PAC'.i.- 4b
There’s little
by Bill Wallace
Knight-Ridder Tribune
March 27, 2001
At Texas Tech University, entertainment won out and
education lost. The bread-and-circus issue was the hir
ing of the new basketball coach Bobby Knight, late of
the University of Indiana at Bloomington.
Before the recent appointment there was brief belief
that the president, David Schmidly, would fend off the
importunities of Gerald Myers, his athletic director.
Knight, dismissed at Indiana last September 20 follow
ing a series of behavioral blunders, had an old pal in
Myers, a former basketball coach at Tech.
But no. The campus of 25,000 students, and the city of
Lubbock (325 miles west of Dallas, population 175,000),
were euphoric about the probable coming of a coach
whose teams had won 723 games, 11 Big 10 titles and
three national championships in 29 seasons at Indiana.
Nothing like that had ever happened at Tech, a distant
third among state universities there after the University
of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M at College Station.
Walter Schaller, an associate professor of philosophy,
had written a petition circulated among the faculty that
opposed the hiring of Knight. Schaller wrote that the ap
pointment “would bring much negative publicity and
damage our reputation.”
Madonne Miner, the chairwoman of the English de
partment, told The New York Times, “I want Tech to be
seen as an academically solid, ethically based university
in which we feel proud of our athletes and proud of our
coaches.” She didn’t think that would happen with Knight
on the scene
Schaller envisaged the famous film clip of Knight in a
rage throwing a metal chair across a basketball court be
ing revived on television, which may or may not hap
pen.
However Schaller’s ardor switched once the deed was
done. “I welcome Bob Knight to Texas Tech,” he said. “I
Final Four could produce couple of classics
by Steve Richardson
Knight-Ridder Tribune
March 25,2001
The Atlantic Coast Conference is back in
the national spotlight. Michigan State is back
for a third straight Final Four and hopes to
successfully defend its crown. And Arizona
is back to playing at the high level many
expected before this season was interrupted
by turmoil and tragedy.
One Final Four semifinal on Saturday will
be a repeat of the 2001 ACC Tournament
semifinals: Duke vs. Maryland. The other
will be clash of two powerhouse programs
of the 19905, Michigan State and Arizona,
which are well-known Final Four fixtures.
The No. 1-ranked Blue Devils have
battled Maryland in three scintillating games
this season. Two of the games between the
Blue Devils and Terrapins already have
made ESPN’s Instant Classics.
In the first game, the Blue Devils over
came a 10-point deficit in the final 54 sec
onds to win in overtime, 98-%, at Mary
land in January. The Terrapins then stunned
the Blue Devils in Durham in the return
match, 91-80, in late February. Then Duke
won the third game in Atlanta, which was
decided by a last second shot, 84-82.
Instead of a Wresdemania semifinal such
as the one between Wisconsin-Michigan
State last season, which pitted two teams
from the same conference for the fourth time
in season, the Duke-Maryland could be an
other for the Classic Channel.
“ Our game in Adanta in the tournament
■ g I __iii ti
Duke coach Mike Ktzy&wsn said. “Some
of the kids even said to each other, ‘We’ll
see you at the Final Four.’ We are happy to
have two teams from our conference in the
evidence Knight has learned to behave
Knight takes national stage as Texas Tech’s new coach
Less than a year after being fired
from Indiana University, controver
sial basketball coach Bob Knight cel
ebrated his coming out party as Texas
Tech's newest head coach with an
hour-long interview on CNN’s “Larry
King Live.”
Knight, accompanied by Texas
Tech President David Schmidly, ad
dressed everything from his experi
ence at Indiana to the temper that ul
timately led to his dismissal last year
by IU president Myles Brand.
*‘l think that... not only do I have
to change some things... I think I have
to eliminate a thing or two,” Knight
said. “Not just change it, but just get
rid of it.”
Knight said that while the legend
of his famous persona has been
Duke’s Jason Williams goes up for
a shot over USC’s Brian
Scalabrine in Duke’s 79-69 victory
in the NCAA Tournament Satur
day. Duke advanced to the Final
Four.
Final Four. That’s terrific.”
The advancement of Duke and Maryland
to one nadonal semifinal officially returns
the Adantic Coast Conference to promi
nence. The previous two seasons the league
qualified only three teams each year to the
endre field. And there were whispers that
the ACC was on the decline. But this sea
son, the ACC stormed back with six teams
in the NCAA Tournament and now has two
teams in the Final Four for the first time since
nMHMMMMNQMIt Carolina made it in
This will be the 13th time at least two
teams from the same conference have made
hope the team wins 30 games. But I also hope Bob Knight
has realized his behavior must change and that Texas
Tech proves to be the second chance he needs.”
The petition had attracted 100 signatures from the fac
ulty of 900 at a time when many were away because of
spring break. President Schmidly, new to the campus,
would have paid it little heed. He had said, “What better
thing could happen for Texas Tech? He's one of the best
basketball coaches to ever live.”
Schmidly had a codicil. Knight had to behave and
there’s little evidence of that. For the hiring announce-
TMS Campus
March 27, 2001
coach Lute Olson’s wife, who passed
away during the season. Olson, who is
in his fourth Final Four at Arizona (1988,
1994,1997,2001) also had to coach the first
six games of the season without center Loren
Woods, who was suspended for violation of
the NCAA extra benefits rule. But Arizona
has won 19 of its last 21 games, losing only
at UCLA and at Oregon during that span.
The Wildcats have shown they can com
pete against a ragged Big Ten team such as
Michigan State. After bearing the mini in
the Midwest Region final for a second time
in three meetings this season, Woods pre
dicted that the national semifinal against
Michigan State would be “the same kind of
war.”
NATIONAL SPORT'S
“grossly exaggerated” over time, “I
also think there are a couple- things
that I can coach and be better off with
“Karen’s [Knight’s wife] favorite
saying is, ‘lf the horse is dead, get
off,’” said Knight, referring to some
habits of his that have caused more
harm than good in recent years.
Schmidly, who made Knight’s hir
ing official last week, defended the
choice. He said that he has been a fan
of Knight's for years, and that after
meeting with him on the matter, the,
choice to hire him was an easy one.
“We talked to a lot of people that
have known Coach Knight for a long
time,” he said. “Talked to a lot of
people that have not, that only read
about him. And what I would say is a
very consistent pattern there. The
people who had known Coach Knight
for a long time raved about him, not
the field. One year, in 1985, there were
three teams from the Big East Confer
ence. This is the fourth time two teams
from die ACC have made the Final Four.
The other seasons were 1981 (North
Carolina-Virginia) and 1990 (Duke,
Georgia Tech) and 1991. But only in
1981 did the two ACC teams actually
play each other, with North Carolina
beating Virginia in the semifinals before
losing to Indiana in the NCAA final.
In the other 2001 national semi
final, Arizona, The Dallas Morning
News’ preseason No. 1 team, and Michi
gan State will not have as much famil
iarity with each other. The two teams
played last season in Tucson, with the
Wildcats winning on their home-court,
79-68. But Michigan State eventually
claimed the NCAA tide, while Arizona
was upset in the second round by Wis-
This season Arizona players have
dedicated the season to Bobbi Olson,
ment a crowd of 7,500 showed up at the United Spirit
Arena and Knight displayed his usual brasli self-confi
dence and biting banter with the media.
He was unapologetic about his alleged choking of a
player at Indiana, just as he had been in a television in
terview with Bob Costas last year. Knight told Costas
he had nothing to apologize for, and remained unrepen
tant on the Larry King TV show even after his new hir
ing.
Knight did have a charismatic credential for the fac
ulty. The graduation percentages for his players at Indi-
only as a person, but as a coach. And
of course, my experience with him in
the four or five days I’ve had the
chance to get to know him have been
same way.”
Schmidly also addressed the criti
cism brought on by students and more
than 100 Texas Tech faculty members
about Knight's hiring.
“There was about 100 [faculty
members] that signed a petition,” he
said. “And I met with faculty, we had
a very positive meeting. I answered
all their questions, and, I think all of
the faculty are of the mind that we
are going to give Coach Knight a
chance, a fresh start."
When asked by King whether or
not his temper is controllable, Knight
replied, “I think so. I don’t think I
have ever been out of control.”
The Sporting News’ NFL Executive of the Year:
New Orleans Saints’ Randy Mueller
by Paul Attner
The Sporting News
March 28. 2001
Randy Mueller is one of the
nice guys in sports. Low-key, un
assuming and quiet, he maintains
the most miniscule of profiles
possible in a high-profile profes
sion. But don’t mistake humility
for weakness. In his first year di
recting the Saints’ operation, he
displayed a steely decision-mak
ing ability which became the
foundation of everything good
that happened to the franchise.
“I had to install passion,” he
says. “I had to make this fun
again for the franchise. We had
to change the attitude every
where, from front office to
coaches to support personnel. We
needed to bring some life back to
the place. So we had to make
changes. But it helped that 1
didn’t know a whole lot about the
Saints’ past, and 1 didn’t care,
quite frankly. I knew I had an
owner who was committed to let
me do whatever it took to get it
With Masters a week
Woods continues hot
by Randall Mell
Knight-Ridder Tribune
March 27, 2001
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - With his ball falling out
of a blue sky over the No. 17 island green, Tiger Woods
offered his closest pursuers hope during Monday’s con
clusion of The Players Championship.
“ It’s in the water!” a fan behind the tee screamed.
The ball, fading fast to the right, found the green, spun
back and nestled in the thin collar of rough against the
bulkhead a few inches from the pond. That's as close as
Woods came to making this ending dramatic. He saved
par there and played the suspended final nine holes like a
man who’s rounding into major championship form.
Woods, who safely played for bogey at the 18th to beat
Vijay Singh by a shot, is back on his game with The Mas
ters a week away.
The world’s No. 1 player seems poised to make a run
at history and winning golf’s Grand Slam.
Or will it be Grand Slam? If Woods wins The Masters,
he will have claimed all four major championships in less
than a year. But, it won’t be the same calendar year.
Whether holding all four majors at the same time consti
tutes a Grand Slam will be the subject of heated debate
when Woods steps onto Augusta National’s lush land
scape. Woods believes it ought to be a Grand Slam.
There’s no doubt Woods will be favored to win his sec
ond green jacket. Two weeks ago, he was hounded with
questions about his “ slump,” the inability to win in his
first six events this year. Now, with Monday’s $ 1,080,000
first-place check in his pocket, he has reclaimed his spot
as the PGA Tour’s leading money winner.
“ Some of the writers suggested I was in a slump,”
Woods said. “ Obviously, they don’t really understand
the game that well. I wasn’t playing that badly. It wasn’t
ana were good, in the 1980 s. Texas Tech has figures no
where near that. The dismal graduation rate for African-
American student-athletes is just 23 percent compared
to 67 percent for white students.
That gap of 44 percent is the third widest among big
time sports programs, exceeded only by Auburn, 50 per
cent, and Fresno State, 45.
According to the teachings of Allen Sack, it was cer
tain that Knight would find another port of call after be
ing cut loose at last by Myles Brand, the president at
Indiana. Sack is a professor of sociology at the Univer
sity of New Haven in Connecticut and co-author of
"College Athletes for Hire."
The latter is one of several recent books calling atten
tion to the dismal state of intercollegiate sports. In a
recent essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education,
Sack wrote, “All the proposals set forth are problem
atical for the same reason. The authors assume that a
significant constituency truly wants to challenge the
collegiate sports juggernaut.
dime, and that is all I needed
So Mueller made changes in
off-field personnel, wiped out a
large chunk of the roster, hired
Jim Haslett to coach the team and
brought in significant free agents
such as quarterback Jeff Blake,
wide receiver Joe Horn and de
fensive tackle Norman Hand.
Mueller was hired on January 27;
a month later, this already was no
longer Mike Ditka’s Saints. The
result was a 10-6 season and, ul
timately, the Saints’ first playoff
victory, a 31-28 home triumph
over the Rams.
For his efforts, Mueller, 39,
was selected by his peers - gen
eral managers, presidents and
owners of other NFL franchises
- as The Sporting News’ 2000
NFL Executive of the Year.
Mueller was a runaway winner,
receiving 16 votes. Ravens vice
president of player personnel
O/.z.ie Newsome and Eagles di
rector of football operations Tom
Modrak tied for second with four
thought he
Mueller
like I was missing cuts every week. 1 was right there with
a chance to win in virtually every tournament I teed it up
in, and I think that's pretty good.”
If not for a double-bogey at the finishing hole at the Dubai
Desert Classic three weeks ago, Woods could be headed to
The Masters with three victories in a row.
Woods will be trying to break The Players Champion
ship jinx heading to Augusta National. None of the previ
ous 27 winners of this event has been able to win The
Masters in the same year.
With Sunday’s finish incomplete because of rain, Woods
played his final nine holes Monday in 2-under 34, giving
him a final-round 67. Nobody shot a better final-round
score. Woods’ 72-hole total was 274.
Bernhard Langer also shot 67 to finish third two shots
back. Third-round leader Jerry Kelly (73) made double
bogey on the final hole to finish fourth.
Singh, the defending Masters champ, made a valiant run
at Woods, moving within a shot of him with a birdie at the
13th hole. At the 14th tee, Singh promptly hooked his drive
into a pond and made triple-bogey 7.
“ It was just a straight pull,” Singh said. “ I was too ag
gressive, too anxious.”
Still, Singh rebounded, pulling to within a shot again
with an eagle at the 16th and birdie at the 17th, but that
only fired up Woods.
Woods was looking over a 45-foot eagle putt at the 16th
green when Singh made his 6-foot birdie putt at the 17th.
Woods could see Singh make the putt from across the pond
separating those holes.
“ It would have been nice to make eagle on top of Vijay
there, where Vijay makes birdie and still loses a shot,”
Woods said.
Woods lipped out his eagle putt but his tap-in birdie re
stored his two-shot cushion and gave him momentum head
ing to The Masters.
FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2001
"But. with the exception of a handful of faculty
members who think that a college education should
mean more than merely staying eligible for sports, it
may be that no one really cares if big-time college
athletes receive a meaningful education.”
This handful of faculty members makes up the
Drake Group founded by Jon Erickson, a professor at
Drake University in Des Moines, lowa. The group's
concern is the corruption that college sports bring into
the academic realm. Sack is a member, as is Murray
Sperber, author of "Beer and Circus: How Big-Time
College Sports Is Crippling Undergraduate Educa
tion."
Sperber, an Indiana University professor, was
publicly critical of Knight and the administration for
tolerating his boorishness for so long. After Knight's
dismissal, unpopular with the Hoosier yahoos, Sperber
felt so threatened in Bloomington that he asked for
and received a sabbatical year away.
spend his entire football career in
Seattle, where he began a front-
office ascent as a scouting assis
tant w ith duties that included act
ing as ball boy and washing cars.
He signed a three-year contract
in November 1999 to remain as
the club's vice president of foot
ball operations under Mike
Holmgren. He had run the
Seahawks’ front office before
Holmgren was hired as coach in
1999. "I was looking forward to
spending 20 years with the same
organization,” Mueller says.
But Saints Owner Tom Benson
convinced Mueller he would re
ceive the necessary financial sup
port to compete with the league’s
aggressive teams. Mueller signed
on, and thus far the results have
been gratifying. "It is a great
honor, obviously, to have your
name put up there with some of
the great executives of all time,”
he says.
“This is a tribute to the whole
organization. But we are still a
work in progress.”
might
away,
streak