Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 12, 1996)
Sports Weekend Friday, April 12, 1996 Page 9 Mike Kluck Call-in show gets new life after KFAB The last three months have been a roller coaster ride for SportsDay Mid-America host Jim Rose. On Feb. 29,afterdoinghissports call-in show for three years on the Nebraska Sports Network, Rose received a call at 4 in the afternoon from KFAB General Manager Chuck Jewell. KFAB has been the flagship station of the Nebraska Sports Network since 1983. Two hours before SDMA was scheduled to air, Rose said Jewell informed him KFAB had decided it wanted the show to go in a more “caller-driven direction.” “It’s an oxymoron for shows to be caller-dri ven,” Rose said. “Their contention was there’s too much Jim Rose and not enough anything else. I thought that was a ludicrous and an idiotic statement. “That’s not what a sports talk show or any talk show revolves around. A talk show revolves around your ability to disseminate infor mation in such a way to make it entertaining or compelling.” But Rose thought KFAB had a hidden reason for not wanting him to remain the host of the Nebraska Sports Network’s sports call-in show. In February, Great Plains Media Inc. was awarded the rights to broad cast Nebraska football, volleyball, baseball and men’s and women’s basketball. The company will take over Aug. 1. Then in March, Great Plains Media Inc. President Paul Aaron announced KKAR and KDGE in Omaha and KLIN in Lincoln would broadcast the network events, mark ing the first time since 1926 that KFA B won ’ t be covering Nebraska football. Because KFAB knew it would not be a part of the network after Aug. 1, Rose said, it probably didn’t want to support any of NSN’s pro grams. Rose said he expected Great Plains Media to continue the SportsDay Mid-America call-in format. “KFAB took zero interest in the program,” he said. “KFAB did not want it on the air, and they never promoted it.” 2 s But now Rose has the last laugh. Most of the network’s program ming will run through KLIN, and Rose probably will have more con trol. There arc also plans for KLIN to work jointly with KKAR when Great Plains takes over the NSN. “I want KKAR to feel an emo tional attachment to this show that KFAB did not,” Rose said. “I don’t want KKAR to get in the same rut KFAB did. I want them to be in volved so that they will highlight it.” More than likely, however, Rose’s roller coaster ride is just getting started. Kliick Is a graduate student in jour nalism and a Dally Nebraskan senior reporter. NFL scouts cast eyes on Phillips By Mike Kluck Senior Reporter Lawrence Phillips’ whirlwind tour of NFL cities is over. Now, the former Comhuskcr 1-back and top NFL prospect will interview with a couple more teams at his home in California,and wait until April 20to learn his spot in the NFL draft. Phillips, considered by NFL insid ers to be a likely top-five pick, has been in seven NFL cities during the last two weeks. During those visits, he has met with team owners, coaches and personnel. But Phillips’ agent, Mitch Frankel oflmpact Sports Management in Boea Raton, Fla., said it was too early to know if Phillips would be drafted by the New York Jets with the No. 1 pick in the draft. Gymnasts ready for regionals By Gregg Madsen Staff Reporter Since the beginning of the 1996 season, the Nebraska women’s gym nastics team has had one goal, the NCAA Championships. On Saturday night at the NCAA Midwest Regional in Salt Lake City, the Cornhuskers have a chance to ei ther reach that goal or end the season. Nebraska is the No. 5 seed in the regional behind top-seeded Utah, Ari zona State, Arizona and Brigham Young. The winning team from each of the NCAA’s five regionals will ad vance to the NCAA Championships along with seven at-large teams. Advancing to the April 25-27 cham pionship meet in Tuscaloosa, Ala., won’t be easy, but Nebraska coach Dan Kendig isn’t backing down from the challenge. He said he thought as many as five teams from the Midwest Regional could advance to Tuscaloosa. “I feel good about our chances,” he said. “We’ve had a great week of prac tice, and I think they arc confident that we can do well.” In last year’s regional at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, Nebraska fin ished second with a 194.725. Utah won with a 196.625. Utah coach Greg Marsden said he thought his twa-time defending na tional champion Utes would benefit from having the meet on their home floor. “We have four freshmen in about 10 or 12 routines,” he said. “And fresh men who have never been through this before tend to be a little inconsistent. We hope that having this at home will help them to relax.” Marsden said Utah, ranked No. 3 in the nation, had been inconsistent this season. “We always work on execution and consistency,” he said. “I feel like we have made some progress in that way, but we really haven’t hit 100 in a competition this season. Our inability to fully accomplish the consistency has been the big problem.” Nebraska also has a youthful look, starting five freshmen. One of them, Bi g Ei glit ne wcomcr-o f-the-year M i sty Oxford, said she thought the Huskcrs’ youth would not be a problem. “I’m not sure how we’ll react,” she said. “It’s going to be overwhelming, but I think we’ll be able to handle it.” Husker freshman Courtney Brown will lead off on the balance beam and Amie Dillman, also a freshman, will lead off on the vault and in the floor exercise. Nebraska lost to Arizona State on Feb. 16 at the Sun Devil Classic, where "He could come from Mars, and if he has talent. I don't really care about where he's from or his past problems." JOHN BECKER St. Louis Rams’ college-scouting coordinator “He can do for a team the same tiling he did for Nebraska,” Lavan said. “He has the ability to make big plays and to consistently make them.” Phillips, who was once a Heisman Trophy candidate, played in five games last season, rushing for 547 yards and nine touchdowns. In the Fiesta Bowl, Phillips ran for 165 yards and two touchdowns. He finished his career as the fifth leading rusher in Nebraska history. His 1,722-yard total asa sophomore in 1994 is the second-best season in school history. But when a team evaluates Phillips, Lavan said, it has to look at both his football qualities and his personal char acter. see Phillips on iu Hurt NU aims for NCAAs By Gregg Madsen Staff Reporter Even though the Nebraska men’s gymnastics team will limp into Saturday’s NCAA West Regional at — the Bob Devaney Sports Center, it doesn’t plan on limping out. Nebraska will use four of six pos sible gymnasts on the floor exercise, vault and horizon tal bar because of u . back injuries to Harris sophomore all arounder Jim Koziol and freshman J.D. Reive. The meet, which will begin at 7 p.m., pits No. 4 Nebraska against sec ond-ranked California, No. 6 Okla homa, 11 th-ranked New Mexico and No. 12 Brigham Young. Stanford, the 1995 national champion, rounds out the competition. The top three teams in the region will advance to the NCAA Champion ships, April 25-27 in Stanford, Calif. Nebraska is looking for its 18th consecutive bid to the NCAA Cham pionships. Californiadcfeated the Comhuskers last week at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships in Santa Barbara, Cal i f, scoring a 22 8.95. Oklahoma and New Mexico also fin ished ahead of the fourth-place Husk ers. Oklahoma coach Greg Buwick said the Sooncrs’ second-place finish had given histeamaconfidcnce boost head ing into this weekend’s meet. “We’re not intimidated by Ne braska,” he said. “In fact I’d prefer to go to Nebraska than any other place.” Nebraskajunior still rings special ist Ted Harrissaidthe Huskersweren’t going to be intimidated either. “There will be a lot of talent out there this weekend,” Harris said. “But we have talent, too. If we can go out and hit 100 percent, we’ll be right there.” The Huskers finished third in the West Regional last year, behind Stanford and Oklahoma. Nebraska senior all-aroundcr Ja son Christie placed fifth in the all around at the meet with a 56.85. Christie, Allen said, has not reached his potential this season. But the Lin coln High graduate has been showing signs of life lately. He scored a season high 56.225 at the MPSF Champion ships, finishing fourth in the all-around. See MEN on 10 “Right now, the Jets hold the trump card,” Frankcl said. “It's not for sure right now what they will do with their pick.” | v On Wednesday night and Thurs day, Phillips met with Baltimore Ravens’ coach Ted Marchibroda, di rector of football operations, Ozzic Newsome, and running backs coach A1 Lavan. The Ravens, formerly the Cleveland Browns, hold the draft's fourth pick. The Jacksonville Jaguars have the second pick, the Arizona Cardinals hold the third pick and the New York Giants will draft fifth. Earlier this week, Phillips met with New York Jets’ coach Rich Kotiteand director of personnel Dick Haley. Lavan said Phillips would be able to immediately challenge for a posi tion next season with any team. Matt Miller/DN Nebraska freshman Courtney Brown performs on the balance beam earlier this season. Brown will lead off on the balance beam Saturday night for the Cornhuskers at the NCAA Midwest Regional in Salt Lake City. ASU scored a school-record 195.85 points. Sophomore all-arounder Meagan Wright will lead the way for the Sun Devils. Wright seored a career-high 39.475 against Nebraska, including a 9.975 score on the uneven bars. The Huskers will be counting on another standout performance from senior all-arounder Joy Taylor, who was named the NCAA academic All American of the year Wednesday. The senior from New Palest ine, Ind., is fresh off a career-best 39.375 first place finish in the all-around at the Big Eight Championships March 30 in Ames, Iowa. Junior all-arounders Shelly Bartlett and Kim DeHaan also will be counted on for big scores, Kendig said. DeHaan won the uneven bars at the conference championships with a 9.9 and the floor with a 9.85. DeHaan, from Sioux Falls, S.D., joined Taylor as a first-team academic All-American, marking the first time See WOMEN on 10