Page Twelve THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, August 4, 1977 Fieder: capable character By KATHY liENNEGHAN To Bill Frieder, coaching is more than a joh. It's an obses- sion. The Michigan assistant thinks basketball 24 hours a day, summer and winter. This week, for example, he's out on the West Coast watching AAU games, with an eye out for po- tential recruits. FRIEDER IS AN unlikely- looking haskethall coach. A small, slight man, he never played the game in college as did so mane coaches. He watches practices in Crisler Arena often clad in bright yel- low warmups resembling over- sized pajamas. "When I first saw the guy," said a player Frieder recruited, "I thought, 'No way!'." But if he doesn't look the part, doggedness and enthu- siam usually win over the skep- tics. Frieder came to Michigan in 1973 with sparkling cre- dentials as a high school coach at Flint Northern. His teams won back-to-back Class A state titles, and a state re- cord of 37 consecutive wins still stands. Prior to that, Frieder actual- ly PLAYsED basketball at Sagi- nasw High School, a Class A powerhouse. "I was the last of the white horses there," he quipped. "I played with some great players. I scouted for them in '62, the year after I graduated, when they won the state championship." Frieder earned a degree in business administration at Michigan in 1964 and picked up his Masters Degree a year Iat- er. Still, he always had coach- ing in the back of his mind. "I HtAD ALWAYS LIKED sports, and by my sophomore or junior year I knew coaching was what I wanted to do," he explained. "So I took the edu- cation hours in addition to my regular program. I carried a tough load - some semesters I had up to 21 credits. "When I got out, I applied for every job I could. I didn't' have a head start for a coach- ing job like a lot of players do. I took the JV job at Alpena. I had decided I wanted a JV job at a Class A level or a head job at a lower level." At Alpena, Frieder worked for Dick Dennis who later took the head coaching job at Flint Northern. Frieder was offered the head job at Al- pena but chose instead to go to Flint as Dennis' assistant. "I wanted to get back to the Saginaw Valley," said Frieder. "I thiuk I actually talked him into taking the job." Frieder was the JV coach at Flint for two years before he got out of coaching altogether for one year. "It was basically becasse of the unions," he said. "I refused to strike. The board wouldn't pay me, but I just showed up for work every morning. Then I resigned in ctetober of"'1969 and sold mutual fsinds in insurance for a year." WHEN THE HEAD JOB, op- ened at Flint Northern in the string of 1970 the same board offered it to Frieder, who had enormous success. "When Dick Dennis went to Flint the program was really in bad shape. When we turned the prograt around we were really respected," Frieder said. "Then I got lucky and won the state finals tvo years in a row. The players believed in me. I've at- ways been fortunate in being around successful basketball. "I've never had a problem with black kids in Flint or any- where. Black or white, I think kids look for someone who is hard-working and sincere. And when we won, I had no prob- lems. Frieder's players at Flint included Wayman Britt, the former Michigan captain now trying out with the Pistons, and Terry Furlow of Michi- gan State and the Philadel- phia 76ers. Much was made of the Britt - Furlow match- ups in college - Britt was the calm, cool defensive spe- averaged 12 shots and 15 points a game for me. Of, course at State .he was a 30 point man ,under a very dif- ferent type of system.", Frieder was instrumental in sending Britt to Michigan. He admits to tearing up an Iowa tender because it arrived dur- ing the state tournament, and Frieder didn't want Britt dis- tracted. Although Britt had wanted to go to Iowa, the school was allowed to send just one tender. Since that was in Frieder's wastebasket, the choice came down to Michigan or Michigan State. "It really helps to have the high school coach in your cor- ner when you recruit," said Frieder f(in somewhat of an understatement). "I wish Ear- vin Johnson's coach had been a Michigan man." F R I E DV E RFOLLOWED Britt to Ann Arbor a year later. Johnny Orr calls Frieder the hardest working assistant he's ever had, over the likes of Jim Dutcher and Fred Snowden.. The persistent rumor is that Bill Frieder, not Johnny Orr, is the real coach. Of course, those stories circulated when Dut-J cher and Snowden were here too, and Orr has had to fight them far most of his tenure at Michigan. But the "Frieder as head coach" theory gained more ad- herents last winter by way of a Sports Illustrated story which contained some partic- ularly damaging quotes from Frieder. "That was an unfortunate thing," said Frieder. "I apolo- gized to Coach Ore and his fam- ily. I stilt think about that star almost daily because I think it was unfair to John. And when he's so nice about the whole thing that makes it worse. Peo- ple who know me well know I wouldn't say those things, "If I had been in Orr's posi- tion, I probably would have fired the guy." ORR DIDN'T go that far, of course, but it's doubtful that Sports Illustrated will get the red carpet treatment next year. And Orr sarcastically informed a group of reporters that he "had consulted Coach Frieder and Frieder decided I could keep zny job for another year." Eventually, Frieder wants to move into a head coaching job but he is in no hurry to leave Michigan. He seriously consider- ed the job at Fordham over a year ago, but decided against it once he saw Fordham. "It's not the class place Mich- igan is," he explained. "I dont have a timetable. I want to get a major college job where there is a successful basketball pro- gram. I'm not going to leave jsst for the sake of leaving. I'm at the greatest athletic and aca- demic institution in the coun- try. Frieder's enthusiasm applies to all aspects of his job, something the players don't necessarily appreciate. Take the matter of curfews on road trips, for example. When Dutcher left for Minnesota, Frieder started enforcing the rules. He patrols hotel halts so thr- otghly that he was soon dubbed "Snoopy" and "Columbo." And the guy never seems to sleep "If yost hear he's' gone to bed, don't you believe it," grumbled one player. "You look up frcrns the pool table at three in thr morning and Frieder's righls there beside you." Nor do his jokes always msee't with player approval. Ie once watched a line of players gss in for slam dunks at the end of practice, yelling, "Get up these. Joel . ..-Thataway, Rickey .. Don't hurt yourself, Grote, Very fitny, eh, Steve? But the grumbles are ansl surface deep. He may be a character, but he's proven him self as a coach. A school could do a lot worse than to tap irie der for a head job, and he may not be in Ann Arbor much longer, hot Hand and at times, a hot head. "When tley were juniors, Fsurlow was my most talented player, no question about it," said Frieder. "He was a great athlete, but he could also be a mouthy kid and he didn't do a lot of the things I, asked him to do. "I HAD TO DO ONE of two things, because he was not go- ing to be on the varsity until his attitude improved. Either I could kick him out, or I could put him on JV," Frieder explained. "He led the JV in both scoring and rebounding. "I brpught two kids up from the JV for the state tourna- ment but he wasn't one of them. When we won the state title, I think it was an inspira- tion to Furlow. In the summer he really matured. "The next year he became a starter," Frieder added. "He Was a very disciplined player within my system. He Frao wire Service Reparis- Sabres select Marcel BUFFALO - Rene Marcel Pronovost, a 21-year veteran of the National Hockey League, became the fourth head cach in the seven-year history of the Buffalo Sabres yesterday. "The main ingredient I was looking for Was a man strong enough to make the players play as a team and not how they wanted to play," Imlach said, "Pronovost is a winner, and that's very important," Imlach said. "He has lots of experience, knows the game and is bilin- gual, Our French players won't be able to put anything over on him." Pronovost, 47, spent 16 seasons as an all-league defenseman with the Detroit Red Wings and five seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Make way for Hennessy! NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. - The Buffalo Bills Wednesday ac- quired veteran defensive end Billy Newsome from the New York Jets for an undisclosed future draft choice. Newsome, a 29-year- old, 6-foot-5, 250-pound nine-year National Football League vet- eran, was drafted third by the Baltimore Colts in 1970 and was traded to New Orleans in 1973 for the Saints' No. 1 draft choice. He went to the Jets in 1975 in another trade for a No. 1 pick. Newesome played in only two games for the Jets last sea- son because of a mild knee fracture. He did not require sur- gery. Newsome, who lost his starting job this season to sec- ond-year man Lawrence Pillers, was scheduled to arrive Thursday at the Bills' Niagara University training camp. "Billy is a good football player," said Jets Coach Walt Mi- chaels, "but he was expendable because of the development of Lawrence Pilfers and rookies John Hennessy and Greg Murphy. Hennessy, from Michigan, and Murphy, -formerly of Penn State, have performed well in training camp. Reds nip Cubs in 10th, 5-3 Oy The Associated Press CINCINNATI - George Foster slugged a towering game-tying home run in the eighth and Dan Driessen drilled a two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th to power the Cincinnati Reds a 5-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs last night. DRIESSEN'S HOME run, his 13th of the sep. son, followed a one-out single by Foster against loser Willie Hernandez, 5-4. Pedro Borbon, 7-4, picked up the victory in relief. Foster's 36th home run in the eighth drove in Joe Morgan, who had singled, and gave Foster 105 runs batted in. He leads the majors in both categories. Cubs starter Rick Reuschel, tied with Steve Carlton for most victories in the National League with 15, left the game in the seventh inning with aan ailing back. Bucs blanked IIOUSTON--Joe Niekro scattered nine hits for his second consecutive shutout and Jose Cruz drove in two runs with a fourth-inning double as the Houston Astros blanked the Pittsbisrgh Pirates 3-0 last night. NIEKRO, 7-3, posted his third consecutive complete game as the Astros jumped two full games ahead of fourth-place San Francisco in the National League Western Division, Pittsburgh starter Bruce Kison, 6-6, suffered the loss. Cesar Cedeno singled to center'and Kison hit Bob Watson with a pitch before Cruz smacked his two-run double. Cruz, however, was caught in a rundown trying to stretch the hit into a triple for the third out. _ Hot Cards roll ATLANTA-Eric Rasmussen hurled a four- hitter and Jerry Mumphrey had four hits, scored three runs and drove in another as the St. Louis Cardinals completed a three-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves 5-1 last night. IT WAS THE 11th victory in 13 games for St. Louis, which completed its season series against Atlanta with an 11-1 record. Rasmussen lost his shutout early when Gary Matthevs lined his 12th home run of the sea- son over the left field fence in the second inning. Tigers killed BLOOMINGTON-Craig Kusick and Lyman Bostock knocked in three runs apiece and rookie right-hander Paul Thormodsgard fired a seven-hitter as the sizzling Minnesota Twins romped to an 11-1 victory over the Detorit Tigers last night. THE TWINS, who have won four straight games and 14 of their 18, kayoed Detroit start- er Fernando Arroyo with a four-run blast in the first inning. Arroyo, now 6-10, allowed a walk, two singles and two doubles before de- parting without retiring a Twins batter. Thormodsgard, 9-8, scattered six singles and Ben Oglivie's fourth-inning RBI double. Boastock, Butch Wyneger and RodCarew had three hits apiece'in the Twins' 17-hit attack, which included Dan Ford's 11th homer of the season. Carew went 3-for-S to raise bis eague- leading average two points to .384.