Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Radford has skilled center Parakhouski will give Aldrich challenge inside. MEN'S BASKETBALL | 5B
WWW.KANSAN.COM
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2009
Players address their fans Juniors comment on support in the coaching transition. FOOTBALL | 28
PAGE 1B
FOOTBALL
Ole Miss: Don't believe what you see in the papers
BY JAYSON JENKS AND CLARK GOBLE jjenks@kansan.com, cgoble@kansan.com
In a response to recently published reports that Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt had interest in the Kansas coaching job, Nutt and Ole Miss Athletics Director Pete Boone released a joint statement dismissing the validity of those reports.
"I continue to appreciate the ongoing support of Chancellor Dan Jones and Athletics Director Pete Boone," Nutt said in the statement. "We came to Ole Miss committed to building the type program that our fans deserve. Ole Miss is a great university
Nutt
and the quality of life in Oxford is the envy of others. I can't think of anywhere else we would like to be. There are so many positives here, and we're excited about the direction of the program.
"Our players are also excited and the response we are receiving from recruits and their parents is most gratifying. We appreciate the interest Kansas showed in our staff, but we are happy at Ole Miss and looking forward to the AT&T Cotton Bowl."
\dded Boone: "Under the leadership of
To find out more about how the coaching transition is tough on recruits, see PAGE 3A.
Houston Nutt, the Ole Miss football program has had tremendous success. We anticipate that success will continue for years to come, because of Houston Nutt's commitment to Ole Miss."
In his second season, Nutt is leading Ole Miss into the Cotton Bowl for the second consecutive year. In total 10 seasons — eight at Arkansas and two at Ole Miss — Nutt has 92-56 head coaching record, including a 51-45 mark in the ever-tough SEC.
He is a three-time recipient of the SEC Coach of the Year award
Coach of the Year award.
Reports surfaced Monday that Nutt was interested in Kansas' coaching vacancy, while adding that he had allegedly talked with Kansas Athletics Director Lew Perkins about the position.
The Athletics Department has declined all comments on any coaching rumors during
any coaching rangers during their search for former coach Mark Mangino's replacement.
Edited by Jacob Muselmann
BY JAYSON JENKS
jjenks@kansan.com
The newest name that may be considered as a candidate for Kansas' vacant head coaching position? Minnesota's Tim Brewster, whose
team lost 42-21 to Kansas in the Insight Bowl last season.
In an interview with the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minnesota Athletics Director Joel Maturi said he had heard
Brewster
the speculation, while adding that
Search for the coach
"There are rumors that he's going to Kansas, so I don't know," Maturi told the Pioneer Press Tuesday. "What can I say? So I can't guarantee
it, no. I can't guarantee the decisions of other people."
Maturi told the newspaper that he expects Brewster to return to Minnesota next season but that
nothing was certain. He also said he asked Brewster about the rumors but not whether the coach had interest in the job.
Brewster's mentioning as a candidate is somewhat surprising—Minnesota is just 14-23 in Brewster's three seasons. His team will play in the Insight Bowl this season for the second consecutive year.
"I'm smart enough to know that (Brewster's) not going to tell me; nor is the athletics director (Lew Perkins) at Kansas going to tell me until it's a done deal," Maturi told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "I cried with (Brewster) about it very, very briefly. I told him I'm getting tired of all of these Kansas calls. That's kind of been my conversations with him.
"I know how the game is played. I know how it is. I'm respectful of that. I'm not going to believe the rumors until they're fact. I'm not going to knee-jerk react one way or the other because of it."
Brewster has two years remaining on his contract and is paid roughly $1 million annually. His team finished the regular season 6-6.
Edited by Jacob Muselmann
KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE
Former Kansas basketball player Russel Robinson listens to a coach during an NBA Development League game Saturday in Los Angeles. Robinson passed up more money from teams overseas in order to keep truicing to make a NBA team.
Robinson waits for NBA chance
tdwyer@kansan.com
BY TIM DWYER
tdwyer@kansan.com
LOS ANGELES — Things have certainly changed for Russell Robinson.
Robinson, the starting point guard on Kansas' 2008 National Championship team, isn't playing in front of the more than 16,000 fans he was used to in college. He isn't even playing in front of the crowds he saw as a high school superstar in America's grandest metropolis, New York, New York.
Instead he plays for the NBA Development League's Reno Bighorns, in front of a crowd that, at least this Friday in Los Angeles, officially was listed at 105, but appeared to be about half of that.
"You've just got to be professional about it and bring your own energy," Robinson said. "I'm not playing in front of 16,000
From the city that never sleeps, Jayhawk fans well know. Robinson moved on to the college town that loves its basketball maybe even a little too much. (On second thought, scratch that). Lawrence, though, does indeed revere basketball players — especially ones such as the good-looking, laid-back, well-mannered Robinson.
anymore, so 1 gotta go out there and execute my own personal mindset and make sure 1 relay that to my teammates."
It's a good thing he didn't. Because the love — well, the love has run dry, from a local fan base standpoint. Robinson, while watching six teammates from his career at Kansas got drafted (five from the aforementioned
It would have been understandable had Robinson gotten used to the preferential treatment, but he never showed signs of getting a big head from all the love that was thrown his way
"I'm happy for them," Robinson said. "It's definitely inspirational. It makes me — I feel like a happy parent, like I was part of their success, and I'm just trying to get there myself."
Enter Bighorns, one of 16 franchises in the NBDL, where even the top players pull in only around $20,000 a year and the new home of Robinson, who starts at point guard and is the team captain in his second year with the club.
championship team, and Julian Wright before them) bypassed the chance to make millions playing in Europe to chase his dream of playing in the NBA the best way he knew how.
Being a point guard, especially a pass-first, team-oriented one like Robinson, is always a challenge. In a league where each player is out to make a name for himself and get an NBA call-up, though, challenging reaches levels of difficulty that Robinson never anticipated in college.
"My dream is to be in the NBA, and I got real, close this year," Robinson said. "This is where I need to be at to develop my game and get where I need to be. I'm just going to go out there, take it day by day, and make sure
"Down here it's a little different," he said. "It's dog-eat-dog down here. College you're with your teammates all summer, all year. You have practice together for a very long time, so you really get to know each other.
"As professionals, you really don't, you've just got to hope that you will jell. Sometimes you don't jell, but you've just got to be professional about it. It's not as good a team structure as college, so it makes it a little more difficult as
I improve on it."
SEE ROBINSON ON PAGE 3B
Team's show of unity is powerful
Statements to the media are made for numerous reasons. They can be made to
They can be made to apologize for wrongdoing, like Brady Morningstar's letter after his drunken driving.
They can be a glorified "no comment." See Tiger Woods' Web site.
But the statement that was issued by next year's senior class on the football team Monday morning is unlike any I've ever seen or heard about.
to briefly recap, Sal Capra,
Drew Dudley, Chris Harris, Jake
Laptad, Brad Thorson and John
Wilson composed a statement
directed toward Jayhawk fans on
behalf of the junior class. They
expressed their "unwavering confidence" in the team and excitement for next season. They also asked fans for their "continued support in our football program and the athletic department."
That's all well and good, but I don't think the fan support has declined since coach Mark Mangino's resignation. I think people might be more supportive than ever. They want to see a new coach come in, use what Mangino built and create a program that competes with the best in the Big 12.
If Mangino had stayed on as head coach, that might be different.
And with no Todd Reesings, Kerry Meiers or Darrell Stuckeys on next year's roster, pundits are sure to rank the Jayhawks in the doldrums of the Big 12 North. And before this statement, I was right with them.
What this issued statement tells me is that this junior class wants to make amends for this season. With perhaps the most talented Kansas team in a decade, the jahawks finished 5-7.
That might cut in it Waco, but for a football program that wants to make a consistent mark on the college football landscape, that just isn't good enough.
Now I'm not so sure.
The statement reaffirms my belief that the team will work extremely hard to get better in the offseason.
After the Missouri game, you could tell just by looking at Harris that he was legitimately angry. It was striking because Harris usually shocks interviewers with his energy. Harris seemed as if he wanted to sneak around Arrowhead Stadium, find a weight room and start working for next season.
Thorson echoed a similar sentiment when talking about the offensive line's excitement for next season.
"If we could be the first group to get back in the weight room and keep preparing, we would," Thorson said. "But everybody's going to be there right along with us."
The team is working today, tomorrow and probably every other day until August to make up for this season's disappointment
They didn't say it in the statement, but 5-7 will linger in players' minds until they open next season Sept. 4 against North Dakota State.
Edited by Samantha Foster
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