8A SPORTS
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY,OCTOBER 20.2009
STUCKEY (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
the caliber that I should be playing at," Stuckey said. "And I feel like there's a lot of room for me to grow and get better. For my team to be successful, I have to play at a higher level."
Playing alongside so many new faces at any given time — nine players have played heavily in the secondary — Stuckey has performed balancing act this season.
That scenario, though, can create problems in the secondary.
"Coach tells us just to do our job and then when the opportunity comes,do something special."
JUSTIN THORNTON Senior safety
One part of Stuckey is the player who knows that no individual single-handedly wins a football game, especially on defense. But there's also a part of Stuckey that wants to make every play for a defense that is still finding its place.
said. "When your back's against the wall and your team is out there, you always want to stand up and make a play."
"It still is a struggle," Stuckey
where positioning is often the difference between making and not making a play. It's a lesson that teammates said Stuckey is carrying with him this season.
"When you start trying to do too much, that's when you start to make mistakes,"
Thornton said. "Coach tells us just to do our job and then when the opportunity comes, do something special. When you try to do too much sometimes, it can hurt."
Edited by Nick Gerik
BECHARD (CONTINUED FROM 10A)
Bechard took the challenge and was the Lewis High School boys basketball coach and volleyball coach for three years. Bechard said it wasn't an easy start, since his only previous experience in volleyball had been watching a few high school matches.
"Early on it was a lot of trial by fire, and sometimes that's not always bad," Bechard said.
Though Bechard said his original dream was to coach basketball, after a few years, volleyball
really began to intrigue him
"Boy's high school basketball coach I thought would be a great job," Beachard said. "Then I
played at a community college. I thought that would be a neat place to go and coach. So I did coach basketball, and that was a really big deal, but the volleyball thing began to grow on me a bit and grabbed my attention to the point that I enjoyed it."
"I feel blessed every day to come work here."
RAY BECHARD Volleyball coach
After his three years at Lewis High School, Bechard was hired at Barton Community College as the assistant women's basketball coach. After two years of being the assistant women's basketball coach, the head coach for the volleyball team left.
Bechard took the volleyball coaching position on a trial basis. Eventually Bechard had a chance to have a more full time position on the basketball side, but by that time Bechard
decided that volleyball was what he really wanted to do.
Beachard spent 13 years at Barton Community College and posted a 716-60 record. His team also placed in the top five of the NJCAA Volleyball Tournament 12 of his years coaching.
After his successful run at Barton, Bechard started interviewing at a few different schools, but he said he wanted to be the coach at Kansas.
"I was a big jayhawk fan growing up and always thought this
would be a great place" Bechard said.
would be a great place," Bechard said. "This was my dream job. I was offered the job on a Wednesday and got here on the following Monday."
Bechard inherited a program that was coming off a 9-24
season in 1997 and had not seen a winning season in five years.
"I knew it was going to be a tall task and that there was a lot of work to do." Bechard said. "It's been a lot of work in a great league."
Bechard helped get Kansas back on track and took it to three straight NCAA volleyball tournaments from 2003 to 2005, its first-ever NCAA volleyball tournaments.
Bechard said he still enjoys coaching and hopes to be able to coach for many years to come.
"I feel blessed every day to come to work here," Bechard said.
Edited by Abby Olcese
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Players overcome early struggles
MEN'S GOLF
Team trails Nebraska in final round
BY ANDREW WITUSZYNSKI
awituszynski@kansan.com
The men's golf team enters the final round of the Bill Ross Intercollegiate in fourth place today at Blue Hills Country Club in Kansas City, Mo. It's the second-to-last tournament before the players put their clubs away for the winter.
The Jayhawks, coming off a three-week break with no competitive golf, seemed rusty with a 305-stroke total in the first round Monday. Then, in the second round, the Jayhawks recovered and shot a 293 to jump up from fifth place to fourth place.
This gives Kansas the chance to pull off another top-three finish this season. Nebraska is in third place, ahead of Kansas by one stroke. Wichita State is in second place and ahead of the Jayhawks by six strokes. Central Arkansas is running away with the lead, ahead of Kansas by 16 strokes.
With Central Arkansas out of reach, Coach Kit Grove's biggest goal is to beat the Big 12 rival ahead.
"We absolutely have to beat Nebraska in my mind," Grove said.
Nate Barbee, Dakota Dunes,
S.D., junior, led the jayhawks with a
two-round total of 147 strokes, but he struggled early in the day.
"Nate had four three-puts this morning, which is very uncharacteristic of him." Grove said.
Barbee improved on his morning performance of a 76 with a 71 in the afternoon.
"I putted a little better in the second round, but I still have some issues on the green." Barbee said.
Grove attributed the team's "poor" start to just the last few holes of the morning.
Freshman Alex Gutesha chips the ball onto the green during the Kansas Invitational at the Alvamar Golf Course, which was held Sept. 28 to 29. The Jawahks play the final round of The Bill Ross Intercollegiate today in fourth place, one stroke behind Nebraska.
"We were on pace to finish with a nice 295 score or so, but then everyone blew up down the stretch," Grove said.
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
The team has been able to stay away from those blow-up scores at the ends of rounds in the last few tournaments, but Grove said the team is not completely immune to it.
Five players compete in the tournament but only the best four scores count toward the team's total. On Monday, walk-on Jeff Bell, Wichita freshman, shot the high round and his score didn't count. However, Bell rebounded in the second round and tied for the best store on the team, a 71.
"I was really proud of Jeff today." Grove said.
Alex Gutesha, Greenwood Village, Colo., freshman, was right behind Barbeha with a total of 149. He said he would like to beat Nebraska, but didn't want to stop with that.
"We're only a stroke behind
Nebraska, so I'm not worried about them," Gutesha said. "I want us to beat Wichita State, and if we all play like we're capable of playing, we'll pass them."
Edited by Sarah Kelly
CRIME
Player stabbed to death at dance
BY PAT EATON-ROBB
Associated Press
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Connecticut's Jasper Howard leaps in the air while covering Louisville Chishler during the last seconds of a NCAA game in East Hartford, Conn., on Saturday. HOWD died Sunday following an on-campus stabbing, hours after the team's victory over Louisville.
STORRS, Conn. — Less than 12 hours after celebrating his team's homecoming victory over Louisville, Connecticut football coach Randy Edsall was at a hospital identifying the body of one of the game's star players.
The day after Iasper Howard, 20, of Miami, was stabbed to death in a fight following an on-campus, university sanctioned dance, police Monday continued to interview those attending the dance in search for possible witnesses. Investigators had not identified a suspect or released the name of a second stabbing victim, who was treated and released from a local hospital.
Edsall said he and the team were heartbroken and devastated over the loss of Howard, a junior and the team's starting cornerback who came to the school to get away from the violence on the streets of his hometown. He was the first person in his family to go to college.
"I know Jasper loved the University of Connecticut and he loved his teammates," Edsall said. "And he loved the opportunity he was getting here at UConn."
UConn Police Major Ronald Blicher said this is the first homicide at the university in the more than 30 years he has been associated with the school.
Blicher said Howard was stabbed during a fight between two groups that included students and non-students. The altercation broke out just after a fire alarm went off in the student center, forcing around 300 people to evacuate from a party and dance sponsored by the school's West Indian Awareness Organization.
Authorities wouldn't say if any other athletes were involved.
Police cordoned off the crime scene near the university's Gampel Pavilion basketball arena for much of the day.
"Certainly not all 300 saw this event," Blicher said. "We have been actively interviewing people through the night and day, and we continue to seek anybody who might have information."
Police were trying to determine if the alarm and the fight were related. About 40 university and state police officers were working on the case. The university community was sent messages
warning them to be cautious, but Blicher said officials don't believe anyone else is in danger and that the stabbing did not appear premeditated.
"The university does not have an individual walking around just 'tabbing people,' Blicher said.
Howard's death was especially tragic, because he was about to become a father. Edsall said. Neither police nor the university
provided any additional information about the expectant mother, whom Edsall identified as Howard's girlfriend.
The coach gathered his team at its training facility at 6 a.m. to deliver the news.
Howard and the other student who was stabbed were taken to Windham Community Memorial Hospital, where the surviving student was treated and released. Howard was later airlifted to Saint
Edsall drove to the hospital Sunday morning and was asked to identify Howard's body.
Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, where he died.
Howard had a career-high 11 tackles Saturday and made perhaps the game's biggest play, forcing a fumble as Louisville was about to score with UConn up 21-13 in the third quarter.
"I felt my hand go on the ball and I felt that I had a chance to get it out," he said after the game. "I just stripped it out. It was a big play. We needed it."
UConn won 38-25.
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