Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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KANSAS
13
WEDNESDAY,OCTOBER 21,2009
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GOOD NOT GOOD ENOUGH
Senior wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe celebrates a touchdown catch with a teammate. Kansas Athletics Director Lew Perkins said his goal is for Kansas to start winning against teams such as Texas and Oklahoma instead of just coming done.
PAGE 1B
Kansas aims to dominate Big 12
Perkins says he wants Kansas to take next step
BY JAYSON JENKS
jjenks@kansan.com
"You can't compete with those people just on the day of the game. You've got to compete year around. Maybe the people here don't want that, but let's make it known what kind of program we do want. Let's not talk about beating Nebraska and Oklahoma unless we're willing to make that kind of commitment."
Former Kansas coach Don Fambrough
Kansas City Star. 1982
Follow Jayson
jenks at twitter.
com/JaysonJenks
Lew Perkins sits with one leg gently crossed over the other, a relaxing look for a man whose job rarely slows, let alone stops. Then, as if the words rolling from his mouth require a more immediate posture, Perkins leans forward and rests his hands on the glossy table in front of him.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown, and Perkins' current goals forecast Kansas upsetting the Big 12's football hierarchy, sending those metaphorical crowns tumbling to the ground.
It's a scenario that, if carried out, would vault the Jayhawks
higher into the national spotlight.
"We set goals — and these are my goals, these aren't coach's goals." Perkins said, voicing a point that must be emphasized. "We've now played Texas and Oklahoma and some of those southern schools real close and had a chance. In my opinion, our next big step is to start beating those teams.
"And that's not easy. It's very, very difficult. Once we start doing that, though, that puts us at a whole other level."
The dividing point — the line that separates Kansas' current position from those annual topdogs in the Big 12 — is understandably thin. Kansas went 12-1 in a breakthrough 2007 season that ended with the dethroning of perennially talented Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
But take a step back to the 2006 season — a year that more accurately reflects the brutally competitive nature of college football. Kansas finished 6-6 and missed
"The one thing we can't do is get complacent. We can't say, 'OK, we're here. Everyone's happy..."
"We can't say 'OK,' were here. Everyone's happy and we filling the stadium and winning games." That's why I said the thing about Texas and Oklahoma. And it's
another noteworthy campaign. Kansas lost an overtime heart-breaker to Toledo, then suffered a seven-point defeat to Nebraska, a three-point defeat to Texas A&M and a one-point loss to Baylor.
LEW PERKIN!
Kansas Athletics Directo
"The one thing we can't do is get complacent." Perkins said.
not just Texas and Oklahoma. It's the best programs in the country"
Yet those are tall tasks, something Perkins said he is fully aware of.
The last time Kansas defeated Oklahoma? Try 1997, Terry Allen's
first year as head coach. And Texas? The Jayhawks are 0-7 against the Longhorns since the Big 12's inception in 1996.
"For us to really get where
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 3B
TENNIS
Jayhawks to finish season at two separate tournaments
BY ANDREW POSCH
aposch@kansan.com
Freshman Victoria Khaneeskaya rushes toward the net in a match against Cattin McKenna of St. Louis University on Sept. 25. Half of the Kansas tennis team will finish the season in Norman, Okla., while the other half will finish in Lawrence.
Your unassessmen — freshman Sara Lazarevic and Vika Khanevskaya and sophomores Kate Morozova and Erin Wilbert — will travel today to Norman to compete in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association central region tournament beginning tomorrow. At the same time, senior Kuni Dorn, junior Maria Martinez and Kate Goff and sophomore Alie Dzuba will remain in Lawrence to host the University's second and final tournament of the fall.
Not everyone on the team is ready to spend their last few days apart.
"It kind of sucks not being together, but that's just the way it is," said Wilbert, who went undefered in both singles and doubles
at the last KU tournament Sept. 25 to 27. "It's not going to be the same without them, but we'll be reunited," she joked.
Both players' concerns mainly come from the shortage of a cheering section from other team members. Wilbert said that along with the rest of the squad, she will especially miss having Dorn with her while she competes in Norman.
Weston White/KANSAN
This is Dorn's last individual tournament as a Jayhawk, and she said that it's really important for her to play well, especially since the tournament is at home.
"I don't feel good about it, but if we need to do it, it's fine," Dorn said. "I'm kind of sad."
Dorn shares Wilbert's feeling regarding the division of players.
"Kuni is always the loudest cheerer. I can always feel her presence," Wilbert said, "She's our senior leader. It'll be different trying to manage without her."
Many teams that will play in the Kansas tournament this weekend will be in the same situation. Players that qualified for regionals will depart for Norman, while the
rest of their teams will make the trip to Lawrence.
"It's not anything different because we do this every year," coach Amy Hall-Holt said. "This
is pretty common." She said that most tennis players get used to being alone at tournaments while growing up, and are acclimated to the idea by the time they go
Still, she knows the value of togetherness and being involved
to college.
COMMENTARY
SEE TENNIS ON PAGE 3B
Student reporters kept at a distance
arm out with my recorder to catch some of coach Mark Mangino's postgame thoughts.
Thirty minutes after Colorado's upset victory over Kansas, I stretched my
Holding an arm straight out for five minutes is about the most athletic thing a journalist does. In the midst of focusing on Mangino's answers, I felt a slight bump from the television reporter to my right. I retracted my arm as she gave me a menacing look and inched into the space where my arm had been
In my short time covering KU football, I've realized that a being beat reporter for a college newspaper doesn't necessarily make me high man on the toten pole.
But at least we can say we're on the totem pole. In Missoula, Mont., the student journalists need binoculars to see it.
University of Montana football coach Bobby Hauck refuses to grant interviews to reporters from the school's newspaper, the Kaimin, after a report about an alleged assault by two Montana players was published in the campus paper last month.
He has even gone as far as publicly belittling them. After a Kaimin reporter asked Hauck if he planned to continue rotating quarterbacks, Haufack fired back: "You want something from me now? You've got to be kidding me."
Immediately afterwards, a reporter from the city paper got a response to the same question.
If Hauck feels that the report was false or contained factual errors, I would understand his position. In that case, he would be defending his players and making a statement that he would not let his players be presented in a false light if they had done nothing wrong.
According to the Kaimin, when one of their reporters asked a Montana player a question, he said he wasn't allowed to talk to the newspaper. The student athlete has the choice whether to speak to the media or not, but no players had problems talking to the student newspaper until Hauck did.
Next week, similar story. A student asked how Montana's defense would stop a speedy running back. Hauck's reply? "I'll give you this, you're persistent. Who's next?"
Hauck has also apparently taken it a step further.
But I think Haack's current position is bogus. He needs to come forward and outline his problems with the alleged assault report. That way, the Kaimin can evaluate its position and determine how to handle the situation.
The problem is that the Kaimin is claiming that their report on the alleged assault was good reporting and no false information was published. No one else has pointed out any false information.
But without a rationale, Hauck is out of line. He is punishing students for good journalism
1
Hopefully Mangino never crosses that line.
Edited by Betsy Cutcliff
Follow Clark Goble at twitter.com/cgoble89.
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