KU game important for softball team
By Darran Fowler
Staff Reporter
Nebraska softball coach Ron
Wolforth’s thoughts have been on
Kansas for some time, and now is the
time for the Jayhawks to be on the
minds of his players.
The 15-11 Comhuskers travel to
Lawrence, Kan., for a 2 p.m. double
header Saturday against their rivals in
what will be the conference debut for
both teams.
Nebraska will remain in Lawrence
until Sunday for a non-conference
game against Pittsburg (Kan.) Goril
las.
Wolforth said he and his coaching
staff have been thinking about Kan
sas since they convened for spring
practices Jan. 16.
During an interview Wednesday
morning, he said he hoped that imme
diately following Tuesday’s double
header against Wisconsin-Green Bay,
his players would switch mentally to
theJayhawks.
“These are going to be two of the
biggest games that we play all year,
he said. “I think there are eight to 10
really crucial games for us this year,
and these are two of them. I’m not so
sure that any of those arc any bigger
than this one.”
Neither team currently is ranked,
although Nebraska surged to No. 6
earlier this season.
The conference does have two
ranked teams in Missouri at No. 12,
and Oklahoma State, the preseason
conference favorite, ranked fifth.
Nebraska split with Oklahoma State
earlier this season with neither of
those games counting towards the
conference standings.
Wolforth said Missouri is good,
but he is concerned less with the Tigers
than Kansas and Oklahoma Slate. And
Decause ne ieuis i^eorasK.a matcnes
up well with Oklahoma State, he said
Kansas causes the Huskers “more
trouble than anybody” in the Big
Eight.
“I’m puzzled that they are not in
the rankings because they are a very,
very talented team,” he said.
Wolforth’s thinking about the
Jayhawks dates back to last season
See THOUGHTSonl
Beck says pressure led to OU basketball reinstatement
By Jeff Apel
Senior Editor
The on-again, off-again Oklahoma
women’s basketball program is on
again, and Nebraska coach Angela
Beck couldn’t be happier.
Beck said she was ecstatic when
she learned that Oklahoma officials
would reinstate the Sooner women’s
basketball program. The program was
reinstated Thursday, nine days after it
was suspended because of low atten
dance figures.
Oklahoma averaged less than 100
fans for each of its home games last
season while finishing with a 9-21
record.
Beck said she never understood
the decision because Big Eight
women’s basketball is at an all-time
high in terms of attendance. She said
the 1989-90 women’s conference
tournament in Salina, Kan., turned a
profit this year, while Nebraska aver
aged a league-high 1,500 fans for
each of its home games.
“The decision was so old-fash
ioned,” Beck said. “We had to show
that this was the ’90s and they could
not get away with this.”
Beck said she felt like she won a
major battle when she learned the
Oklahoma program was reinstated.
She went through a battle to help get
the program back in place, as she was
one of 1,800 members of the Women’s
Basketball Coaches Association who
issued a strong statement of protest
after the original decision was made.
The Women ’s Basketball Coaches
Association, which was meeting in
Knoxville,Tenn.,inconjunction with
the women’s Final Four at the lime of
the original decision, protested the
suspension by threatening Oklahoma
officials with a lawsuit. Beck said the
basis of that suit would have been
Title IX, which outlaws discrimina
tion based on sex or race.
WBCA members contended that
Oklahoma’s decision was discrimi
natory, because the Sooner men’s
basketball program was not atiectea
by the decision.
Beck said she didn’t hide her
emotions when she learned Oklahoma
officials voluntarily reinstated the
women’s oroeram.
“I was cheering,” she said. “I felt
like 1 was a winner.”
Beck said the WBCA attacked
Oklahoma’s decision by holding a
strategy session at 6:30 a.m. the day
after it was announced, then holding a
press conference that was attended by
200 media members at 10:15 a.m.
She said the fact that the suspension
was announced while WBCA mem
bers were all in Knoxville rather than
spread out across the country was
critical. #
“I think it was a very timely deci
sion in our favor,” Beck said.
Beck said it is obvious that Okla
homa buckled under the pressure. In
addition to the heat applied by the
WBCA, the Oklahoma State Legisla
ture also voiced its disapproval of the
suspension, as it announced that it
was unanimously opposed to it.
Beck said the suspension and rein
statement could leave a scar on the
Oklahoma athletic department.
“It reflects the lack of quality they
have around that situation,” she said.
“I think Oklahoma has a lot of defi
ciencies in sports programs, unlike
we have here.”
W T •
Sports slashing provides
solution to money loss
Now that Nebraska athletic di
rector Bob Devancy has admitted
that his department is losing money,
it’s time to begin slashing sports.
Thai’s right - not drop. Slash.
Consider that in the 1989-90
fiscal year, the Nebraska athletic
ti Apel
department lost SI .8 million. That’s
a considerable hunk of change even
for a domain where the football
program raked in $9,783,161 in the
1987-88 fiscal year.
To solve this problem, Dcvaney
should announce that Nebraska is
going to drop several sports. No,
the Comhuskcrs shouldn’t follow
Oklahoma’s sexist lead and cut a
woman’s sport while leaving their
male counterparts alone — if one
sport goes, so docs the other.
The sport which commands the
most attention in terms of mone
tary waste is track. The Nebraska
track program lost more than
$500,000 in 1987-88 - that figure
is sure to increase this year - largely
because its season begins in Scp
Ilember with cross country and ends
in May with outdoor track.
It the NCAA Presidents Com
mission hasn’t figured out already
that year-round competition is too
much for athletes, Devaney and
fellow athletic directors should. This
could be accomplished by prohib
iting athletes from competing in
cross country and indoor and out
door track in the same season, or,
better yet, drop cross country all
together.
Cross country is nothing more
than an extension of the track sea
son. Sure, there’s a few meets throwm
in to waste some money on, but
asking the athletic department to
support cross country in a time of
financial need is absurd.
Another sport that needs to be
dropped is golf. The Nebraska golf
teams are at a disadvantage be
cause they are based in the Mid
west, which means they have to
travel extensively in order to com
pete.
Extensive travel means only one
thing — money. And it's money
that shouldn 't be spent on a sport
that most students don T even know
exists at Nebraska.
A sport that is just as guilty in
terms of no interests and financial
wastes is swimming. If Devancy is
faced with the hard prospect of
chopping one sport, this should be
it.
In the 1987-88 year alone, the
Nebraska men’s swimming team
lost $331,053. Thai’s far too much
to pay for any program, let alone
one that is considered nothing but a
nuisance.
Dcvancy’s feelings towards
swimming arc well known - ath
letic department officials will tell
you that he refers to the Devancy
Sports Center pool as that “damned
pool” - and they should be relin
quished by dropping the sport. At
least one reporter would breathe a
sigh of relief if this sport was van
ished off the face of the earth.
If Devancy followed these sug
gestions and continued to imple
ment his 5 percent across-the-board
cut for other sports except men’s
basketball and football, the finan
cial picture would begin to look
better.
Consider that Devaney would
save at least S500.000 previously
wasted dollars by cutting thcswim
ming programs, and probably could
save around $200,OtiO by dumping
the golf and cross country pro
grams. Implement the 5 percent
cut, and it’s safe to say that at least
$850,000 vould be saved, if not
more.
If more money needs to be saved,
chop additional sports. The next
likely candidates, in order, would
be men’s and women’s gymnastics
(both BIG money losers), tennis
(ouch) and my beloved baseball
and softball*programs.
Of course, it is unlikely that any
of these suggestions will be imple
mented, as Devaney has remained
adamantly opposed to culling any
sport. That’s a dangerous position
to take, especially considering the
current financial situation of the
Nebraska athletic department.
A pci is a senior news-editorial major and
the Dally Nebradtan sports editor.
Winners and
Losers in the
UNL Athletic Dept.
W for 1987-88
J Men’s
H Football C>T6>
earned: $9,783,161
spent :$6,125,883
outlays:$84,688 ^
NET:$3,572,389 __ .
Men’s\
Basketball W
earned :$2,347,418 1 <
spent:$t ,343,660
OUtlays:$44,552 <"«»’*
NET:S952,206 women’s cross
country
and indoor &
outdoor track
Andy Manhart /Daily Nebraskan
upcoming meet
tough but beneficial
for NU tracksters
By Sara Bauder
Stall Reporter
For most of the Nebraska track
team, Saturday’s Crimson Classic will
mark the beginning of a new season.
But for 21 Comhuskcrs who opened
their outdoor season with last week’s
Florida Relays, it will be a continu
auon of a campaign that will be capped
off by the upcoming Big Eight and
NCAA championships.
Nebraska will movccloscr to those
/ competitions by traveling to Tus
caloosa, Ala., to compete in Satur
day’s meet. In addition to Nebraska
and Alabama, the teams that will
compete include Virginia and Colo
rado Stale.
The meet begins at 10:45 a.m.
with the women’s shot put and men’s
discus. The first running event, the
women’s 5,000-mcter competition,
starts at 11 a.m.
Nebraska track coach Gary Pepin
said the meet will be beneficial even
though no team scores will be kept.
With no team scoring, Pepin said
athletes can concentrate on individ
ual efforts and also compete in events
that they normally would not enter.
Pepin said he is anticipating a tough
meet.
Alabama is always a real good
learn and Virginia will be good, loo,’
he said. “Colorado Stale has some
good athletes, but they probably don t
have the depth they need.”
Pepin said he is expecting several
athletes to respond to Alabama’s
warmer weather by recording quicker
limes.
“You just don’t ever sec real fast
sprint limes run in cool weather,’ ’ he
said. “All the good sprint times arc
run in moderate or warm weather.
You just can’t get loose in cold
weather.”
The reluming meet champions for
the Nebraska women include distance
runner Sammie Gdowski and javelin
thrower Nora Rockcnbauer. Gdowski
captured last year’s 5,000-meter title
in a school-record time of 16:17
minutes.
The returning champions for the
Nebraska men are Dicudonne Kwiz
era in the 800 and 1,500 runs, Kevin
Coleman in the shot put, Jeff Hooper
in the discus and Dwight Mitchell in
the triple jump. Those performances
helped the Husker men unofficially
capture the team title at last year’s
meet.
