Milch Sherman
Barnes finds
a new home
as NU coach
Minus the snow, ice and wind,
Nelson Barnes thinks Nebraska
might be the perfect place.
The new Comhusker assistant
football coach, in charge of the NU
rush ends and Sam linebackers, offi
cially began his on-field duties this
week. Barnes immediately liked what
he saw.
“Up until this day,” Barnes said
Monday, “I’ve been a little nervous
about it. I had no idea how they struc
ture their practices, and unless you
come out here and see it, it’s really
kind of hard to picture.”
The former Texas and Kansas
State assistant, who fills the position
vacated by Tony Samuel, grows more
accustomed to Lincoln each day. He’s
been here for nearly two months, but
still, the weather bothers him.
- i ‘Tve adjusted,” he said, “and I’ve
stopped complaining about it.
Well, not exactly.
“You think this is a nice day?”
Barnes yelped Monday afternoon,
the last staff member to leave the turf
as a strong wind whipped through
Memorial Stadium. “You hang out
with me. I’ll show you a nice day.”
Lincoln’s not exactly Austin,
Texas, where the 38-year-old Barnes
spent the last three seasons coaching
the Longhorn defensive line. But
that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
“These guys pay attention when
you’re not talking to them,” Barnes
said of his Nebraska pupils. “That’s
scary. You know you’re going to be
teaching guys who want to learn.”
Coaching at NU excites Barnes,
who beat the Huskers in his regular
season finale at Texas last Decem
ber. The native of Alvin, Texas, grew
up a fan of UT football and cheered
the Longhorns to national titles in
1969 and 1970, when Texas shared
the crown with Nebraska.
Other than what he saw on film
and in person during his one-year
stint at Kansas State in 1993, Barnes
knew little about the Nebraska pro
gram when he visited Lincoln for his
interview in the midst of Nebraska’s
harsh winter.
“If you’ve grown up with this,
he said, “you know it I didn’t know
the history of it. You come here and
you walk through the hallways, and
you see the All-Americans and you
see the tradition and the records.
Needless to say, you are impressed.”
Grant Wisdom, Barnes’ new star
student, impresses the coach, too. But
from Wisdom on down, Barnes said,
the Huskers own the tools of which
coaches dream.
“You don’t have to prod them,”
Barnes said. “You simply tell them.
They’re not interested in any B.S.,
and you can see it in their eyes.
There’s a difference. You can see it.”
Now if jonly Barnes could get
over that weather thing.
Sherman is a senior news-edi
torial nutjor and a Daily Nebras
kan senior reporter.
SANDRA NOETZEL has become one of the Huskers’ top tennis players in her first season after coming to Nebraska from Germany.
' :
Nebraska’s No. 1 singl
By Jay Saunders
StaffReporter
The Nebraska women’s tennis team
is off to one of its best starts in school
history, and a large part of that success
has been because of No. 1 singles
player Sandra Noetzel.
Noetzel, a freshman from
Hannover, Germany, has compiled a
combined 21-8 record this year (in
cluding doubles and singles matches)
for the Comhuskers. .
But her quality on-court play is not
her main attribute, NU Coach Scott
Jacobson said.
“She is a humble leader, which is
an extremely admirable quality,”
Jacobson said. “She is probably the fin
est talent that has played at our institu
tion.”
Noetzel is backing up Jacobson’s
words on the court this season.
An experienced freshman at age 20,
she has played some of the top singles
players in die country, coming out on
top in 12 of her 16 matches. Noetzel
has also teamed up with another Ger
man native, Jennifer Thoste, to post a
9-4 record at No. 1 doubles.
singles, bufrberdoubles skills are tre
mendous,” Jacobson said. “In doubles,
you need someone who will serve and
volley and take chances. She is the;
complete package.”
Noetzel’s success has not been easy
this season. In her native Germany, she
plays on mostly clay courts, very dif
ferent from the hard courts in the
United States. The clay surface creates
a much slower-paced match than the
faster hard-court surfaces.
“I had difficulties adjusting to the
fast play,” Noetzel said. “It took a
couple of months to get used to.”
The hard courts have allowed
Noetzel to apply pressure on opponents
with her serve and with her record; it
seems the pressure is .working for
the
^afrrcotirts so I cm fhy. hard and ap
rpfyjgessure” Noetj^said: “jify serve
Please see NOETZEL on 10
• -v . ;*
M ’ ^ I'-ty
She is probably the finest talent that has
played at our institution ”
Scott Jacobson
NU women’s tennis coach
Rutgers job interests Nee
tiusker coach
expects to know his
fate by Thursday.
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Reporter
Danny Nee confirmed on Tues
day that he is interested in the head
coaching position at Rutgers Uni
versity, and the 11-year Nebraska
basketball coach recommended an
NU replacement if he is hired by die
New Brunswick, N J., school.
Nee said he-met with Rutgers
President Francis Lawrence and
Scarlet Knights’ Athletic Director
Fred Gruninger Monday in St.
Louis for \Vi hours to discuss die
coaching position.
“I love Nebraska,” Nee said
Tuesday on Sports Nightly, the ra
dio call-in show on which he is paid
to appear each week. “There’s ab
solutely no question, and I love
coaching at Nebraska.
“But when you’re 51 years old,
you know there’s only so many
pages left, and you have to start
thinking about where you're going
to be in five years.”
Gruninger originally ap
proached the Cornhusker coach Fri
day in Indianapolis, Nee said, and
the two met again on Saturday to
discuss a possible contract Nee
flew home to Lincoln Sunday and
.back to St Louis on Monday.
“If they met all that I wanted
contractually/’ Nee said, “I would
be very serious about it The op
portunity to go home... would be
attractive.”
Source dose to the situation say i
Nee and Rider Coach Kevin
Banhon appear to be the finalists
for the spot which opened when
Rutgers fired nine-year coach Bob;
Wenzel March 6.
If Nee leaves, he said he would
strongly recommend that Athletic
Director Bill Byrne hire NU Asso
ciate Head Coach Jimmy Williams,
a five-year member of Nee’s staff.
“If the whole staffleaves Ne
braska,” Nee said, “I think it would
push Nebraska back three, five, six
years. I want to see Nebraska do
well, and if I’m not die coach, I wait
to see Jimmy Williams be the coach
| for at least one year.”
Nee said he expects to know his
' fate by Thursday.
While in contact With the
Rutgers officials, Nee said he has
implemented a “24-hour-hold” pe
riod on recruiting.
Nebraska has currendy received
at least one verbal commitment,
from Houston guard Rodney Will
iams, and coaches are pursuing sev
eral other players to fill five schol
arships.
NU game
canceled
From Staff Rep jrts
The Nebraska baseball team’s con
test with Division n Wayne State has
been canceled. f
Hie gamc^jchediiled to start at 5
p.m. at Buck'Bpb^' Field, was can
celed because of%e Comhuskers’
l<mg trip back from the Bank of
|j!|||£nca Easter Classic in Honolulu.
(16-18 ovarii and 2-7 in the
BigJ2 Conference); which wait 3-4
iwfitstrip to Hawaii; will resume play
day, begmning a five-game
tand with a league contest
: weekendbefoce playing Oral
ifortwo games nextI
Cms^, there are nophj||go*re
schedule the game with Wayne Stite.
The Huskers beat the Wildcats 6-5 in
the season opener for both school^.
r ' i
