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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2015
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FOOTBALL
Coach search halted as coach jobs open up
MIKE VERNON
mvernon@kansan.com
While coaching searches across the country remain in limbo, the Kansas coaching search appears to have been placed on pause. And it's not by choice that the coaching search has had to come to a halt, it's the other job openings across the country that have forced Kansas athletics director Sheahon Zenger to take a break.
When Texas A&M fired its coach, Mike Sherman, its targets directly conflicted and delayed the Kansas coaching search. Southern Mississippi coach Larry Fedora, a College Station, Texas, native, appeared to be a top choice for Kansas. When Fedora's Golden Eagles beat the University of Houston 49-28, the coach soared on everybody's radar across the country.
As Texas A&M pushed toward Fedora, North Carolina looked at him as well. While there have been multiple unconfirmed reports of both North Carolina and Texas A&M having interviewed with Fedora, there have been none connected than Kansas to the coach who was, at one point, a listed favorite for the Kansas job.
So, while Fedora works out his future position, Zenger has supposedly been forced to wait to make a move.
He's been traveling since last Wednesday, interviewing candidates and looking for the right man. And if Zenger believes Fedora is the right man, he will not make a move until he is sure that
Fedora is off the board. Zenger could still move before any official word is released on Fedora, if he receives word that Fedora is out of reach for Kansas.
Phillip Fulmer
While the waiting game continues, new names have popped up in relation to the Kansas coaching job.
While Phillip Fulmer is not truly a new name for Kansas - he interviewed for the opening two years ago — he's one name that has recently come onto the radar for Kansas. The former Tennessee coach had a 152-52 record in 13 seasons with the Volunteers. He won a national championship for Tennessee in 1998.
MORE NEW NAMES
The main drawback for Fulmer would be his age. At 61, Fulmer doesn't fit the mold as the man that would build a long-term dynasty at Kansas.
Trov Calhoun
Troy Calhoun is a master of the triple-option offense and has appeared to have blipped onto the Jayhawks' radar.
The triple option offense is rare and can often be tough for opposing teams to prepare for, which would give the Jayhawks a leg up in Big 12 and non conference play. Georgia Tech has had success with the triple option offense, going 34-18 under triple-option specialist Paul Johnson.
Edited by Jonathan Shorman
Frostbite causes runner to lose limbs
CROSS COUNTRY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A campus police report provides new details about why an All-American cross-country runner from the University of Alaska Anchorage spent three days alone in the freezing woods and had to have his feet amputated. It said he went for a run because he was feeling despondent and passed out under a tree.
Marko Cheseto, 28, of Kenya, disappeared from the university Nov. 6. He was suffering from hypothermia and severe frostbite to his feet when he staggered into the lobby of an Anchorage hotel three days later.
He was wearing a T-shirt, jeans, two jackets and running shoes, but no hat or gloves. His shoes were frozen to his feet.
A university police report obtained under an open records request by The Associated Press said Chestoet told officers he woke up the morning of Nov. 6 and sought out his roommate. He wanted to tell him he was
"having to struggle to get through life," but his roommate had to work.
"He told me that he felt like no one had been able to understand how difficult things had been for him, and that everyone basically just said, 'Hang in there,' the officer's report said.
Cheseto's despondency grew.
The report had sections redacted and didn't elaborate on Cheseto's problems.
Cheseto was a top runner on his team but took last season off following the suicide of his close friend, teammate and fellow Kenyan William Ritekwiang.
Ritekwiang was found dead in February in his apartment near campus.
Michael Friess, the university's head cross country and track and field coach, said Cheseto received counseling after Ritekwiang's death and was still being treated when he took his run in the woods.
The report said Cheset began his run the afternoon of Nov. 6 on a popular trail, covered in snow this time of year. He took a left turn off the trail and ran into the woods, where he told police he passed out under a tree.
When he awoke it was snowing. He didn't have much snow on his upper body, but his legs were buried in snow. He realized his feet were frozen.
The report says Cheseto lay there for about another half-hour and realized he was getting even colder. He told police he pulled himself up by holding onto a tree. He started to do exercises to get some feeling back into his legs so he could walk out of the woods.
He walked toward the sound of cars and eventually walked into a hotel lobby, where employees rushed him over to a fireplace, put a blanket on him and called 911.
"It is hard to understand depression," Friess said. "Yes, he was in the wrong place, he fell down, you could describe it. But in my opinion the strongest aspect is that he got up.
us," Friess said.
Details from the university police report first appeared in The Northern Lights campus newspaper.
Cheseto, a long-distance runner working on a nursing degree, disappeared a day after the university cross-country team's triumphant return to Anchorage from the NCAA Division II West Region Championships in Spokane, Wash. The Seawolves won every championship up for grabs at the meet.
Cheseto had won the West Region Championships in cross country in 2009 and 2010. He had used his final season of cross-country eligibility but was expected to compete in spring track.
Patrick Cohn, a sports psychology expert and founder of Peak Performance Sports in Orlando, Fla., said it can be a difficult process for student athletes as they move toward careers in other fields.
"When they stop they lose that identity. 'Who am I? Not the student athlete." Cohn said.
CRIMINAL
Pedophile admits to sexually abusing boy
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PORTLAND, Maine — A man who accused former Syracuse University assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine of molesting him admitted Monday that he sexually abused a boy in Maine.
Zach Tomaselli, of Lewiston, told The Associated Press that he sexually abused the boy when the victim was 13 and 14 years old. Tomaselli said he knew the boy and worked as a counselor at a camp the boy attended.
Now that he's getting counseling, Tomaselli said he understands that he was subconsciously grooming the boy for a relationship, as is often the case with pedophiles. He said he's glad that he was caught before the abuse became worse, so that he can get help.
Tomaselli, 23, became the third man to level sexual abuse allegations
against Fine when he told police in Syracuse that Fine first molested him in a Pittsburgh hotel room in 2002. He said Fine — who has denied any wrongdoing but was fired by the university — showed him porn, fondled him and watched him shower naked.
"The only thing that transpired was the same stuff that happened to me." Tomaselli said of his relationship with the teenage boy in Maine. "This kid has been through a lot because of the way I controlled him and abused him."
Tomaselli has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges including gross sexual assault, tampering with a victim and unlawful sexual contact.
But he said he anticipates that he'll plead guilty in Superior Court and that a plea bargain is in the works. The plea bargain calls for him to serve three years, or perhaps less,
in prison and to register as a sex offender for life, he said.
"I don't really see any other way at this point," he said.
Tomasell's lawyer went to court last week seeking to suppress his confession to police. Defense lawyer Justin Leary said the confession was coerced by a detective after a lengthy interview, and the judge hadn't ruled on the motion as of Monday.
On Monday, Tomaselli said he was "sick of hiding behind my attorney."
Leary declined comment Monday evening on his client's comments to the AP.
Tomaselli also has said that he was abused by his father, Fred Tomaselli, and that he went to police about it in June in upstate New York. No charges were filed, and Fred Tomaselli said the allegations were "totally unfounded."
he's taking responsibility and doesn't want to blame Fine or his father for his actions in Lewiston, where he lives with his grandmother.
Tomaselli said he and the victim disagree on some details but most of the accusations were true. He said he fondled the boy once when the boy was 13 and a couple more times when he was 14.
On Monday, Zach Tomaselli said
"Pretty much everything he said is absolutely right." Tomasell said.
Tomaselli said the relationship was consensual and there were no threats.
He acknowledged, however, that he created a fake Facebook account to manipulate the victim and that he even allowed the victim to believe the Facebook friend died of cancer. He said his judgment was hampered by a powerful narcotic, Oxycodone, which he said he was taking for severe headaches.
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