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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2002
Levi Chronister lchronister@kansan.com
Freebies may foster more fans
Last weekend's football game between Kansas and Southwest Missouri State brought 40,500 fans to Memorial Stadium, according to athletics officials.
Actually, attendance was probably closer to 35,000, and although the game brought some of those fans, the free admission and possibility of winning a $1,000 scholarship through the KU First program brought the rest.
Using students who are just interested in the scholarships to try to fill the stadium isn't a bad idea. Those students still cheer and root for the Jayhawks, even if they're not as interested as those with their stomachs and faces painted. They still wear those blue "KU First" T-shirts, helping create a sea of blue in the stands.
The show of support, however contrived it may be, looks good to alumni and recruits. That makes it worth the cost of 25 scholarships. Considering KU's recent attendance figures and athletic director Al Bohl's desire to reach national prominence, it might be smart to offer scholarships at every game.
Think about it. More than 40,000 fans for each and every Kansas football game. Fans clad in blue outnumbering those in purple against Kansas State, and those in red when Nebraska comes to town, would look great to players, alumni and recruits.
it might take a while but that's not an unrealistic goal. The attendance at this year's game against Southwest Missouri State was 3,000 more than last year's game. Both were home openers and featured the scholarship hoopla, so this was an honest increase.
Three games last season had greater attendance than this year's home opener. Those games were against nationally known UCLA, conference and national power Oklahoma and nearby power house Nebraska. Kansas could expect even greater crowds for games against opponents of that stature, as well as other foes, if students had the chance to win $1,000 each game.
The biggest obstacle to giving away scholarships at each home game is the lack of a donor for the scholarships, of course. John Scarffe, director of communications for the Kansas University Endowment Association, said there was no donor and giving away scholarships every week would defeat the association's purposes of promoting and celebrating KU First and raising awareness that scholarship funding was needed at the University.
Sure, giving away more scholarships makes it a tough sell when you're asking for more money for scholarships, but weekly promotions like this would certainly increase awareness of KU First, not reduce it.
Giving 10 scholarships at each home game for the rest of the season would cost the endowment association $50,000,which shouldn't be too difficult for an organization with 37,000 donors annually.
Offering a smaller number of scholarships and charging regular admission would likely mean an increase of less than 3,000 people, but even 500 more fans per game would mean $25,000 more for the Kansas University Athletics Corporation.
More fannies in the seats, more money for KUAC and 50 students paying a little less for college. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?
Chronister is a Lawrence senior in journalism. He is the Kansan sports editor.
KU prediction settled in a virtual... FACE-OFF!
By Ryan Greene and Andy Samuelson rgreene@kansan.com and asamuelson@kansan.com Kansan Sportswriters
The Game
The Game
The Bowling Green State Falcons entered
the game with a 2-0 record after ripping the Missouri Tigers last week. Controlled by Andy Samuelson, the Falcons were ready to soar.
"The kid's got my nickname, so you know he's gonna have my game," Samuelson said boastfully of secondstring senior quarterback Andy Sahm, who obviously would see some action.
"All I know is that there is no stopping Reggie Duncan when I have the ball." Greene gloated, saying the running back which he benched late last week was ready to return. "He keeps screaming up this guy at quarterback, but I'm not covered of no sit-
The Jayhawks, controlled by Ryaniene, as always, were coming off of a 58-21 virtual victory over the SMS Bears last week and seemed confident of keeping the streak with the control sticks.
Bowling Green State-Falcons ting-the-bench 'Sahm Man.' or
whatever his name is." 1st Quarter
The Jayhawks won the coin toss and elected to kick. After one play from starting quarterback Josh Harris, the Ohio Online Gamer's Girgin mosh Urban Meyer of Har
After one play from starting quarterback Josh Harris, the Ohio Online Gan Guild informed Bowling Green coach Urban Meyer of Harris' part in an alleged conspiracy to throw the game. Enter: Sahm.
Enter. Sahm. "I haven't heard of a straight shooter like Sahm walking the Ohio campus since Allen Bohl was locking down logarithms in 1970." Samuelson said.
Sahm immediately flung the Falcons' fast-flying offense to the end zone, completing five of seven passes for 77 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown toss to tight end D'Monn Baker.
"Oh my God!" Samuelson screamed, stylizing the kid from the movie *The Rookie*.
BGSU7. KU0
On the ensuing kickoff, the Greene-controlled jayhawks needed just 13 seconds. Derek Vann returned the kick 96 yards for a touchdown.
"I was a little nervous because I hadn't used the XBox controllers before, but having Samuelson play sober leveled the playing field," Greene quipped.
SEE GAME ON PAGE 12A University of Kansas-Jayhawks
Kansas baseball adds coach
By Steve Schmidt
sschmidt@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The final member of Kansas' baseball coaching staff was added yesterday when Steve Abney was named pitching coach.
coach. "I'm thrilled to have him join our staff," coach Ritch Price said, "His experience is top notch. He's tough, demanding and extremely knowledgeable. I think he can make an impact."
Abney said not having to pack his bags
Before signing on with the Jayhawks, Abney served five years as the Midwest Scouting Coordinator for Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians while based in Lawrence.
played a big part in accepting the position. Abney, his wife Cheryl, and daughters Lauren, Brooke and Olivia have lived in Lawrence since 1997.
"The opportunity to get back into college baseball without having to move was very attractive," he said.
While with the Indians, Abney traveled the Midwest to scout the area's top talent.
Price was well aware of Abney's Midwestern connection.
"He knows every coach and program in the Midwest," Price said. "For me, I thought it was important to hire someone who knew the Midwest until I could learn about it myself."
Abney's resume includes numerous stints as a pitching coach and coach at
various universities and community colleges throughout the nation.
Price and Abney had known each other for quite some time before Price came to Kansas.
"It fell in my lap," Abney said. "I never thought I'd get back in."
came to Ramses.
Abney never pictured himself standing next to the bullpen of Hoglund Ballpark a year ago. Abney said his family was happy in Lawrence and didn't want to move, but he didn't expect to return to college baseball. Then a phone call came from Price.
Abney has been working hard getting ready for the season, and probably working his cell phone harder keeping in contact with possible recruits.
"I'm probably making a hundred
phone calls a day." Abney said. "It's crazy."
The Kansas pitching staff is content with Price's choice to hire Abney.
"I like him," junior Chris Smart said. "He's straight forward. He lets you know what he's thinking and I think that's what these players need."
Abney said he was impressed with the pitching staff at first glance, especially with the players' basic core mechanics.
Soccer team rolls with improvements
"I was pleasantly surprised," he said. "There's different kind of guys. Some guys can be feel pitchers and some guys are power pitchers. It's just a matter in them believing in their stuff."
By Nikki Overfelt
noverfelt@kansan.com
Kansan sportswinter
Edited by Erin Ohm
The Kansas soccer team sets out to continue its three-game winning streak tonight in the Evansville Tournament in Evansville, Ind. The team will face the University of Evansville at 7 p.m.
"Our toughest challenge is going to be maintaining our level of play to what we know we are capable of," he said. "It's trying to get up to that level and play for as close to 90 minutes as we can in each of the games and even continue to get better."
Coach Mark Francis said his team was focused despite one less day of practice this week because of the tournament. He said they would look to improve on their last game, the best his team has played this season.
For the second consecutive week Kansas is tied for tenth in both the NSCAA/adidas and Soccer Buzz Central Region polls, with a record of 4-1.
Smith leads the team, as well as the Big 12, with six goals. Defensively for
"We still have yet to play our best and hopefully this weekend we can."
Caroline Smith Freshinan forward
the team, Meghan Miller, sophomore goal keeper, has a 1.09 goals allowed average and is third in the Big 12 with 24 saves.
Kim Karfonta, freshman forward, said improved teamwork had contributed to the team's success.
"We've talked it up and got our sense of teamwork going as of Sunday," she said. "We'll do good as long as we all work together."
The Evansville Purple Aces are 1-3-1 coming into tonight's game. In their last game, the Purple Aces, reigning champions of the Missouri Valley Conference, lost to Memphis 2-1 in doubleovertime. Kristen Prom, junior forward, leads the team in scoring with two goals.
Kansas has an career 0-2 record against Evansville.
Edited by Sarah Hill
Volleyball loses conference opener
By Jason Hwang jhwang@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
Last night Kansas volleyball was marooned.
The Jayhawks, now 8-1, 0-1 in the Big 12, suffered their first loss in their conference opener to No.17 Texas A & M Aggies (9-1, 1-0 Big 12) three games to zero (30-24, 30-26, 30-26) at the G. Rollie White Coliseum in College Station, Texas.
Kansas closed in on the Aggies to make it a 26-24 game, before losing 30-26.
In the final game, Kansas rallied from five points down to make it 26-24, but the A & M scaled the victory, winning game three 30-27.
"We battled tonight," coach Ray Bechard said. "We were a little out of sync in the beginning and A & M just had a few more weapons than we did."
Kansas rose to make late surges in games two and three. The Jayhawks were trailing 19-17 in game two, but A & M scored five of the next seven points for a 24-19 lead.
Freshman middle blocker Josiane Lima led the Jayhawks with 11 kills.
The volleyball team is hoping to continue its two-year streak of victories when they take on No. 16 Texas A&M in College Station, Texas tonight.
Eric Braem/Kansav
Junior outside hitter Abbie Jacobson marked eight kills. Junior outside hitter Sarah Rome and sophomore middle blocker Ashley Michaels finished with seven kills each, with Rome leading the team with eight digs.
- Edited by Christina Neff.
M