Section B · Page 4
The University Daily Kansan
Friday, January 22, 1999
Football hopefuls show their stuff at Senior Bowl
The Associated Press
MOBILE, Ala. — If ever there was a place for an "At Your Own Risk" sign, it would be the sidelines of a Senior Bowl practice.
Go ahead and try to squeeze in, just don't block the view of the hundreds of agents, coaches and scouts all looking for the next superstar. Do it and you can get anything from a mast swallow to a shove out of the way.
Welcome to Senior Bowl week in Mobile, Ala. It's seven days of players trying to impress scouts, agents trying to impress players and out-of work coaches trying to impress anyone with a position to fill.
"There's a lot of things going on here," Minnesota Vikings coach Dennis Green said. "Lots of wheeling and dealing."
A Senior Bowl record 1,048 coaches, scouts, agents and media members registered for game activities this week, said Senior Bowl spokesman Vic Knight.
"We have a little bit of everything going on here," said Knight, who estimated that 75 percent of the registrants were NFL personnel. "Years ago, the NFL came here for the players. Now, the players come here for the NFL. Everyone involved benefits tremendously this week, from gaining ground in the draft to hiring a coach to landing a client."
"You really have to go and have some good practices and get yourself noticed," UCLA quarterback Cade McNown said. "It's the best talent against the best talent with hundreds of eyes watching."
The game for seniors isn't played until Saturday, but anyone who matters in the NFL is gone by then anyway. Most coaches and scouts pack up around Thursday, which makes the first four days critical for players.
The players spend their days trying to find a way to balance a hectic mix of interviews, evaluations and social events all while trying to prove they can make it in the NFL.
"Everyone involved benefits tremendously this week, from gaining ground in the draft to hiring a coach to landing a client."
Vic Knight Senior Bowl spokesman
"Everyone is always going to have
questions about my height and weight, but I can't stretch myself anymore than I've already tried to do," linebacker Dat Nguyen of Texas A&M said. "All I can do is have a good week here."
With just more than two months remaining until the April draft, the scouts already have an idea of who's good and who isn't. But a player can still use the week to change some minds, either on the field or in a face-to-face interview.
"Oh yeah, a guy can really help himself this week," said Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden, head coach of the North squad. "Stocks can rise here because it's good players on good players every day."
Aside from keeping tabs on players, coaches also are evaluating each other. First-year coaches Andy Reid of the Philadelphia Eagles and Brian Billick of the Baltimore Ravens both have talked to coaches this week while trying to round out their staffs.
Green and Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher went a step further by actually hiring coaches.
Agents are also hard at work, either trying to land a lucrative new client, or protect the ones they already have.
if procter takes their job.
"You have to help your guy meet with the best people possible, as well as be on the lookout for the player who needs some help," said Andre Jones, an agent representing Notre Dame running back Autry Denson.
"There's not another postseason game with this much to offer."
Bill Walsh named 49ers general manager
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — After six months of uncertainty caused by a front-office exodus, questions about who's in charge of the San Francisco 49ers were answered by Bill Walsh's appointment as general manager.
The Associated Press
It'll be my job to manage the organization, the operational side of it, in particular, and to deal with the real challenges that will be occurring in the next few months," said Walsh, back for his third tour with the 49ers, but his first exclusively as an administrator.
Walsh originally came to San Francisco in 1979, winning three Super Bowls in 10 years as coach while overseeing drafts or trades that produced such players as Joe Montana, Steve Young and Jerry Rice.
There was also an awkward stint under George Seifert as a consultant in 1996 in which his suggestions were routinely ignored. That won't be the case this time.
"I just couldn't return to the San Francisco 49ers in aordinate role, and I think that's understandable," Walsh said. "Not that I haven't worked well with others or for others. I did that for George Selfert for one year. But the role has changed, where I can really truly express my beliefs and implement those beliefs."
Joining Walsh in the executive ranks will be Terry Donahue, 54. The former UCLA coach and broadcaster, Donahue was hired as the team's player personnel director. Walsh said Donahue also will be groomed eventually to succeed him as the team's chief football administrator.
The additions bring a sense of closure to six months of organizational upheaval marked by the resignations of Carmen Policy and Larry Thrailkill as team president and Dwight Clark as general manager and the firing of Vinny Cerrato as player personnel director.
"I think now there's a sense of stability," said Walsh, who was signed to a four-year contract.
example, to clean house or to get this thing straight. It could be that everyone is doing a solid job and performing well and there could be no changes. It could be that there will be some changes. We're just going to go to work, continue as we have and see where that takes us."
Walsh t o o k pains to say he was there to complement t h e efforts of
"But I didn't come here, for
coach Steve Mariucci, signed to a new five-year contract last week, and praised him as one of the finest coaches in the league. San Francisco went 12-4 this season and beat Green Bay in the playoffs before losing to Atlanta in the divisional round.
"I'm certainly not going to interfere with Steve, other than a play or two I might try to call during a game," Walsh said, laughing. "I'm in total harmony with Steve Marlucci."
With the 49ers facing a salary cap crunch — they're a projected $24 million over next season's limit — Walsh said he and his staff face major challenges in holding the roster together. He also said he expected to focus more on the draft than free agency in addressing team needs.
"It's not going to be easy, but you have a choice of pyramiding or mortaging into the future further or trying to deal with it directly," Walsh said. "We can't do it cold turkey, but we certainly have to be looking closely at where we are with our squad and the cap."
The team also hopes to hire former 49ers receiver Gene Washington as an executive vice president, which would make him one of the highest ranking African Americans in a front office role. Washington, 52, is the NFL's director of football development.
Washington's addition to the 49ers front office could coincide with the resolution of exiled coowner Eddie DeBartolo's bid for reinstatement.
Boston schools admit reporting false scores
Director promises the 30-year policy will not continue
The Associated Press
BOSTON — The puck stops here. The athletic director for Boston schools has acknowledged reporting false hockey scores to newspapers to avoid embarrassing the losers.
He has promised to stop.
Rocco DILorenzo, athletic director for the city's schools, wouldn't say if bogus scores had been entered in other sports. One basketball coach said that fake scores occasionally had been called into newspapers for his sport.
icy has existed for hockey games for more than 30 years and originated from an informal agreement between his office and Boston hockey coaches. The scores were reported inaccurately to The Boston Globe and Boston Herald when the game was especially lopsided. The scores were changed, but the winners always remained the same.
"It's bad enough already in the hockey arena when it is so physical and the adrenaline is pumping." Dilorenzo said. "Then to look in the paper and to have your nose rubbed in a bad score is really embarrassing. So we improvised."
A Boston Globe report exposed the phony hockey scores after a photographer realized the scores published in the paper didn't match what she had witnessed on the ice.
occurred on the basketball courts when there have been near-shoutout games, said Kenny Grubbs, a basketball coach for Snowden International High in Boston.
DILorenzo said fudging the scores not only made the students look better, but it also boosted morale for the hockey teams.
Dilorenzo confirmed that the pol-
The kinder scores also have
One parent said the net result of the phony scores was not good.
"It's not helping the kids. It teaches kids that honesty is not the most important thing," said Sherry Williams, whose 12-year-old daughter plays basketball for Boston Renaissance Charter School.
Tracey Lynch, representative for Boston Schools, said that the schools did not condone such actions and that they would look into the situation.
DilOlenor pledged in writing to provide accurate scores to media
outlets in the future.
"I assure that this will not happen again," he said. "But there's never been a complaint over all these years from kids or parents."
years from kids or parents. The state high school athletic association criticized the bogus scoring system.
"I understand what he's saying about the sportsmanship and embarrassment, but I also understand the position of the media in wanting accuracy," said Bill Game, deputy director of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association.
Fritz McGinness of the National Federation of State High School Associations — a group in Kansas City that writes rules for all high school athletic events — said the policy sets a bad example for students.
"No one likes to get defeated 20-0, but reality has to take place once in a while," he said.
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