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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (June 25, 1992)
iFormer Nebraska gymnast hopes Barcelona is golden Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of profiles on Nebraska athletes, past and present, headed to the 1992 Olympics. By Jeff Singer Senior Editor Former Nebraska gymnast Trent Dimas is hoping his reunion with Nebraska Gymnastics Coach Francis Allen is a golden experience. Dimas and Allen will be learning up in pursuilofa gold medal for the U.S. Gymnastics team in next month’s Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. Dimas earned a spot on the squad when he finished fifth earlier this month in the U.S. gymnastics trials at Baltimore. Allen, who has helped lead the Comhuskers to seven national titles, was chosen by the U.S. Olympic Committee to head the 1992 olympians. Dimas contributed to Allen’s last national championship in 1990, as he was an All-Ameri can in the high bar and floor exercises. But Dimas left Nebraska after his All-Ameri can freshmen year to return to his hometown of Albuquerque, N.M. He said there arc many reasons why he left Nebraska to return home. “1 wanted to compete internationally, but having to compete in so many collegiate meets wouldn’t allow me to do that,” Dimas said. “I wanted to go and see the rest of the world.” Allen said Dimas would have become a better gymnast to compete m Spain if he had remained at Nebraska. “Most people who aren’t in a regimented program usually don’tdo that well,” Allen said. See GYMNAST on 10 I USC can t stand up to Nebraska tradition Usually when ^column is written about Nebraska athletics in the Daily Nebraskan, it’s filled with negatives about Comhusker sports. Personally, my columns have of ten been the fuel to the athletic program’s fire with my critical com ments concerning our beloved Ne braska teams. But I’ve decided that I’m going to take a week off from writing my pes simistic views in order to defend the Huskers from some harsh comments that the program has recently received from someone outside the basement of the Nebraska Union. Mike Garrett, an associate athletic director at the University of Southern California, recently blasted Nebraska in an interview conducted by the Omaha World-Herald. Being a native of the Los Angeles area, I was offended when I read last Wednesday’s World-Herald and saw Garrett’s remarks concerning Ne braska. After being rejected as a finalist in Nebraska’s athletic director search, Garrett acted just like you’d expect a rich, stuck-up USC person to react— by whining. Garrett basically said that moving to Nebraska’s program from USC would be a step down. Question: Why would a person be so upset about not getting a job if it’s such a demise in status from the posi tion you already hold? After all, Garrett is in charge of such sports vital to USC’s athletic program as water polo, golf, swim ming, volleyball and tennis, all of which probably have a total atten dance this season in double digits (I didn’t want to use actual numbers and confuse the USC people who haven’t taken the popular Southern Cal course — “Numbers 101: Learning to count with your shoes on”). In an analysis of Garrett’s com ments to the World-Herald, the intel ligence of the administrators at South ern Cal really stood out. •Comment No. 1: “I think across the board, they don’t play all the sports we play and expect to win at all the sports.” To begin with, the Huskers com pete in 21 sports, while USC partici pates in 20. Secondly, the Huskers won seven Big Eight championships this season, compared to USC’s grand total of one Pac-10 title. •Comment No. 2: “If you talk about football over the years, I would think USC and Notre Dame are the names you talk about. Nebraska, I think they’re in the lop five, top 10 in the country. I don’t equate them to a Notre Dame or USC.” Well let’s see, the Huskers fin ished 9-2-1 last season following an other Big Eight title, while improving on its NCAA record strings of 30 consecutive winning seasons and 23 straight trips to bowl games. The Trojans on the other hand wound up with a tremendous 3-8 record last year. That gives them a total of zero consecutive winning sea sons, and their last trip to a bowl came after the 1990 season, in which USC played in the ever-important John Hancock Bowl. (Just think, at the same time the Huskers were getting some sun in Florida, USC got toexpe rience theexcitementof El Paso, Texas at cnnstmas-ume. wow:;. •Comment No. 3: “It’s a step down (Nebraska athletics), because you have to work harder to make that program go. , . I think the true test of an athletic program is seeing how many athletes can succeed not only on the field, but in the classroom as well. Southern Cal has produced 19 foot ball academic All-Americans in its history, which isn ’t bad for your aver age school. But Nebraska again has set the NCAA standard in this cat egory, even above much-heralded Notre Dame, as the Huskers have had 45 players standout both on and off the field. Thanks for another valid comment, Mike. Garrett’s bitter words about Ne braska helped make die-hard Husker fans’ stomachs tum, but also made it easy to see why he’s one of the people in charge at USC—the University for Spoiled Children. Next time Mike, take your loss like a man and leave the Nebraska heck ling for the trained professionals in the Daily Nebraskan's sports depart ment. Singer Is a senior news-editorial and political science major and is the Summer Daily Nebraskan’s copy desk editor and a senior sports reporter. 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