Sports Nes&am
WJjL V-/1V1 VJ Tliurwtey, Jun« 17,1993
Sagmoen signs with Texas Rangers
By Derek Samson
Staff Reporter
Nebraska outfielder Marc
Sagmoen accomplished almost
-every personal goal for a college
baseball player and added yet an
other when he was drafted in the
13th round by the Texas Rangers.
Sagmoen, who signed with the
Rangers June 8th, earned first- team
All-American honors from Colle
giate Baseball, U.S. Baseball Fed
eration Coaches Association and
i-Smith Super
i Team Baseball
Association.
Chad Mac
I Donald, an of
I ficial with the
1 Ranger’s mi
| nor league sys
§ tern, said the
Sagmoen
Sagmoen is rookie ball in Erie,
Penn.
MacDonald said the Rangers
were impressed with Sagmoen’s
offensive abilities.
“They liked his hitting ability,”
he said. “He’ll start off in rookie
ball, but depending on the way he
progresses, he might move up to
‘A’ball.” • • jhfe-S'j
The biggest challenge for
[Sagmoan, MacDonald said, might
be batting with wooden insteadof
aluminum bats.
“The biggest adjustment with
out a doubt for the rookies is adjust
ing to hitting with wooden bats,” lie
said.
Nebraska coach John Sanders
said he did not have any complaints
about Sagmoen’s hitting. Sagmoen
batted for a .454 average in 1993
with 18 home runs.
“I think he’ll (toreal well,” Sand
ers said. “He got his chance and
he’ll take advantage of it”
Sanders did say he was disap
pointed that Sagmoen was not se
lected in the first 10 rounds of the
draft.
“I’d like to have seen him go in
the top 10 rounds, he definitely
deserved to,” he said. “I was really
surprised he didn’t, but at least he
got the opportunity.”
Oklahoma State coach Gary
Ward, who led the Cowboys to
their 17th College World Series
appearance this year, was disap
pointed himself on draft day.
“I thought this ball club we had
this year was as good as any and we
only got two guys drafted, and that
was in the 50th round,” Ward said.
Ward, who has seen six of his
players drafted in the first round in
past years including Robin Ventura
and Pete Incalvila, said the pro
scouts look at completely different
^things, . •
‘T’Ve never really tried to guess
at what the pro people are looking
-*4
He’s really a re
markable player.
The things that
strike you most are
his poise and lead
ership.
— Ward
Oklahoma State coach
-ft -
for,” he said. “They look a lot more
for tools than at the college perfor
mance.
“They draft the essential things
needed to develop for a player to
become great,” he said. “They
might have thought Sagmocn had
peaked already.”
However, Ward said it would
not surprise him to sec Sagmoen
become successful.
“He’s really a remarkable
player,” Ward said. “The things
that strike you most are his poise
and leadership.”
Sagmoen was named the Big
Eight Most Valuable Player, the
first in Nebraska baseball history.
He also earned the Big Eight Tour
nament MVP award.
“He did a darned good job here.
We’ll miss him,” Sanders said.
“He’s an outstanding player and an
outstanding person and I’m just
glad he was here for two years.”
Ward said Sanders and the Husk
ers may miss him, but the rest of the
Big Eight will not.
“I could never see anything that
the kid did that I didn ’ t like,” Ward
said. “I take great pride in Big
Eight baseball and I was extremely
pleased that he earned all the hon
ors he did.”
-■—I
Big League
Former Nebraska center
fielder Marc Sagmoen's
accomplishments in 1993:
O Batting average: .454
0Home runs: 18
G RBIs: 79
Q Big 8 Conference MVP
0 Big 8 Tournament MVP , 5
G First-team All-American
Scott Monroe/DN
■PRIORITY J
R E C O F> D ■
ICE-T
HOME INVASION
Nee consumes
summer with
camp, recruiting,
quality family time
By Tim Pearson
Staff Reporter
After a 20-11 season and a third
straight NCAA Tournament berth,
Nebraska basketball coach Danny Nee
is not giving himself a pat on the back
and taking a break over the summer.
Instead, Nee is using the time as
preparation for next season.
“Coaching is definitely a year
round job,” Nee said. “There are very
few jobs that aren’t year-round jobs.”
Two major activities take most of
Nee’s time in the summer.
There are two major consump
tions for me in the summer,” he said.
“June is spent putting on basketball
camps, and July is entirely for recruit
mg.
Nee said the summer basketball
camps present him with an opportu
nity to set an example for young kids.
“1 like camps, and I like young
people,” he said. “I think it’s a gift to
work with young kids, and these kids
are at a very impressionable age.
“I’m not anyone special. I see’W*
ing a role model for the kids as a
responsibility.”
Nee’s time is not entirely spent on
basketball, though. He also uses the
summer to spend time with his fam
ily. At home, Nee is not only a coach,
but father to three children ages 16,
seven and five.
“I like to have a lot of family lime
with my kids,” he said. “We’ll go to
Worlds of Fun or Oceans of Fun, or
we’ll go fishing. I’ll do what they
want to do.”
When camps are in session. Nee
arrives at the office at around 8 a.m.
He gives a 15 minute to a half-hour
lecture to the camp participants.
Nee then tackles some paperwork
and plans his recruiting schedule. He
then goes back out on the basketball
court and watches his two sons at
camp.
The afternoon is spent working out
and watching Films of next year’s
opponents in preparation for next sea
son.
Finally, Nee spends a peaceful and
quiet evening at home with his wife
and children, goes to sleep at around
9:30 or 10 pjn. and does it all again
the next day.
“It’s a very long day,’’ Nee said.
Recruiting also takes up a bulk of
Nee’s summer. July is spent watching
recruits and making visits.
"We’ll probably see 500 kids, and
we’ll be flying all over the place,” he
said.
