SAN
2009
Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Jayhawks take on the Sooners Last week's Missouri loss is motivation to defeat Oklahoma. VOLLEYBALL | 6B
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2009
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FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME
Coaching for a new tradition
PAGE 1B
Highland Park defensive coordinator Eric Washington explains a defensive scheme to two players during a walkthrough before the the Scots' first game. Washington played linebacker at the University and graduated in 2006.
Former Kansas players work to rebuild football program at troubled high school
"We wanted to film practice but we didn't have a camera. Well, now we have one and we have a tripod for it, but then we didn't have a connecting piece for the tripod. Now we have all the stuff we need to do it but our tower is 15 feet tall and we don't have any way to get up there. So we have to find a ladder to get up there. There's a pole I guess if you want to try and shimmy up there."
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
Follow Kansan football writer Jayson Jenks at twitter.com/JaysonJenks
BY JAYSON JENKS jienks@kansan.com
There are two practice fields at Topeka's Highland Park High School, both badly cleaved and cracked to reveal as much brown as green.
There's a goalpost slightly tilted at one end and an old linenen sled that houses hornets on the other.
Beyond the fence waits the harsh fist of the real world: unemployment, poverty and even the temptations of substance abuse. Inside, there's football stripped to its purest form.
The equipment is old and worn and some players don't have cleats. During practice, helmets pass hands so everyone can participate. The perks aren't there; only the desire to play.
On those two fields at the high school, where losing has developed into a backward tradition, stand six coaches. They're all wearing clothing with Kansas logos. They're all here with hopes of change.
So why talk about Highland Park, a school located roughly 30 minutes from the weight facilities and bright green turf located at Kansas' Memorial Stadium?
Because in this story, that same stadium serves as the starting point. It's there, with all the amenities of major college football
at their fingertips, where these six players-turned-coaches reached the peak of their college football careers.
When Saturday no longer meant game day, the six looked for other options to stay involved. They took up coaching, and they did so at Highland Park, a high school with as little football tradition as Kansas possessed during the late 90s and early 2000s.
"The football program at Highland Park has been struggling the last few years, the last several years really", Highland Park activities and athletics director Colin Cathey said, "Right now we're looking at starting all over and building from new."
Cathey and Highland Park's administration hired former Kansas defensive back Sadiq Muhammed as the Scots' head coach before the start of this season.
After coaching at the junior high level with former Kansas linebacker Eric Washington last year, Muhammed immediately hired Washington as his defensive coordinator at Highland Park.
So began the Kansas connection.
Former offensive lineman Cesar Rodriguez and former wide receiver Dexton Fields joined Muhammed's staff to
coach their respective positions.
Five of those coaches, including Muhammed, were members of the 2007 team that won the Orange Bowl. Similarly, they all want to be a part of another culture change at Highland Park.
Muhammed also reached out to former quarterback Tyler Lawrence to serve as his offensive coordinator. Lawrence, in turn, talked former offensive lineman Justin Pessoet into joining the staff.
The Scots' have won three consecutive Kansas 5A state championships in basketball and are annually one of the best teams in the state, regardless of class distinction. The football team finished 1-8 last season.
Sound familiar?
"The tradition in football here isn't like it is in basketball." Fields said. "I like seeing improvement. I like changing kids' lives."
Transforming Highland Park's football program is a tall order, and Muhammed and his coaches know that.
Highland Park hasn't had much success in football, especially recently, and that creates a ripple effect. Without winning, the size of a team's roster slowly dips. Without some of those players, the quality of the football team continues diminish.
That's why Washington made his line-backers repeat a tackling drill until they displayed proper technique and why Fields
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 3B
CROSS COUNTRY
Freshman runners make impressive race finishes
BY SAMANTHA ANDERSON sanderson@kansan.com
The Kansas cross country team's freshman runners are making an impressive transition to college — and college running.
"There's a lot of school work and a lot of running," David Roberts said. "The balance is pretty difficult."
The team has seven non-red-shirt freshmen. Four of them — Roberts, Kyra Kilwein, Brenna Farren and Kathleen Thompson — have finished in the top seven among the Kansas runners. Being in the top seven is significant because it means that they qualify for the traveling team, which competes in all the meets that are farther away.
Thompson said that she was more of a middle distance runner traditionally, so it was a shock to be running so many miles. Even those runners with a lot of long distance experience, or "high
These new Kansas cross country runners have a little more than balance to worry about; they have a new running workload
"I've gone up about 15 miles a week, so it took a little adjusting," Kathleen Thompson said.
that is unlike anything they have done in the past.
"I've gone up about 15 miles a week, so it took a little adjusting."
KATHLEEN THOMPSON Freshman runner
mileage," have difficulties adjusting to working out at a collegiate level.
"I have pretty high mileage right now because in high school I ran for a club team, so we did a lot of mileage," Brenna Farrone said.
It's not just the workouts the runners have to worry about; it is the actual races as well.
"But it's just workout-wise and getting used to weights because weights are different."
Roberts had a strong showing in his first race at Rim Rock, finishing a 6K in fourth place, which
COMMENTARY
was second overall for Kansas. When the time came to bump up the distance to 8K, Roberts struggled a little and finished seventh among the Kansas runners. Roberts said his high school races were usually 5K races, so he was better conditioned for the 6K and his first 8K was a bit of a shock to him. He has been working hard to be ready for his next 8K in about a week.
Many of these freshmen ran on the same courses for four years of high school and got used to all the nuances; they knew where the first big hills were and where they should speed up and slow down. In college they are running on new courses in new states.
"I should be more prepared just off the mileage I'm doing," Roberts said.
Kyra Kilwein went to Lawrence Free State High School, so Rim Rock was a course she knew very well. Traveling to Missouri was a new experience for her.
"I was more nervous because
SEE RUNNERS ON PAGE 3B
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
Freshman Kathleen Thompson runs through a bridge at Rim Rock Farm at the bob Timmons invitational. Four freshmen runners have finished in the top seven.
Langford deserves respect from fans
Here's a list of the top nine scorers in Kansas basketball history:
history:
1. Danny Manning 2,951
2. Nick Collison 2,097
3. Raef LaFrentz 2,066
4. Clyde Lovettele 1,979
5. Darnell Valentine 1,821
6. Keith Langford 1,812
7. Paul Pierce 1,768
8. Dave Robisch 1,754
9. Kirk Hinrich 1,753
All are Jayhawk legends whose numbers we remember just as much as their faces and playing styles; Manning's No. 25, LaFrentz's No. 45 and Pierce's No. 34. The numbers hang from the illustrious rafters in Allen Fieldhouse, basketball's mecca.
Of the nine leading scorers above, eight have their jerseys retired. The silky Langford's No. 5 ranked sixth on the list and also deserves to be there.
The criteria to make the ratters before the 2002-03 season was stodgy to say the least. A player had to be college basketball player of the year, MVP of the NCAA tournament, a consensus first team All-American or a two-time first team All-American to have a banner lifted among other Kansas greats.
Kansas Athletics rightfully slackened the criteria considerably, allowing players such as Hinrich to have a banner hoisted in his honor. It is unclear that the current criteria are.
But if Hinrich and Collison are up there, Langelord should be too.
Langford was always underrated because he simply didn't dominate games. He never was a fantastic outside shooter. He never lead the team in scoring for a season.
He played with Hinrich and Collison for two years and alongside Wayne Simien for two more. It is unfair to suggest he was not quite as good as other players with their jerseys retired just because he played for great teams.
I think people also tend to forget how important Langford was to Kansas' title game run in 2003. In the first round, second-seeded Kansas was locked in a battle with fifteenth-seeded Utah State. With Hinrich passive, Langford took over. He sliced through the Aggie zone time and time again, finishing the game with 22 points.
He didn't need to.
Against Dwyane Wade and Marquette in the Final Four, Langford paced the Jayhawks with 17 points in the first half, opening up a huge Kansas lead. The Jayhawks cruised to a 94-61 victory.
Another factor hurting Langford's chances is his inability to stick on an NBA roster. But anything Langford did after his time at Kansas has nothing to do with his credentials for a banner.
If Kansas makes a few more free throws against Syracuse and Bucknell center Chris McNaughton's hook shot hits back iron a year later, Langford would be a lead.
The argument that Kansas should only recognize the best of the best is also invalid. If the criteria change, which they won't, Langford's banner could rightfully be taken down. Under the current system, Langford should have a banner.
Only then will he be given the respect he deserves.
Edited by Tim Burgess
Follow Kansan sports writer Clark Goble at twitter.com/cqoble99.