10B THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY,AUGUST 16,2004
SPORTS
Media assistant looks forward to working with Self
BY JESSE NEWELL
jnewellw@kansan.com
KANSAN SPOTTIEWRITE
Chris Theisen has attended the last eight men's basketball Final Fours as a member of the Big 12 basketball office.
After accepting a media relations position with the Kansas men's basketball program this season, Theisen isn't ready to give up on his streak just yet, especially with Bill Self, Kansas men's basketball coach, heading up the program.
this year could be a great year."
"I think I got a good shot at number nine," Theisen said. "When you have four returning starters and the depth coach Self brought in, there's no doubt that
THEISEN
In July Kansas named Theisen its new assistant athletic director for media relations. He will oversee all the major sports promotion at the University with his main
focus on coach Self's basketball team.
It will be the third time Theisen has worked on the same staff asself. He served as a student assistant at the media relations office at Oklahoma State in the 1988-89 season at the same time Self was
an assistant coach under Leonard Hamilton. After an internship, he returned as a student assistant to the program in 1990-91, when Self was an assistant under new coach Eddie Sutton.
Theisen said he looks forward to working with Self in the seasons to come.
"He doesn't forget a face or forget a name, and that's what I like about him the most," Theisen said. "He's a friend of all, which is the way he presents himself to me."
Theisen received that impression in the years since the two worked together. On one occasion, Self started a conversation with Theisen on a plane to the 1997 Final Four. He also
approached Theisen at Final Fours when he was coach for both Illinois and Tulsa.
"It is kind of neat to see how we separated," Theisen said. "Men's basketball is a lot more high profile than media relations, but he went his path, and we crossed a couple times."
Like Self, Theisen was born in Oklahoma and graduated from Oklahoma State.
And now, like Self, he holds office on Naismith Drive, a thrill which he hasn't fully taken in yet.
"It's pretty cool walking into Allen Fieldhouse, which is celebrating its 50th year," Theisen said. "You walk out the door and see all the drawings of the great athletes that have been here. It's
pretty overwhelming."
Self is not the only member of the Kansas team with whom Theisen is being reunited. As assistant sports information director at Kansas State from 1991 to 1993, he worked alongside then-assistant coach Mark Mangino, who is currently in his third season as head football coach at Kansas. He also has worked with Jim Marchiony, Kansas associate athletics director, in five of the past eight Final Fours when Marchiony held the media coordinator position.
"It's such a who-you-know world."Theisen said, "and knowing these guys has really helped me out."
fessionalism and good national reputation made him an easy choice for the job.
"I think he will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge," Marchiony said. "He's exactly what we needed in that position."
Theisen worked as the Big 12 media-relations director for the past six years. He replaces Mitch Germann, who spent seven years in the Kansas media relations office before accepting a new job at the end of last season.
Theisen's wife, Cathy, who graduated with a law degree from the University in 1997, and two sons, Jack and Andrew, will join him in Lawrence in early September.
— Edited by Marissa Stephenson
BASKETBALL: Tough schedule follows Canadian preseason tour
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
Kansas 79-71 in last year's Elite Eight, blocking Kansas from its third-consecutive Final Four appearance.
Kansas also has non-conference road games scheduled against Kentucky and Villanova in January, both slated to be televised nationally on CBS.
Kansas will participate in three Big Monday contests, with ESPN broadcasting its College Game Day studio live from the fieldhouse for the Jan. 29 game against Texas.
Senior Day will have extra significance this season because Kansas will commemorate 50 years since the opening of the fieldhouse with a March 2 game against Kansas State.
For the fourth-consecutive season, the Jayhawks will end their season with a road game against the Missouri Tigers.
The two teams played the first game in the fieldhouse on March 1,1955.
"I if you look at how many NCAA Tournament teams we play, and the number of teams that went deep in the tournament, it looks to be a very challenging schedule."
Jim Marchiony Associate athletics director
Kansas will face 10 NCAA tournament teams from last year, including three that reached the Elite Eight. Oklahoma State, Georgia Tech and St. Joseph's.
"If you look at how many NCAA Tournament teams we play, and the number of teams that went deep in the tournament, it looks to be a very challenging schedule," Marchiony said.
CONITUED FROM PAGE 1B
Jan. 15 Saturday at Colorado
Jan. 19 Wednesday NEBRASKA
Jan. 22 Saturday at Villanova
Jan. 25 Tuesday at Baylor
Jan. 29 Saturday TEXAS
Jan. 31 Monday MISSOURI
Feb. 5 Saturday at Nebraska
Feb. 9 Wednesday at Kansas State
Feb. 12 Saturday COLORADO
Feb. 14 Monday at Texas Tech
Feb. 19 Saturday IOWA STATE
Feb. 21 Monday at Oklahoma
Feb. 27 Sunday OKLAHOMA STATE
March 2 Wednesday KANSAS STATE
March 6 Sunday at Missouri
March 10-13 Thursday-Sunday Big 12 Tournament
Kansas City Mo. (Kemper Arena)
One home game TBD
Exh. = Exhibition Game
HOME GAMES IN CAPS
Source: www.kuathletics.com
The schedule is not yet complete, with officials looking to fill an opening on Dec. 11. Marchiony said that game would be played at Allen Fieldhouse.
Kansas begins its exhibition season Sept. 4-6, playing four
games in Vancouver against Canadian college teams.
The Jayhawks will have 10 preseason practices in preparation for the exhibition.
Edited by Anna Clovis
Nebraska to build football facilities
BY Van Jensen
Daily Nebraskan,
University of Nebraska
VIA U-WIRE
It takes championship facilities to make championship teams. That was the message hammered home on Tuesday as Nebraska's academic and athletic broke ground on the $50 million Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex.
Tom Osborne himself acknowledged the importance of this expansion that will add 6,000 seats to Memorial Stadium and create new facilities for Nebraska's athletes.
"We have to keep up with the other folks," Osborne said, alluding to the arms race of bigger and better facilities in college athletics.
Nebraska's expansion will keep the Osborne name on it, though Tom Osborne held a press conference in November 2003 to say he had asked the athletic
department to pursue corporate sponsorship for the complex because of the firing of head football coach Frank Solich.
Osborne addressed the 500 or so fans and VIPs on hand, wishing Bill Callahan well as NU's new football coach and saying the past is the past.
And while football was the day's focus, two athletes and Chancellor Harvey Perlman spoke about the importance of the new facilities to all of Nebraska's athletic teams.
"It's important to remember all our intercollegiate athletic teams will benefit." Perlman said.
Perlman said Nebraska has already used the promise of new facilities to recruit two nationally ranked software engineering faculty.
For the future of another program, the hope is that the new facilities on the north side will prove just as useful in recruiting.
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