Kansas Football
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday August 20,1998
Sports
Section:
Zac Wegner is the starting quarterback for the Kansas football team, but Coach Terry Allen has yet to find a backup. See Page 3B
Big 12 Football
B
Nebraska recycles assistants, and ISU's Banhauer looks to rebound from up and down season.
SEE PAGE 5B
Kansas Volleyball
Page 1
Sports editor Matthew Friedrichs paints a rosy picture of the new volleyball coach and the team's future.
SEE PAGE 3B
Contact the Kansan
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
Sports Desk:
Sports Fax:
(785) 864-4810
(785) 864-5261
Nothing but net
Ray Bechard, the new KU volleyball coach, is a two-time National Junior College Coach of the Year. The Jayhawks will look to him to end their four year streak of losing seasons. Photo by Roger Nomer/KANSAN
New volleyball coach sets goals
By Laura Bokenkroger
Kansan sportswriter
In the small town of Grinnell, Ray Bechard and his four brothers took their love of athletics and competition seriously.
Richard Bechard, now the Holton High School athletics director, said Harold Bechard, their oldest brother and now a sportswriter for the Salina Journal, initiated most of the family games. And whenever the brothers played basketball, the competition was fierce.
In games to 100, it was 100-99 or 100-
98 every time. Richard Bechard said.
The winners would run because the losers would chase them, or the other way around. I remember some knockdown, drag-out fights.
They played so many basketball games in their backyard that the dirt became packed too hard for their mother to plant a garden in the sum
mer, Richard Bechard said.
Athletics were central to their lives, and when they weren't t playing basketball or baseball, they watched games on television. The Bechards became devout University of Kansas fans, establishing an unpopular loyalty in the midst of traditionally Kansas State Wildcat territory.
Ray Bechard followed in two of his older brothers footsteps, playing basketball for two years at Barton County Community College in Great Bend. He then got his teaching degree at Fort Hays State University and was ready to begin his career.
I can still remember watching Jo Lo White step out of bounds to keep us out of the Final Four in the 60s, Ray Bechard said. Western Kansas has a lot of K-State supporters, so enduring all that made me a stronger KU fan.
When he was 21, Ray Bechard took his first job teaching and coaching boys basketball at Lewis High School.
Winning ways
Kansas volleyball coach Ray Bechard has the highest winning percentage of any collegiate volleyball coach at 92.3 percent for his 13 seasons as a coach.
Kristi Elliott / KANSAN
Before the year began, he was approached with another offer.
We needed a volleyball coach, Ray Bechard said. Initially, I turned them down. I was a casual fan, but I had never played volleyball before.
Richard Bechard said his brother Ray s attention to detail would make him successful as a volleyball coach.
I think a coach is a coach. Richard said. Anyone can learn the Xs and Os. I think Roy Williams would make a great football coach. Ray's people skills and his communication skills granted him the same success in volleyball as in basketball.
Ray agreed to coach the girls volleyball
See BECHARD on page 2B
Interested athletes must bring proof of a recent physical and insurance.
Softball tryouts
Student athletes interested in playing softball should attend an informational meeting at 7 tonight in the lower lobby of the Wagon Student Athletic Center.
Contact assistant coach Carla Marchetti at (785) 864-
4734 for more information.
Take a swing at NCAA ACC basketball.
The Kansas women will play next week will hold tryouts to
watch for the final team.
Women s sports turn 30
Anniversary events begin next Saturday
Women s intercollegiate sports at the University of Kansas turn 30 years old this fall.
The KU Athletics Department is commemorating three decades of athletic competition and development of female athletes at the University with a yearlong celebration.
A run and walk with KU coaches and athletes will kick off the 30th anniversary celebration Aug.29.
Other activities planned include the return of former athletes and coaches the weekend of Oct. 16-18.
Sports complexes receiving facelifts
KU women s sports history:
Professor Marlene Mawson was assigned to initiate a comprehensive women's sports program in 1968.
Marian Washington, women s basketball coach, was named women s athletic director and the women s varsity programs moved to the Athletics Department in 1974.
University of Kansas student athletes have been training hard all summer in preparation for the upcoming sports season but were not alone in their off-season efforts to improve the quality of Kansas athletics.
By Randy Withers
Kansan sportswriter
Read The University Daily Kansan sports section this semester for more KU women s sports history.
While students were on vacation, construction workers slaved away all summer in the Kansas heat. The football, basketball, baseball and volleyball programs all will benefit from the renovations to their buildings.
Of the four main projects under way on the Lawrence campus, the work at Memorial Stadium is the greatest undertaking. Home to Jayhawk football, graduation festivities and the Kansas Relays, the stadium is host to numerous events every year.
Assistant athletics director Pat Warren, who is in charge of building projects, said the first phase of the work at Memorial Stadium was near completion. The total cost of the two-phase construction project stands at $12.5 million dollars.
The bulk of the renovations completed during the first phase of construction is aimed at enhancing the experience for the Kansas football fan.
Upon arriving at the venue, spectators will be met at the north end of the stadium by the new black, iron gates instead of the old barn door-style entrances.
Inside, massive renovation has altered the complexion of the concourse. All of the concession stands and restrooms were replaced.
Beyond the visible signs of improvement, much of the concrete and plumbing within the stadium was replaced. Warren said he was confident that the stadium could hold an event even though the project had not quite reached completion.
It's better, but not yet what we want,
Warren said.
Kansas Athletics Director Bob Frederick added that this was something that
By the Sept. 5 home opener against Oklahoma State, Warren confirmed that all of the concourse renovations will be complete in time for Memorial Stadium s Open House.
Future improvements for the stadium include plans for the construction of a new press box that will house more than 30 luxury boxes. Also being added to the structure are new elevators on the east and west sides of the stadium as well as a video monitor.
Before these plans for renovation could be made, structural engineers were asked to decide whether or not the stadium s present condition justified renovation or the complete construction of a new facility.
The second wave of construction is already under way and is scheduled to be finished in time for the start of the 1999 football season.
Allen Field House also is receiving a $4.5 million dollar facelift. The arena will be more accommodating to fans with the addition of new permanent concessions and a new elevator on the south end of the arena. In addition, the restrooms have been renovated to alleviate the long lines that have become a staple of Kansas basketball home games.
New gates (right) and other amenities are almost completely installed in Memorial Stadium. Work at the football stadium is scheduled to be completed for the Sept. 5 season opponent vs. Oklahoma State.
A new volleyball practice and competition center (below) could open later this fall. The women's basketball team also will practice in the building. Photos by Matthew Friedrich/KANSAN
should have been done 20 or 30 years ago.
Hoglund-Maupin Stadium also is undergoing a $1.8 million dollar renovation. The park will take on the look and feel of a vintage baseball stadium.
We had been hoping to renovate Memorial for a number of years. As big of a project as it is, it tooka while to get to it, Frederick said. It s going to make Memorial much more people-friendly. I think it s going be an excellent improvement for our football program.
it is going to be a really pleasant place to be. Frederick said.
The Hoglund-Maupin Stadium project is on schedule and will be ready for its dedication Oct. 3.
We're very excited, Randall said. There is more to a team than a facility but all great teams have great facilities. We're very thankful, very grateful and humbled by it some.
Kansas baseball coach Bobby Randall said that the park would be an excellent addition to the program. He said that it would instill a sense of pride in the players while providing added enjoyment to fans and students alike.
Kansas also is adding a $4 million dollar facility dedicated primarily to volleyball practice and competition. The site, which has not been named yet, also will serve as an alternative practice site for men's and women's basketball and will finally provide a permanent home for Jayhawk volleyball.
Frederick called the addition the most needed of the improvements to the athletics department, because of the space demands on the courts at the Robinson Center. The new facility will consist of three, side-by-side basketball courts, the center one serving as the volleyball court.
Frederick said that the presumed effect of the renovations would be three-fold.
Obviously, every time you improve your facilities, it helps recruiting, helps attendance and keeps the coaches happy, Frederick said.
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