6B
Thursday, May 1, 1997
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Bird may return to nest
Pacers front office wants former Celtic
The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — Now that Larry Brown has resigned as coach of the Pacers, Indiana fans are getting excited about a different Larry. Widespread speculation that Larry Bird might want the position has the folks back home talking.
Indiana Pacers president Donnie Walsh had dinner with Bird last weekend to discuss the interest level on both sides.
"There would be a lot of excitement, because Larry is still quite a legend in French Lick and Terre Haute and most of Indiana. I'm sure a lot of interest would develop in the Pacers if he came back," said John Emmons, the athletic director at Spring Valley High School and an assistant coach when Bird played there more than 20 years ago.
Brown announced his resignation yesterday at a news conference at Market Square Arena. The Pacers finished 39-43 this season and missed the NBA playoffs for the first time since 1989.
Walsh said he talked to Bird the
way he would with any potential candidate, although he said that Bird was definitely a candidate he would pursue.
Bird hasn't indicated that he wants to leave his consulting job with the Boston Celtics.
"I don't know what's going to happen. I've talked to a lot of teams," Bird told Boston's WHDH-TV on Tuesday. "It'd be hard for me to leave Boston, but if that's the way it's going to be, then that's the way it's going to be."
Bird's return to Indiana certainly would cause a sensation.
"A lot of people from outside would be wondering how it would work out, Larry being the great player he was... can he truly coach and do well?" said Bob Heaton, Bird's former teammate and roommate at Indiana State. "But I think Larry could relate well to the players. He could motivate them."
Bird, whose Springs Valley scoring record was broken years later by his younger brother, Eddie, was a state high school all-star.
At Indiana State, in Terre Haute,
he was redshirted for one year, and
then averaged 30.3 points a game
for the next three.
Bird, an All-American, was eligible for the NBA draft in 1978 and was a first-round pick by the Celtics. But
His last college game — the only loss for Indiana State that season — was in the NCAA championship game against Michigan State.
he returned to school for his final season, repeated as an All-American, was named college player of the year and led the Sycamores to the nation's No.1 ranking.
Then he signed with the Celtics and started a 13-year NBA career that included 12 All-Star game selections, three championships and three MVP titles. His last game was on Aug. 8, 1992, as a member of the U.S. Olympic team. He retired because of chronic back problems that had kept him sidelined during most of the previous two seasons.
Bird, who has been living in Naples, Fla., returns to Terre Haute, his hometown, at least once a year to sponsor a Boys Club golf outing.
"When Larry comes in town occasionally, there's always interest, even though he played here 18 years ago," said Heaton, now an insurance agent in Terre Haute.
Rumors of Bird's return are circulating French Lick, Emmons said.
"I've heard a lot of people comment they haven't watched pro basketball since he quit," he said. "But I think there would be interest in our community no matter where he coached."
Huskers get hungry
Football team heals searches for answers to letdown last season
The Associated Press
LINCOLN, Neb. — After a frustrating, injury-plagued year, Nebraska running back Ahman Green is ready to make his junior year count.
"I'm just waiting patiently until the season gets started," said Green, who rushed for 96 yards on 12 carries in the Huskers' annual spring game.
Green, who suffered a toe injury and then a stress fracture on the same foot last year, did not carry the ball much.
"We're not necessarily trying to beat him up to see what he can do," said Nebraska coach Tom Osborne.
Osborne said he thought that Green, who had a 67-yard gain against Nebraska's first-string defense in the spring game, is on pace to match his freshman-year performance. He carried the ball 141 times for 1,086 yards, averaging 7.7 yards per carry as a freshman.
"I wanted to get out there and play 100 percent. I did that," Green said. "Now I want to get up and get my team back to where we were last season."
Call him one of the hungry Huskers.
The disappointment of last season set a charged tone for many players during the spring season.
Last season, Osborne's two-time defending national champions had hoped to play No.1 Florida State in the Sugar Bowl but were upset by Texas in the first Big 12 championship game.
Nebraska beat Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl and finished the season No. 6 in the Associated Press poll.
"We want to come out this year and not have the same kind of attitude that we had last year — that we were just going to come out and win games by not playing hard," said quarterback Scott Prost, who completed 104 of 202 passes for 1,440 yards and three interceptions in the 1996 season.
"We're definitely hungrier, " Frost said. "We're going to fight back."
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