Nebraskan
TuMdcy, August 24,1093
Osborne sees
reason James
quit position
after verdict
By Derek Samson
Staff Raoortar
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said
he understood why University of
Washington coach Don James re
signed just hours after his program
was put on probation.
James, who coached the Huskies
for 18 years, quit the program Sunday
after the Pacific 10 Conference placed
it on a two-year ban from post-season
play, along with other sanctions.
“You have to look at the fact Don
is 60 years old and those kind of
sanctions can knock the program back
three or four years,” Osborne said
after Monday's football practice.
“They’ll have some good players for
the next few years, but Don might be
66 or 67 before there is a meaningful
recovery there.”
tlons can knock the
program back three or
four years.
~Osborne,
Nebraska coach
Those kind of sane
ft
Washington was hit hard when it
was forced to give up scholarships
and an estimated $ 1.4 million in tele
vision revenue.
i "I was surprised a little bit at the
penalties," Osborne said. “I didn’t
know the sanctions would be that
harsh. I’m not in a situation to really
comment on a lot of that because I
don’t know everything that happened.”
The Pac-10 put James’ program on a
two-year ban after reporting more
than 20 NCAA rules violations. Many
of those violations involved recruit
ing of players.
Osborne said his coaches are espe
cially careful to not break any NCAA
rules while recruiting.
“When we’re recruiting, we’ve
really worked hard to get a guy here
and malt* sure that we never violate
anything in doing so,” Osborne said.
Regarding the first practice since
two-a-days finished, Osborne said his
Cornhuskers were not very impres
sive.
“I didn’t think it was a great prac
tice at all," he said. “You think once
two-a-days are over, the intensity
would be high, but 1 didn’t see it."
Osborne said the Huskers did have
some players leave practice early with
injuries, including wingback Abdul
Muhammad with a strained shoulder.
Calvin Jones returned to practice, but
was not at full speed, Osborne said.
Kiley Timpertey/DN
John Reece (#6) backpedals while covering a receiver during Saturday’s scrimmage at Memorial Stadium.
Cross trainer
Cornerback exercises option to play pro baseball
By Jeff Gnescn
Senior Rworttr_
While John Reece’s Corahusker
teammates spent much of their
offseasons longing for a cool au
tumn day and thinking about how
they could improve themselves on
the gridiron, Reece had more ur
gent things on his mind.
Like stepping into the batter’s
box against an 18-year-old kid with
a 95-mph fastball and having no
idea where the ball was going. Or
like guessing what a pitcher was
going to throw next after getting
ahead of him in the count 0-2.
Reece, a 6-foot, 200-pound se
nior cornerback, signed a profes
sional baseball contract with the
Atlanta Braves after being drafted
in the 16th round in June.
Reece said that after being draft
ed for the third time — he was
taken twice in late rounds by the
Chicago White Sox in 1989 and
1992—he decided he would give
baseball a shot.
“Baseball is just going to give
me another option if I don’t get a
chance to continue playing foot
ball,” Reece said.
Reece, who was assigned to the
Braves’ Rookie League team in
Danville, Va., got oft to a good
start, tripling innisfirst at-bat.
But, Reece said, his success at
the plate was short-lived.
‘'I struck out 10 of my first 12
times at bat,” Reece said. “It took a
while for me to adjust to live pitch
ing since I hadn’t played since high
school.”
For the season, Reece, who was
an all-district pick at Jersey Village
High School in Houston, played in
29 games as an outfielder, hitting
160 in 81 at-bats.
Although his numbers weren’t
overly impressive, Reece said he
improved a lot throughout the sea
son and was beginning to feel more
comfortable at the plate by the end
of the season.
As hard a time as Reece had at
the plate, Reece said the toughest
adjustments to baseball were the
travel and the daily playing sched
ule.
“Mentally, it is a lot more de
manding than football because you
have to be ready to play every day,
not just once a week like football,"
Reece said.
“In football, you have to get up
a lot more in intensity for one game,
but in baseball you have to be pre
pared every night to go out and do
your job."
Reece said that Danville trav
eled through four states to play
games. He usually went to the
ballpark at 3 p.m. for a 7:30 p.m.
came and would return home by
11:30 p.m. or midnight.
Reece said he was excited to get
a chance to play baseball this sum
mer but that the Husker coaches did
not exactly encourage his pursuit
of baseball.
“There was some concern,"
Reece said. “They wanted me to
take some classes this summer so I
could graduate in December, and
they were also a little worried that
I might get hurt.”
Reece didn’t. And he didn’t miss
much in his school work, he said.
He expects to graduate in May.
Although 1% had to concentrate
on baseball, Reece said he did car
diovascular work every morning
ami lifted weights twice a week.
He also worked out and threw
the football around with other col
lege football players who spent their
summers in the rookie leagues.
Reece said he worked out with
Louisiana State quarterback Jamie
Howard ami Washington wide re
ceiver Jason Shelley, the Pac-10
Newcomer of the Year last season.
Now that baseball is over, Reece
said he has turned his full attention
to football. Reece returned to Lin
coln on Aug. 4 to prepare for the
upcoming football season.
“I am excited for the season,” he
said.
Preset bowl invites take mystery out of college football
Although the 1993 college foot
ball season doesn’t begin until Satur
day night, don’t worry about waiting
until the end of this season for the
bowl picture to become clearer.
Before the season has even started,
almost all the bowls have already
committed their berths to teams who
finish anywhere from first to fifth in
their conferences.
So, Comhusker fans, get set. If the
Comhuskers finish first in the Big
Eight, they’re headed to the Orange
Bowl. Should the Comhuskers finish
third, it’s the Aloha Bowl. Fourth, and
they’re headed to the mighty Copper
Bowl.
Now, the big mystery. Should the
Comhuskers finish second in the Big
Eight, they’ll head to either the Or
ange, Sugar, Cotton, Fiesta or the
much-anticipated, always-glamorous
Outback Steakhouse Gator Bowl.
Fourteen out of the 19 bowl invita
tions are already set in stone. Some of
the games look as exciting as an epi
sode of “Perry Mason.”
Personally, I can’t wait for the
Weiser Lock Copper Bowl, which
will feature the fourth-place Big Eight
team against probably either the sec
ond- or third-place Western Athletic
Conference team.
Then there is always the Las Vegas
Bowl, highlighted by the champions
of such quality conferences as the Big
West and the Middle Atlantic Confer
ence.
In fact, there are only five berths
for independents with no conference
affil iation. Only two bowl games with
out any guarantees to a conference or
the coalition.
So get ready, independents, you
have two dandies to look forward to.
The Poulan/Weed Eater Indepen
dence Bowl is open to two at-large
Derek
Samson
berths, and the St. Jude Liberty Bowl
has the possibility of placing two at
large teams.
The Liberty Bowl usually reserves
one of its berths to a military acade
my. But, if Air Force wins the Com
mander-in-ChieFs Trophy, the Lib
erty Bowl has the option to not select
the Falcons since it will be its fourth
consecutive appearance.
Now, if Army or Navy could win
six games, one of them may be placed
in the Liberty Bowl against an at
large team.
It shouldn’t matter who the Army *
or Navy would play in the game be
cause just seeing one of those teams
take the field results in either instant
sleep or self-induced vomiting.
It is plain to see that the bowl
games should not already be set in
August, but more drastic measures
need to be taken to make it easier on
everyone.
Steve Hatched, Southwest Con
ference commissioner, told USA To
day that it took away some of the
mystery of the bowl picture.
“It takes away a little of the mys
tique of where everybody’s going,”
he said.
Actually, Hatched shouldn’t be
worried about losing some of the in
trigue. Three of his Southwestern
Conference’s teams will be playing in
a post-season bowl game, a confer
ence that deserves to have as many
teams in bowl games as the Omaha
Metro High School Conference.
Instead ofhaving to complain about
losing the mystery of which school is
Kto what bowl game, college
ill obviously needs a playoff
system.
That way, we wouldn’t be forced
to watch the Thrifty Holiday Bowl,
when there could be a rerun of“Three ’ s
Company" or something else on in
stead.
However, it is very unlikely that
the NCAA will ever make the smart
move and make the switch to play
offs.
So, I guess until that day, I'll just
have to keep my calendar marked for
that Alamo Bowl, when the third
place Southwestern Conference team
will battle the fourth-place PAC-10
school.
What a classic that should be.
Swioi Is i sop bo mo re aews-odttorial
najor, a Daly Nebraskaa sports staff re
porter a ad a coluwalst