Poge 8-Wednesday, February 21, 1979-The Michigan Daily
THE PHANTOM OF THE ARENA
Hopeful Boyce recruits and waits
By JAMIE TURNER
There is a phantom at Crisler Arena.
Helurks around the basketball team
during Monday practices and then
whisks away for a week or so before he
appears again, occasionally positioning
himself on the Michigan bench next to
Johnny Orr. Orr and assistant Bill
Frieder know the identity of the Phan-
ton, as well as every member of the
Wolverines, but hardly anyone else
does.
Jim Boyce didn't mean it to be this
way. If one turns to page five of
Michigan's game program, you can
find that Boyce grew up in Detroit, won
all-state honors at Northwestern High
School and all the other typical
historical information one would ex-
pect. But still no mention of what Boyce
does.
SO HE'S AN assistant coach ... all
right, but what does he do? Well, Jim
Boyce is the man primarily responsible
out there laying the groundwork,
knowing the families; learning names.
It's kinda like a courting procedure,
just doing all the little things."
This "courting procedure" has paved
the way for every present Wolverine to
s
,o
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--the most
comfortable chairs
Sin the Union
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for the recruitment of high school
talent, he's the Wolverines' talent
scout.
"I'm the one who's on the road
making the contact," says Boyce. "I'm
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come to Ann Arbor. From Phil Hubbard
to Keith Smith, Mark and Marty Bod-
nar to John Garris, Boyce was the man
who initiated the contact that ended
with letters of intent to enroll at
Michigan.
IT IS NOT an easy job. Boyce spen-
ds four to five days away from home
canvassing the countryside for
prospects. For every Tim Andree that
can be found locally, there's a Charles
Hurt in Kentucky or a Clark Kellogg in
Ohio. So Boyce, when not scouting other
teams for the Wolverines, keeps a con-
stant watch for outstanding seniors.
And there's no secret as to what
Michigan still desperately needs. "We
need some big people who can jump,
rebound and score," states Boyce. "All
the kids here say to get someone in the
middle, no matter who it is. They just
want someone who will stand in the
middle and take up a lot of room. What
we want is a guy who can get the ball off
the boards without really jumping
(laugh)."
For a while, it was hoped that Andree
would be the answer to those hopes. The
big man from Birmingham Brother
Rice had been courted by Boyce, Orr
and Frieder for the last two years, and
they felt they had a better than even
chance to sign him. "We liked Andree.
He's local and we felt he'd be much
more successful in our program than
any other. He lives close to here and his
parents would be able to see him all the
time," added Boyce.
UNFORTUNATELY for Michigan,
Andree informed the media after the
UCLA-Notre Dame game last week that
he would be going to Notre Dame in-
stead,yet another example of a good
big man spurning the Wolverines for an
out-of-state school. BeforeAndree,
there was Bruce Flowers, who was
heavily sought after following a .fine
high school career before he decided to
go to South Bend. And before that, there
was Tommy LaGarde, who decided
that Chapel Hill and North Carolina
would be more to his liking than the big
school practically next door.
Boyce sees the players involved as
not respecting Michigan and it's
basketball program. "What happens is
that they (Andree, Flowers and La
Garde) tend to go to the programs like
Notre Dame, Kentucky, North Carolina
and Duke rather than have some state
pride.
"Look at Flowers," he continued, "he
was a great player in Michigan and we
wanted him badly. We feel that he
would have been a star here, there he's
just another player. As soon as Digger
(Phelps, ND head coach) signed him,
they went out and got another big cen-
ter."
AFTER FOUR years as head
recruiter, Boyce is now looking forward
to the day when he gets a steady job as
head coach somewhere. The only black
coach on Michigan's staff, Boyce came
to Ann Arbor after Jim Dutcher left the
assistant's job to become head man at
Minnesota. "After two years at the
University of Detroit, I was assistant
athletic director at Kettering High in
Detroit when Dutcher left. Bill
(Frieder) moved into his (Dutcher's)
role and they asked me to come here
and move into (Frieder's) role.
"My goal is to be a head coach
somewhere, maybe at one of the Mid-
American schools," commented Boyce..
"A LOT OF people feel it's a black-
white thing (about getting a job) but it's
really political," he added. "Getting in
the right clique, seeing and being seen
around people. It's just a matter of
being around and paying your dues.
And I think I've done that."
Although Boyce has spent his entire
life in Michigan, it doesn't mean he
wouldn't leave the state for a job. "If I
got the opportunity, I would go
anywhere as long as it was a good
basketball opportunity. It could be
down, it could be a loser, I wouldn't
care. It's been a super opportunity to
come to Michigan, and it's been a real
learning experience for me, working
with two great coaches like John and
Bill."
By The Associated Press
A quick 100
UNIONDALE, N.Y.-Tick off the names of hockey's greatest scorers-
Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Phil Esposito and the rest. None of them reached
the 100-goal plateau as quickly as Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders.
Bossy hit the century mark Monday night in Los Angeles, helping the
Islanders to an 8-3 victory over the Kings. The goal came in Bossey's second
season and his 129th National Hockey League game-the fastest pace ever
maintained by any NHL player. The old record for the fastest first 100 goals
was set by Rick Martin of Buffalo, who needed 178 games to reach that
plateau.
Bossy, 21, now has scored in eight consecutive games-the second time
this season he has put together an eight-game string. He needs goals against
St. Louis Thursday and Detroit on Saturday, both at home in the Nassau
Coliseum, to match-the modern NHL record of 10 straight games set by Andy
Bathgate in 1962-1963 and tied by Hull in 1968-69. The current streak was san-
dwiched by the all-star series against the Soviet Union when Bossy scored
two goals and assisted on two others as the NHL's leading scorer.
"I hope the next 100 come as fast as the first 100 came," said Bossy, who
was the Islanders' No. 1 selection in the June 1977 amateur draft and has
never played a minor league game.
Humorous Hex
There are two morsels in the Red Wings' brochure which should enter
the Irony Hall of Fame.
The first is on the page reserved for Dennis Hextall, who started the
season with Detroit. Red Wings Coach Bobby Kromm is quoted as saying the
following of Hextall: "He's strong defensively, kills penalties and takes the
important faceoffs. He's done everything we've asked.
The second is on the page that involves Kromm. That page quotes
General Manager Ted Linsay as saying Kromm, ".... has the respect of the
players."
That statement got something of a laugh out of Dennis Hextall, who now
plays for the Washington Capitals because the Red Wings, in fact, fired him.
"Kromm," Hextall said Sunday, "I have no respect for at all."
Hextall seemingly did everything Kromm asked of him-with one ex-
ception. He wouldn't blindly accept every one of Kromm's precepts.
"I said I thought he was playing the wheels off five players," Hextall
recalled. "I didn't ask for more ice time, but I said, 'If we're going to win as
a tem, let's get everybody involved.'"
The next night in Montreal, Hextall was scratched from the lineup. The
Red Wings got hammered 8-3 while Hextall sat in the press box.
He played the next game, a 7-1 home victory over Boston on Nov. 11, then
funny things started to happen.
First, Hextall said, he was told a trade to Buffalo had fallen through
when Sabres General Manager Punch Imlach was fired Dec. 4.
Then another deal fell through, prompting Hextall's version of a conver-
sation with Red Wings General Manager Ted Lindsay.
"I said, 'What do you want me to do? Do you want me to practice with
the team?' And he said, 'No.'
"With me, it was a personality'conflict with Kromm," said Hextall. "But
I don't have to like the coach to play my best for him.
"I think my record in Detroit speaks for itself. I was the captain. I did 50
percent of their fighting for them and looked after the other guys," he said.
"What more did they want?"
After reading that quote in the press guide-"He's done everything
we've asked"-the answer isn't clear.
7
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