Sports
Leading in the lanes
The University Daily Kansan
Ryan Jacob Page excels in the bowling lanes and has qualified for the U.S. Olympic bowling team. This weekend he will help lead the KU team in Oklahoma. PAGE 3B
1B
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Roberts: St. John's bound
By Ryan Greene rgreee@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
Kansas officially lost its top assistant yesterday, when associate head coach Norm Roberts accepted the head coaching job at St. John's.
Media reports, including a column by ESPN.com basketball writer Andy Katz, said the job was Roberts'. Yesterday's press conference confirmed the reports.
Roberts will leave after just one season in Lawrence to take the helm of the Queens, N.Y., based school. A long time Self assistant, Roberts has been with Self since his days at Oral Roberts.
He is Self's sixth assistant to leave for a head coaching job since Self became a head coach
Coaching St. John's will mean a return home for Roberts, who grew up in Queens.
"It's very exciting to coach in New York again, the place where I always
In Roberts, Kansas coach Bill Self loses his top assistant and one of his most effective recruiters. Roberts is renowned as one of the best recruiters in the country, particularly in the New York area. He is credited, for example, with signing Brooklyn native Russell Robinson to Kansas. Kansas will likely look for a strong recruiter to replace Roberts.
dreamed of doing the job," Roberts said.
Though not available for questions yesterday, Kansas coach Bill Self issued a release through KU's media relations. Self said he was excited for Roberts.
"He very much deserves this opportunity, and he will be a fantastic head coach," Self said. "He's proven to be one of the very best in our business. He's an excellent recruiter, he's an excellent coach and he conducts his business in a manner which any university would be proud."
St. John's, the most storied college basketball program in New York City,
appears to be a perfect fit for Roberts. A native of Queens, Roberts was the head coach at Queens College from 1992-95, he's the school's second all-time leading scorer, and has established solid recruiting ties in New York City.
Roberts met with St. John's President Donald Harrington and former St. John's coach Lou Carnesecca on Monday.
He was the only candidate that Harrington had two meetings with. The two other big-name candidates for the job were former North Carolina head coach Matt Doherty, and current DePaul head coach Dave Leitao.
There was concern over Doherty's exit from North Carolina a year ago, and Leitao withdrew his name from the list to continue to build at DePaul.
At St. John's, Roberts will inherit a team coming off of one of its worst seasons in the history of the program.
SEE ROBERTS ON PAGE 10B
Jeff Jacobsen/KUAC
Former Kansas assistant coach Norm Roberts gestures on the sidelines.
Softball team splits home series
By Jonathan Kealing jkealing@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
sophomore shortstop Destiny Frankenstein threw the ball to first base during the top of the seventh inning yesterday afternoon. Kansas defeated Wichita State in the first game 1-0 and lost the second game 1-2.The softball team takes on Missouri today at 5 p.m.
Megan True/Kansan
Kansas split another series with a Missouri Valley Conference team,with a win and a loss against Wichita State yesterday.
The games move Kansas to 26-16, including a 2-6 record in the Big 12 Conference. Wichita State moves to 26-16, remaining 11-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Game one was a 1-0 Kansas victory and game two ended 2-1 in favor of Wichita State.
Freshman hurler Kassie Humphreys recorded the victory in game one, improving her record to 11-7. In addition to pitching the entire first game, she returned for the last 2.2 innings of game two to relieve.
Kansas won game one on a mistake by Wichita State first baseman Lisa Jones.
Sophomore shortstop Destiny Frankenstein then hit to Jones, who dropped the ball. Stanley made it home and Frankenstein reached first base safely.
Wichita pitcher Lindsey Craig nailed sophomore left fielder Heather Stanley, sending Stanley to first. She then stole second base, and made it to third on an over-throw.
The Shockers threatened several times in game one before Humphreys was able to put them away.
"We caught a couple breaks today," Kansas coach Tracy Bunge said. "I felt like they were the first breaks we've caught in a couple weeks."
In the top of the fourth, the Shockers loaded the bases on a sacrifice bunt and a missed double-play with just one out.
Humphreys then struck out Jones before forcing freshman shortstop Julie Darling to ground to second base for the final out of the inning.
Humphreys recorded five strikeouts in game one and three in game two.
Serena Settlemier made her second start of the season in game two. Settlemier is still recovering from an off-season arm surgery.
"She had some glimpses of really good things," Bunge said. "She may have been losing it a little bit; I probably should have had a quicker trigger finger."
In the bottom of the first, Frankenstein drew a two-out walk. A line driven by freshman first baseman Nicole Washburn to left field allowed Frankenstein to come home.
The Jayhawks jumped out to a quick lead in game two.
A base running mistake by Washburn ended the inning there. As she headed for third, the catcher threw the ball to third where Washburn was tagged out.
Kansas maintained the lead until the top of the fifth when Settlemier lost control.
She gave up two line drives to right field, followed by two bunts before Bunge pulled her.
The two runs that came in were enough to win the game.
Settlemier had a relatively solid return, recording four strikeouts in four innings.
"I think I started out pretty well, and pretty confident, and then I left a few over the plate." Settlemier said.
That good start was not good enough for her though, saying she was disappointed with her game.
Kansas will meet Missouri today for the second of its two games this season. Last time the two teams met, Missouri destroyed Kansas 7-0. The game starts at 5 p.m. at Arrocha Ballpark.
Senior pitcher Kara Pierce will take the mound for the Jayhawks, looking to avenge her loss in the last game.
Edited by Amanda Kim Stairrett
Funding disparity debated
By Joe Bant jbant@kansan.com kansan staff writer
Last week, ESPN put major league baseball's New York Yankees on trial to determine if the team was hurting baseball by outspending all the competition.
Ultimately, the jury let the Yankees off the hook, but professional baseball is not the only sport perceived by some to be in jeopardy because of inequalities in teams' budgets.
Some would level a similar indictment against the major athletics conferences of the NCAA.
The report uses data from 11 athletics conferences from 1993 to 2002. It includes the 'big six' conferences that participate in college football's Bowl Championship Series: the Big 12, Big 10, Big East, ACC, SEC and PAC 10. It also includes five smaller conferences: the Sun Belt, Mountain West, Conference USA, WAC and MAC.
According to a recently released report published by Dan Fulks, accounting program director at Transylvania University, and research staff from the NCAA, a gap exists between the costs and revenues of larger conferences and those of smaller conferences. That gap is only getting bigger as time goes on.
The report finds a growing inequality between the budgets afforded to the smaller conferences and those of the larger conferences. The inequality is largest in the report's last year of reference, 2002.
In that year, the average spending of the six BCS conferences was around $34 million. In contrast, the same figure for the five non-BCS conferences was less than half that — about $14.3 million.
The gap in revenues was slightly larger at about $35 million for the BCS conferences versus just over $12 million for their non-BCS counterparts.
Interpretations as to what the disparity means vary.
To some, it represents a threat undermining the competitive integrity of NCAA Division One sports.
To others, it is just an inevitable part of the reality of how schools are distributed across the NCAA.
"The innate characteristics of some schools are going to determine the level they're able to compete at," said Jim Marchiony, associate athletics director for external affairs at the University of Kansas.
Marchiony said a number of factors contributed to a college athletics program's ability to raise money. These factors include fan base, alumni base, donor contributions and a variety of others.
Some schools are just gifted with more favorable conditions than others. Marchiony said.
"This is America," he said. "It's not communism."
ROLLON
SEE FUNDING ON PAGE 10B
Jason Zucker, Chicago sophomore, rode his bike outside of Stauffer-Flint Hall yesterday afternoon. Zucker's ride was tainted by a wipe out while jumping onto a concrete garden area. Zucker started riding with his friends about a month ago. "I just slipped, and I didn't spot my landing right." Zucker said.
TALK TO SPORTS: Contact Henry C. Jackson or Maggie Newcomer at SPORTS@KANSAN.COM
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