thursday,october 30,2003
sports
New assistant athletics director looks toward future
By John Domoney
jdomoney@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Walk into Brandon Macneill's office, and you will not find the walls filled with artwork or sports memorabilia.
No, the man hired to be assistant athletics director for strategic planning and administration isn't interested in interior decorating. He wants only to contribute to the success of the Kansas Athletics Department that his father-in-law, Lew Perkins, Kansas athletics director, oversees.
"Lew will tell you he doesn't pay me to decorate," Macneill said.
Macneill's position did not exist prior to the Perkins era, which began in July. When Perkins came to Kansas, Macneill was serving as Princeton's associate athletics director for development.
Macneill saw the opportunity to come to Kansas as one he and his family could not afford to pass up.
"I've told everybody if we never leave here I'll be happy," Macneill said. "I'm hoping we're here for a long time."
Macneill, a Tulane University graduate, deals with normal day-to-day administrative duties, policies and procedures and strategic planning.
The athletics department's policies and procedures handbooks have not been updated since the mid-1990s.
Macneill must go through each department, such as student services and media relations, to record its normal practices and what practices work best.
best Macneill's biggest job concerns the planning that will outline the desired course of the department.
Brandon Macneill reported to his job as the new University of Kansas assistant athletics director on Oct. 13. Macneill is in charge of athletics finances and creating room in the budget to finance new athletic facilities.
"When we get it done it will be like a five year plan," Macnell said. "It won't just be a five year plan where we'll finish and say what did we accomplish? It will be a living, breathing, document so that every year we'll update it, and it will have everything from a mission statement to how do we get there."
mouth College, and he served as director of collegiate marketing for the University of Hawaii. Prior to coming to Kansas, Macneill coordinated and oversaw various fundraisers for the Princeton athletic programs.
george. Macnill did not report to his new job on Oct. 13 without an impressive list of credentials.
He has worked as assistant director of athletics for marketing and promotions at Dart-
"He is a very talented young administrator who has already gained a wealth of experience in collegiate athletics," Perkins said.
Macneill said his experience had helped him to recognize differences between the Ivy League and the Big 12 Conference, based mostly on overall interest in athletics. He said the Ivy League lacked the "big time" atmosphere of the Big 12.
"Coming out to Kansas the whole place is about KU," he said. "And it really gives you the energy to come in here and get the job done."
While Macneill sees the importance of increasing the revenue and reducing the costs of the athletics department as a difficult job, he realizes the positive consequences of such an accomplishment. His role in determining policies for the department will be influenced by money.
"Generally the athletic success of a program is directly attributable to the size of the budget," Macneill said. "Texas, Michigan and Ohio State have the biggest budgets and they always win. So a lot of the policies we're going to look at how the money can best be spent."
the money can be less. As for working for his father-in-law, Macneill does not see Perkins as any different than the bosses he answered to at his other positions.
"I really just look at it as I'm so excited to take my experience and focus on how to try and make Kansas better," Macneill said.
Edited by Jonathan Reeder
Talent returns for Big 12 Conference women's basketball
The Associated Press
DALLAS—Texas coach Jody Conradi wants her team to forget about a season to remember. It's time to start over.
time to start a new season. Sure, it should be another good year with four starters back from last season's NCAA Final Four team.
But the Longhorns aren't the only Big 12 Conference team loaded with returning talent.
"I was a little apprehensive about how many people have patted them on the back and how many people told them how good they are," Conradt said yesterday. "I decided that I was probably
going to have to push them to get them back to reality, and I think I've done that."
tion. "I had to be a real ogre," said Conradt, who last season joined Tennessee's Pat Summitt as the only women's coaches with 800 wins.
Texas has been tabbed by the Big 12 coaches as the preseason favorite to repeat as the conference champion.
Kansas State, last season's Big 12 runner-up, returns all five starters from a team that matched the Longhorns' 29 wins last season.
And everybody else has plenty of experienced players back.
"I don't think we're assuming anything," Longhorns guard Jamie Carey said during the Big 12 women's basketball media day. "It think based on what we did last season, that can only provide us with confidence."
While having to replace leading scorer and rebounder Plenette Pierson, Texas Tech returns its other four starters and five other contributing players.
liverpool community play Oklahoma also has four returning starters, plus gets back senior forward Caton Hill, a big part of the Sooners' NCAA runner-up team in 2002 who played
just four games last season before a knee injury.
Last season, Texas won 17 straight games. The streak ended with a 71-69 loss to eventual champ Connecticut in the national semifinal game.
"Our expectations early on were not the Final Four. All of that was a bit of a surprise." Conradt said. "This time, our challenges will be different. The expectations are something we have to deal with through the year."
The Longhorns already suffered a setback when key bench player Annisa Hastings ruptured her left Achilles tendon
earlier this month.
Kansas State hasn't forgotten its disappointing finish last season. The Wildcats were 27-2 before losing their regular season finale at Texas Tech, the same team that beat them in the second round of the Big 12 tournament before a second-round NCAA loss to Notre Dame.
Kansas State and Texas each have two players on the preseason All-Big 12 team.
son All-Big 12 team
Junior forward Kendra
Wecker, K-State's top scorer
and the league's top returning
scorer with 19 points a game,
joined teammate Ohlde on the
preseason team.
Forwards Stacy Stephens and Heather Schreiber represent Texas, which also has Tiffany Jackson, the preseason freshman of the year.
Texas Tech has won the most Big 12 games (87) in the league's first seven seasons.
The Red Raiders went to the round of eight at last year's NCAA tournament, the furthest they've gone since winning the national championship 10 years earlier.
The bottom two-thirds of the coaches' preseason poll, in order, were Colorado, Baylor, Missouri, Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Nebraska and Texas A&M.
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