12 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 7, 2000
Minnesota coach threatened
to bar student newspaper
Players: Don't blame Thomas
10
By Megan Boldt
The Minnesota Daily
(U-WIRE) MINNEAPOLIS --- Dan
Monson, Minnesota men's basketball coach,
threatened to withhold The Minnesota Dailv's
press credentials for the rest of the season after
the, paper published a column proposing the
"death penalty" for the Minnesota basketball
:am.
Monson said his actions were an attempt to
work things out between his players and the
paper. He said he told sports columnist Josh
Linehan that The Minnesota Daily would not get
the crdentials until Linehan met with Monson.
The Minnesota Daily received this season's
credentials at a media luncheon Wednesday,
after a second column was-published Tuesday,
suggesting that current players should not be
held responsible for events they could not con-
trcl.
Marc Ryan, men's athletics spokesman, said
the credentials would never have been held,
regardless of the tone of the article.
"Monson is not the person who distributes the
press credentials. Media relations does," he said.
Media relations "swould never deny credentials.
t as an opinions piece"
Linehan's original column suggesting the bas-
ketball program be suspended for its actions in
the academic fraud scandal rin in the The
Minnesota Daily's Oct. 13 issue.
At a meeting last Friday, Linehan said
Monson told him if he didn't write a more favor-
able piece, reporters would be denied access to
the lockerroom, game and news conferences.
"We understand the paper is entitled to have
its own opinion," Monson said. "I just want the
facts to be correct."
Linehan was contacted by Brad Ruiter, asso-
ciate men's sports information director, on Oct.
26 and was asked to meet with Monson and bas-
ketball player John-Blair Bickerstaff to discuss
inaccuracies in his column.
Linehan cited charges of underage drinking
against Bickerstaff, but did not mention the
charges were dropped, Ryan said.
The meeting was scheduled for Wednesday,
Oct. 18, which Ryan said Linehan and The
Minnesota Daily Editor-in-Chief Julia Grant
missed. Linehan said both he and Grant waited
for 20 minutes for Monson to finish practice and
left Williams Arena. Ihat's when, in the absence
of the two Daily employees, the holding of cre-
dentials was brought up.
At last Frldavs meeting, Grant suggested
Bickerstaff write a guest column or another
Minnesota Daily staffer who disagreed with
Linehan's column write an opinion piece.
Monson did not accept. "Your first initial
response is you have a duty to report the truth,"
Linehan said. "But you have two reporters who
want to cover basketball and students who want
to read about the basketball team"
Angered by a column in The Minnesota Daily,
Minnesota men's basketball coach Dan Monson
threatened to revoke the paper's access.
Basketball beat reporter John Carter said
Monson would never have done this if the Star
Tribune or Pioneer Press had run the column.
"Just because we're a student newspaper
doesn't mean we have to write just about the
positive aspects of the team," he said.
Ryan said Monson knew he is not the one to
distribute the press credentials. But Ryan did not
say whether he or the athletic department knew
about Monson's threat before the meeting.
Monson said there was no threat to The
Minnesota Daily if Linehan met with athletic
officials.
"If they feel I insinuated that, so be it,"
Monson said. "I just wanted to work things out
between the Daily and my players"
CARR
Continued from Page 11
In only his second year at Army, Young had
the Cadets leading the nation in rushing
offense. The wishbone gave Army its most
successful seasons in decades, including two
Commander in Chief trophies and three bowl
bids.
Eventually, college defenses adapted to the
wishbone. And Carr is confident that his will
eventually be able to cover the spread - per-
haps after an offseason or two.
"We will have learned a lot' Carr said.
"Nobody ever said life was easy."
PL AYERS SUPPORT Ttio IAS: The blame
game could be a long, drawn out affair if
applied to Michigan's loss to Northwestern
Saturday. But one player the Wolverines
refuse to hold accountable is tailback
Anthony Thomas - whose fourth-quarter
fumble set up Northwestern's game-winning
drive.
"Anthony's been around the block. He was
here in '97 - he's been through it all," said
Michigan quarterback Drew Henson, who
passed for four touchdowns Saturday. "He's
going to go down as one of the best backs
we've ever had here."
Thomas ran for 199 yards and three touch-
downs against Northwestern, but players said
his ability to pick up the blitz and protect
Henson is Thomas' most overlooked and
Nov. 6 standings
Team Points
1. Oklahoma 2.76
2. Florida State 6.42
3. Miami (Fla.) 6.81
4. Nebraska 9.67
5. Florida 11.18
6. Washington 14.37
7. Oregon 15.00
8. Virginia Tech 17.62
9. Oregon State 22.80
10. Purdue 23.28
11. Kansas State 26.28
12. Notre Dame 27.26
13. Ohio State 28.80
14. Miss. State 31.06
15. Northwestern 32.71
invaluable ability.
"All of us hurt for him," Carr said of his
senior tailback. "Anvbody that want to blame
Anthony is probably one of those people
whose expectations of other people are high-
er than expectations of themselves."
Thomas will play his last game at Michigan
Stadium this Saturday against Penn State.
10
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