4B
SPORTS / WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
Springtime smackdown
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
Abbey Holtz, a freshman from Topeka, returns the ball Thursday. Holtz plays tennis as much as she can and played all four years for her high school. "The weather has been getting nice so we have been playing." Holtz said.
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During his nearly 30 years in college football, Mitchell's most memorable signing day experience occurred in 2003, when he was the recruiting coordinator at Michigan State. At that time, he
decides to make a decision.
FOOTBALL (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
was pursuing a linebacker also consider Michigan.
On signing day, Mitchell thought he had the linebacker, La Marr Woodley, lined up with
"That's the one thing I don't think people get in recruiting," Mitchell said. "They see this guy be successful because he's flamboyant and he's outgoing and he's flashy. But if that's not you, you can't. You have to be comfortable in your
"...You want to be able to go to someone you can trust...and I know he is that person."
Michigan State. Instead, he signed with rival Michigan.
DEXTER MCDONALD
2010 defensive back recruit
Woodley, who is currently with the Pittsburgh Steelers, earned First-Team All-American honors as a senior in 2006.
In a business that is competitive, never-ending and features vastly diverse characters, part of the battle is simply coming to peace with your own personality traits and quirks.
"When that happens," Mitchell said, "in the back of your mind you're saying. What could I have done better? What did I do to screw this up?"
Mitchell insists that's the way he always thinks after losing a recruit.
USC's Lane Kiffin's in-your-face public persona may work with recruits, so, too, may Alabama's Nick Saban's strictly business approach, but Mitchell prefers a more laid back approach.
own skin."
Sitting in his office on a sunny afternoon, Mitchell is direct and up front with each answer. No time is spent overdramatizing or underplaying an aspect of a world in which
most people only gather knowledge from Rivals or Scout - the tips of the recruiting iceberg.
The e-mails, phone calls and time spent connecting with recruits are generally done without much public knowledge.
"So many times through the process, kids want you to tell them what they want to hear," said Mitchell, who is also Kansas' running backs coach. "And you have to do that to a certain extent, but you also need to be honest and up front with them."
And it's those traits that current and former Mitchell recruits insist they most respect.
"Say that you're in college and things aren't going the way you want them to go - well, with me being from Kansas City, I'm 45 minutes from my house so I can go back home," said Dexter McDonald, a defensive back recruited by Mitchell for the
"But on other terms, you want to be able to go to someone you can trust and someone that can really care for you besides just on the football field. And I know he is that person."
2010 class.
During conversations with recruits, Mitchell insists that he never discusses other schools. Instead, Mitchell said his pitches focused solely on the benefits of coach Turner Gill and the University.
Darrian Miller, a running back who verbally committed to Kansas for 2011, said Mitchell talked about past running backs he coached and the things Miller could accomplish at Kansas.
"I wanted to be close to the running back coach and me and coach Mitchell hit it off from the start," Miller said. "He's just a straight up coach and doesn't sugar coat anything."
That's just the nature of the business - one that Mitchell is certainly comfortable with.
There are plenty of tapes left to be watched. More will certainly arrive when the football season gets closer.
For now, Mitchell spends most of his afternoons dissecting possible recruits.
"The best form of advertisement is word of mouth," Mitchell said. "If you're honest and up front with them on the front end, they're going to say, 'Everything he told me was going to happen, happened.'"
TOURNAMENT (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
goal was to prove the team was worthy of its ranking.
Last season, Kansas went in
Last season as the top seed in the Big 12 tournament and lost its first game to Baylor.
- Edited by Kirsten Hudson
Self said that the team had
with dealing with distractions and balancing focus and energy.
"If we're not at our magic level, then anybody can beat us."
Collins said he still hurt thinking about that game.
played that way 12 to 15 times this year, but that it needed to be consistent.
BILL SELF Kansas coach
With such an inexperienced team, Self said he wanted this situation taken seriously even if nothing came of it.
F o r Collins, this tournament is all about consistency
"It itin as much a game situation as it is respecting the situation," Self said. "If we're not at our magic level, then anybody can beat us."
That "magic level" has to do
— the same consistency that got the Jayhawks a 29-2, 15-1 record.
"I don't think it will change the seeding," Collins said, "but we might as well finish it off the way we started."
— Edited by Kirsten Hudson
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MLB
Brewers beat Cubs after two-run homer
Randy Wells pitched three innings of one-hit ball for the Cubs. He picked off the only man who reached base, meaning he and fellow starters Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster have combined to pitch to the minimum 27 batters in their four outnings.
MESA, Ariz.—Joe Inglett, trying to win the final spot on Milwaukee's 25-man roster, hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning Tuesday, lifting the Brewers to a 5-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
Jeff Suppan, who had pitched two perfect innings his first time out, gave up three runs on five hits in three innings — the first runs allowed by any of Milwaukee's five starters this spring. Derrek Lee hit a solo homer off Suppan in the third for a 3-0 Chicago lead.
Cubs closer Carlos Marmol allowed two fourth-inning runs, one unearned because of catcher Geovany Soto's throwing error, and the Brewers tied it on Jody Gerut's double in the sixth.
In the ninth, Adam Heether drew a leadoff walk and scored on Inglett's homer off Blake Parker. Inglett, battling Heether, Luis Cruz and Mat Gamel for a backup infielder job, is the only candidate who is out of minor league options.
Associated Press
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