THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 1B
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2012
McCabe
COMMENTARY Trying for a Sunflower turnaround
BYE WEEK BREAKDOWN
Shortly after Charlie Weis was hired last December, he strolled onto the court at Allen Fieldhouse and asked the packed house a question:
Edited by Stéphane Roque
WHERE DO WE GO NOW?
"We're 2-10," Weis said. "The other school in this state is 10-2. Why?"
Figuring out the why is easy. Doing something about it is the hard part, as Weis is about to find out.
"My job now that I've been hired here is to not just figure out why." Weis told the Allen Field-house crowd that cold afternoon in December. "But do something about it."
It was obvious that Weis had orders that day not to mention "the school in Columbia" as Mizzou was getting acquainted with the SEC at the time and Kansas was collectively shunning the Tigers, refusing to schedule them in any sport (for the time being).
It doesn't have to be ugly next weekend, though. Weis could realize his starting quarterback isn't very good and learn to trust his running game for a full four quarters. A Kansas kicker could find a map to between the uprights. Snyder, for the first time in his career, could feel sorry for the Jayhawks as he starts the third quarter up four touchdowns and decide to not run up the score.
Don't expect any of those to happen, however.
If Snyder smells blood, the scoreboard operator better be ready. And if losing to Rice and Northern Illinois while Snyder is knocking off the likes of Oklahoma on the road doesn't constitute "smelling blood," I don't know what does.
And besides that, it seemed like a fair question from an East Coast guy who hadn't spent much time around here. Kansas State has no advantage over Kansas in facilities, location or history. It recruits the same in-state kids and deals with the same issues as Kansas; namely a lack of high school talent in the state and competing with another BCS conference school in a state not equipped to support two BCS conference schools
He also has no qualms about kicking his in-state rival when its down, as Weis is sure to see next Saturday afternoon. In Mark Mangino's first season at Kansas in 2002, Snyder embarrassed him to the tune of 64-0. Turner Gill received the same welcoming gift two years ago, losing in Lawrence 59-7. In Snyder's last 10 victories over Kansas dating back to 1998, the average score has been 44-8.
Weis probably knew the real answer to his question, though. Kansas State was 10-2 because they found the perfect fit at head coach over two decades ago in Bill Snyder, a brilliant football mind who found a place he loved and never had any intentions of testing his coaching merit at a higher level.
TARA BRYANT/KANSAN
Junior linebacker Hildon Tharp attempts to tackle a Rice player on Sep. 8, at Memorial Stadium. Despite Tharp's nine tackles, the Jayhawks lost to the Owls 25-24
BLAKE SCHUSTER hschuster@kansan.com
Even with all the bravado Kansas showed in hiring big names to fix the football program, the Jayhawks have won just one game in four tries this season.
As Charlie Weis & Co. enter a bye week, there are more questions than answers and just as much — if not more — disappointment in Jayhawks football than there was
in the Turner Gill era.
about as much as with his quarterback — 155 rushes on 130 pass attempts — yet with Crist not able to connect on his passes the offense has had little balance.
touchdowns) was temporary because it disappeared in the fourth quarter when the Jayhawks were desperately trying to put points on the board.
Dayne Crist has been anything but golden. The fifth year transfer has completed just 48 percent of his passes while throwing for only two touchdowns on four interceptions.
Crist's numbers would look much worse if it wasn't for a consistent run game that has scored seven of the Jayhawks' 10 touchdowns this season.
Weis has used his backfield
In trying out a less-employed scheme, Weis found temporary success with the wildcat formation numerous times against Northern Illinois last Saturday with wide receiver Christian Matthews running the offense.
"Wildcat is effective until they start stretching to the perimeter." Weis said. "Once they start stretching to the perimeter then you go to something else. You don't go away from it because you don't think it's going to keep working."
unbalanced offense, which — as it had done all season — failed to sustain successful drives.
It forced Kansas back into its
With an extra week off, it's not exactly back to the drawing board for the Kansas coaches, but it's no secret that what was expected to vindicate the futile Jayhawks has yet to do so.
SWIMMING
—Edited by Stéphane Roque
Captains ready for final season in pool
CHRISTOPHER SCHAEDER
cschaeder@kansan.com
For swimming and diving captains Alysia Rudman, Brooke Brull and Rebecca Swank, their swimming careers began at a young age during the summer time.
Rudman, a senior from Baldwin City, began her swimming at the age of eight with the Lawrence Aquahawks.
Brull, a senior from Lake Quivira,
and Rebecca Swank, a senior from
Wichita, began swimming at the
ages of five and eight respectively
at their country clubs during the
summers.
Rebecca Swank, Brooke Brull and Alyssa Rudman will be leading the Kansas swimming and dive team this year.
Once swimming became a passion, the three quit other sports to pursue swimming full time.
"I danced and did a flag football league during the summer," Rudman said. "But when I was nine or 10, I started doing swimming full time."
Brull also competed in several sports before deciding on swimming.
"I did basketball and dancing growing up, but eventually I had to just stop them because swimming takes so much practicing to get good at it," Brull said.
Swank played soccer and softball when she was younger but realized swimming was her sport when she prepared for her secondary education.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Although each of the captains had opportunities to visit and swim at other schools, the combination of the coaching staff, the team and the proximity to home kept the girls from leaving their home state.
"I took a trip to Utah, South Carolina, Iowa, KU and San Diego State, and I actually liked different things at every school, so it was a tough decision for me, but in the end, I really like the team atmosphere here," Brull said.
For Rudman, it had to do with her long-time relationship with head coach Clark Campbell and assistant coach Jen Fox.
"I've known Clark and Jen since I was about eighteen." Rudman said, "so I already knew who they were and that they were good people."
Swank used similar reasoning for picking Kansas as a place to spend her college career.
"I picked KU because of the coaching staff and the girls on the team, who I got to know really well, which made me really like the program at KU when I was looking at other schools," Swank said.
After joining the swimming and diving team at Kansas, each of the captains have succeeded in different events. Brull currently swims freestyle, backstroke and individual medley; Rudman swims backstroke; and Swank swims distance free.
Despite competing in different
events, the captains have set similar goals for themselves and the team: to improve on their times and more importantly to compete with the top teams in the Big 12 Conference.
"We have really good freshmen coming in, so I know we will be
"Texas is really good,but our goal this year is to get at least second place in the conference," Rudman said.
better than last year," Brull said. "And now that Texas A&M and Missouri are out of our conference, we want to get second in the conference."
Edited by Ryan McCarthy