Page 10- The Michigan Daily-Thursday, April 19,1990 Andy Gottesman Michigan sports experiencing lull There I was: standing and cheer- ing at the pep rally celebrating Michigan's men's basketball nat- ional championship last year. As I applauded the basketball players, three swimmers and a runner - all Michigan athletes who had won national championships - I couldn't help but notice the football team kneeling on the floor after a spring practice. The future of Michigan athletics looked bright. The basketball team would be returning four starters and the football team was thinking na- tional championship - especially after they saw the adulation lavished on Rumeal & Co. after Seattle. But continued winning in several programs at once was just not realistic - in the major or minor sports. And the pressure we put on our teams after so much success did nothing to help the situation. Misfortune, in one form or another, seems to have finally caught up to Michigan athletics. While some teams, especially the women's basketball squad, have made great improvements this sea- son, much of the athletic department is mired in a slump which began after the pinnacle reached by the winter and spring sports teams during the 1988-89 season. Last year, Michigan produced: The Rose Bowl champions. The NCAA men's basketball champions. Three individual national champions in swimming. One individual national champion in track. Three All-Americans in wrestling. A 12th-ranked baseball team. Two All-American men's ten- nis players. The list seemed to go on and on; success followed the Maize and Blue wherever it travelled last year. But the party had to end some- time, and this year the clock struck midnight. Coaching problems, early exits by athletes and simple bad luck are holding a party - and Michigan is the guest of honor. The football players, so hopeful of their own national championship, were befuddled by Notre Dame's Raghib Ismail and a pathetic Pac-10 official in the Rose Bowl. Men's basketball began the season with probably what was a superior team to its predecessor - only to disappoint fans against Big Ten opponents and then meet a Loyola Marymount team that could have beaten the Pistons. Only days later, super-recruit Eric Montross opted for North Carolina. Now Wolverine fans are hoping to go to Madison Square Garden next year for the NIT - with a little luck. The ice hockey team was passed over for an NCAA bid despite its 3rd place CCHA tournament finish and win over Bowling Green. Plus, the Falcons ended up getting the bid Michigan had earned. The wrestling and men's tennis team have experienced complete breakdowns - probably the back- lash after so many successful years. The tennis team, traditionally a dom- inant team in the Midwest region, has already been lambasted by Notre Dame and Northwestern after losing its two top players to the pro ranks. Only four wrestlers even qualified for the NCAAs, half last year's total. All were eliminated early. And a crooked former baseball coach will keep Michigan out of postseason play - regardless of their regular season performance, which is about .500 anyway. We should have known that last year was one to be savored. It's not that we've become arrogant or lazy; bad fortune simply comes and goes in athletics. Adam Benson Interim athletic director Jack Weidenbach is more than just a fill-in between Bo Schembechler and the next permanent athletic director. Many athletic department watchers are expecting Weidenbach to make serious changes in the way athletics are governed and the make-up of the department's staff. One of those demands on Weidenbach is for a ser- ious commitment to minority hirings in the depart- ment. The entire University has been accused of falling short in the area of minority representation in administrative areas. Yet never before has the athletic department had to follow the lead of the University. For decades, it has been an almost separate operation, with two goals: winning games and making money. The times are changing... maybe. This new era might have been stalled when another era ended last year. Schembechler's retirement as football coach/athletic director might have set Mi- chigan's program back further in their search for mi- nority candidates. Schembechler always had two Black coaches on his staff, more than most Big Ten coach- es. He had also helped former players get ahead in other careers. Schembechler might have liked to do the same thing at Michigan, but was unable to attract players who had left Michigan back to the athletic department. "Normally I like to train minorities for coaching positions, for administrative positions in athletics, but we lose a lot of our best kids when they go out into professional sports," Schembechler said. "They make more money, better contacts, and it's hard to get them to start at entry level, because really they are making a lot more money than they would make if they wouldn't go into athletics." So, how do they attract minority candidates and who is going to lead the charge to find them? "You've got tohaveguys who are qualified, but you've got to have guys who are interested in what you offer," Schembechler said. "I never looked at Michigan as having a big, big problem. To bring more minorities into the department, Michigan must make a massive commitment to hiring minorities, a committment that has not existed before. There may be a need for a little more pressure from above. Minority action overdue at 'M' Recently, University President James Duderstadt increased his involvement in the athletic department. "I think that there is no question that in the minority hiring area, we simply must make progress, and I will help in any way that I can," Duderstadt said. "In the department of intercollegiate athletics, just as in our hospitals and academic units, I am responsible if we don't meet those goals. But I don't view that as an adversarial kind of relationship, I view that as partnering and working together with the athletic department." Most Michigan fans look at the power struggle between University President John DiBiaggio and football coach George Perles at Michigan State and proclaim proudly 'it could never happen here.' Yet there will be a time in the near future when we will find out. Weidenbach is expected to step down as athletic director sometime in the next five years. Some speculate that the search will only include those currently in the department. There is a call from many for a nationwide search to replace Weidenbach when he does leave. Michigan needs to bring in more minority employees. To bring in the best possible people, Black or white, searches must go on. Michigan fans may not be familiar with what such a search is like, that is, because they rarely happen here. Right now, there is no plan for minority hiring, no feeling that it must happen and no person pushing for it to happen anytime soon. The drive to open up the athletic department will have to start with somebody making a decision to change. "The problem is going to be there a long time," said Keenan Delaney, a former Michigan Director of Promotions and Marketing and current Assistant assistant athletic director at Minnesota. "It's not something that is going to be solved overnight. 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