6B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DABY KANSAN
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2007
Duke coach to leave for Texas job
ASSOCIATED PRESS
DURHAM, N.C. — Gail Goestenkors is leaving Duke to coach the Texas women's basketball team, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Goostenkors, 44, built a powerhouse during her 15 seasons at Duke, winning seven Atlantic Coast Conference coach of the year awards and compiling a career record of 396-99.
The person with knowledge of the decision spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement had not yet been made.
Duke guard Abby Waner said a team meeting was scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, but did not know why it was being held.
Goestenkens was widely considered the top candidate to replace Hall of Famer Jody Conradt at
Texas after her sudden resignation last month.
The night Conradt retired, Texas officials made it clear they would be willing to pay for a top-notch coach. Conradt earned $550,000 a year. While Goestenkors' salary at Duke is not a public record, it was believed the private school would be unlikely to match a high offer from the Longhorns.
Goestenkors visited the Texas campus last week, when she met with women's athletic director Chris Plonsky and members of the school's search committee and toured the Longhorns' 44,000-square-foot practice facilities.
Goestenkors coached the Blue Devils to four Final Fours and two appearances in the national championship game. Her last Duke team was one of her best — the Blue Devils ended the regular season ranked No. 1 and held the top
overall seed in the NCAA tournament, but were upset in the regional semifinals by Rutgers. Duke ended the season with a 32-2 record.
After Goestenkors visited Austin, Duke held an on-campus rally attended by fans and players to urge her to stay. But Texas is considered one of nation's best programs with its first-rate facilities and a recruiting pipeline to 1,300 Texas high schools.
Goestenkors already has established herself with those schools, signing star senior Lindsey Harding out of the Houston area.
Conradt spent 31 seasons at Texas and won her only national championship in 1986, when the Longhorns went 34-0. The Longhorns last made the Final Four in 2003. She retired with a career record of 900-306 in 38 seasons at Sam Houston State, Texas-Arlington and Texas.
Thanks for nothing, Royals
Continually miserable seasons, unappealing options ruin summers
GO ROYALS?
For those of us from the Kansas City area, this is the most depressing time of the sports year. Welcome to baseball season.
Some of us aren't as fortunate to have a team like the Cardinals to root for. Instead, Kansas City has been the laughingstock of Major League Baseball.
BY ERIC JORGENSEN
KANSAN SPORTS COLUMNIST
EJORGENSEN@KANSAN.COM
The Royals, year in and year out, give fans no hope. The beginning of each season is very similar to the beginning of the movie "Major League," with Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen and Wesley Snipes, where fans and Cleveland Indians' board members are discussing exactly how bad their team will be this year.
The Royals are bad. Really bad They haven't been division champions since 1985, the same year as their only World Series championship. If the Royals were better, my summers would be better.
One discussion between the board members about their roster from that movie perfectly summarizes the start of every Royals' season.
"I've never heard of half of these
guys and the ones I do know are out of their prime"
"Most of these guys never had a prime?"
"Cross him off then"
mer days better are the Royals contending for and earning a playoff spot, although that won't happen. Hopefully this year they'll take a step forward and put themselves in position for the next few seasons.
Rookie third baseman Alex Gordon is being compared to Royals legend George Brett, which should be a sign of hope.
I find it hard to get into baseball anymore, or any summer sport. I kind of watch the NBA, but generally only during the playoffs. I definitely don't watch the NHL
However, the Royals have a way of handling talented young players. They play them all season, he earns Rookie of the Year — or close to it, he slumps his second season, the Royals eventually trade him and he eventually plays in or wins the World Series. Johnny Damon, Jermaine Dye and Carlos Beltran are some of those.
Canada can have it. I watch the tennis and golf major tournaments but no more than those.
For now, I'll accept that this baseball season will be as rough as all the others. So I'll just have a sports-less summer and wait for football season to start again.
I've tried to get into NASCAR, but I can't. It's a "sport" built around action, yet every time there's a wreck they throw the caution flag out. These are supposed to be the best drivers in the world, and this is supposed to be an intense sport.
Jorgensen is a Baldwin City senior in journalism.
- Edited by Ryan Schneider
All I need to make my long sum-
Safety key to pass defense
BY ASHER FUSCO
FOOTBALL
The Kansas pass defense was without the play of safety Darrell Stuckey for five games last year and it showed.
in passing yards allowed per game.
The lajayhaws finished the season ranked dead last in the nation
The shoddy showing can be attributed to: the early season suspension of junior cornerback Aqib Talib and the
Stuckey
inexperience of sophomore defensive backs Justin Thornton and Anthony Webb. But one of the Jayhawks who can't be blamed is Stuckey.
Stuckey, a sophomore safety from Kansas City, Kan., missed the first five games of the season with an ankle injury. During those games, Kansas yielded nearly 290 passing yards per game. Nebraska burned Kansas for nearly 400 yards in an overtime loss, and unheralded Louisiana-Monroe nearly upset the Jayhawks on the strength of 377 passing yards.
Without Stuckey in the lineup
Kansas turned to Justin Thornton, a freshman at the time. Thornton was frequently punished by opposing blockers and receivers because of his thin frame. Stuckey's return to action
in early October did not fix all of Kansas's defensive problems, but the 202-pound safety gave the defense a more physical presence in the middle of the field.
Stuckeyrecorded 32 tackles and three pass deflections while starting five games at
ever has," coach Mangino said. "He's been flying around. He started the spring really well."
The well-rested Stuckey will play a large role in the 2007 defensive
free safety but was never able to get up to full speed after missing fall workouts and early season practices.
Darrell is running as well as he ever has. He's been flying around. He's started the spring really well."
MARK MANGINO Football coach
"Coming off of any kind of injury, you don't focus on making the big hit," Stuckey said. "This year, I've been focused on running through people. I think I've become a more sound tackler."
After spending the summer recuperating and working out, Stuekey finally looks like the All-State performer he was at Washington High School.
"Darrell is running as well as he
secondary. He will line up alongside either Thornton or junior Patrick Resby at safety, with juniors Aqib Talib and Kendrick Harper flanking them at the cornerback positions.
The addition of experienced
junior-college transfers Resby and Harper should lend some muchneeded toughness and size to the defensive backfield. Adding Talib's hands and Stuckey's speed to the mix, the secondary could help the team escape from the cellar of the Big 12 Conference.
Kansan sportswriter Asher Fusco can be contacted at afusco@kansan.com.
Edited by James Pinick
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