Volume 125 Issue 7
kansan.com
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
مساعدة
COMMENTARY
KU sports more than basketball
Sports fans are constantly checking these two teams on the Internet throughout the average day for the latest news and updates.
Paying attention to football and men's basketball is easy for this campus.
These two sports get most of our attention, but there are two other sports in season already that are playing well, and you have a chance to see them live for an extended period of time.
The soccer team just finished an impressive weekend where it knocked off Georgia and UNLV to win the Jayhawk Invitational, and improved their record to 3-1.
Soccer and volleyball are both off to impressive starts.
The Georgia win was huge for the team considering the Bulldogs knocked the Jayhawks out of the NCAA Tournament last November.
It was a big step for Kansas after an early season loss to Northwestern, but now they seem to be gaining some positive momentum.
Although the crowds aren't as big as Memorial Stadium or Allen Fieldhouse, the passion is still there from the players and the fans that are there in support.
So before you pile on your touch to watch some football this weekend, or check out Charlie Weis and the new-look football team, remember there are other great athletes right in our own backyard.
The lajahwaks know this is a crucial part of their schedule. Very few teams get 10 straight home games to start a season, and the team wants to take advantage of every one to stack up some victories. Especially when the teeth of the Big 12 road schedule comes calling.
Edited b-y Andrew Ruszczyk
We've all been anxiously awaiting the start to the football season, but remember there are other sports that will have a chance to make a run at NCAA tournament berths this season as well.
Like the soccer team, volleyball has a golden opportunity at home early in the year. With seven straight home matches, it's the perfect time to capitalize on the momentum built up from last weekends performance.
Volleyball had a solid start to the season in Fayetteville, Ark., last weekend winning the first seven sets they played. However, the home team Arkansas Razorbacks proved to be too much to overcome in the end.
In college soccer, there's a lot of training and a lot of preparation, but only a few chances to capitalize on all of those factors.
the same can be for the volleyball team. This group of girls has a loyal following of dozens of students and hundreds of locals. Horseji Family Athletics Center is not the biggest venue on campus, but it has a passionate fanbase who makes a lot of noise in the 1:300-seat arena.
With the combination of experience, a push of youthful attackers and some incredible depth, this team has a chance to open some eyes around campus.
Support still strong for Armstrong despite doping allegations
DOWN, SET, HUT
READY TO TACKLE Hawkinson eager to start season with new coaches
FARZIN VOUSOUGHIAN
fvousoughian@kansan.com
Oklahoma State's senior defensive end Jamie Blatnick gets tackled by KU offensive lineman Tanner Hawkinson after intercepting KU quarterback Jordan Webb's pass at the line of scrimmage.
When former Kansas coach Turner Gill was relieved of his duties following the regular season finale, players were unsure of what the future had in store for not only the program, but also themselves.
For Tanner Hawkinson, senior offensive tackle and captain, he was eager, but also nervous to find out who would
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Hawkinson
carry on as the new coach of the lavhawks.
When Charlie Weis was named coach in December, Hawkinson and his teammates were optimistic and motivated for the upcoming season.
"I'm pretty sure all of the players were following the coaching search pretty closely for a couple of weeks," Hawkinson said. "His name never really came up and when it did and he got hired, everybody got really excited because everyone knew what he was about."
Hawkinson said he is excited to have the rare opportunity to play for Weis and also be under the guidance of a strong offensive line coach, Tim Grunhard. Playing under a strong coaching staff, Hawkinson said he feels that Weis has assembled a team will help turn the football program around for the 2012 season.
"When he got in and when some of the other coaches got hired, we knew we had the coaches in place." Hawkinson
said. "We knew that they were going to put us in a good position to win."
Grunhard brings 11 years of professional playing experience with the Kansas City Chiefs where he started 155 games and earned one Pro Bowl honor. Following his playing career, Grunhard was named the head coach of Bishop Miege High School for six years. There he led the Stags to five consecutive district titles and helped them win the 2009 4A state title.
Grunhard is now taking his coaching career to the college level as an offensive line coach, and Hawkinson knows he is improving with Grunhard as his position coach.
"I think I've improved in many facets of the game," Hawkinson said.
He said moving over to the left side has turned him into a better blocker overall.
Hawkinson is taking in Grunard's advice to better prepare himself before the season opener.
Grunhard could not have asked for a better group of offensive linemen in his first year with his new gig. Having Hawkinson as the leader of the line makes Grunhard's job easier, and he is looking forward to seeing him play on Saturdays.
I think he is another guy that is ready to go and play," Grunhard said. "We put in the work in the winter. We put in the work in the spring. It's been a long, hot summer. Now let's Gon play football. I think Tanner feels that."
1
"He's played the game," Hawkinson said. "He's played it at a high level so you know what he is talking about. You don't
nquestion whatever he says."
be ready on game day and it is up to the players on the field to play hard and do what it takes to win.
Hawkinson is feeling good about all of the hard work that has been put in the off-season because of the new coaching staff. He said the coaches will
into games week to week," he said. "It's up to us as players to execute those game plans."
"You know they're going to have a good game plan going
BIG 12
Bowlsby ready to right the Big 12
Edited by Luke Ranker
ETHAN PADWAY
ETHAN PADWAY
epadway@kansan.com
Bob Bowley is here to right the Big 12 ship after two years of sailing in turbulent waters. Over the past two years the conference saw four of its founding schools leave to join other conferences. Other member schools took wandering glances at other conferences and it seemed that the Big 12 conference was close to dismantling itself,
The conference stabilized by replacing former commissioner Dan Beebe with interim commissioner Chuck Neins and adding two strong football programs in Texas Christian University and West Virginia. And then last spring the conference brought in Bowlys, former Stanford athletic director, as the permanent Big 12 commissioner.
In this July 13, 2012, file photo, Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby speaks during the NCAA college football Big 12 Media Davs in Dallas.
Bowlsbay said he is aware that some people may feel uncertain about the future of the Big 12 because of the events of the past two years.
"I think everyone is forward looking, everyone is mutually committed." Bowlsy said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bowlsy's first task is negotiating a new television deal — something that he's done in the past as an athletic director in the Pac-12 and Big Ten conferences, but this time
He said he came into the job with some apprehension, but he found a conference that was much more stable and unified than many people thought.
around his role in negotiating has expanded.
Although the deal is not yet signed, Bowsby is full of optimism.
"The exposure for our football programs, for our men's and women's basketball and for the Olympic sports will be unprecedented," Bowlsy said.
When the first round of schools decided to leave the Big 12 in the summer of 2010, the Big 12 institutions rallied the wagons. They defended their decision not to expand the conference by singing the praises of a 10-team conference — where every team plays each other in a round-robin football schedule, and a double round-robin basketball schedule.
The new schedule led to eight of the ten members being invited to a bowl game last season.
Bowlby compared the new conference schedule to those in conferences that grew over the last two years. He said he's sure that those conferences are wondering if the expansion was really worth it because it makes scheduling more complicated.
"In the ACC and the SEC, there are some institutions that have had hundred year histories of playing each other that aren't going to be playing each other every year," Bowlsby said. "I think the reality of that and the reality of the larger number have kind of sunk in."
After Texas A&M and Missouri left the Big 12, the conference could
not feasibly remain a BGS conference without taking in new blood. So they welcomed TCU and West Virginia to the family.
But even though they stay persistent in the strengths having a 10-team conference gives them, the rumors of expansion still swirl around
the ever unsettled college football landscape.
"Will we continue to keep expansion on our horizon, in our dashboard? Sure we will, we have to," Bowlsby said. "It gets talked about at every conference meeting in every conference and we'll have to talk
about it too, but I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with 10, and I think it's going to be a very high bar if we going to take anybody else in."
Edited by Hannah Wise