The Michigan Daily - Friday, October 14, 1983 -Page 13 -- _ _ i --- ----- r Ron Pollack Bracken punts into 'M'record books _ _ _ i /,, 1 / /1 !lam/ ! ! / / , Ill_11_I _1 Michigan football Two yards. That short, and easily attainable; distance is all that separates punter Don Bracken from a spot in the Michigan record book. The senior from Thermopolis, Wyo. has 7,106 career punting yards, and should pass John An- derson's all-time mark of 7,108 yards tomorrow against Northwestern. Bracken has 172 career punts, second only to Anderson's 180. "I guess I'm kind of surprised about the, record, I didn't even know anything about it," Bracken said. "When I started the season I knew I was close to some records, but I didn't keep track. I guess you could say I'm happy about the chance to hold a record at Michigan, but what I really want to do is relax and punt better. I think I could have a good year down the stretch if I do relax and that's all that matters now." Bracken has a career punting average of 41.3 yards per boot, highest in Wolverine history, but is only averaging 36.9 yards a kick this season. "He's down a little bit," said Michigan head coach Bo Schembechler yesterday. "He's had a' little problem with his left knee. I think that's af- fected his kicking and we've had him in situations where he's ended up punch kicking in opposing team's territory and not having a chan- ce to really let it out. Although Bracken is on the verge of setting the Michigan all-time record for punting yardage, he was not even Michigan's first choice when pun- ters were being recruited prior to the 1980 season. In fact, he wasn't even second choice, or third choice. "He was the fourth out of four we were looking at," said Michigan assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Gary Moeller. "But there were four good kickers and he was one of them. They would have been ranked 1, la, 1b, and lc. Bracken turned out very well in the group." Guess what the last Northwestern head coach to beat Michigan is doing these days? He's Alex Agase and he's a Michigan assistant coach now. Agase coached the Wildcats from 1964-72 and he led them to a 34-22 victory over the Wolverines in 1965. Agase also was head coach at Purdue (1973-76) and athletic director at Eastern Michigan (1977- 1982). He was about to retire from college sports in 1982 when Schembechler stepped into the pic- ture. "He was unhappy as an athletic director," Schembechler said. "I mean he felt miserable. He was going to retire. I said 'you can't retire, you've got to do something.' I said 'what are you going to do?' He said 'I don't know.' So I said 'come over and be a part-time coach.' Six mon- ths later he says 'are you serious' and I said yes. The reason Agase left Eastern Michigan, and the reason he got back into coaching, was the en- joyment he gets from being around young athletes, according to Michigan athletic direc- tor Don Canham, a longtime friend of Agase's. "I was in on his thought process when he resigned," Canham said. "He was very unhap- py. He missed the association with the athletes." * * * When you're the head honcho you get blamed for everything, even when it's not your fault. "I got an awful lot of letters on the annual off- the-wall band halftime show (at Michigan's last' home game)," Canham said. "I got quite a few letters, as though I had anything to do with the halftime show. 'What the hell are you doing put- ting on a halftime show like that' they write. I just send them over to (band director) Eric (Becher). I don't take it very seriously." 1t4e4 seaee54*444 COLLEGE SENIOR ENGINEER PROGRAM You can devote your talents to being a full-time student your last twelve months of school. That's just the beginning: Guaranteed full-time employment as an engineer with a leader in space age technology. Begin accruing vacation time while you are .till in school:. Programmed pay increases. Programmed ppmotions. > Th e ofbeing on btffcer in t 4eied Staffs Air Force. If you ratc o you may be eligible. Contact your Air Force Officer Recruiter for additional information. Call TSgt. Larry R. Gardepy or SSgt. Partick T. Cannon, 973-7702. *ask about tour information. (VU punting is Kidd stuff Northwestern coach Dennis Green, -.; r_ _ By CHUCK JAFFE Northwestern punter John Kidd is no passing fancy, but he'd love an oppor- tunity to try. Kidd enrolled at Northwestern intent on earning the starting quarterback job, but instead has flourished as a pun- ter, earning honorable-mention All- American honors in 1982 and leading the Big Ten in punting so far this season. -NOW THE Wildcats' second-string quarterback, Kidd is patiently waiting for an opportunity to display the talents of his arm alongside those of his leg. "It has never really materialized, but I've always felt that I could play quar- terback here," Kidd said. "If something happens, I'll be ready to play if I get the chance. (Starting quar- terback) Sandy (Schwab) does a really good job for us, so I can't complain. Things never worked out that well for me as far as quarterbacking goes." Punting, however, has worked out just fine for the 6-4, 202-pound senior. Starting with his freshman season, Kidd has made steady improvement - finishing last season ranked fifth in the nation with a 45.6 yards-per-kick 'Cat kicker sees chances passing by average, and ranking sixth this year with a 45.7 yard average. KIDD HAS also found no shortage of work as Northwestern punter. The Wildcats are just 4-35 since Kidd's arrival, and in 1981 he set a Big Ten record for most punts in a season. Ac- cording to Kidd, a losing team gives a punter a lot of opportunity to kick. "After you have six or seven punts in a game you get pretty tired," said Kidd, an engineering and management scien- ce major. "You start to warm up on the sidelines when it gets to third down, so you can be pretty tired by the end of the day." Tiredness has not affected Kidd's kicks, however, and his powerful leg has made him one of the Wildcats' most potent offensive -tools.:According to Kidd has helped keep opposing teams in poor field position. "JOHN KIDD has been absolutely magnificent as a punter," Green said. "He has done everything we could ask for; he's getting good hang time and his net punting average is good. He has been a real weapon for us." a l, osHe p ,pN - N Rp GENER inc!ud'n9 Nriou9rits san SaY /I)% pngetHeap4 1riati °u Corise f:.{ i::::":"tyi r;cyid:;i;"i'%ici}'?>i°:' }rz% : ': THIRD WORLD ALL THE WAY STRONG Lagos Jump/Rock And Rave Seasons When/All The Way Strong ___Love Is Out To Get You SEE THIRD WORLD LIVE at THE POWER CENTER Thurs., Oct. 27, 8pm MLIEUA F Ar_ = I :' _s ~Oft R Love wauing 400 Live yA ~ c H rt sns o7 CLARENCE Ad c HUEY CLEMONS TEWE AND AND THE spNEW S RED BANK 7 incThe ROCKERS The Heart And'Y an fNew rck A oiRESCUE RokTh Lne c N Roll DJ + Jump start My Heart SA Woman's'Got The Power BO:..Ac S Money To The Rescue REBnROCKE ei01a a E FOX/ ES A r a/Mrttan/a HUEY LWSAND. Zbr . sfms { Marco Pl N N Make doC~12'4 O / hat c Love e w n 9. 'bolt ~ee~e:..................::..... 1 Green ... high on Kidd But Kidd would rather not have to be a weapon. Originally recruited by most of the Big Ten teams, including Michigan, Kidd said he didn't realize exactly how bad the Wildcat football program was when he signed a letter of intent. "I don't think anyone could go to school with the intent of losing for two years - 22 games - straight," The Findlay, Ohio native said. "When I got here, the program was a little farther down than I had thought, and losing all those games after a winning high school career was pretty rough. "IF I could have anything I wished for, I'd wish we were 11-0 and going to the Rose Bowl," Kidd added. "But that won't happen, so I'm glad I've been able to be a part of the improvement here. Just seeing that (improvement) has made this a good experience." Kidd does not expect to use his ex- perience at quarterback against the Wolverines, however. In fact, despite his strong arm, Kidd has thrown only one pass from punt formation. "I had to throw a pass just once," Kidd recalled. "It was a bad snap and I pretty much threw it away. We haven't faked one with me throwing the ball in- tentionally. I'd like to do it, though." Even though a professional punting career seems certain, John Kidd still wants a chance to throw the football. In fact, he'd probably get a kick out of it. I I I A 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 A a Ay 1 1 J I ar i a.M I U a a r .:. .. a a. =4 ~11' Give the gift of music. - .1:'4'7 i i _ R _ _ A RECO 523 E. Mon-1 Fri & S Sun 1 994-8( RARE & US 514% E. Will (Upstairs over c 80 JAMES s' RDS & TAPES Liberty Thurs 10-9:30 Sat 10-10 2-8 031 ED RECORDS Ilam-668-1776 ampus Bike and Toy) AT 12:30-6 MON-S John Kidd shows the skill that has led him to the top of the Big Ten in pun- ting, but he would like to prove that his arm is as good as his leg. Center for Chinese Studies nfI;Ii The University of Michigan third annual 0 Io 0c G: % 0"> t NN}NNN 7 U V)Y = - = 0x 3 00 P s I n LC)t.[ 0 I 0 6c 6 19 ivi90 I . 2 I =. I Alexander Eckstein Memorial Lecture Will Reforms Modernize China's Economy? 1 < I 4