Contract a problemh or tumblers coach By ALAN F ANGER Stalled contract negotiations between women's gymnastics coach Scott Ponto and Women's Athletic Director Phyllis Ocker may severely cripple the program next season, several team members said yesterday. Ponto, who as interim coach this season led his team to a 20-3 record,has indicated he will not return next season unless he receives both a salary comparable to other Big Ten coaches and an expansion of practice space. Several gymnasts have said they may not compete next season unless <} Ponto and assistant coach Ginger Robey retain their positions. Three} Wolverine recruits have also indicated they will not attend Michigan "for ft gymnastic purposes" if the two coaches fail to return next winter. I just can't subject myself to that two years in a row," said Ponto. "Both of us want the same thing - a winning program. But right now, it's not looking favorable." Ocker would only say that Ponto "has been offered the job and we're negotiating salary." The seven-member team last week sent a letter to Athletic Director Don Canham explaining the situation, and urging Canham to intervene in the negotiating process. Canham has not replied to the letter, however.r Freshman Cindy Shearon, who authored the letter, said the squad does ' ' not plan to make further appeals to either Canham or Ocker. "I don't knows what else we can do about it," she said.r "We're afraid of what will happen next year if we have new coaches,". said Shearon. "Scott and Ginger are really great - they know us. We're1 going to lose a lot if they don't come back." "It wouldn't be fair for the recruits if they left," she continued. "They know Scott and'Ginger, and they like them. But if someone else were coaching, they wouldn't know what to expect.". Ponto has indicated he may look elsewhere for a coaching position if } negotiations remain at a standstill. "If things don't work out, I'll have no other choice," he said.- The former men's team competitor and assistant coach will return from a Florida vacation tomorrow to resume negotiations with Ocker. ..................... :".:... The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, April 4, 1979-Page 9 WINGBA CK CLA YTON ONL Y VE T Young rid backs fight for obs By JOHN KROGGEL The 1979 Michigan offensive backfield will be an interesting mixture of experi- ence and inexperience. Relying on speed, the backfield will have a strong veteran receiving corps, an inexperien- ced running duo, and a big question mark at quarterback. Leading the Wolverines in their passing game will be senior wingback Ralph Clayton. Clayton, a bonafide All- American candidate, averaged 22 yar- ds on his 25 receptions last year. Backing up Clayton will be two sophomores, Tony Jackson and Fred Brockington. THE OTHER KEY position in the Michigan passing offense is the wide receiver. This position is being battled for by two veteran receivers, Alan Mit- chell and Rodney Feaster. "Mitchell and Feaster are even. We will be looking for big plays from both of them," related offensive coordinator Don Nehlen. "This year we may run our plays in with our wide receivers." Last season the Wolverines alternated their tight ends for this purpose. The ball carriers for the Blue are returning letter winners but lack game experience. "Right now we have Lawrence Reid, Dave Brewster, and Jay Allen working at the fullback position," reported Nehlen. Both Reid and Allen are seniors and Brewster is a sophomore, but all lack playing time. THE TAILBACK position, always a Michigan strength, has been a troubled spot this spring. The top two can- didates, Butch Woolfolk and Stanley Edwards, have been limited by in- juries. "We've had a definite injury problem," explained Nehlen. "Stanley was hurt all last season and has only practiced once or twice in the ten sessions we've had this spring. "We've even had Tony Jackson (a 170 povpnd receiver) playing both positions. Originally this was just a stop gap measure, but he has-looked good. He could see some action there next fall," said Nehlen. THE BIG GAP in the offense appears to be the quarterback position. With the departure of Rick Leach the Wolverines are faced with the task of finding a quarterback for the first spring in three years. "We're giving four guys the Qppor- tunity at the position; B.J. Dickey, John Wangler, Gary Lee, and Jim Paciorek," reported Nehlen. "All four have improved and each runs the offen- se well." The rough spring weather has made the task all that much tougher. Practice for the team began on March 15 and since then there has been only ten prac- tice sessions. "THE WEATHER has played havoc this spring, especially for the passing game," explained Nehlen. "It's been so cold and bad that we've been running instead of passing." "Tonight we'll evaluate the perfor- mances and begin giving the top two players more playing time. B.J. has the edge right now. He has more experien- ce and has done well this spring," said Nehlen. IT MAY APPEAR that the Wolverines are looking to pass more next year based on the returning receivers and Nehlen's concern for throwing the ball, but this is not the case. "We want a balanced attack. This does not mean that we will put up the ball for no reason, however." "You need to have the ability to run and pass-in that order-to win," em- phasized Nehlen. This has been the familiar Wolverine battle cry, but some of the grind 'em out attitude is fading. "Anybody that plays Michigan will" have to stop the pass. We'll take what is. given to us," warned Nehlen. "I can't: believe that we are not a passing team. We threw the ball 178 times last year. Leach had 16 TD passes, how can that not be a passing team?" The key word for the 1979 Wolverines is speed. The Wolverines are again looking at speed over power, and with' the players available that seems to be the only choice. "Clayton, Feaster, Mitchell," Woolfolk, and Reid; they all can move along," said a smiling Nehlen. Ralph Clayton "We have a scrimmage today (Tuesday) and we intend on seeing who can throw the ball well under pressure," said Nehlen as he looked out at the first clear day in a week. R' % : Td HI'6 WMY.%mv Y{ : Aeti3 sA.SFRCA S.AWW;%rW.mA.%O iwd'R a3:SA'!: " " GUESS TMAT PUPPLE BY SECONJ BASE WAS 3PEEPER ~HA~ WL TH(U Blue batsmen face Toledo in opener ' l .. ..r- .--- . m Aw _ goyim / /{ , .I , / APRIL SHOWERS may bring May flowers, but they aren't bringing the baseball team much luck lately. Those rainy day blues washed out yesterday's season opener at Toledo. But hopefully good luck will shine the Wolverines way today for their first home game of the season. With a little help from Mr. Sun, the batsmen will face Toledo in a doubleheader at 2:00 at Fisher stadium. Maybe if it snows instead of rains today, the team will have a better chance of playing. At least you can't sink in a puddle of snow. By BOB EMORY If the weather holds out, the Wolverines will snap a streak of 24 days sin- ce their last baseball game as they open up the northern half of their season with a doubleheader against the Toledo Rockets this afternoon at Fisher Stadium. STahe two games will be the first action for Michigan since March 10th, when the Wolverines concluded their 4-4 spring trip by losing 7-1 to Florida. Southern. And since then, there has been very little baseball played. "Ah, we've been fighting art shows, builders shows, the women's tennis team and I don't know what to get inside and practice," said Moby Benedict, as he carefully sealed the tarp over the infield yesterday after practice. Just to make sure, you know. "As long as it's not raining or 30 degrees out, all we want to do is play," said Benedict. "I haven't even seen a Toledo baseball player in three years because of early season rainouts." Well, the field is safely covered and yesterday's sun helped to dry it out a bit, so barring a fluke in the weather or a nuclear meltdown, the.Wolverines will begin their quest for a third straight Big Ten title. Benedict will be startihg an all new infield in the first game today, ex- cept for Jim Capoferi at catcher. George Foussianes, who batted .278 and socked a team leading six home runs last year, will move from his regular DH spot to shortstop. Sophomore Tim Miller plays his first game for Michigan at first base, Chuck Wagner will start at thiri and freshman Jerry Paparella will play second. Obviously, Toledo isn't the only team Benedict hasn't seen very much of. The rest of the lineup is pretty much familiar with Dan Cooperrider, Rick Leach and Vic Ray in the outfield and flamethrower Steve Howe (11-3, 1.74 last year) doing the pitching. . : -. I UNDEFEATED IN CONFERENCE PLAY SCORES Women netters whip MSU, 9-0 The Assoc. for Critical Social Studies & Venceremos Brigade Present: WED. APRIL 4-7:30 pm MI. UNION CONF. RM. 4-6 BY GARY LEVY Each time Michigan's women netters chalk up an individual or team victory, it enhances the squad's seediigs in the Big Ten and regional tournaments. And the Wolverines did just that yesterday, demolishing the Spartans of Michigan State, 9-0. "IT'S NOT piling on, it's making your seedings better," said Michigan Coach Theo Shepherd, whose team is now 10-1 overall and 4-0 in Big Ten play. r Shepherd emphasized that teams ac- cumulate points from individual mat- ches, which can ultimately make the difference in the team seedings, "so each win you get during the season is important." Junior captain Kathy Karzen began the onslaught, avenging an earlier loss to MSU's Debbie Mascarin at first singles, 6-4, 6-4. "SHE'S WINNING the important points; the ones she has to," said Shepherd of the difference in Karzen's play in defeating Mascarin. Spartan Coach Earl Rutz was also impressed with Karzen's play. "Kathy hit her wide crosscourt shots better than ever. They'll meet again several times this year," said Rutz. "They're both fine players and their matches could go either way." At sixth singles, junior Debbie Ren- tschler topped off a brilliant comeback after losing the first set with a 3-6, 6-0, 7- 5 'victory over State's Heather Mc- Taggart. "I was playing well until 3-3 of the fir- st set when I started to miss, and I kept missing," said Kercher. "I eased up and stopped missing in the second set." MICHIGAN'S sophomore trio, Sue Weber, Whit Stodghill and Kathy Krickstein all disposed of their op- ponents in straight sets from their second, third and fourth singles 'slots, respectively. Weber upped her record to 11-0 and Krickstein to 7-0 as both continued their unbeaten streaks. Coack Shepherd made special note of junior Ann Kercher who crushed her foe, MSU's Cindy Bogdanis, 6-2, 6-1. "SHE LOST at sixth singles in her last match, and came back at fifth singles this time and destroyed her op- ponent," said Shepherd. The Wolverines continued their strong doubles play as the second and third doubles combinations, Stodghill- Krickstein and Kercher-Lisa Wood took their matches in straight sets. The first doubles duo, consisting of Karzen and senior Barb Fischley, cap- ped off the Michigan massacre with a come-from-behind, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Spartans Mascarin and Mc- Taggart. COACH RUTZ, disappointed with his team's scores, gave the Wolverines a good chance to win the Big Ten and regional tournaments. "They're much stronger this year in both singles and doubles," said Rutz. "I think their gals are more close-knit, relaxed, and confident than last year." Exhibition Baseball Detroit 8, Boston 2 (8 innings) St. Louis 7, Cincinnati 6 Chicago Cubs 4, Los Angeles i Montreal17, Houston 5 Oakland 3, Cleveland 2 Minnesota 5, Philadelphia 2 Pittsburgh 6, N.Y. Mets 2 Baltimore 6, Texas 2 White Sox 6, Atlanta i NHL Los Angeles 2, Washington 0 N.Y. Islanders 3, Atlanta 2 NBA San Antonio 116, Cleveland 112 Denver 110, New Jersey 97 FORUM ON MEXICO speaker; Phillip Russel, Author of "Mexico In Transition" Mr. Russell will present a slide show concerning "El Campamento 2 De Oc- tubre," a militant community in the heart of Mexico City. Also, updates on: FLOC support group; Hector Marroquln defense; Moody Park 3 FUNDING PROVIDED BY MSA KEMP BEANED Tigers rip Red Sox WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (AP) - Alan 'Trammell led a 15-hit attack yesterday as Detroit whipped Boston 8-2 in an exhibition season windup marred by the beaning of the Tigers' left fielder Steve Kemp. Kemp, a left-handed slugger, ap- parently escaped serious injury when struck on the right side of his helmet by a fast ball thrown by southpaw Andy Hassler. He was taken by ambulance to nearby Lakeland General Hospital to be held overnight for observation. With a 2:30 p.m. EST curfew to per- mit both teams to fly north, the game was called with one out in the Boston eighth with the bases loaded and George Scott waiting to bat. Trammell had three hits for the Tigers, while Lance Parrish, Lou Whitaker and Dan Gonzales had two apiece. Dave Rozema limited the Red Sox to home tomorrow; Boston faces Cleveland at Fenway Park and Detroit hosts Texas. Milt Wilcox (13-12, 3.77) is scheduled to face Ranger Steve Comer, (11-5, 2.31). f ee Leaving or staying for Take the 1 *1_ home with you and keep up on local events. I1R LEAVE BLANK Yes, I would like to subscrb e to THE LEAVE BLANK MICHIGAN DAILY. I agree to be billed later FA IRK(pre-payment necessary for subs. outside of Ann Arbor, Mich.) * SPRING __SUMMER __BOT H --_PERMANENT I (automatically renewed . Upcoming..........-..--. concerts SUMMER SUBSCRIPTION PRICES: For Circulation Dept. Use Only $6.50 Spring-Summer Term (Ill) 0 Edipse sr $7.00 by mail outside Ann Arbor I Stencil Typed $3.50 Spring (lila) OR Summer (Illb) Term Number of papers -1 $4.00 by mail outside Ann Arbor IAmount Due $ GUIDE Peer Counseling Program Counseling Service's has several positions available for Fall, 1979. We are looking for students who: -can make a one year commitment -are willing to work evening & weekend shifts -have experience in helping others -can work at least 12 hours/week.