pc:? 14
fi'cdnw:y,E?ril 23, 1073
CH3 Ofc!'pvn
So
'XT;
- J Smit MKfcf
A find ccl
:hi
n Is often a r! SCC for tharJuzg these who
answering critics, tye!2 te-sther ths
loose ends, etc. However, 1 prefer to go oat with a strong
etorial statement.
From my game observations and rapport with the
players oyer the past four years, I think UNL if it chooses
to seek a competitive athletic program, has no choice tut,
to replace baseball cosch Tony Sharpe.
This is no persons! vendetta against cosch Shaipe. He
has been cooperative and accommodating when 1 talked
with him. I respect his knowled-e of the pa and under
stand that his ilea cf playing winning baseball nay differ
from mine.
Cut I thir.k that over his 30 years as head coach, he has
lost his skill to conmauricate with Jus fleers and the
discipline necessary to build a winner.
Let's lock at the facts. In his term as baseball mentor,
entering this season, Sharps has ccsnp&d a 349-351
235-249 in conference action. This yeaf s teen, currently
at 17-20-1, must sweep its last two doubkheadcrs to top
the .500 mark in the regular season. Considering the
caliber of competition, this record is nothing to write
home about. .
Unimpressive record
The Huskers' marks daring the 1970s have been less
than impressive. Sharpe's teams finished 16-10 in 1970,
10-20 in 1971, 12-17 in 1972, 15-I4-I in 1973, 13-27 in
1974 and 13-20 in 1975. That comes to a cool .422
I
n
The UNL soccer team overcame several adverse factors
to finish fourth in the Big 8 Conference meet Saturday
and Sunday in Boulder, Colo. It was the team's highest
finish ever in the meet.
Saturday, the Buskers lost to the eventual champion,
the University of Kansas, 6-0. They then tied Kansas State
University 1-1, with Oscar Carcomo scoring the Husker
goal.
In the third game Saturday, the Huskers faced the Uni
versity of Oklahoma needing to win by at least four goals
to advance to the third-place game. The contest was tied
1-1, but Tony Roach tallied four goals in the last six
minutes for a 5-1 Husker win.
Sunday the Huskers dropped the third-place game to
the University of Colorado 4-1, with Dave Egr scoring the
lone UNL goal.
Club co-President Jim FuHerton said he and fellow
President Mike Bush handled coaching duties since coach
Franz Blaha quit two weeks ago. He also said the Huskers
had just the 11 starters and one substitute and that the
team had to pay its own expenses for the trip.
The women's state college track and field champion
ships, originally scheduled for Tuesday, have been post
poned until 2 pjn. Sunday at Ed Weir Stadium.
The UNL women's softbaH team travels to Omaha
today for a doubleheader against the University of Ne
braska at Omaha. The team is now 8-11 after splitting a
home doubleheader with Concordia Teachers College
Monday, losing the opener 5-4 and winning the nightcap
13-4.
The Huskers finished fourth of five teams in the Big 8
Conference tournament Friday through Sunday at Kansas
State University (KSU) at Manhattan.
" They won their opener in the double elimination meet
Friday, beating the University of Kansas (KU) 4-3 ."Satur
day's games were rained out, and Sunday's games were
played in KSlFs football stadium on the Astroturf.
Sunday, the Huskers lost to Iowa State University 1-0
in a game that had only one hit. Husker Jan Barrels hurled
a one-hitter, but was beaten by Cyclone Carol Eich, who
tossed a no-hitter. ISU's winning run came on a single in
the fourth inning. In another Sunday game, KU elimin
ated UNL with a 2-1 win.
Bo Green and Roy Schumacher won the year-endin:
foosbaH tournament at the Nebraska Union Recreation
Area Monday night. They defeated Tom Tismer and
Elmer Kirdey in the finals, 5-2 and 5-1. Monthly tourna
ments will resume in the falL
The Husker baseball team swept a home doubleheader
against Dana College Monday, winning 4-0 and 9-6. .
Senior pitcher Dave Bushier had a no-hitter in the
opener until the seventh inning. He ended up with a two
hit shutout in raising his record to 34. Sophomore Lany
WIsma was the hitsg star wih a two-run triple.
In the second pme, pnicr Echby Thomas led the aray
wii three singes, a double and two runs batted in. Senior
pitcher Boyd Baienherst epped his record to 5-2 after
relieve freshman Jeff Ccst:"o n the third inning.
The team, now 17-20-1 , meets Missouri Western State
CcZcce a a hems douhlcheader at 2 pjn.
The Focsers teem won the Al-Unhersty bowling rc3
effs 1st Thursday and Friday at the Nebrsia Union
lines. The Cist and second place teams from the et
Union ksgses psrtidpated.
Focsers team members were Gary Ahnquist, Brad
FaHer, BUI Grurh and Steve Thompson. They had averages
cf IcO, 159, 157 and 157, rerpectivcly.
winning percentage, hardly an adequate nwrk for a major
college coach.
Over 8 long season, a player needs a desire to player,
not h spite chis coach. UusJcer teams I have seen lacked
this mutual respect. On the field, quibbles between player
and coach are evident to the discerning fan. And they con
cern more than the expected complaints from reserves
about not playmg enough.
' I have seen players snickering at Sharpe's advice, jsst
as I have teen Sharpe humiliate players. During a game
this season, I heard Sharpe yell to a player at the plate,
"Hey, swing the bat up there. Yon mfr.t get lucky and hit
one." Now that's a red confidence builder. -
Husker players both past and present (who wish to re
main anonymous), have toll me that Sharpe rarely oilers
constructive criticism. Instead, I am told, he is a master at
derisive, cordidence-shattering remarks that do ncttr.z
but damage a payer's ego and redetermination.
' Qsfitasr v
- Ron MUtenberger, a junior catcher from Burlington,
Iowa, quit the team earlier this year because of his dis
agreement with Sharpe's training policies and methods of
handling the team on a road trip, if Itenbcrger gave up his
scholarship money in an effort to see the baseball program
improve through Sharpe's removal.
MEtenberger is not merely a disgruntled reserve who
decided to quit. He was the team's leading conference
hitter his freshman year. He also has seen how a winning
team operates, playing for national high school coach of
the year Dick Wagner at Burlington High School.
During his career, Miltenberger was one of the more
motivated, conscientious players I met. He had a desire to
help make the UNL baseball program a winning one.
Apparently, he chose to disengage himself from the
negative atmosphere between team and coach. I commend
him for his efforts to seek new leadership and overall
improvement of the baseball program.
When swimming coach John Reta recently came under
the gua, Athletic Director Bob Devaney said he owed it to
Reta to let him coach in the new pool, blaming the old
pool for part of his past failures. Well, there are no plans
for a new baseball field, -
Nebraska will not hire top state and area talent until its
baseball program is upgraded, and I believe a major step in
the improvement process is the replacement of Tony
Sharpe as head baseball coach.
n p
r
hus
Em f
uursnors cud Sy2: sqcohos
yTQCO
jm am
oh' two-,
.X
mi i& rely
rcf
By Jim Hunt
Putting it all together at the right time is what Husker
middle distance runner Paul McCIain tries to do. And
McCMn, a sophomore pre-medicme major from BeQevue,
put it all together Saturday when he ran 1:49:8 in his
850-yard leg of the two-mile relay at the Drake Relays.
McCIain, along with teammates Matt Reckmeyer, Keith
Whitaker and Ron Fisher, raced to a new school record in
the relay with a time of 7:2055, clipping more than three
and a half seconds off the old mark. The record earned
Husker athlete-of-the-week honors for the team.
The old mark of 7:245 was set in the 1971 Drake
Relays by Jen Hawkins, Greg Cailberg, Roger Chadwick
and Larry Cimato.
Reckmeyer, a junior from Mt. Morris, 13., led off for
the Huskers and ran his SSOyard leg in 1:51.2. He was
followed by Whitaker, a junior from Norwell, Masswho
recorded a time of 1 50.4. McCMn ran third and the team
was anchored by freshman Ron Fisher from Ottawa,
Canada, with a time of 1 :49.4.
Fisher was boxed in, however, and the Huskers took
third place behind Baylor University and the University of
Wisconsin. Just two-tenths of a second separated the three
schools.
Althouth the two-mile relay is not run in the NCAA
national championships, Husker track coach Frank
Sevigne is optimistic about the runners chances of
qualifying in individual events.
1 think that they have a chance of cmalifying for
nationals if they get a break from the weather, Sevigne
said.
"I'm going to try my best to qualify for nationals,"
McCIain said. "I'm going to try to put my best foot for
ward because it (the nationals) is within reach." McCIain's
performance in the relay Saturday was his career best in
the 880. '
Javelin thrower Scott Sorchik, a junior from Sussex,
NX, is the only Husker to qualify for nationals thus far.
UNL track fans can see the Huskers in a dual Saturday
against the Iowa State University Cyclones (ISU). It will
be the Husker's only home dual this year. They will host
the Big 8 Conference Championships May 14 and 15.
Other athlete of the week nominees were sophomore
golfer Doug Smith of Iincoln;junior baseball pitcher Kirk
Eymann of Papillion; freshman tennis player Phil Woog of
Rolling HHIs, Calif.; sophomore softball pitcher Jan
Bartels of Lincoln; junior tennis player Sue Rapp of
Lincoln; and sophomore golfer Jane Deeter cf Lincoln.
irjii'fTn f r-i'n-
-wwWm-a--f.,g0ate-. .
r
Rca FH.tr, kft, csd Ut ncdsseyer practice their rdqr exchere. They were past cf Hz
school recwd-scttlm
