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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday November 24,1987 Vol.98,No.67
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
(USPS 650-640)
Valesente fired as Kansas football coach
Frederick says team must make progress
By CRAIG ANDERSON Staff writer
Kansas football coach Bob Valesente was fired yesterday by Athletic Director Bob Frederick. Valesente was offered a position as an associate athletic director, but he declined the offer.
Frederick said that he made the decision Sunday night after many weeks of deliberation.
See related stories p.9 and 12.
"It was not an easy decision to make," he said at a news conference. "In recent days some have said this is an academic issue or an alumni-versus-faculty issue. It was an issue of progress of the football team on the field. In the last two years there had been an improvement."
KUAC's chairman resigns in protest
By MIKE CONSIDINE Staff writer
Anthony Redwood, chairman of the Kansas University Athletic Corporation for the last five years, announced his intention to resign yesterday to protest the firing of football coach Bob Valesente.
"It was an unprincipled decision, and I'm protesting it the only way I can," Redwood said. "I feel the integrity of the University itself is at stake. This is one aspect of the athletic program I feel I can't live with."
At a news conference in Summerfield Hall, Redwood announced that he had called an emergency meeting of the KUAC board at 3 p.m. today in the Phillips Room of the Adams Alumni Center. Redwood said that his resignation would be formally announced at that time.
Kansas Athletic Director Bob Frederick said, "I respect his opinion and his decision to do so if that's what he feels like he should do. He's given six years of outstanding service to
In a prepared statement, Redwood said that during the past decade, Kansas football had a history of revolving coaches and a quick fix philosophy. He said that Valesente was denied the opportunity to see his program through to success.
"He should have been kept on at least for another year but preferably for the length of his contract," Red Stone's mentee the contract lasts two more years.
Redwood said that Frederick told him of the decision at 8 p.m. Sunday. Redwood said that he phoned the KUAC board to call the meeting after a second conversation with Frederick.
Although KUAC by-laws state that the decision to hire and fire coaches belongs to the athletic director, Redwood said that he thought the board should have been involved.
Richardson is one blue-chip the Jayhawks are betting on
"I would have liked Bob Frederick to preferably have discussed it with the board last week when it was at issue," Redwood said. "If that was not possible, then at least he should
Story by Craig Anderson
A blue-chip basketball recruit can be defined many ways. Probably the best way is to look at the schools that compete for the recruit's services. If the finalists sound more illiquid at a national top twenty poll, the athlete could be labeled a blue-chip player.
Kansas women's basketball coach Marian Washington managed to sign one of the three blue-chip athletes she was recruiting last season — 6-foot-4, 14-pound center Deborah "Stretch" Richardson from Kilgore Junior College in Bryan, Texas. Last year at Kilgore, Richardson averaged **1**
life," she said. "I'm not a cold weather person. My mom finally helped me make the final decision to come here. She said that 'what they make coats and blankets for.'"
In early practices so far this season. Richardson has shown that she can contribute immediately to the fortunes of this year's team. Washington said Richardson would fit in well with the Jayhaws' plans.
"She moves very well for her size,
and that works out well with the type of game we are going to play," she said. "We run and press as much as we can."
such as we can The main question Richardson has
Ruth Jacobson/Special to the KANSAN
Karen Morgan, a freshman guard out of Detroit, Mich., comes from a winning high school program where she set scoring and assist records.
points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots a game and lead her team to the National Junior College tournament.
Richardson said she had no doubts about the quality of the Kansas women's basketball program when she visited the campus last year. She did have reservations about the state of Kansas in general, though. Richardson had lived in Iowa in recent years and sure she knew to put up with the snowy winters that native Kansans have grown used to.
"She had her choice of any school in the country that she could have gone to." Washington said. "It was one of our best Tech, and we managed to get her."
"I'd never been around snow in my
to answer is whether she will be able to take the pounding that the other centers will be likely to dish out. She has an almost pencil-thin body that might get pushed around somewhat. Nevertheless, Washington said she wasn't concerned with Richardson's lack of strength.
"I can think of only one player, Chama Perry of San Diego State, that might challenge her physical ability. Her sketch should be able to hold her own."
Richardson was an isolated case of Kansas' being able to land a player that was highly recruited nationally. The Lynette Woodard-type of recruits have been too few and far between to suit Washington. She said Kansas wasn't able to attract the high school All-Americans for several reasons.
"We seem to lose the athletes because they question whether women's basketball is a big thing at Kansas," she said. "People have this idea of what Kansas is like, slow, and that keeps some of them away."
Washington said a lack of funding to the women's program had also rent Jhayawk recruiting efforts. She remembered that one time, a rival school was able to hire her out an open position and recruit a certain student. Washington said she just didn't have the resources to recruit that way.
"It's tough to bring a recruit to a game that has very few people watching it," she said. "We have functions, and then no supporters show up. It's a struggle, but we can still sign some quality people."
The Kansas freshman class this year probably won't be called on to contribute early in the season. The Jayhawks return a team that is topheavy in experienced players. Kansas has five seniors on this season's squad, plus two sophomores - center Lynn Page and guard Lisa Bradley, who saw extensive playing time last season.
Freshman guard Karen Morgan, the smallest of the Jayhawk players at 5-2, said she thought she had a chance to contribute for Kansas if she played under control. Last season at DePorres high school in Detroit, Morgan was an all-league selection in volleyball, softball and basketball. She said she realized, though, that those kind of successes would not come easily to her in the college game.
Morgan was a high-profile type of recruit because she was a high school teammate of prep All-American Debra Charles. Another member of the Kansas freshman class, 5-9 forward LaTanya Nelson, a Washington, D.C. native, wasn't so visible to college recruitors. No major college really recruited Nelson until this summer, when she shined in some Amateur Athletic Association summer league tournaments.
The third member of Kansas' group of freshmen, 5-8 Heather Rhodes of Balwin, took an even more unlikely path to become a member of the KU team. Rhodes walked on to the team after staying out of school for a year. Last year, Rhodes was a dental assistant. She said just making the team was a big sten for her.
"The players here are stronger and more competitive," she said. "I realize that when I get into games, people will not be helping me up if I get knocked down. I think I can get a position on this team."
"The coaching here is really great," she said. "In high school, we just ran up and down the court. Now, it takes a lot of discipline."
Nelson said it was Washington that made her decid- to head west and become a Jawhawk.
"it's just a really awesome feeling to be on the team," she said. "I competed against a few good athletes during the state basketball tournament in high school, but they were nowhere close to the type of players I practice against every day."
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erick said, "From individual sations and from letters, I feel now where most of the people board stood on the issue."
erkirk said, "We're coming a situation where the previous academic difficulties. Bob hard to gain the respect of
wood praised Valesente's commitment to recruiting fresh footlayers who were capable stu-
he said that Frederick didn't sufficient consideration to Vals's attention to academics.
See KUAC. d. 12, col. 5
Joe Wilkins III/Special to the KANSAN is a news conference with his astions about his firing.
roe Wilkins III/Special to the KANSAN
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