "But I didn't call home or anything. I know they wouldn't have given me a scholarship if they didn't think I could do it."
That's confidence. And that's what Kansas needs at the kicker position.
"Every coach wants to have the confidence that they can put up three points when they're in position," Kansas coach Terry Allen said. "Every coach would like that, but it's not a luxury most have."
For the past four years, the Jayhawks have depended on the inconsistent right foot of Joe Garcia. With Garcia's ups and downs, Kansas has not had a dependable kicker.
Enter Beck, who believes he can give Kansas the consistency it has lacked.
LAURIE SISK/KANSAN
"I think we can be a good team," Beck said. "I want to be a part of that. If there's a field goal that can make the difference between a winning season or send us to a bowl game, I want to be out there kicking it."
That confidence comes from a career as the most prolific high school kicker in state history.
His 28 career field goals are a Kansas state high school record, and his 10 of 12 on kicks from outside 50 yards placed him among the most recruited kickers in the Midwest last year.
The success carried over onto the practice field, where Beck has edged sophomore Phil Case to take the top spot among the team's place kickers.
Even after Beck missed his first three attempts in the season's first scrimmage Saturday, Allen was convinced he had found his kicker.
"He hit them clean and he hit them hard," Allen said after the scrimmage, where Beck missed three inside 40 yards before connecting on a 47-yard attempt. "That's all we ask for from a consistency standpoint.
"He's a level-headed kid with a great leg," Allen said. "But we also know that Phil Case can do a good job, so we have what we want back there."
As for Beck, he believes it's time for action.
With Beck's confidence and strong right foot, the Kansas football team believes its kicking game is in good hands.
"The pressure will come from myself and my own expectations," said the freshman, who can put it through the uprights from 65 yards away. "I know the coaches have confidence in me, so I've just got to go out and do it."
Sophomore redshirt Phillip Case works on field goals as freshman place kicker Johnny Beck looks on. Case and Beck are competing for the starting position in the 'Hawk's lineup.
Briggeman can be reached at 864-4858 or sports@kansan.com
Face to face, players seek answers
Interviews, squad switches bring newfound intensity to the team's practices
By Brent Briggeman Kansan sportswriter
Kansas football senior co-captain Nate Dwyer has given more interviews than he could count in his career as a Kansas football player, but recently he took his turn as an interviewer.
Dwyer — a defensive lineman voted the Jayhawks' most valuable player following last season — sat in the hot seat opposite freshman running back Marshall Chiles.
"It was cool, we interviewed each other and got to know each other," Dwyer said. "Everybody on the defense interviewed somebody on the offense. It gave us a chance to talk to someone you normally wouldn't."
The interviews, part of a series of team unity exercises, were among the many changes to the Kansas football team this season.
After 18 wins in four seasons with Terry Allen—Kansas hasn't won more than five games in a season during his
tenure — something had to give
The first sweeping changes came in the coaching staff. Allen's staff will feature seven new faces this season, including defensive coordinator Tom Hayes and co-offensive coordinator Rip Scherer, who will run the offense with Allen.
The coaches have already helped to change one thing — the pace of practice.
"We've all been working harder." Dwyer said. "The defense has to keep up with the offense and they've been working hard. These new coaches have been around and they know what they're doing, so we've got respect for them."
Last year the coaching staff decided to increase the tempo halfway through the season. With a newfound intensity, Kansas beat Missouri on their homecoming at Faurot Field and upset Colorado at home the following week.
The coaches don't plan on waiting this year.
"We turned up the intensity on the first day of spring practice," said Allen, who credited the new staff with bringing a new mindset.
The true coaching of the game isn't
"The true coaching of the game isn't that different, but they bring a new attitude and enthusiasm..."
Terry Allen
Kansas football coach
that different," Allen said, "but they bring a new attitude and enthusiasm that can be just as important as anything else."
In addition to intensity, the team is working to build its overall unity. That's where the soul-searching interviews come in.
"It's those little things that are making the difference both on and off the field," said Dwyer, who said this year's team was already as unified as any he's been a part of at Kansas. "If we're going to be successful we need to play as a team as opposed to a bunch of individuals. We need to find a way to be a cohesive unit."
SEE MORALE ON PAGE 6B
Senior thrower shines in competition
KANSAS TRACK ATHLETE BREAKS CANADIAN NATIONAL RECORD
By Matt Norton Kansan staff writer
Senior All-American javelin thrower Scott Russell upped his own Canadian national record in the preliminaries of the World Track and Field Championships on Aug. 12, just missing what would have been a berth in the final.
Russell's throw of 81.66 meters — or 267 feet, 11 inches — placed him thirteenth in the preliminary field of 27. Twelve made the final, with the twelfthplace throw just 5 inches ahead of Russell's.
Going in with the idea of setting a new personal and national best, Russell
Russell first broke the Canadian record, as well as Kansas record, at the Canadian championships in June when he won with a throw of 80.17 meters, just over 263 feet.
"Honestly, going in with the mark I had, there was no pressure other than the pressure I put on myself," Russell said.
said he felt little pressure performing on one of track and field's biggest and brightest stages.
Russell then rested the three-and-a half weeks between the Canadian and world championships, not competing once during that span.
Russell's mark coming into the meet was the lowest personal best of anyone in the field, and just the thirdshortest 2001 effort in the field. After throws of 262-5 and 262-7 in the first
"I felt as good as I have in four years at KU." Russell said.
Russell:
Broke records with 263-foot javelin launch.
Russell will compete next at the World University Games in Beijing. The preliminaries begin there Aug. 30. He said he expected to be in the running for a medal.
two rounds, Russell launched the record throw in the third and final preliminary round. However, Latvia's Lusis
Voldemars' throw of 268-6 vaulted him into 10th place and prevented Russell from making the final.
"The whole Worlds experience was amazing," Russell said. "It's such an advantage going into Beijing and next year."
Norton can be reached at 864-4858 or sports@kansan.com
Chris Wristen Sports columnist
No, the circus didn't quietly roll into town late last night. You didn't just miss seeing the Big Tact. Actually, you're just in time. The show is about to begin.
Bohl starts to pull off magic trick at Kansas
Come one, come all, step right up to Amazing Al's Magic Show.
Watch closely as Al Bohl, the new Kansas athletics director, who is nationally renown for making thousands of rabid fans appear inside cavernous football stadiums, waves his arms in the air, wiggles his fingers and — poof — good things happen.
happen.
Case in point: when Bohl arrived at Fresno State the athletics department was in shambles. He waved his arms, clicked his heels, and five years later the school had witnessed back-to-back football bowl games and a softball national championship.
Now the magic show has come to Kansas and Bohl already seems to be in prime form. He pulls a rabbit out of a hat, waves his hands, and then he makes a quarter disappear, only to have it reappear behind a freshman's ear. Geez, this guy is good!
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"What should I do next?" Bohl asks confidently.
communally "Give us beer in Memorial Stadium!" screams a throng of students.
And about coach Terry Allen's speeding ticket garnered while driving his daughter to school last week; just talk to Bohl and I'm sure he can make that disappear with a simple phone call.
"Alright then," Bohl says. He waves his arms, mumbles some witchy words and calls upon the spirits of Stifler and John Belushi. BAM, the sky parts and frothy barley-based beverages pour from the sky. Presto, beer is allowed at KU football games. This Bohl guy is amazing!
The truth is this: Bohl is rebuilding an entire university athletics department. A few of the magic cards are already in place.
You want the Backstreet Boys singing the national anthem at games? Sorry, but Bohl likes real music. He'll find a better band.
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It's not quite that easy, but Bohl said he's confident he could sway Chancellor Robert Hemenway to overturn the University policy forbidding alcohol on most campus locations. Just how confident is he?
He's willing to try anything. You want to get some friends together to form a student tunnel to usher the football team onto the field before games? Al Bohl can do that.
You want moonwalks on Campanile hill and plastic noodles in the student section? He can do that too.
He has a new football staff full of winners. He has a young volleyball team with a great coach, a soccer team that is about to have its breakthrough season, a softball team that surprised the Big 12 Conference last year and men's basketball is still taking care of business.
"I believe I'm going to be successful in that. That's something I know that I must get done," Bohl said at football media day, as part of his drive to at least allow booze in the stadium parking lot for pregame tailgating.
If successful — and Bohl believes he can get it done by the Sept. 1 season opener against Southwest Missouri State—his next trick will be putting fans in the stadium.
Bohl has a lot of tricks up his sleeve and all of them involve winning. The man is a winner.
He won't lose at Kansas
Wristen is a Leawood senior in journalism
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