4B
Friday, April 5, 1996
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Bulldogs coach offered new job
NC-Charlotte to discuss basketball position with Mississippi St.'s Williams
The Associated Press
STARKVILLE, Miss. — North Carolina-Charlotte has received permission to interview Mississippi State coach Richard Williams for the school's vacant basketball coaching position.
The Charlotte Observer reported today that Williams and longtime NC-Charlotte assistant Melvin Watkins are the top two candidates to replace Jeff Mullins, who retired after this past season.
Williams, 50, is coming off the most successful
of his 10 seasons as head coach, having led Mississippi State to its first NCAA Final Four. The Bulldogs beat three of the nation's top seven teams during a three-week postseason run before losing 77-69 to Syracuse in the NCAA semifinals Saturday.
Mississippi State athletic director Larry Templeton, who extended permission to NC-Charlotte athletic director Judy Rose to interview Williams, said unofficial representatives of another school he would not name also have inquired about the Bulldogs coach.
Templeton told The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss., that he did not know if Williams would interview for the Charlotte job.
Williams was recruiting for Mississippi State and could not be reached for comment. He has said that he is happy at Mississippi State and is
not looking for another job, but believes he needs to at least listen to other offers.
His contract at State, which still has three years left, pays about $175,000 annually, including base salary and compensation for radio and television shows.
Mullins earned between $225,000 and $250,000 annually.
University president Donald Zacharias has said he would do whatever it takes to keep Williams, a 1967 Mississippi State graduate, at his alma mater.
"What I will say is Mississippi State is going to take care of Mississippi State people," Templeton said.
"We're going to be fair for what he should
*receive financially.*
Templeton said he and Williams likely woum meet by the weekend.
Relief goaltenders skate into NHL spotlight
Starters' injuries give backups a chance in the 1996 hockey year
By Ken Rappoport The Associated Press
Backup goaltenders have come to the forefront in the NHL this season, most noticeably with the New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres.
Glenn Healy has been a welcome relief in New York, particularly with injury problems to No. 1 goalie Mike Richter.
"Healy might be a backup in New York, but he could be a starter anywhere else," says Detroit defenseman Marc Bergevin. "The starters might be a bit tired from the long season, so the backups would play more."
Mostly, it's been injuries, though. And when they happen, many backups have performed well in pinch-hits roles. Among them: Jeff Hackett for Ed Belfour in Chicago, Ken Wregget for Tom Barrasso in Pittsburgh and Andre Trefilov for Dominik Hasek in Buffalo.
"The reason I think the backups are playing so well is because they're getting the opportunity to play." said Detroit coach Coach Bowman. "Sometimes, people don't do it because they don't have the opportunity."
ADAM'S TAKE: Unlike football, where 29 teams copy the style of the Super Bowl winners, hockey teams are less likely to mimic Stanley Cup champions, says the New York Rangers' Adam Graves.
"It's different strokes for different folks, and there's no set course or no set recipe to winning the Stanley Cup," Graves said. "That's why you can point year to year to a different style (depending on) which team wins it.
"When the Oilers won, it was free skating, pressure hockey. When Pittsburgh won it their two years, it was on counterattacks, when they preyed on your turnovers, and went down and scored.
"We were more of a pressure team (in 1994 when the Rangers won the Cup), and then when you look at last season, it was a trap team, more of a defensive team in New Jersey that won. I do think there's some constants, though; discipline, key
performances, total team effort and great goaltending are what any team needs to win the Cup."
HAVING HIS FLING: The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim are well known for their logo and for the antics this season of their mascot, Wild Wing.
The feathered mascot almost scorched himself on opening night when he jumped over a wall of fire. Later in the season, his normal entrance from the roof of the Arrowhead Pond — flying down on a guide wire — was delayed when the wire got stuck and the duck was left hanging.
Sounds like a great idea for a cartoon, right?
Well, the folks at Disney, which owns the Mighty Ducks, have developed a cartoon starring the wacky mascot that is scheduled to debut on ABC this fall.
17,380-seat CoreStates Spectrum, which the Flyers are vacating to play in a new arena. Former Flyers star Bill Barber will coach the Phantoms.
NAME THAT TEAM: The Hershey Bears are now the Philadelphia Phantoms. That's the new nickname chosen for the Flyers' AHL team, which will move into Philadelphia for the 1996-97 season following 12 years in Hershey.
GAGE OF GREATNESS: With Jody Gage's retirement, the Rochester Americans have lost one of the most prolific scorers in American Hockey League history.
Gage, who retired recently after 17 years in the league, scored 1,048 points (504 goals, 544 assists) to rank third on the all-time list behind Willie Marshall (1,375 points) and Fred Glover (1,334). They are the only three AHL players in history to have scored more than 1,000 points.
Gage will work in the front office as assistant general manager with the Americans.
The Phantoms will play in the
THE AIR UP THERE: There's no such listing in the International Hockey League record book, but Mike Barack has to be among the all-time leaders in one specific category: number of games broadcast.
The announcer for the Cincinnati Cyclones recently worked the 950th game of his professional broadcasting career in a game against Fort Wayne.
Young Kansas City faces tough season
Lack of experience could hurt Royals down the stretch
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Change, change, change is how the song goes.
Kansas City fans will find the Royals have followed that admonition to the letter when the team opens at home against Boston on Friday afternoon.
Change was forced. Gone are the days when the Royals felt they could spend on players' salaries and buy that one free agent who was to take them past the last hurdle to the next championship.
Mark Davis and Kirk Gibson did not get them to the World Series, and the Royals decided not to spend the money this winter to keep Wally Joyner or Greg Gagne or Gary Gaetti.
The word came down to cut the payroll, and so the Royals will field a team that features an entirely new infield, an outfield full of youngsters who have yet to prove themselves during a 162-game season and a second-year manager who is already being raked over the coals on the local talk sports shows for pinch-hitting for his No.3 and No.4 hitters in the season opening 4-2 loss in Baltimore.
That opening day score in Baltimore may become a familiar set of numbers for Royals fans. A team that finished last in runs in the American League last year shows no sign of power, and reliance on good starting pitching and team speed could wither in the heat of August.
No one expects anybody to catch Cleveland in the American League Central Division, not even Royals manager Bob Boone.
So the best chance here is a wild card.
The Royals will try to do it with an infield that is below average defensively and an outfield with three
players who all have good speed complemented by weak throwing arms.
Kevin Appier is a horse as the ace of the starters and can be unhittable. Mark Gubiza is capable of winning 15 games.
Jeff Montgomery as closer gives managers such as Boone chills and sometimes keeps fans in the seats until the final out. But in the long run Montgomery has proven to be one of the most reliable in the league.
But too many balls are going to get past Bob Hamelin at first base, where the Royals used to enjoy the tidy fielding of Joyner. Bip Roberts should be capable at second base, but he is teamed with shortstop Jose Offerman, who made 35 errors for the Dodgers last season and five in spring training.
Third baseman Keith Lockhart surprisingly batted higher than .300 last year after a decade in the minor leagues. Who knows what this year brings.
The outfield is Tom Goodwin, a base stealer, in left, hopeful star-to-be Johnny Damon in center and Michael Tucker in right, although Tucker might move to first base if Hamelin cannot find his home run stroke.
Catching duties will be divided between Mike Macfarlane and rookie Sal Fasano.
Gubicza is the last holdover from the Royals team that beat the Cardinals in the '85 World Series.
The team is in transition without an owner, and tickets remain for the opener.
The Royals lost huge numbers of fans last year in strike backlash, something that this team cannot afford. They are attempting to draw people back with an aggressive marketing campaign that includes a new mascot named Slugger-r-r to make a debut opening day and a slangy reference to Kauffman Stadium as "The K."
The late Ewing Kauffman — Mr. K. — who did everything he could to create memorable baseball moments, deserves better.
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