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The Royals kept their playoff hopes alive by handing the Tigers a historic defeat. The 10-4 loss was Detroit's 111th of the season, the most by any team since the 1965 New York Mets. PAGE 2B
The University Daily Kansan
1B
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
Ryan Greene rgreene@kansan.com
Schedule change aids Jayhawks
When Kansas football coach Mark Mangino decided to alter the 2003 schedule at the last minute, the change for the most part, went unnoticed.
The Jayhawks are in preparation for next week's home contest against Jacksonville State. a Division I-AA opponent. The page, taken from Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder's book, will help the young Jayhawks more than anyone would have imagined.
The original 2003 slate had Kansas traveling Sept. 20 for a meeting with the San Diego State Aztecs — yes, the same Aztecs that nearly upended defending national champion Ohio State two weeks ago in Columbus, Ohio. It would have been the Jayhawks' third straight game against a Mountain West conference school.
ince school.
Instead, Mangino made the decision to buy out the game for $50,000 and pay $250,000 for the Gamecocks to come to Lawrence. The revised schedule gives the Jayhawks seven home games on this season's 12-game schedule.
season's 12-game schedule.
Back when the change was made, it appeared as though Kansas was playing chicken by lightening its load, but now it looks brilliant.
looks bright.
With a 2-1 record and the start of the conference season just two weeks away, the Jayhawks are looking for every advantage possible as the Big 12 Conference season will include games with Nebraska, Kansas State, Missouri, Texas A&M and Colorado, all nationally ranked opponents.
This is exactly where the genius of the schedule alteration comes in.
Perhaps the most significant of these games will be the conference opener Sept. 27 at Memorial Stadium against archival Missouri.
Defeating Missouri at home could be a momentous occasion for the Kansas football program as a whole and signal the turning of the proverbial corner towards future success.
In this case, why take the risk of losing on the road to a team of equal stature when you can have a final home tune-up to build some extra confidence before the most important game of the season?
Also, with more people in town for Family Weekend, seeing Kansas go up against a weaker opponent helps to impress the few thousand extra fans that will be in the stands, therefore maybe drawing them back in the future.
The last time Kansas played a I-AA opponent on Family Weekend was in 2000, when the Jayhawks dusted Southern Illinois by a count of 42-0. Back then, Kansas did not have the fortune of playing an important home game the next weekend to build off of the excitement of a shutout. If Kansas can put the smack on Jacksonville State like it did Southern Illinois, the potential sellout crowd for the Missouri game may consist of more crimson and blue than black and puke.
Most around here make fun of Bill Snyder because of the pansies he schedules the Wildcats to play early in the season, but moderation is OK. Playing three of them in one season proves nothing about your team, but sprinkling them in once in a while can propel a team to a better conference season. Hopefully, this one pays off.
Greene is a Vernon Hills, Ill., senior in journalism
Golfteam lost in rough
Coarse opening game on unfamiliar terrain handicaps men's team
By Ryan Colaiani
correspondents@kansan.com
Kansan correspondent
The Kansas men's golf season got off to a rough start this past weekend at the Ridges Intercollegiate in Tennessee.
Despite junior Andrew Price's sixth place individual finish, the team struggled and finished 12th in the tough, 18-team field.
team held.
"I am surprised that we finished where we did considering the way we played," Randall said. "We beat some ranked teams, which shows that once we get things together, we can be a pretty good team."
Eleven of the teams participating finished in the Top 25 last season, including the reigning national champions, Clemson.
"We are starting off like we did last year, and we are trying to get away from that," Price said referring to the team's poor starts the past few seasons.
poor starts the place up.
Price was the lone Jayhawk under par,
as he finished two under in the three
round tournament. Price double-
bogeyed his final hole of the tournament
and without that, would have finished in
fourth place.
In the first round, junior Kevin Ward was two under after the 14th hole, but bogeyed the final four holes to finish two over. Ward finished at seven over par in a tie for 41st place.
"Ward played well in every round, but struggled on the last few holes of each round," Randall said. "Closing the deal is very important."
The biggest disappointment of the tournament was the play of senior Tyler Hall who was 15 over in the first round, withdrew from the second, and was 10 over in the third round.
"When you are not confident playing on the type of course that they played on, it makes it even more difficult," Randall said. "He is a good player and I know he will bounce back."
Sophomore Ryan Rainer was even par in his final round and finished in 34th place at five over. Freshman Tyler Docking finished in 81st place at 18 over par.
Randall said some of the players struggled but it was to be expected in the first tournament of the year.
The rough at the Ridges proved to be deadly for Kansas golfers, Randall said. The length of the rough ranged from 8 inches to 4 feet, he said.
Junior Andrew price netted the lowest score on the Jayhawks golf team this weekend and placed sixth in the Ridges intercollegiate tournament. The men's golf team finished 12th overall.
Randall said the rough was longer than he expected and if a player missed a fairway he lost his ball.
Randall will use practice this week to determine the lineup for the Kansas Invitational on Monday and Tuesday at Alvamar Country Club. Randall said
there may be some lineup changes.
Edited by Abby Sidesinger
there may be some insept changes.
"These guys have been playing individually all summer so it is a change for them." Randall said. "It affects the way
they play, sometimes they would like to go for it on some shots,but in the back of their minds they know that this could hurt the team."
Perkins announces priority seating plan
By John Domoney
jdomoney@kansan.com
Kansan sports writer
Ever since Lew Perkins became the athletics director in July, he has dealt with high expectations.
"Everybody wants us to be self sufficient," Perkins said of the athletics department. "They want us to have the best teams, the best athletes. How do you do that? You have to raise revenue."
Perkins said that priority seating for men's basketball games in Allen Fieldhouse was one way of generating the revenue necessary to keep Kansas teams in the hunt for championships.
The priority seating plan will require season ticket-holders to donate money to the Williams Fund to keep the seats they now have. Perkins said the plan was not intended for people to lose their seats. Instead, it will reward those who
in the huddle He said a priority seating plan could bring in between $3 million to $5 million per year for the Athletics Department's
budget. Perkins said the priority seating would begin in the 2004-2005 basketball season.
money and will reshuffle those who do not donate as much. The Williams Fund provides scholarships for student athletes.
Perkins
Priority seating for men's basketball is
not a new idea at Kansas. In 2000, Bob Frederick, former athletics director, began to look at the idea of priority seating, but faculty, staff and students were not subject to the plan. Frederick never put the plan into use, and his successor, Al Bohl, dropped the idea.
But when Perkins came to Kansas, he saw the need for priority seating. At the University of Connecticut, Perkins developed a similar plan for men's basketball seating. He said it worked well after some initial complaints.
"As a member of the KUAC board I am fully aware of the budget challenges,
Don Steeples, a vice provost and KUAC board member, said he had mixed feelings on the issue.
Priority seating will force season ticket holders to donate to the Williams Fund to get better seats at Allen Fieldhouse.
MEN'S BASKETBALL PRIORITY SEATING PLAN
The plan will be put in place for the 2004-2005 season.
Lew Perkins, Kansas athletics director, said KU faculty and staff will get special seating section. If faculty and staff want better seats at men's basketball home games, they will participate in the priority seating plan.
Perkins said the plan should generate $3 million to $5 million.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 3B.
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