Tell us your news:
Contact Levi Chronister or Jessica Tims at (785) 864-
4859 or sports@kansan.com
SPORTS
1B
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 2002
COMMENTARY
Levi Chronister lehronister@kansan.com
Sports section sees changes for the fall
With each new school year come new beginnings, and that will certainly be true for The University Daily Kansan sports section this fall.
We plan on moving beyond just our normal stories that preview and review games by bringing you more in-depth features on athletes and their lives. Along with telling you how many catches Byron Gasaway had, we also would like to tell you his story of moving up the ranks of jahawk receivers.
Speaking of features, we will continue with the club and intramural coverage we began last spring.
The goal is one or more features on a team each week by our clubs and intramurals beat writer, Steve Vockrodt. We still want to cover the actual games, and this is where you can help.
The Kansan is starting a correspondents program that will give students with little previous writing experience the chance to write for the paper. If you are interested in covering some exciting rugby, lacrosse, cycling or any of the other club and intramural teams at the University, please e-mail me or associate sports editor Jessica Tims (jitms@kansan.com) or call 864-4858. We would also be happy to consider any other sports-related submissions brought in by students.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for the sports section, just send Jessica or myself an e-mail as we always like to hear from our readers. The Kansan is the students' paper, and we like to make sure we live up to that.
Chronister is a Lawrence senior in journalism.
There also will be two other new ways to interact with the sports department this fall
These are the new features we plan on bringing our readers this semester, but more may come up as the semester progresses and we see what works and what doesn't.
First, all sports comments called into the fan-favorite Free for All will be placed in the sports section on page 2 starting Thursday. This will allow almost all of our sports content to be in the sports section as well as open up more room for non-sports Free for All calls and letters to the editor on the opinion page. So if you call in to say how you think the Jayhawk football team will do with Mark Mangino at the helm or you want to talk about how SlamBall is a joke (more on that in a later column), make sure to check the sports section for your comment.
We also will have an online opinion poll each week, usually on an issue related to Jaya-hawk sports but sometimes a national topic. A new question will be posted online and in the paper each Monday starting next week. The results will be printed and posted the following Monday, along with a new question.
We also will be using our Web site to a greater degree this semester, starting today with audio clips from our Heard on the Hill questions about the Kansas football team and the pending major league baseball strike. Later in the semester, we should have interviews with our columnists and Kansas athletes available to listen to online as well.
Another new addition to the sports section is While We Were Out, a collection of news that happened while The Kansan wasn't publishing. Today's paper has a fairly extensive and long version because it's been so long since the last summer issue, but a shorter version will run each Monday — assuming there's enough news to warrant it — to catch readers up on news they may have missed while celebrating their brief respite from classes.
Kansas teams optimistic
There are high hopes when it comes to University of Kansas athletics this year. Mark Mangino takes over the reins of a stalled football program, the volleyball team lost just one player from last year and the soccer squad is coming off its first NCAA tournament appearance. Read all about these teams and the rest of the Jayhawk athletic squads in our Back to School sports section.
Mangino, who won a national title as an assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma, will lead the Jawahres on the gridiron, but the loss of Harrison Hill won't help the squad's chance of a national title any. See page 2B.
■ Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich were named finalists for the John Wooden Award as well as Playboy All-Americans and hope to lead the men's basketball team back to the Final Four. See page 4B.
Four of the top eight teams in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 are in the Big 12 Conference as are four of the top 10 in the AP Top 25. See page 3B.
- Women's basketball coach Marian Washington will rely on youth and exuberance in attempting to not repeat last year's winless conference season. See page 14B.
Senior Paradis Brown's soccer career was cut short because of concussions, but coach Mark Francis' team is still loaded with young talent. See page 5B.
A dozen players return for volleyball coach Ray Bechard, filling the team with experience and high expectations. See page 6B.
After last year's NCAA tournament snub
the tennis team looks to make it impossible for the selection committee to leave the team out this year. See page 6B.
The cross country team has already started its run toward the NCAA regionals. See page 7B.
Senior Chris Marshall provides experience and leadership to a young but talented men's golf team. See page 8B.
New coach Megan Menzel looks to repeat her success at Colorado State University with the Kansas women's golf team. See page 8B.
- Columnist Ryan Wood sees visions of undefeated seasons for all Kansas teams, if the balls all bounce the right way. See page 9B.
The University of Kansas offers a variety of nonvarsity club and intramural sports for the athlete in all of us. See page 9B.
■ The bowling teams are full of confidence after the men's squad qualified for nationals last season. See page 10B.
Kansan editors and sports writers make their preseason picks for Big 12 and national football champs. See page 11B.
A lot happened between the summer semester and now, both nationally and locally. See page 16B.
Major league baseball players set Aug. 30 as their strike date if a new labor agreement isn't reached. Associate sports editor Jessica Tims thinks people just don't care. See page 14B.
New baseball coach excited about season
By Steve Schmidt
Kansan sportswriter
Trading in the warm, sunny weather of California for the humidity and the blustery winds of Kansas doesn't sound like much of a deal to most Midwesterners.
Price, though, 1,400 miles with his family from their residence in San Luis Obispo, Calif., to the University of Kansas, the Sweet Home. Ore, native has found a new home in Lawrence.
For new Kansas baseball coach Ritch
Prize, though, it's a deal of a lifetime.
"I consider it a real honor to be a coach at the University of Kansas," Price said. "I'm so excited about the opportunity to coach and compete in the Big 12. We want to make the NCAA tournament. We want to start with that goal each and every season, and I'm looking
forward to that challenge."
10 years to the challenge.
Price came to Kansas from Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo, where in eight seasons under his reins the Mustangs went from a mediocre team to a solid program, posting three consecutive 30-victory seasons.
Before Cal-Poly, Price also had success stories at De Anza Community College in Cupertino, Calif., and Menlo College in Atherton, Calif., winning numerous conference championships with both schools.
"I'm excited more than anything," said junior outfielder Ryan Baty when Price was named as new coach. "From the end of the year until now, there's been a lot of excitement to get the thing going and get things rolling."
Price hopes to turn that excitement into success at Kansas on a far bigger stage than he's used to—the Big 12, which Price considers to be one of the top three conferences in
the nation.
"My whole career I've taken teams with losing records and turned them around," Price said. "But this is the first time ever when I've come to a school with such a heritage and tradition with a big-time name."
Price and his family have been busy making the transition from California to Kansas.
Price, his wife, Cindy, and their three sons Ritchie, Robby and Ryne, packed everything Wednesday, hit the road for two full travel days and finally settled into their new place Saturday.
"It's a been really crazy and emotional time." Price said.
On top of the moving process, the new coach has been keeping active on the recruiting trail, showing up to numerous summer
SEE BASEBALL, PAGE 4B
"I consider it a real honor to be a coach at the University of Kansas. I'm so excited about the opportunity to coach and compete in the Big 12. We want to make the NCAA tournament. We want to start with that goal each and every season..." Ritch Price
Kansan File Photo
Former Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo coach Ritch Price was named the new coach of the Kansas baseball team on July 1. Price lead his former team to a third place finish in the Big West Conference.
4.
1