The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 21, 1999 - 15A Barnett to leave 'Cats for Buffs 00 BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - Gary Barnett, wooed by many schools since leading Northwestern to the 1996 Rose Bowl, is the new coach at Colorado. Barnett, who resigned as Northwestern's coach after seven seasons, told his players of his decision Tuesday night, and was expected to arrive in Boulder last night. The school called a Friday news conference to introduce him. Barnett's hiring is subject to the approval of Colorado's Board of Regents, which has its.regularly scheduled monthly meeting today. "I'm pleased to bring forward to the Board an individual who is deeply committed to young people and the University of Colorado,' Buffaloes Athletic Director Dick Tharp said yesterday. Barnett replaces Rick Neuheisel, who left Colorado on Jan. 9 to coach Washington at $1 million a year. The 52-year-old Barnett planned to spend today assembling a staff and preparing to meet recruits. In the past few years, Barnett has turned down coaching opportunities at such top schools as Notre Dame, UCLA and Texas. He is returning to the school where he was once an assistant under Bill McCartney. Barnett met with Tharp on Tuesday in Houston, where the agreement was set, according to media reports in Chicago and Denver. Barnett's hiring came one day after Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak turned down a chance at the Colorado job. Barnett was Colorado's original choice, but Tharp had trouble dealing with Barnett's expensive buyout. Barnett signed an 11-year contract with Northwestern in 1996, but Denver's KCNC- TV said Colorado won't have to pay Barnett's $250,000 buyout fee. Barnett apparently will settle with Northwestern on his own. Northwestern was one of the worst pro- grams in the country before Barnett arrived, having failed to win more than four games in a season since 1971. The Wildcats won only eight games in Barnett's first three seasons, but the following year he led them to a 10-2 mark, including a 41-32 loss to Southern California in the Rose Bowl. The Wildcats went 9-3 the following season, which ended with a 48-28 loss to Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl. Northwestern returned to its losing ways the last two years, going 5-7 in 1997 and 3-8 in 1998. Also, Northwestern has been rocked by a sports betting scandal in which four former Wildcat football players were indicted Dec. 3, accused of lying about their gambling activi- ties. Barnett's record at Northwestern was 35-45- 1 in seven seasons. His only other head coaching job was at Fort Lewis, a Division II school in Durango, Colo., where he had an 8-11-1 record in 1982-83. Miami's Mario Bland lays in anguish after falling two points shy of upsetting No. I Connecticut last night. AP PHOTO UConn edgs 'Canes in O Auburn loses first contest Gary Bamett, who took Northwestern from the Big Ten cellar to the Rose Bowl, heads to Colorado as the Buffaloes new head coach. A POTO " i 0 so Northwestern turns to Walker EVANSTON (AP) - Northwestern went back to the Cradle of Coaches to find Gary Barnett's successor. Randy Walker, head coach the last nine seasons at Miami of Ohio, was introduced as the Wildcats new coach at a news conference this afternoon. He replaces Gary Barnett, who yesterday was hired as Colorado's new coach. "Randy is for real, and we've said that to the people who have asked about him" said Joel Maturi, Miami's athletic director. "Coming from the Big Ten myself, I know Northwestern is very fortunate to get a per- son of his character and work ethic and pas- sion for kids. Not to mention his ability to win games." Walker is the latest in a long line of coach- es to come out of Miami. Sid Gillman, Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler and Bill Mallory all coached there, as did former Northwestern coach Ara Parseghian. Walker was 59-35-5 at Miami, including a 10-1 mark last season. His 59 victories are tops in school history, and he also is No. I in games coached. "We wanted someone with Division I experience who had demonstrated a record of winning'" Northwestern Athletic Director Rick Taylor said. "We got the person we were after." Northwestern knows firsthand just how good Walker's teams are. In Northwestern's storybook 1995 Rose Bowl year, Miami gave the Wildcats their only regular-season loss, beating them 30-28 at Northwestern. The two teams are scheduled to play again Sept. 4 at Northwestern. Walker, who grew up in Troy, Ohio, played at Miami and was the team's MVP in 1975. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals, but he chose to stay at Miami as a graduate assistant under coach Dick Crum. He accom- panied Crum to North Carolina and spent 10 years there as running backs and quarter- backs coach and as offensive coordinator. Walker then spent two years at Northwestern, where he coached the first back-to-back 1,000-yard rushers in school history - Byron Sanders and Bob Christian. He was named head coach at Miami on Dec. 1, 1989. He inherited a program that had won a total of two games over the two previous sea- sons and went 5-5-1 in 1990. He had a win- ning record every season thereafter except 1993, when Miami went 4-7. MIAMI (AP) - Richard Hamilton scored 31 points, including a tiebreaking 3-pointer in over- time, and top-ranked Connecticut remained unbeaten by edging No. 25 Miami 70-68 last night. The outcome was in doubt until the final buzzer, when a 3-point attempt by the Hurricanes' John Salmons rimmed out. Connecticut, ranked No. I for the past eight weeks, improved to 16-0 overall and 8-0 in the Big East Conference. Miami fell to 11-4 and 5-2. The game, the first for the Hurricanes since they cracked the rankings for the first time in 39 years, drew a school-record sellout crowd of 15,147. Miami had been averaging 3,021 at home this sea- son. Khalid El-Amin scored 13 points for Connecticut. Miami's Mario Bland had 21 points and Johnny Hemsley added 18, all in the first half. Tim James scored 16 for Miami, including a basket with 5.4 seconds remaining to force the overtime. Hamilton's 3-pointer gave UConn the lead for good, 69-66, with 2:06 left in the extra period. El- Amin hit the second of two free throws for a 70-68 lead with 25 seconds to go. James missed an 18- footer with 1.6 seconds left, and Salmons' open 3- point try rimmed out at the buzzer. Miami is only the third team to stay within 10 points of the Huskies, who came into the game winning by an average of 26 points per game. The Hurricanes scored eight consecutive points to lead 61-58 with 2:22 left in regulation. El-Amin then hit a twisting layup for the Huskies, Hamilton made two free throws to put UConn ahead, and El- Amin added two free throws for a 64-61 lead. With 16 seconds left and the Huskies ahead 64- 62, Kevin Freeman squandered a chance to clinch the win when he missed two free throws. James then sank a fallaway 13-footer under heavy pres- sure, forcing the overtime. The Hurricanes led 33-32 at halftime - only the second time the Huskies have trailed at half- time this season. No.7 KENTUCKY 72, No.6 AUBURN 62 Heshimu Evans broke out of a slump with 20 points and nine rebounds as No. 7 Kentucky hand- ed No. 7 Auburn its first loss of the season, 72-62 Wednesday night. Auburn's first defeat after a 17-0 start left No. I Connecticut (16-0), a 70-68 overtime winner Wednesday over Miami, as the only undefeated team in Division I. Kentucky (16-4, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) avoided falling two games behind Auburn (17-1, 5-1) in the SEC title chase. With center Jamaal Magloire on the bench in street clothes, suspended for a curfew violation and a technical foul in Kentucky's last game, it was back to a smaller lineup for Kentucky coach Tubby Smith - and back to the small forward spot for Evans. He responded with 6-of-10 shooting from the floor, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range, and led the team in rebounds, including four on offensive boards. Supreme Court to decide on Title IX suit ,Highest court in the land to rule if NCAA is subject to federal discrimination laws Burch quits due to health WASHINGTON (AP) - A lawsuit drafted by a rookie law student angry, that she was denied a spot on her col- lege volleyball team will help the U.S. Supreme Court answer whether the NCAA is subject to federal dis- crimination laws. The NCAA told the court yester- day that a key anti-bias law guaran- teeing federal protection against sex discrimination in most schools does t apply to it. "The NCAA is an association of its members and its members ... receive federal money. The NCAA does not," argued the tax-exempt organization's lawyer, John Roberts Jr. Roberts said a federal appeals court was wrong when it ruled that the NCAA is an indirect recipient of eral aid because of the dues it col- cs from its 1,200 member schools. The federal law known as Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 applies only to educational pro- grams receiving federal money. YOu'RE *4OT TOO LATE!!! WANT TO *WRITE FOR THE DAILY? WE'VE Y.GOT ONE MORE CIA CC mir Ee. The Supreme Court is expected to rule in Renee Smith's case by sum- mer. If the court allows her to continue her lawsuit, the NCAA could be on the hook in a host of other discrimi- nation lawsuits based on race or dis- ability, both sides have said. The NCAA argues that individual universities are fair game for dis- crimination complaints, but said it is a step removed. "You don't just follow the money," Roberts argued. Smith, 26, sued in federal court after the NCAA said she was ineligi- ble for the volleyball teams at two schools where she did postgraduate work. "I want to establish a precedent, so other intercollegiate athletes don't have to start at zero," Smith said out- side the court building yesterday. The NCAA first judged her ineli- gible in 1993, based on the sports organization's rules. Although Smith had two years of eligibility remaining after her early graduation from St. Bonaventure in upstate New York, she lost them when she moved to Hofstra in Hempstead, N.Y., for graduate school, the NCAA said. The NCAA refused to grant Smith a waiver. Smith tried-again when she moved on to law school at the University of Pittsburgh in 1995. Again, the NCAA denied her a waiver. Smith sued in 1996, after complet- ing her first year of law school, alleging that the NCAA was more inclined to grant waivers to male stu- dent athletes. Her lawyer, Carter Phillips, argued that the NCAA ought to be subject to the same anti-discrimination rules as its member universities. "You can't stop at the federal funds recipient" such as a university, Phillips told the court. "You have to go beyond that." The NCAA claims it actually grants waivers to women more often than men. Raw numbers of waivers are much higher for men because far more men ask for them, the NCAA said. But the Supreme Court is not deciding whether the NCAA does or does not favor male athletes - only whether Smith may continue her lawsuit. "We dispute the case on the merits, but the merits are not before the court," NCAA lawyer Roberts said. Smith wants the case sent back to a trial court, where she can seek more evidence about the NCAA's practices. She could lose all legal avenues if the justices rule the NCAA is exempt from Title IX. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg seemed sympathetic to Smith's diffi- culties framing her original legal argument without help from a full- fledged lawyer. "Usually before you cut off a plaintiff's head you allow him a chance to flesh out an allegation," she said. TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - Clayton Burch, a junior Toledo guard who never missed a start in his career, decided yesterday to give up basket- ball after being diagnosed with a mild heart disease. Burch, from Lansing, passed out during practice Monday and was later found to have an irregular heartbeat. Further tests showed mild damage to his heart muscle. He made the decision to stop play- ing after talking with doctors, his par- ents and Toledo coach Stan Joplin. "Unfortunately, Claytoi} will no longer be able to participate in college basketball," Joplin said. "But we expect him to do very well in life" He will remain on scholarship. Burch was averaging just under five' points a game and scored a season. high 19 in the Rockets' victory over Ohio State in December. As a freshman, Burch scored 11.3 points a game and earned a spot on the Mid-American Conferences all-fresh- man team. He had started in 69 straight games. r+or.r r.w - wr .. w ...wi . iui iu a sir ri . rr rw Ingo uks ,uup Mr a \~NSherman OQakes F.e.a 9816 $~432 1098 7659 Ex01!1010050MP..I Phone Cards -"--- ycn yu.M*O we, she nok o. you. 200 Min~t. E* e.l"~b~ .NO f Art I. I- C A K 9- n n (-r.