CHIEFS SIGN 'HAWK
The Kansas City Chiefs signed defensive tackle CHRISE MAUMALANGA, wide receiver Reggie Jones and tight end Billy Khayat, all as free agents. Terms were not disclosed in the Chiefs' announcement yesterday.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS
Maumalanga, 25, from Kansas, enters his fourth NFL season, his first with the Chiefs. He was a fourth-round draft choice of the New York Giants in 1994. He spent one season in New York before going to Arizona
Jones, 25, a Kansas City native, did not play last season.
Khayat, 24, rejoins the Chiefs after conclu-
inter concluding the 1996 season on the practice squad.
RAVENS SIGN NEW DEFENSIVE PLAYER
On Monday, the Baltimore Ravens signed free-agent defensive end MICHAEL MCCRARY, one of the NFL's most proficient pass rushers of last season.
The Ravens had only 30 sacks last year, while McCrary had 1 3/2 for the Seattle Seahawks. He also had 76 tackles in 1996.
NHL EXPANSION
TUESDAY, APRIL 8,1997
Nashville is the only finalist for an NHL expansion franchise with a new arena.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and eight league Board of Governors members arrived yesterday to scout the city as a potential expansion site. The teams are expected to begin play in the 1998-99 season.
Nashville's $120 million, 20,000-seat arena
was built with an eye toward an NHL or NBA franchise. It opened in December.
The city now has a team in the Central Hockey League, the Nighthawks, who averaged 2,000 in attendance at the 9,000-seat Municipal Auditorium this season.
SECTION B
Williams offers position to Texas standout guard
Kansas basketball coach Roy Williams has offered a scholarship to high school senior Bernard Smith of Conroe, Texas.
Smith, a guard who averaged 20.8 points, 10 rebounds and 4.4 assists his senior season for Conroe High School in Houston, said he would consider the offer while he plained in
an all-star game this weekend.
Smith's coach, Tommy Johnson, said Smith would choose between
Kansas and the University of Houston. Smith probably will sign a letter of intent on Wednesday, April 15, the first day of the signing period for new college basketball recruits. The signing period ends May 15.
Smith visited Kansas last month and also went to Texas A&M and Oklahoma State. He was about to commit to Texas A&M, but Kansas asked him to wait.
Kansas is still recruiting guards Baron Davis of Santa Monica, Calif., and Khalid El-Amin of Minneapolis, Minn.
Smith was named his conference defensive player of the year the past three seasons.
Kansan staff report
Davis Cup captain says that drinking remarks overblown
MELBOURNE, Australia — Australian Davis Cup captain John Newcombe has defended team members Mark Philippoussis and Pat Rafter about comments that the two had hangovers when they completed Australia's defeat of the Czech Republic Sunday.
Philippoussis and Rafter celebrated Saturday night after Australia took a 3-0 lead in the best-of-5 series and earned a place in the semifinals against the United States in September.
Although both admitted they did not feel well, they still managed to lead Australia to a 5-0 victory with singles victories.
Rafter said he was still drunk when he went to breakfast in the morning and only sobered up halfway during his match. Phillipoussiss said he did not want to play because he was hung over.
Newcombe said yesterday that the comments were blown out of proportion.
"I feel Pat's comments have been exaggerated," Newcombe said. "As you can see from the boys' professional attitude, they both went out and won and would not have been able if they were not fit and capable of playing."
Charges against pitcher reduced in Cleveland case
CLEVELAND — A judge reduced a rape charge and threw out a felony assault charge yesterday against Cleveland Indians reliever Jose Mesa, agreeing with the defense that the state failed to prove its case on the two counts.
Defense lawyer Gerald Messerman told the jury he was resting his case without calling witnesses or entering exhibits.
Cuyahoga County Judge Thomas Curran said he had reduced the rape charge to gross sexual imposition to prevent a failure of justice.
The charge of rape, a felony that carries a three- to 10-year prison term, was reduced to gross sexual imposition, also a felony. It carries a penalty of six to 18 months.
Kickin' It!
One 26-year-old woman testified last week that Mesa had forced his hand into her jeans and underpants during a ride to a suburban motel early Dec. 22. The woman's friend, also 26, testified that Mesa had stricken her in the mouth with a bathroom doorknob and had fondled her.
Dan Magner talks about his job as the new Kansas women's soccer coach in an interview with Kansan sportswriter Matt Woodruff.
Andrei Urasov / KANSAN
Dan Magner, KU women's soccer team coach, polishes his skills jugging the ball after a practice. Magner said he wasn't afraid to put in long hours to make the team successful.
On March 10, Kansas appointed Dan Magner as the new women's soccer coach after former coach Lori Walker resigned to become head coach at Ohio State. Last season Magner served as assistant coach at Wake Forest, helping the Demon Deacons achieve a No. 20 national ranking.
Before serving at Wake Forest, Magner coached for three years at LaFayette College.
Magner played college soccer at Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Mass., where he graduated in 1985.
He now faces the task of continuing to build the Kansas soccer program, which will begin its third season of play and is coming off a 7-11-1 season.
—The Associated Press
Q: What are some of the things that attracted you to this position?
A: Certainly the people here. When I came for my interview, I was impressed not only with how kind people were, but how sincere they were. I actually met with Dr. (Bob) Frederick (Athletic Director) when he was just finishing up a workout, and I walked around the track with him and spoke about his philosophy as the athletic director and running the athletic department. I was impressed with what he had to say, and you could tell that he's a family man and that really permeates throughout the athletic department. When you have a leader like him, you're going to experience success. I truly believe that. He's a big reason in my decision to come here.
A: Absolutely. I've been fortunate enough to work at Wheaton College, at LaFayette College and at Wake Forest University, which are all very strong academic institutions. The attraction to come here was, yes, it's a larger school, but they keep the standards and
Q: Dr. Frederick is known for stressing the academic side of the student-athlete. Is that something you strive for?
See MAGNER, Page 3B
Basketball is done,but fans can't stop talking
The basketball season ended two weeks ago, but people still want to talk about it. Ever since the Jayhawks were dropped by Arizona, people have flooded the sports desk with questions.
I tell these people to move on and check out baseball, tennis, golf, softball, track or anything else that's out there, but they insist on talking hoops.
So, if we can't get away from it.
let's confront the issue head-on and answer some of the most widely asked questions.
Here is some of my infinite wisdom.
Question No.
1: Will Raef
LaFrentz and
Paul Pierce
leave school
early for the
NBA?
A: This is the most commonly asked question. Only LaFrentz and Pierce know what they will do, but there are some hints that they will stay.
Both enrolled in full class loads last week. This is no guarantee that they will stick around, but at least their educations are in the back of their minds.
Also, LaFrentz's parents want to see the All-American get his degree before taking off.
A: Many people have seen Earl walking around Wescoe Terrace every afternoon, and everyone wants to know when he can play.
As for Pierce, a story is floating around that Baron Davis, a McDonald's All-American point guard from Santa Monica, Calif., called Pierce and said that if Pierce stayed, Davis would come to Kansas.
He has not been released from his commitment at LSU, but look for it to come soon.
Davis is being recruited by the Jayhawks, and he and Pierce are friends.
Besides, Williams has yet to lose a player to the NBA. Does either really want to be the first?
Question No. 2: What is the status of Lester Earl?
Former LSU coach Dale Brown is gone, and new coach John Brady is in. Brady released one player at LSU from his commitment but
See SPENCER. Page 3B
Kansas baseball to go into the Wildcats' lair
By Harley V. Ratliff Kansan sportswriter
'Hawks will try to cut defensive errors down
The players may change, but the rivalry remains the same.
For the first time this season, the Kansas baseball team will travel to Manhattan to battle with cross-state nemesis Kansas State.
"All the games from here on out are important, no question," Kansas head coach Bobby Randall said. "But these games always mean a little bit more. We have a lot of Kansas kids on this team, and this is a Kansas rivalry."
The Jayhawks (24-12, 9-6), will try to rebound from Sunday's 7-2 loss to Baylor. The teams will play at 7 tonight at Frank Myers Field. The game is scheduled as a nonconference contest. The two teams won't play Big 12 Conference games for four weeks.
Even though the game won't count in the
Big 12 standings, Randall said his team planned to take the game seriously.
Geoff Krieger / KANSAN
"This is hardly a tune-up game," Randall said. "Kansas State is one of the fine ball clubs in this league."
Although the Wildcats have dropped four of their last six games, Kansas State brings to the field one of the best offensive players in the league — shortstop Heath Schesher.
Kansas' Chad King awaits a throw as Baylor's Jack Stubbs dives back to first base. After losing to the Bears on Sunday, the Jawhays are looking for a victory tonight at Kansas State.
Scheuer has been the Wildcats' most productive offensive star of the season, batting .414 with 59 RBI, leading the Big 12 in triples. The junior shortstop, who has hit 12 home runs, already has doubled his home run total from last year.
To keep the Wildcats from scoring runs, the Jayhawks will need to improve on defense.
During last weekend's Baylor series, the Kansas defense committed 13 errors including six in Sunday's loss.
"We've got to become more consistent playing defense," shortstop Joe DeMarco said. "It's something we really need to work on. Early in the year we played good defense, but we've really been in a slump defensively."
Randall said he thought his team's recent
defensive collapse was due to a demanding schedule and mental exhaustion.
"Our defense has been painful to watch lately," Randall said. "We have had a very tiring schedule, and I think it has affected our team mentally more than physically. I know that we can play better defense than we have lately. It is just a matter of getting out there and working every day."
Randall said Kansas also had suffered from a nasty case of the flu. In the last few weeks, a
number of Jayhawks have been held out of the lineup because of illness. That list includes Chad King, Sparky Wilhelm, Andy Juday, Crawl Stewart and Aaron Wilmes.
6
Randall said that despite some of the problems his team had faced, he still was pleased with how the Javahaws had played.
"Who would have thought that we would have won two-thirds of our games?" Randall said. "We just want to go into Manhattan and play the baseball we are capable of playing."