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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 16, 1976)
thursday, december 16, 1976 P2g3 10 daily nsbrssksn I I , """X I r ; i I - I V ! ' 1 : x v, t : , ...... , o i Powers will bs vougta to roploce'; Cumrin consici regoo posi Rwsto fey Ted KiA Indies iecratt&g players for next season, Husker fesd coadi Tea Oicrce ws3 be lacking far coaches. DefessSie backfield ccsch Warren Powers tlztcdy fcss accepted a bead ccsdnirg job asd defesshe cocriia atsr K.aate KiTSa is being considered for asaSher job. ered v By Jim ICsy Tom Osborne is going to find himself short at least one assistant coach next season, and a Husker player who will be returning sard the assistant will be hard to replace. Defensive backfield coach Warren Powers has accepted the head coaching job at Washington State University (WSU) vacated by Jackie Sherrill. Sicrrd q$t the WSU job after one year to take the head coaching job at Htts burgh University. Defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin also is being con sidered by another umiroraty as head coach. The announcement of Powers acceptance of the head coaching job as WSU was made official at a Monday press conference by WSU Athletic Director Sam Jankovich. Jankovich said the selection committee at WS!J ad searched the nation for the finest head coach w try and had found that person in Powers. Junior Husker defensive back Larry Valasek said he agreed with Jankovich. . - - "He's (Powers) one of the greatest coaches in the coun try " Valasek said. "Just look at the statistics over the last Keys to successful season for are depth, squad s Editor's note-Tils is the sixth ia a series examinrg Dg 8 Conference ba&etbs3 teams. By I.Ske McCarthy Oklahoma State University (OSU) coach Guy Strong eight years. Or even this year. People said we didn't have a good year (on pass defense), but we were second in the conference." The Husker defensive backfield gave up 98.5 yards a geme against the pass this season. Powers' best season statistically was in 1973 when his players allowed an aver age of only 44 yards a game. Possible replacements that already are within the NU coaching system include graduate assistants Mark Hey dorff and Dob Thornton, according to Valasek. Powers' first game as WSU head coach will be next Sept. 10 when Washington State opens its season in Lin coln against the Huskers. Another vacancy at NU may appear soon. Kiffin has ; been interviewed for the head cc-ebing job at the Uni versity of Oregon, :;. However, there were reports Wednesday that Bob Mora, a University of Washington assistant, was ahead of Kiffin as top candidate for the job. Results of the inter views will not be known until this weekend. Gambling inevitable, hut legal would Bb, amateur spp izaw rts d own foil East's note This is the last ia a series exsminsg gamb les ia Nebraska, and especially at UNL. ByEeteWemaa Gambling is a fact of life. For in any Americans, it has become a way of life. It is an American institution. A federal commission which spent three years and S3 million investigating gambling opened its 1976 report with this sentence: Gambling is inevitable." It also is illegal, or it has been for the most part until recent years. Now, in various states, people can bet on fourth and V twenty bingo, horses, dogs and trotter races, casino games and sporting events. Delaware, Montana and Nevada allow legal betting on sports exeats. These states, apparently recognizing easy money when they sse it, opted for becoming legal book makers. Other states are sure to follow. Yet, the professions! sports people are not happy with the new ksslizstkra of bctfog on their sports. The Na tional FootbiH League has brought suit against Delaware, charging that bgslked betting will hurt pro football's reputation, leading people to believe the game is fixed. Chat a horrid thought!) stro-Essueoonnet &owi With legal wagering on professional sports already a reality, legalized betting on collegiate sporting events is only a football throw away. What would be the implications of wagering on inter collegiate sports and should it be allowed? First of all, gambling on collegiate sports would have every member of the NCAA hierarchy screaming "foul." It would open a myriad of new factors in the game. Next to a team's won4oss record in the sports pages would be the team's won-loss record against the spread. College athletes could receive a rude introduction to the world of gambling. - A state like Nebraska, where Eig Red football would be the thing to bet on, could help fill its financial coffers with income from legalized betting on collegiate sports. How would it affect collegiate sports? As the years have progressed, coHsgiate sports have become big business and legalized betting only would make that business bigger. It would not rastter so much whether a team won or lost, but rather, by how much. Amateur aspects, if any remain, would be gone. Col lege sporting events would be sssple to fix. College ath letes need money, like all students, and what would stop them from taking a bribe to drop a pass, miss a byup or fake an injury? If people want to bet, let them bet. Est let them do it through their bookie. Let's keep legalized wagering out of. college sports and try to regain that spirit of amateurism that has, and should, relga ia collegiate sports. said he thinks his Cowboys can do well this year if his team's experience goes to work. : "We have more experience and more competition for positions than at any time since I've been at Oklahoma State," Strong said. We also have more depth and team speed." One player who fits Strong's experience and quickness mold is senior guard Ronnie Daniel. The 5 ft. 1 1 in., three-year letterman could rate as the Eig 8's top guard this year since UNL's Jerry Fort, The University of Miss ouri's Willie Smith, and Kansas State University's Chuckie Williams were graduated. . Joining Daniel at the other guard is settlor Fred Steven son. Although Strong said he can "see at least six (candi dates for) guards who will figure into the picture," Steven son appears to have clinched the opening. In last Satur day's 79-65 loss to Oral Roberts University, (ORU), Stevenson scored 18 points to lead the Cowboys in scor ing. ; The quick and experienced description also applies at the forward position for OSU. The Cowboys return jun iors Olus Holder and Hi Johnson. Holder is a good solid forward and one of the better defensive players in the league," Strong said, "and John- ' son is probably the best athlete on our team. OSLTs biggest question mark is the center spot. The "quick and experienced" theme ends at the post position for Strong, although he said he thinks things could change. "Our biggest question mark is our post play, not from the standpoint of talent, but from the standpoint that we just don't have a lot of experience there," he said. Strong bases his hopes on a beanpole, 7 ft. 4 in., 215 lbs. junior Lonnie Boeckman. Against Oral Roberts, Boeckmaa was cut down to size, connecting on only two fkld goals and one freethrow. 1!e (Eoeckman) has a lot to learn but he has a lot of potential, he's very intelligent, and he has a lot of cour age," Strong saM. . Courage is exactly what OSU is going ot need after test year's performance. The Cowboys finished seventh in the conference with a 4-10 record, 10-16 overall. tS-yeor-old chBriiy e m HiJi i , By Rob Dsmey UNL's appearance against Texas Tech University Dec. 31 in the Astrodome will mark the 18th anniversary of the Astro-Cuehonnet Bowl. The Caul began in 1959 as the Euebcnnet BowL The opponents were Gemson cf the Atlantic Coast Con ference (ACQ and Texas Christian University (TCU) cf the Sosthwest Conference (57,'C). Ckmsoa won that gime23-7. TLioch 1S57, the gime was played in Rice Stadium in Iloastoa. la 13, the gsme moved to the Astrodome, thus ths tnt tale, the Aso-C uebo nsrt Bowl. According to bowl secretary Mary Cooper, the Astro-Cuct-cnr.et Don! is the only enllrge game operated for chsiity. It is sponsored by the Greater Houston Co l Associa tion, trfidi hzs 220 mso-s. These chirrs vohateer thsr tire to hztp set i? the bowL Only Cocper asd one t?!::r cflis ecrct:sy are piii for their asric?s. Aftrr trn-l ex-cr.ss sre vzzt and the two coirpeti-g teems are ysii, the re3r3 FcCt disputed to Ibrrtca area charities. Last year 33 charities fccsefSci fonTt.J prc'..i frtra the Uzz&r&y cf Ccloraio-Uniisr- This wH be both U?X's and Tech's first appearance in the Houston cinsic. They bring the totd to 23 differ ent teams that partidpated in the bowL The University of Houston Cougars have appeared most often ia the contest, four times. Last year's oppo nents, Texas and Colorado, have participated three times each. The Buffaloes and Cougars have the most victories, two, in th -bowl's history. Louisiana Ste University (LSU) and the Unmrsty of tlisissippj nave the most losses with two. Bear Bryant's University cf Alabama teams have not lost ia two pcaraaccs. But they hsvs not won either. They tied Texas 3-3 ia 1960 and CUihoma 24-24 ia 1970. Southeastern Conference schools have appeared most often in the dasic, 10 times, including a Tennessee-LSU rnatch-up ia 1972. The Big 8 Conference and the SWC are next in line. Both wH be sending their eighth conference school to this year's gems. The ACC has the best winni-g percent cf any con ference. ACC r-.-:!s hr-e won one and tied one in two appearances. Hie L g 8 is next with a 4-2-1 record; tied with the STC for the most victories by a conference. The SEC has the poorest record of any conference, only 26-2 ia 10 appearances. Nebra&a will be out to even up Big 8 head-to-head competition with the SWC in Bluebonnet play. The ST.'C leads the match-up, two games to one. The Husker s' appearance in Houston will mark the eighth different bowl UNL has gone to. Other Bowls UNL has zppesred ia are the Rose, Orange, Gotham, Cotton, Suar, Sua and Fiesta Bowls. The Astro-Cluebormet Bowl lost its television contract with ABC after last year's game. This year it TiH be carried by the independent TVS network. KOLN-TV Channel 10 ia Lincoln wO carry the game. The Haskers hve a chance to set severed Bluebonnet records, but VLnce Ferragsmo wI3 hr.e to hs?s an exerp tional day to top the record set by Chuck ILxon. Hixon, from SMU, completed 22 of 43 pnes for 281 j-ards and two touchdowns m the 1963 rime re-;t CUehoma. . The Sooners, known now for their potent wiibene runrung attack, hold the single team peeei-g yarde-e re cord, 294 yards in the 1 963 gime. One ether piece cf Lnformation. The legal drrnkkg age in Texas is IS.