Sports
The University Daily Kansan
Knight's dark temper Texas Tech basketball coach Bobby Knight apologizes, but avoids suspension, after an incident with the school's chancellor in a grocery store. PAGE 4B
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Wednesday, February 4, 2004
Athletes' intelligence may pay off
By Joe Bant
jbant@kansan.com
kansan staff writer
There is no such thing as an NCAA student-athlete with an athletic scholarship and an academic scholarship because the NCAA doesn't allow students to have both.
Next year, that all could change. The NCAA is considering a rule change that would allow athletes to stack academic scholarships on top of what they receive for athletics. Although athletes would not be able to receive scholarships exceeding the cost of college attendance, they could compensate for what their athletic scholarships don't cover.
To athletes, the rule change is simply about fairness.
about fairness.
"It's an equality thing," said Maggie Mason, Elmira, Ontario senior and vice-president of the Big 12 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. "Why are athletes limited to a certain amount of money when students aren't?"
Mason, who is a defender on the Jayhawks women's soccer team, said there were plenty of student-athletes at the University of Kansas who would be eligible for academic scholarships, and that passing the proposal would simply allow them the chance to apply. Even full athletic scholarships don't pay the entire cost of attendance, she said, and athletes are often too busy for jobs. The new rule would give qualified athletes a way to relieve their burden, she said.
Mason emphasized that athletes were not looking for an unfair advantage.
"It's not like they're being handed the money," she said. "They have to earn it like everyone else."
Chris Jones, Iowa City junior and member of the leadership committee for the University of Kansas SAAC, agreed. He said a handout was the last thing athletes were looking for and that being eligible for academic scholarships would actually push athletes to work harder in school.
Additionally, he said, if academically talented athletes could receive scholarships for their efforts, more money would be available in athletic scholarships for athletes not as academically strong.
demonstrate that students
Jones, who runs track at the University,
said he thought the reason the NCAA had not already passed the proposal was a concern that schools would abuse it.
"I think it's the fear of putting people on aid who aren't deserving of it," Jones said.
He said it was conceivable that schools could gain an unfair recruiting advantage by using the new rule to award more scholarships to athletes, regardless of their academic merit. He said schools would have to closely guard against that possibility for the rule change to be successful.
Phil Lowcock, director of the student- athlete life skills program for the athletics department, said the NCAA's consideration of the proposal indicates a way the organization is changing its perspective.
In the last ten years, he said, the NCAA has worked gradually at reducing the restrictions on how athletes can earn money. Even full scholarships often stop a couple thousand dollars short of the cost of attendance, he said, and allowing student-athletes to compensate for that would be a way of improving their lives.
"There are students who come in on a full ride scholarship, but don't have enough money to go to a movie," Low-cock said.
Lowcock said the NCAA has shown a willingness to address this issue, as long as schools don't use it to gain an unfair advantage. Allowing athletes to receive athletic and academic scholarships, he said, is the latest example of this trend.
The Division I SAAC unanimously approved the proposal. The NCAA Management Council and Board of Directors have also tentatively approved it.
Mason said the NCAA was in the process of tweaking the plan and would likely pass it for next year.
Edited by Joe Hartigan
Woodard ready for Texas
By Jonathan Kealing
jkealing@kansan.com
Kansas sportwriter
The last week has been a roller coaster for the Kansas women's basketball team.
It bottomed out with the loss of coach Marian Washington to a medical leave of absence. Then it cruised to its second Big 12 Conference victory over Oklahoma State, interim coach Lynette Woodard's first game.
This week will present several new tests
Woodard
for the Jayhawks. The first one will be tonight, when Kansas travels to Lubbock, Texas, to take on No. 9 Texas Tech.
This will be the second game for Woodard, who is facing challenges of her own. During the Big 12 Women's Basketball Teleconference, she was asked if coaching against teams whose coaches
had more than 500 wins and had long tenures intimidated her.
"I've had 500 victories too." Woodard said, "but they've come on the other side of the game. I get to flip the script now."
Texas Tech (18-3,4-3 Big 12) has been 1-2 during its last three games after the loss of senior guard Jia Perkins, the team's overall leader in points per game and a leader in minutes played. Perkins left the team because of undisclosed medical reasons. Texas Tech coach Marsha Sharp said the team would take time to adjust to the loss of Perkins.
Sharp, like Washington, has coached at only one school in her career. Sharp has coached at Texas Tech for 22 seasons. She said over the years she had developed a relationship with Kansas' coach. She said Washington's absence on the sideline would be noticeable.
Amande Kim Stairrett/Kansan
Lynette Woodard, women's interim basketball coach, spoke with Larisha Graves, junior guard, during the game last Saturday against Oklahoma State. The Jayhawks ended the game with a victory of 74-61.
"It will be strange to see the team come out into the arena and not see her." Sharp said.
SEE BASKETBALL ON PAGE 8B
Whitney Sondall, senior, laughed as she talked to her coach Clark Campbell Monday afternoon. Sondall in back-stroke and sprint free-style events on the swim team.
Swimmers prepare for Big 12 with race-like practices
Kristen. Johnson, senior, rose out of the water while practicing her butterfly stroke Monday. Johnson is co-captain of the Kansas swim team.
Bv Nikki Overfelt
BYNIKKU
overfelt@kansan.com
Kansan senior sportswriter
The atmosphere is intense; the lanes are filled with swimmers pushing themselves to the limit, coaches are yelling out times and teammates are shouting out words of encouragement.
Walk into a Kansas swimming team practice on a Wednesday and it feels like a race day.
This is a normal Wednesday for Kansas.
Clark Campbell, the swim team's coach, designed his Wednesday practices to be like this. His goal is to mentally and physically prepare his swimmers for the Big 12 Conference Championships.
The Big 12 Championships are four full days of competition where each swimmer competes in her event twice a day before the finals.
Because of the nature of the meet, his team must race well when tired, Campbell said. So his practices are tailored toward the team's goal: a top three finish at the Big 12 Championships.
This season is Campbell's second at Kansas. With a record of 8-3, the team has one more victory than last season.
SEE SWIMMERS ON PAGE 8B
Seating plan remains unsettled
Proposed Allen Fieldhouse seating plan
Proposed Faculty Seating Locations Student and General Admission Seating Student Reserved Seating
Reserved Seating
Season Assigned Seating g
By Joe Bant
jbant@kansan.com
kansan staff writer
The Faculty Executive Committee met yesterday hoping to finalize its faculty and staff basketball seating plan.
Its hopes were postponed for at least another week.
Ray Davis, chairman of the committee, emphasized the need to get the plan right, but said no plan would satisfy everyone.
"No matter what we do, there are going to be some questions and some ambiguities that will go into next year," Davis said.
The committee progressed, but couldn't decide where ticket holders would sit.
The current plan distributes 1,822 total seats to current and retired University faculty and staff. Most are reserved for those who currently hold season tickets.
The approximately 200 seats left over will be available for purchase from a lottery in four-game packages for faculty and staff without season tickets.
The committee has agreed on those details.
What remains murky is who will get the better seats, the current season ticket holders or the lottery-ticket holders.
Davis said the Athletics Department reviewed the proposal and suggested that combining lottery seats with regular seats might be too complicated because lottery seats turned over more often.
Originally, the committee planned a seating arrangement that would give out priority seats to faculty and staff members based on seniority. It would mix lottery-ticket holders with season ticket holders according to how long they had been with the University.
The result was a plan that gave priority seating to current ticket holders on a seniority basis, but that placed lottery-ticket holders behind current ticket holders regardless of their seniority.
Some committee members said that would be unfair to those with lottery tickets.
"It ites holders of tickets even more of a perk over the lottery people," said Pam Houston, committee member. "Not only are they getting only four tickets, but even if they've been here for 30 years, they're sitting far back."
The committee will consider alternatives to the plan and suggest them to the Athletics Department next week.
- Edited by Danielle Hillix
TALK TO SPORTS: Contact Henry C. Jackson or Maggie Newcomer at SPORTS@KANSAN.COM
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