University Daily Kansan / Thursday, March 26, 1987
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Kansas line coach resigns position; Blache takes over
When the KU football team returned Monday to Lawrence after spring break and resumed its spring training, the Jayhawks discovered that assistant offensive line coach and special teams coordinator George Warhop had resigned his position at Kansas.
By a Kansan reporter
Warhop, who accepted a coaching position at Vanderbilt last week, will be replaced by Greg Blache. Blache comes to Kansas from Southern University at Baton Rouge, La., where he was the defensive line coach and defensive coordinator during the 1966-87 season.
The Notre Dame graduate, who will also be Kansas' tight end coach, has coached football since 1971.72 when he was the graduate assistant and the junior varsity coach for the Fighting Irish. From 1973 to 1975, he was the defensive backfield coach.
Sports
Blache returned to his alma mater in 1981 and was the offensive backfield coach during the 1981-82 season and later was the defensive line coach and outside linebacker coach from 1982 to 1983.
Blake spend the 1984-85 season with the Jacksonville Bulls of the United States Football League as the team's defensive line coach and defensive coordinator.
Chicago prep star joins KU football, coach announces
The Kansas football team has added one more player to next season's roster Coach Bob Valesente announced Tuesday.
By a Kansan reporter
Cris Perez, a 6-foot-6, 270-pound offensive tackle has signed a national letter of intent to play with the Jayhawks. He has been named the team's area newspaper as one of Illinois' top senior high school players.
Perez, a graduate of Freemb High School in Palatine, a Chicago suburb, was named an All-Area Chicago selection and was a member of the All-Conference team.
Twenty-seven players have signed letters of intent to represent the Jayhawks in the fail. The spring period officially ends April 1
Perez chose Kansas over several Big Ten Conference schools including Michigan and Purdue.
Two players from the Southern Methodist University program, which was abolished by the NCAA for the 1987 season, also have visited Kansas, and the Jayhawks may sign one of the two before the deadline date.
Coleman says he's likely to chose NBA over K-State
The Associated Press
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Kansas State forward Norris Coleman has indicated he may forego his last year of eligibility and declare himself eligible for the NBA draft.
"I'd say I'm leaning toward leav-
e," he said. "I'd say there's a
good chance."
Speaking after a pickup game at Ahearn Field House, Coleman said he needed to talk with several people at Kansas State, including Coach Lon Kruger, former Coach Jack Hartman and Athletic Director Larry Travis. Coleman said he even wanted to speak with Kansas State President Jon Wefald and 'two faculty representatives' before making a decision.
Coleman has until May 8 to declare for the NBA draft.
seasons, including just 19 games this season, and was voted All-Big Eight
Coleman scored 1,003 points in two
"If I did stay another year, I lose a year in the pros," Coleman said. "You've got to look at it like this: I'm going to be 26 in September and the question is whether they're going to take a 26-year-old. Even if I came back and had a great year, would they take a 27-year-old?"
"He isn't ready." Blake said. "He has to get better in every phase of the game. He needs to stay in school. We don't worry about age. We worry about whether you can play or not."
Marty Blake, the director of scouting for the NBA, said Coleman should stay at Kansas State and improve his game.
"Finances aren't a big problem now," Coleman said.
Vaughn quits Kansas football team
By ANNE LUSCOMBE Special to the Kansan
The announcement that Willie Vaughn, Kansas' top wide receiver, was leaving the team came as a shock to his teammates, coaches and friends.
Willie Vaughn, KU's top wide receiver, announced that he is leaving the Kansas football team because of personal reasons. Vaughn was credited with 41 receptions for 341 yards and ranked second in the Big Eight Conference in total pass receptions.
Frustration with last season's 3-8 performance and personal tragedies weighed heavily on the sophomore from Kansas City, Kansas' decision.
"I just don't like it here anymore," Vaughn said last night. "It's nothing against KU, but I want to go and try my luck somewhere else."
Five of Vaughn's relatives have died this semester, and the impact upon Vaughn has been great.
"It got to the point where every time the phone rang I was afraid to answer it," he said as his voice shook.
The impact that Vaughn's departure will have on the Kansas football team has yet to be determined. Last season, Vaughn was the only Jayhawk to earn a position on the All-Big Eight first team. He also was selected for honorable mention All-America and ranks eighth on Kansas' all-time reception list with 69 catches for 722 vards.
"He is a very talented and gifted young man," Coach Bob Valesente said. "I'm sorry to see him leave. I was surprised and saddened by his decision, but I understand his reasons for going."
Valesette said that the spot vazed by Vaughn would be up for grabs, but he said that he thought he had been told to be filled by a present team, member.
"Players like Murphy Ray, Peda Samuel and Rodney Harris will hopefully be able to go into the position, do a good job and make an impact." Valesente said.
Vaughn said he made his final decision to leave during spring break, although he had been thinking about it for some time. He said that
he first thought about leaving before last season, when former running back coach Tommie Liggins left Kansas to coach elsewhere.
"When Coach Liggins left, part of me left with him." Vaughn said. He said that it hadn't been the
Several schools have approached him, but Vaughn is leaning toward
He said that it hadn't been the same for him since Lieigens left.
San Diego State University. He wants to head toward the coast, he said, but will finish the semester at Kansas.
He said that his family had become more important to him after the recent loss of his grandmother, two uncles and two cousins. Several members of his family live in California and he said that his father and mother were considering a move to
"They mean everything to me now." Vauhn said.
the coast as well.
With the change in schools, Vaughn said that he would continue to play football and also may play basketball, a sport at which he excelled at Wvandotte High School.
Change in weather causing aches and pains for players
By DAVID BOYCE
Staff writer
The change from the 90-degree weather of Texas to the cool rainy weather of Kansas has caused some aches and pains for several members of the Jayhawk baseball team.
If weather permits, Kansas will play a double-header against Benedictine at 1 p.m. today at Quigley and it is expected to be 40-degree weather.
"It's pretty tough changing climates," Steve Estes said. "When it's cool some of the aches and pains become more noticeable. It hasn't affected me, but some players are really sore."
Coach Marty Pattin said he would like to play today's double-header against Benedictine to help the team prepare for this weekend's first Big Eight Conference game against Missouri.
take the tarp off the field this morning and then make the decision on whether to play.
Kansas has a 5-4 lifetime record against Benedictine. Last year, Kansas beat Benedictine three times, 9-1, 19-1 and 12-2.
Pattin said yesterday that he would
"I would like to play them," he said. "It would help to give our players a few more games before playing Missouri."
The baseball team practiced last night in Anschutz Sports Pavilion.
"I feel very good about the hitting." Pattin said. "We are starting to score runs. We will be a real scrappy team."
He said the team had been working hard and was both mentally and physically ready to play.
Through 16 games, the Jayhawks have five players hitting above .300, with Hugh Stanfield leading the team at.462.
In fact, the top five hitters are the first five hitters in the lineup. Estes bats lead-off and is hitting .316. Rocky Helm belts second with a .326 average, and Stanfield is third in the lineup. The cleanup hitter, John Byrn, is hitting .356, and Jon Pattin is hitting .371 in the fifth position.
Estes, whose batting average dipped at 60 points during spring break, is eager to play today.
Estes' greatest concern is the four games over the weekend against Missouri.
"If we can split with them or take three of four games, the team will be off to a good start in conference." he said.
The top four teams in the Big Eight advance to the Big Eight Tournament May 13, and the games against the Tigers will help determine how well Kansas will perform against Big Eight competition.
Tigers win exhibition over Royals
United Press International
Terrell walked none and at on point, retired 12 consecutive batters
LAKELAND, Fla. — Walt Terrrell gave up one run on four hits while striking out two yesterday and led the Detroit Tigers in a 6-2 exhibition victory over the Kansas City Royals.
Terrell walked none and at one point, retired 11 consecutive batters. Lou Whitaker doubled in the first and Dan Sheridan reached on an error. Whitaker scored on a grounder by Kirk Gibson and Sheridan scored on an RBI single by Darrell Evans, giving the Tigers a 2-1 lead.
Detroit took a 3-0 lead in the third. Alan Tammell打 a two-out double, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Matt Nokes' single.
The Tigers scored two more in the sixth.
Kansas City scored in the sixth inning on a one-out triple by Willie Wilson and in the seventh on a Jorge Orta double.
Tarkanian, Rebels create controversy and victories at UNLV
Richard Harp, author of "Tarkanian: Countdown of a Rebel." is an avid fan of college basketball. His father, Dick Harp, once coached basketball at KU and is now an assistant coach at North Carolina.
By DIANE FILIPOWSKI
The University of Nevada-Las Vegas made it to the Final Four, and nobody can discount that. But what many people discount, including some NCAA officials, is how the Runnin' Rebels coach, Jerry Tarkanian, recruited the team that made it all the way to New Orleans.
Staff writer
Richard Harp, a professor of English at UNLV and the son of former Kansas basketball coach Dick Harp, said yesterday that UNLV liked the attention it received for the success of its basketball team and coach, but not when it was for the wrong reasons.
UNLV's basketball team has not only been a hot news item lately because of its 37-1 record and top poll ranking for most of the 86-87 season, but also because of "Tark the Shark."
Harp's father, who is currently an assistant coach at North Carolina, coached the Jayhawks in their
Harp said the Runnin' Rebels were often recognized for the wrong reasons, which is why he and Joseph McCullough, also a professor of English at UNLV, wrote the biography, "Tarkanian: Countdown of a Rebel."
Attention from the media is nothing new for Tarkanian's Runnin' Rebels. There have been complaints other coaches and continued NCAA investigations of the team's recruiting procedures and academic practices since Tarkanian became coach in 1974
Harp is a native of Lawrence and received his undergraduate and doctoral degrees at Kansas, and he is visiting professor here this year.
1957 NCAA championship appearance.
The Jayhawks lost to the Tar Heels, 54-53, in triple overtime.
— Richard Harp professor of English at UNIV
Rumors common
Humors common
At the end of the semester, Harp will return to UNLV where he has been a professor for 12 years, which he said was long enough for him to know Tarkanian well.
'People just can't say he's good. But they can say he cheats. The fact is he's good.'
"You always hear rumors about the offers Tarkanian makes to players or that the NCAA alleges that offers were made," Harp said. "But you can't find anyone that will stand up to prove that he did. It's impossible."
These rumors are what put Tarkanian into the national spotlight in 1974, nine months after he came to UNLV from Long Beach State in Long Beach, Calif., when that basketball program was put on probation by the NCAA.
UNLV's program followed suit in 1977, but its name was cleared in 1983 because the accusations could not be proved
"His programs were investigated by the NCAA because they
were successful." Harp said.
"They were scrutinized because they were not just overnight winners, but big winners."
Harp said Tarkanian is outstanding as a coach because he has built two successful programs out of nothing, and he wins. Tarkanian, whose career winning percentage is over 80 percent, became college basketball's winningest coach this season.
"People just can't say he's good. But they can say he cheats." Harp said. "The fact is he's good."
Harp said he had never known a coach who took losing more seriously than Tarkanian. He said many people have attributed that trait to his Armenian ancestry.
Harp said the Armenians were the victims of an attempted genocide by the Turks after World War I, and that Tarkanian still feels their suffering.
"Because of his background, he relates to minorities, and they relate to him." Harp said.
"He can deal with players other coaches can't or won't." Harp said. "Because of his track record, he will never get the middle class player, he so goes for the other."
Tarkanian, who has often been called "The Father Flannigan of College Basketball," is notorious for recruiting juvenile delinquents, players with low education levels, and players not found on the country's top 20 high school players list.
Humanitarian
In a December Sports Illustrated article, Tarkanian said, "The way I look at it, if you bring a kid in that can't read or write — somebody nobody else would touch — and you
keep him here four, five years,
teach him to follow the rules, make
him responsible for what he does,
and at the end, if he can read and
write a little, you've done him a
favor., you've given him the
chance to straighten out. I don't
see anything wrong with that."
Harp said Tarkanian saw nothing wrong with his recruiting approach which revolved around a team of young men because he was a humanitarian.
Recently, Tarkanian's recruiting procedures have made his Runnin' Rebels a hot news item again because he wants to give Lloyd Daniels, a New York City student at Mount San Antonio Junior College student in Walnut, Calif., a chance to play at UNLV.
Tarkarian has similar plans for Clifford Allen, who resides at the El Paso de Robes detention home in Paso Robles, Calif., and who Tarkarian has called his first valedictorian. Allen was expected to be on parole by now and on the UNLV line-up by 1988.
Even though being from Las Vegas may hurt Tarkanian's image nationally, and that the local press is critical of him and his program, Harp said he was a popular man in Las Vegas.
Harp said Tarkanian's humanitarianism was what probably got him in trouble with the NCAA because he, like a lot of coaches who recruit athletes from all over the country, has taken them away from their homes and wants to help them.
"Ihe knows how to win, and with a 37-1 record, he can do no wrong." Harp said.