WEDNESDAY,OCTOBER 23,2002
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 3B
Cyclones' Price sheds pounds to play better ball
The Associated Press
AMES, Iowa—Iowa State's Jake Sullivan took one for the team—he gave up potato chips.
It was a slimmer Sullivan who stood among reporters at the basketball team's media on Tuesday. The 6-foot-1 junior dropped 20 pounds over the summer in hopes of getting quicker, making himself a more versatile player and, above all, helping the Cyclones win more games.
"I want to get this program back to the top." Sullivan said. "Part of it was losing 20 pounds so I can guard guys like Hollis Price."
Price, the All-America guard at Oklahoma, was Sullivan's inspiration. Sullivan, who played at 210 last season, was gassed after trying to guard Price in an 89-75 loss at Oklahoma in late February.
"He ran me all over the floor. I couldn't breathe the whole game. I couldn't guard him," Sullivan said. "After that night I got on the bus and just said I'm going to do something when the off-season
So Sullivan put himself on a healthier diet. He ate fat-free frozen yogurt instead of ice cream, he ran more and, the hardest thing of all, gave up potato chips.
"I could sit down and just eat chips and chips forever," he said with a smile. "I had to give up all that kind of stuff. But I just kept in focus where I could get this team and it was a little bit easier to do."
comes because I don't want to get my butt kicked like that again_by a great player, but at the same point. I want to get to the level he's at."
After winning two straight Big 12 championships, Iowa State slipped to 12-19 last season and finished next to last in the league at 4-12. Sullivan is the top returning scorer from that team, which suffered a string of narrow losses in the final minute.
Leading scorer Tyray Person is gone and ironman Shane Power, who averaged almost 38 minutes a game, has transferred to Mississippi State.
But the Cyclones should get help from a strong recruiting class
that has 6-5 freshman Adam Haluska of Carroll and three junior college transfers: 6-10 Jackson Vroman, 7-1 Chris Alexander and 6-foot Tim Barnes.
Barnes could be the most valuable addition because he's a mature point guard who's quick and has good range as a shooter.
"Tim can get down the court and really pick up and create havoc and bother people," coach Larry Fustachy said. "He's probably quicker than most guards in our league."
Eustachy said Alexander is behind the other newcomers because of some personal problems, but Vroman, a tenacious rebounder, should help immediately.
"I love Jackson. He's just relentless," Eustachy said. "He rebounds out of his area like few people. He's really competitive and feisty. He's got a terrific mental makeup."
Haluska, who won eight state championships in track, will help with his athletic ability and shooting.
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Asked if he might extend his three-year contract with Kansas City, coach Dick Vermeil's answer is quick and to the point.
Vermeil not living legacy
"No."
It's not surprising that Vermeil, 66, would not be interested in going beyond 2003. If the Chiefs can't find a cure for a terrible defense in the next 12 months, a wonderful coaching legacy could be in trouble of falling with a thud.
Hailed as one of the coaching fraternity's most respected elder statesmen,the likable wine connoisseur and his wife of more than 40 years retired to a beautiful home in the Pennsylvania woodlands.
Until he got here, Vermeil's career was an unbroken string of success. His UCLA team beat top-ranked Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, then he coached Philadelphia to the Super Bowl and took St. Louis to the Super Bowl championship.
But 21 months ago he let his old friend, Chiefs president Carl Peterson, talk him out of retirement. His three-year, $10 mil lion contract provided finance security.
But it is coming at a steep price.
He finds himself with perhaps one of the finest offenses and definitely the worst defense in the league,with a 3-4 record and a two-game skid after losing double-digit leads two weeks in a row in the fourth quarter.
After a 37-34 overtime loss to Denver Sunday, he is in no mood to think about coaching one day more than he has to.
"I tell you this, when I walked in my office Sunday after that game, saw my wife, and saw my coaching staff's wives _ it ain't worth it," Vermeil said Tuesday. "You're not the only one who suffers. You're not the only one who dies."
"I lost most of the money I made with the Rams. It cost me money to go to the Super Bowl," he said. "I gave my bonus money to my coaching staff."
Money, he acknowledged was an important factor in his decision to come out of retirement.
When he was with the Eagles
in the 1970, coaches were not making the enormous sums many make today. Looking back, he realizes that selling his services so inexpensively was wrong.
"I never coached football in my life because it was a way to make a living. It was my life. It's what I had to do," he said.
"It was my passion. But I wouldn't do it without being paid appropriately because I did that for seven years in Philadelphia. I ended up with nothing when I got all finished, other than a Super Bowl ring.
"I don't think that's fair. I don'tthink it should be that way, and it's not that way anymore. It wasn't that way in the Rams and it's not that way here."
Without question, the Chiefs' offense is playing well enough to get Vermeil a third Super Bowl ring. But the defense is ranked dead last among the 32 teams and has been all season.
There seems little hope for any quick improvement, even perhaps next year, Vermeil's final season in a lifetime of coaching.
'Cats unable to connect and convert despite confidence
By Sean Purcell
Kansas State Collegian via U-wire
Kansas State University
MANHATTAN— Kansas State wide receiver James Terry dropped a catchable pass in the first quarter of Saturday's 17-14 loss to Texas. Quarterback Ell Roberson placed the ball over Terry's rightshoulder, but the junior couldn't come up with the reception.
The completion would have given K-State a first down. Instead, the Wildcats were forced to punt.
At that moment, Terry gave himself a little pep talk.
terry tearing it up "You got to give yourself that pep talk because you might just be flat the
Eventually, Terry became a crucial part in the K-State drive that set up the potential game-tying field goal.
whole game," he said. "My teammates helped me out with that, and I just let it go -- just went back there and make some plays."
in two of those for catches.
Roberson threw Terry's direction four times on the final drive - and the 6-foot-5 receiver hauled
Both receptions were back to back, and took the Cats from their own 47-yard line to the Texas 18.
At that point, Terry said the offense really felt it was going to punch it in for six and upend the Longhorns.
"We were very confident," he said. "When you have a drive like
But it didn't.
that at the end, constantly getting first down after first down, you just feel that it's coming to come."
Roberson tried to find Terry one last time inside the 5-yard line, but Terry was covered, and couldn't hold on to the football.
Terry said the coverage on that play showed the Texas defenders' ability to stay with receivers at
crucial times. He said their speed on defense meant he had to be on his game just to get open.
"To get away, you have to basically run good routes," he said. "You can't run right by them, you have to run good routes to get open."
With 15 catches already this year, Terry is on pace of equaling his total of 32 at Butler County.
As an engineer in the U.S. Air Force, there 's no telling what you'll work on. (Seriously, we can't tell you.)
United States Air Force applied technology is years ahead of what you'll touch in the private sector, and as a new engineer you'll likely be involved at the ground level of new and sometimes classified developments. You'll begin leading and managing within this highly respected group from day one. Find out what's waiting behind the scenes for you in the Air Force today. To request more information, call 1-800-423-USAF or log on to airforce.com.