thursday, September 1, 1977
daily nebraskan
page 15
Rec trips offer study relief
Students who already have hernm rii.
enchanted with textbooks and musty class
rooms may find relief in the UNL Recrea
tion Dept.
This semester students have the chance
to take to the hills for rock-climbing semi
nars that will prepare students for moun
taineering trips planned. Seminars this
month will teach students the basic art of
backpacking and climbing.
The Recreation Dept. also has scheduled
a canoeing trip on the Niobrara and a Back
packing trip to Mexico.
.The department, which offered about
14 trips last year, expects each participant
to be in excellent shape before beginning
a trip, according to Mark Ebel, department
coordinator.
Conditioning is more important than ex
perience on most trips, Ebel said.
Ebel traveled with students on four trips
this summer, two canoe and two moun
taineering trips.
The biggest problems encountered on
the trips happen because students are not
prepared for the physical demands of the
trip, he said.
"We reccmmend that each student be
gins preparing a month in advance with a
self-determined daily exercise routine,"
he said. Jogging, running, swimming and
cycling on a daily basis are excellent con
ditioners, he said.
Good physical condition is especially
important on mountaineering trips, Ebel
said, because it makes adjusting "to alti
tude change easier, Ebel said.
Ebel is working on plans for a trip that
would combine recreational experience
with university credit hours. r.
Learning while on a trip is like learning
in a classroom, he added.
, Rock-climbing seminars have been
scheduled for September to prepare stu
dents for upcoming mountaineering trips.
There also will be a canoeing trip on the
Niobrara, a rock climbing trip to South
Dakota and a backbacking trip to Mexico
this semester. -
; II'. ;
" - 1 ,n r i-1 - -t
Photo courtesy of the UNL Recreation Dept.
It sure beats sitting at a desk. The UNL Recreation Dept. offers relief to the student
tired of musty classrooms. v
iye brows go up when winners lose their jobs
In an era in which losing coaches are fired without
causing the slightest stir, it is suspicious when 'a winner
is given his walking papers. ;
George Nicodemus' dismissal as UNL women's basket
ball and softball coach earlier this summer raised such
suspicions.
.. v.'.'. m .i.,"
However, as in many cases, the whole story may never
be told. Although such seemingly unsubstantial reasons as
"disorganization" and "players complaining about not.
playing" were -given for the firing, the problem apparently
ran much deeper. v
Nicodemus first gained recognition at John F, Kennedy
College in Wah.oo where he produced national champion
Amateur Athletic Union teams in 1972 and 1973 and the
national runner-up in 1974. J.F.K. folded, and Nicodemus
came to UNL two years ago to coach the women's basket
ball team without pay. ;
That team finished with a 23-9 record, prompting
fellow coaches to select him as the Daily Nebraskan
Women's Coach of the Year. Last year he was officially
hired as both basketball and softball coach. The basketball
squad dipped to 21-16; the softball record '. was 12-15 ,
although the team did win the state championship.
Five reasons
Nicodemus said Jay Davis, UNL women's athletic
director, gave him five reasons for his dismissal: dis
organization, he was hard to locate, he didn't' submit -
said she doubted the seriousness of the in-state recruiting
problems and added she knew of only one high school
coach who encouraged players to go elsewhere. '
"I think most of the coaches around the state respect
the guy," she said.
if v
dennis
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1 Ji
nd 20
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travel times for road game's soon enough, players com
plained about not playing and some Nebraska high school
coaches would not send their players to UNL.
One could argue all year over whether such reasons
should be sufficient, but it seems the players might pro
vide a moderate view on the subject.
But five players contacted were as strongly divided as
Davis' and Nicodemus on the issue.
Junior Jan Crouch the leading scorer on last year's
basketball team, is an adamant Nicodemus supporter. She
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Sophomore Anita Bahe, who played basketball and
softball last year, tells a different story. She alleged that
Lincolnites Barb Hart and Deb Van Dusen, two of the
better high school players in the state last year, enrolled
at UNO rather than play for Nicodemus. Bahe said she
and some other players would not have played for Nico
demus this year.
Nicodemus said that when he asked Davis for the
names of high school coaches who wouldn't send their
players to him, she refused to give them.
Never lost one
"Every player I went after in Nebraska whom I had
financial aid to offer, I got," he said. "I never lost a one."
The players don't dispute that Nicodemus is knowledg
able, in basketball. Crouch said she has talked to Julie
Simpson, a former player at J.F.K. and co-captain of the
1976 U.S. women's Olympic team, who called Nico
. demus one of the most intelligent basketball coaches she
has had. What some players complain about are his
methods of imparting that knowledge.
One basketball player, who wished to remain anony
mous said Nicodemus failed to work enough on funda
mentals and suggested that he might have been looking
too far ahead to a national championship rather than de
veloping the present team.
"He let things get out of hand," she said. "He took
for granted that we knew a lot of things we didn't."
Bahe said the situation was worse in softball. Nico
demus showed a lack of interest in practice, she said, and
often based his starting team on game performances rather
than rewarding good practice efforts. She said this made
starters complacent, knowing their starting spots were
sewn Up as long as they performed adequately in games.
Softball sideline
Betsy Anderson, a senior on last year's softball team,
said Nicodemus considered softball only a sideline. "I
think the girls ran the practices more than he did,' she
said.
Senior Jan Bartels, the top pitcher on last year's team,
called his organization "poor to terrible." She told of one
incident where he moved up the starting time of a game to
accommodate a visiting team but failed to notify all of
his players.
Although complaints from players not playing are
heard on virtually every team, Bahe said sour grapes aren't
the whole story here. "I didn't mind not playing," she
said. "It was not knowing why."
Nicodemus admitted that some of his athletes didn't
play, but said, "I think you have that problem in any
sport. Everybody can't play."
"I really don't know what the big gripe was," Crouch
added. "You can't fire a coach because he doesn't play
everybody, and I don't feel any of the reasons were sub
stantial at all."
Nicodemus dismissal apparently was handled unpro
fessionally, no matter how valid the reasons for the
dismissal. The players said they took their complaints to
both Nicodemus and Davis last year, but according to
Nicodemus, Davis never asked him to change his coaching
before his dismissal. "I was completely surprised by her
announcement," he said. :
A better solution would have been for Davis to stipu
late exactly what was required of Nicodemus and give him
another year to make the changes. It's undoubtedly too
late for such a suggestion now, but in the future perhaps
Davis can make more of an effort to reconcile differences
with a coach before sending him to the unemployment
lines.
