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Sports
The University Daily Kansan
Not Again
Nearly a week after the Michigan State men's basketball team lost in the Final Four, the Spartan hockey team lost in the Frozen Four, college hockey's equivalent. Michigan State lost to North Dakota 2-0 in the national semifinals last night.
Inside: The varsity soccer team will play host to the first KU Spring Classic this weekend.
SEE PAGE 7A
Inside: The Kansas baseball team will travel to College Station, Texas for weekend bouts with the Aggies.
SEE PAGE 7A
FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2001 For comments, contact Shawn Hutchinson or Shawn Linenberger at 864-4858 or sports@kansan.com KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
Coaching like a player
New Kansas defensive line coach Travis Jones yells to his players during spring practice. Jones played college football at Georgia. Photo by Jamie Roper/KANSAN
Jones' memories of football help him train players
By Jeff Denton
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportwriter
Beads of sweat trickled down Travis Jones' face yesterday. On a separate practice field away from the rest of the Jayhawk football team, Kansas' defensive line coach preached to six Jayhawks. An empty field made his voice seem louder, which made players work harder.
"I tell my guys that pride is what compels the man to do his very best, even when no one is watching." Jones said. As if it were hard not to watch the 6-foot-4 Jones.
If it weren't for the absence of shoulder pads, picking out Jones from his players would be impossible. He is a 28-year-old coach in a college player's body. "Td like to line him up and play him," coach Terry Allen said.
Jones is only five years removed from his college football playing days — he was a starter and co-captain at Georgia. After graduation, he did not want to get away from the exhilaration of Saturday afternoons. His love for the game was too strong.
This passion convinced Allen that Jones would fit in as a member of the Kansas coaching staff. He was a man with football in his blood who could relate well to the team, Allen said.
"Players have respect for former players," Allen said. "You coach with a personality. So far, he's really made an impact. He brings so much excitement."
Jones credits this coaching enthusiasm to his playing days when anything less than intensity was unacceptable. In the first seven days of spring practice, Jones has taken an active approach. If a player has trouble with a certain drill, Jones will not only tell him how to improve, but physically show him to get it done.
"I want the team to feed off the energy," Jones said. "I look into the guys' faces and remember what it was like."
At the end of yesterday's practice, Jones and his men had returned to the main field to participate in a 9-on-7 drill. The coach showed no signs of letting up. By that time, a few faces had arrived to watch — one being Bob Frederick, athletics director.
Before meeting Jones, Frederick had been informed about him by a friend of
his who works in the athletics department at Georgia. He knew that he could coach, but his friend's words left him no doubts about Jones' character, Frederick said.
Jones has the approval of Frederick, the trust of Allen and the admiration of his players.
But all Jones wants is to coach the game.
"It's hard not to be fired up when you play for him," Allen said.
Coaching change
Barr played on the 1967 and 1968 Big Eight Conference championship teams at Oklahoma.
Kansas wasted no time in finding a replacement for former linebackers coach Mark Farley.
Johnny Barr, who has spent the past four years at Arizona State, will be the Jayhawks' new linebackers coach. He went to three bowl games in the past four seasons with the Sun Devils. In 30 years of coaching college football, Barr has also made stops at Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Lamar and Southwest Texas State.
Golf coach to see Indiana homecoming
— Edited by Doug Pacey
By John Domoney
When the Kansas women's golf team heads to Bloomington, Ind., to play in the Indiana Invitational tomorrow and Sunday, coach Nicole Hollingsworth might act as the team's tour guide.
She played on Indiana University's golf team and earned a bachelor's degree in public affairs in 1995.
sports@kansan.com
Kansan soortswriter
Now in her second season as head coach for Kansas, Hollingsworth has begun to assemble the program she envisioned when she was hired to strengthen the program in June of 1999.
Hollingsworth almost didn't get into coaching after her career at Indiana, where the team won the 1995 Big Ten Championship her senior year and finished fifth at that year's NCAA Championship.
"I couldn't pass up a job like Kansas because it's the job you dream of when you get into coaching." Hollingsworth said. "I've been here for two years, and I haven't found one bad thing yet."
winter quarter of Hollingsworth's last year was 3.44 and overall her teams generated five Academic AllAmericans, something Hollingsworth is most proud of.
Still, Kansas was the call that Hollingsworth was waiting for. In the summer of 1999 she quickly put her stamp on the Jayhawk golf program when her first team had three top-five tournament finishes. Her teams also continued their academic prowess as her first team's cumulative GPA was 3.12. Jayhawk golfers are also ever-
"I know most of my players won't be LPGA players, so they better have a good understanding of academic success for later on in life," she said.
"I couldn't pass up a job like Kansas because it's the job you dream of when you get into coaching.I've been here for two years,and I haven't found one bad thing yet."
Only three days away from turning pro and in the process of seeking out sponsors, Hollingsworth received a phone call from Ohio University that changed her life forever. The Bobcats wanted her to be their next coach — she accepted the job on the phone and gave up her chances of playing on tour.
The catch to her position was that Ohio hadn't had a women's golf program for more than 20 years and Hollingsworth was placed in charge of developing a new team from scratch in her first head coaching job.
Nicole Hollingsworth Women's golf coach
In her three years as head coach of the Bobcats, Hollingsworth's teams reduced their scoring averages by more than fifteen strokes. Along with success on the golf course, the combined team grade point average for the
to complete at least 20 hours of community service every year.
"Coach knows that academics come before athletics," said freshman Jennifer Bawanan, who was part of Hollingsworth's first recruiting class at Kansas. "The community service shows we're not only golfers, but we also give to the community."
Now, only two weeks away from the Big 12 Championship, Hollingsworth's second edition of
"I want to build a powerhouse here, and I didn't get into coaching to be medicre," Hollingsworth said. "Kansas has all the tools to become a really great team with a lot of patience and a little time."
"It would be neat to say when I was 57, 30 years from when I got the job, that I stayed here forever because that's hard to do in coaching." Hollingsworth said. "Most people look their entire careers to find the most fabulous job, and I found it at age 27."
As for Hollingsworth, she knows that this is just the beginning of her work at Kansas.
Jayhawks are beginning to develop into the team and program that she is striving toward.
Sports Columnist
Edited by Doug Pacey
Allan Davis
Kansas women's golf coach, Nicole Hollingsworth, assists Jennifer Cassell with her technique yesterday at Alvamar Golf Course. The team left last night for a weekend tournament at Indiana University, Hollingsworth's alma matter. Photo by Katie Moore/KANSAN
Softball team hopes to go far in postseason play
By Brent Briggeman sports @kansan.com
Kansas sportwriter
Burger looking to finish at top of Big 12 Conference
The Kansas softball team has turned its thoughts to the postseason as it enters the last month of the regular season.
As of now, the team likes its chances to compete deep into May.
"The Big 12 has a great reputation with the NCAA Tournament," coach Tracy Bunge said. "Over the last four years, the conference has sent at least four teams and as many as seven teams to regionals, so we've had great representation."
Currently sitting in third place in the conference, Kansas (20-17 overall and 4-2 in the Big 12 Conference) would figure to be a virtual shoe-in if the season were to finish now.
"It's really too early to tell," Bunge said. "The big key is how you finish. The last two weeks of conference play and the conference tournament, that's really what they look at and can ultimately determine who advances."
NCAA softball, like basketball, places 64 teams in the postseason. The teams are divided into eight regions, with the winner of each region advancing to the
But the season doesn't end today
College World Series.
Historically, Kansas has been a regular in the field of 64. The 'Hawks have qualified two of the past three years and eight times since their inaugural trip in 1983.
The Jayhawks have advanced to the College World Series only once, in 1992.
This particular Kansas队 is likely to go as far as their players' bats will take them. In its 20 wins, the team has averaged 5.95 a game. In 17 losses, the team has scored under two runs per game.
"I don't see any reason why we can't finish at the top of the conference," said third baseman Megan Urquhart, who
has hit 467 in conference games this season. "I think it will just depend on our hitting."
Bunge also expressed concern with the lack of experience on the bench. Besides the nine regulars, Kansas has only one player with as many as 20 career at bats.
"We've been really fortunate so far in terms of injuries, knock on wood," Bunge said. "But that's something that's always in the back of your mind as a coach."
Kansas travels to Lubbock, Texas, this week for a two-game series with the Red Raiders (25-15 and 3-3).
sports@kansan.com
Edited by Melissa Coolev
Big 12 starts trend to cut struggling men's sports
Despite all the effort given to restoring the men's swimming and diving team, the hope of resurrecting the team has become dimmer. But the Kansai team is not alone
two other Big 12 Conference schools have dropped their men's swimming and diving teams.
Nebraska discontinued its men's swimming and diving team, announcing the move in a news release March 25.
Monday, Iowa State announced the elimination of its men's baseball program and its swimming and diving teams, a move it said would save $370,000 in the next fiscal year.
That leaves only three Big 12 schools with men's swimming teams: Missouri; Texas and Texas A&M. Incidentally, the Texas men's team won its second consecutive NCAA swimming and diving title the day before the Nebraska announcement.
Bruce Van De Veld, Iowa State athletics director, said the two programs were cut "to maintain fiscal integrity that will help us maintain a strong competitive environment in the Big 12 Conference." He also said a factor in cutting the Cyclone base ball program was that the team was at a competitive disadvantage against Big 12 schools that can practice outdoors year round, which is basically the entire South Division.
Bill Byrne, athletics director at Nebraska, said that the decision to cut the men's swimming program was a budgetary issue. The athletics department was reportedly about $250,000 above the budget the last fiscal year. Nebraska's elimination of the program is anticipated to save the athletic department approximately $500,000 a year.
Byrne said the women's swimming and diving team couldn't be cut because the school must demonstrate a commitment to meeting the gender-equality regulations of Title IX. For Nebraska, that means adding women's sports, not cutting them. Although 47 percent of Nebraska students are female, only 37 percent of scholarship athletes are women.
Incidentally, an internal investigation of the Nebraska men's and women's swimming and diving teams began on Sept. 201 Men's and women's swimming and diving coach Cal Bentz and his staff resigned after the investigations. Nebraska has a September 2001 date with the NCAA Committee on Infractions to deal with what Bryne called "major violations."
Byrne said that the possibility of NCAA sanctions "accelerated the process" but that the elimination of the men's swimming and diving team was "made primarily for budgetary reasons."
So what's going on here? The highly profitable Nebraska football team can't support the men's swimming and men's gymnastics teams? The Cornhusker football team, a perennial national power, brings home a healthy paycheck every season.
If Nebraska can have financial problems, even with the football team bringing home big bowl money every year, it's not surprising that athletics department has budget problems — and cuts — here at Kansas. Sure, the basketball program is a big moneymaker here, but just like at Nebraska, one sport can't carry the entire department.
At this point, no immediate cuts of more programs at Kansas seem imminent. But Jayhawk athletes should be aware of budgetary and Title IX concerns, which are here and spreading. It's possible that cutting money-losing men's programs could become a national trend. If budgets are tight — and they seem to be — coaches of money-losing men's programs should be looking over their shoulders, watching for the executioner's axe.
If I were on a men's tennis team, a men's golf team, the Nebraska men's gymnastics and wrestling teams, or on one of the three remaining men's swimming teams in the Big 12, I'd be prepared and aware of transfer deadlines at other institutions just in case my sport got cut.
Davis is a Topoka graduate student in journalism