Section B • Page 4
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, October 9, 1997
Baylor has long road ahead
Football team one of worst new coach says
By Jaime Aron
The Associated Press
WACO, Texas — Dave Roberts learned a lot the last three years as Lou Holtz's offensive coordinator at Notre Dame.
Four games into his tenure as Baylor's head coach, it's apparent that one of the skills Roberts picked up from his former mentor is the art of downplaying his program.
Following a 35-14 loss to Texas Tech at home Saturday, Roberts described his squad as probably about as bad a football team as there is right now in America.
Asked Monday whether he really thinks the program has sunk that low, Roberts said he does. But he's confident that during the long haul he will be able to turn things around.
"I'm not disappointed,"said Roberts, whose team is 1-3
going into Saturday's game at home against No. 3 Nebraska.
"If you look at us, there are 17 kids either ineligible or not here.
"That gives us 67 scholarship players, three above Division IAA," he said. "Then look at the last three signing classes and there are 30 of those kids who are not here. We just don't have the numbers."
When Roberts was hired in the summer, his blunt assessment of the team's woes seemed refreshingly candid. Now, his barbs may be wearing thin.
By making things seem bad now, any improvements in future years will seem magnified. But a coach must be careful not to paint too bleak of a picture for fear of ruining players' confidence and scaring away recruits.
"We feel like we have to start from somewhere," Roberts said. "We're not good, and we have to build it back up. The kids here are giving good effort, there's just not many of them."
up his oppon en n t s became a running joke, even when his team was ranked higher.
With Holtz, the way he would talk down his team and pump
That's not the case at Baylor. The team hasn't been to a bowl game since 1994, last won a conference title outright in 1980 and hasn't won more than eight games in a season since that year.
All that could make the job seem like an uphill climb, especially from the Holtz-ian perspective.
"This is going to be a great job. This job can be a top-20 job in the country. It isn't right now," Roberts said.
But Roberts isn't wondering what he's gotten himself into.
"The support has been incredible. The cheerleaders, the band ... everybody around here is excited. We're not playing well, but there are reasons for that. There aren't quick fixes, though."
Roberts truly has been limited in his two specialties.
offense and recruiting. He was hired too late into the recruiting season last year to really work his magic, and the roster he inherited was built for a running game, not the passing-style offense he'll eventually install.
Suspensions and injuries also have slowed the team's progress.
The quarterback situation is a perfect example. Jeff Waton won the job in the spring, was suspended during the summer, reinstated during the two-a-day practice schedule and became the starter again once Jermaine Alfred was injured and Odell James was suspended for five games. Watson has taken every snap this season because his only backup is a true freshman Roberts hopes to redshirt.
Keeping Watson healthy hasn't been easy because of the thinness of the offensive line in both depth and stature.
Florida to add new chapter to Tigers' tale
LSU reaches 'crossroads' after two tough SEC games
The Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. — Florida is ranked No. 1 in the nation, averaging five touchdown passes and nearly 50 points a game. Pretty scary, LSU coach Gerry DiNardo admits. But that's not his biggest worry.
"What's been on my mind more than Florida is how we can get our team to play hard again," he said.
Just a year ago LSU, certain it could play with the big boys, was undefeated, ranked No. 11 and heading for Florida. The Gators dented that notion. 56-13.
This year LSU (4-1 overall, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) is ranked 14th. However, after losing to Auburn and
dropping out of first place in the SEC Western Division, the Tigers barely made it past Vanderbilt, a team they expected to handle easily.
LSU won 7-6, but only after the Commodores picked up two last-second penalties and had an extra point blocked.
The difference in play from game to game, or even series to series, has DiNardo questioning the performance he can expect Saturday night against Florida (5-0, 3-0).
"I think if our Mississippi State team shows up and our Auburn team shows up — except for the last three minutes on defense — I think we've got a football game on our hands."
But against Vanderbilt the Tigers took a step back. Now LSU is struggling and making mistakes.
Under DiNardo, LSU shook off a string of six straight losing seasons, moved into the rankings and produced a 10-victory season for only the fifth time in school history.
"I think this is definitely a crossroads as far as how we react to how we played last week," offensive guard Alan Fanea said. "We're still moving in the right direction. There is still time for us as a team to decide where we want to go."
DiNardo insists this is not a watershed game for LSU. The Tigers have not risen to that position yet.
"I don't think it's a big game," DiNardo said. "I don't think that what we're building up to. We're building it up to a game where we can demonstrate that we can play a game with some degree of hardness and emotion.
"If we can do that, then eventually we're going to work ourselves back into the idea of a big game. But we are a struggling 4-1 football team playing a very good No. 1-ranked football team."
The 1940s and 1950s were memorable times in Kansas and especially at the University of Kansas. There are always special teachers and coaches, but at this particular time in history, there was an outstanding group of teachers, coaches and leaders.
Today's coaches should strive to achieve predecessors' goals
There were many student-athletes from across Kansas, many of them aged because of the war, many others fresh from high school ready to become a part of an era that saw Allen and Easton develop national-championship teams in basketball and track.
They were Ed Elebel; Henry Shenk; Ernie Quigley; A.C. C."Dutch" Lonborg; Franklin Murphy; the first coach of basketball, the fabulous Forrest C. "Phog" Allen; and M.E. "Bill" Easton, the new young track coach.
Although there were lots of students on the track team, Coach Easton seemed to know every move you made. Easton had his famous "flower fund" that required a contribution for minor violations, such as a foul word. He seemed to be able to tell when you had not followed good eating habits at noon before a workout, so he pushed you to run a few more laps, which usually brought up the evidence for all to see.
Easton always had been a follower of Allen and had attended many of Allen's clinics. When Ernie Quigley, director of athletics, brought the two men together at Kansas, they became a dynamic team.
Coach Easton recently died at the age of 93. As I reflect on this history, it was indeed an exciting time. Easton came to Kansas in 1947 from previous coaching experience in track and basketball in Indiana and Iowa.
Those who had the good fortune of being coached and taught by either of these two coaches know what a great part of their education this experience was.
The demands Coach Easton placed on his student-athletes were legendary. In a day when passing just to be eligible is the high spot for many student-athletes, Easton was monitoring your attendance, your grades and your progress toward graduation. You could be in as much trouble for missing a class as some are now for failing a class!
He pushed you to win, to graduate to be a gentleman, and I am sure that we all are better people because of his leadership. The results of this philosophy were that he saw 98.6 percent of the athletes who competed for four years graduate.
To be successful and to be a winner, Coach Easton stressed the very basics of discipline: hard work, good training, going to class, respect, wearing your coat and tie
Commentary
when representing your school or organization and being a competitor.
These basics have not changed. What has changed is the demand for coaches of all levels to win or get fired. The almighty advertising dollar has gone so far as to almost change the rules of the actual game, and this certainly has put pressure on the athletes to skip degrees in favor of dollars and fame.
Wes
Santee
sports@kansan.com
They say that today is another era, and that we cannot require the athletes to follow the rules like they used to and still have a winning team.
I suggest we look at the history of the Cleveland Brown under the leadership of Paul Brown. Yes, the Brownes were very successful, and Coach Brown was every bit as strict as Coach Easton was. Yes, it can be done.
There are coaches and leaders who have the determination to follow in the footsteps of the truly great leaders like the coaches I have mentioned. I only wish there were more.
For those of you who did not have the privilege of knowing the Allens and the Eastons, you can look at three people at Kansas whom I think have earned the right to be considered in this league. Bob Frederick, Roy Williams and Marian Washington have worked hard, are great leaders, and I am sure that their athletes feel great pride to be part of the great Kansas traditions.
Coaches and teachers affect thousands of young peoples' lives both directly and indirectly, and we sometimes forget to thank them enough.
I, for one, am very thankful that I lived in the time I did and that I could be under the leadership of such a great group of leaders, and especially my coach, Bill Easton. I will miss him!
Editor's note: Wes Santee competed in cross country and track and field in 1950-54. He was a member of the 1953 NCAA champion cross country team and an All-American in the 5,000 meters in 1952 and the mile in 1953.
Take It To Heart!
American Red Cross University of Kansas
97 Fall Blood Drive LAST DAY
Kansas Union Ballroom:
Kansas Union Ballroom:
Thurs., Oct.9 from 10 am-4 pm
GSP Hall
Thurs., Oct.9 from 11 am - 4 pm
Appointments Preferred Walk-ins Welcome Donors will be eligible for prizes at daily raffles
The All Scholarship HallCouncil
Presented by:
The Association of University Residence Halls
Member FDIC
The Interfraternity Council
The Panhellenic Association
Let's Beat K-State!!!