The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - Monday, April 2, 2001 -78 Knight kicks off three Athletes excused for 'violation of team rules' , 1 ey, there you go, Swiss- r!" Uh-oh, Coach Mel is the war-path. The Rhigan hockey team's other red- headed coaching guru has just gotten done putting the Wolverines through a series of punishing, end-to-end sprints. While the players, none older than 24 years, look geriatric as they exit the ice, Mel Pearson bounds down the tunnel like a kid looking for some mischief. In this instance, sophomore winger J.J. Swistak turns from talking to a reporter in mild annoyance -- too late, Coach Mel itlready on to his next victim. Whack!" Pearson delivers a playful two-han- der to the back of Bill Trainor's shin- pad The senior, also in mid-conversation with a writer, doesn't even blink. He must be used to it by now. It's a mercurial relationship with his players, combined with a keen intelii-. ce of hockey, that has defined asso- e head coach Mel Pearson. Coach Red Berenson's light-hand man fkr the last 13 seasons, Pearson is one of the architects behind Michigan's founda- tion for a try at a third national champi- onship in the past six years. to be decided this weekend in Albany, NY,. The 42-year-old is a nice.guy on a team full of nice guys --- a family man who i never at a loss for a "Hello, how you?" for the most infrequent of tors to the rink. Pearson is also a motivator and, along with assistant coach Billy Pow- ers, "the best recruiter of talent i cl- lege hockey," according to once-heavily-ecruited sophomore for ward Mike Cammalleri. Well into his second decade at Michigan, Pearson remains the guy hind the guy - the rumored-unoffi- i sucessor of Michigan's greatest hockey legend, if and when he decides to hang up the whistle for good. "Somedays it feels like I've been here longer" than 13 years, Pearson said as he relaxed on a couch in the Michigan coachig lounge a couple of weeks ago. "We've had a lot of good people here and that's what's been so rewarding. "Without a doubt, the reason why I've been here for so long is because of coach eanon and the Michigan family." A BLAST FROM THE PAST If far some reason you found your- self atthe 1979 Great Lakes Invitation- al, you probably wouldn't have predicted such a long-lasting iove affair between Pearson and Michigan hockey. As a junior forward at Michigan Tech, Pearson scored the triple-overtime goal to beat the Wolverines for the GLI title. OI think I only scored three goals for the entire season," Pearson said with a chuckle. "The lie gets bigger every year, I went around all five guys and scored a beautiful goal." Pearson started his college hockey coaching career in 1982 as an assistant at Michigan Tech, ironically at the same time that Michigan, plagued by scandal and bad recruiting, began to sink into the depths of college hockey gatory. Course pack Q&A Stop by to discuss options and decide if a coursepack is right for your class. IhuR VillEY Michigan hired Berenson a couple of seasons later, 23 years removed from college hockey and unable to tell future NCAA all-time winningest head coach Ron Mason of Michigan State "from a, hole in the wall." It took four full seasons before Berenson brought the program back from the dead, finishing the 1987-88 season with a 22-19-0 record. Berenson had all the attributes of a coaching great - a big name, a lifetime spent in the game and an uncanny busi- ness sense. What he lacked was an exu- berant young coach who could recruit players like the Dickens, then stay on the same coaching page. Berenson found the answer in the next-door-neighbor-friendly Pearson, who joined Michigan before the 1988 season. "Mel paid his dues up in Michigan Tech," Berenson said. "When I ran into him at rinks he was always very friend- ly andhad a smile on his face. I knew he was a good family person. "When I interviewed him, I asked him a couple of tough questions about breaking rules to recruit a kid - he said he couldn't do that and it convinced me that he was everything he appeared to be. I thought it was one of the best things to happen to our program since l'. e been here." Seven Frozen Four appearances later, it's hard to argue with that logic. As Berenson points out, "we haven't had anything close to a losing season since Mel Pearson got here." Perhaps that's the reason why college hockey programs with head coaching vacancies fall all over themselves, like Pavel Bure when a stick touches his legs, in their pursuit of Pearson. THE MOMENT OF TRUTH In 1999, Miami wooed Pearson for its vacant head coaching position. The pieces were all there in hockey-hungry Oxford to build a winner - the Red- Hawks enjoyed success in the early '90s in the CCHA and needed the right coach to rocket the program back to contention. It was a legitimate offer to establish his own legacy of greatness and for the father of three, a potential life-changing decision if he had decided to uproot his family from Ann Arbor. Moments like these define the lives of coaches in any sport. Contrary to his style, Pearson did not take the decision lightly. "Number one was obviously coach Berenson," Pearson said. "We talked about it a lot and I really turned to him for advice in the situation. The biggest thing I wanted to know was am I still growing as a coach and is it all right if I stay? Sometimes you get to the point where it's time for a person to leave." Pearson sat down with Lloyd Carr, the football team's long time defensive coordinator before taking over as head coach in 1994. True to the camaraderie that always seems to exist among Michigan coaches, Carr spoke honestly about the lure of leaving. Carr asked Pearson why he would leave when the opportunity to coach Michigan would someday present itself. "I found that sort of interesting," Pearson said. Pearson thought of his wife's con- tentment with the Ann Arbor area. He thought of his two daughters and the friends they had made in school. He thought of his son who, much like his childhood self, loved to rink-rat around the arena during games with the team- mates of his youth hockey team. The loyal assistant had found success in both his personal and professional life inside the tradition-laden confines of Yost Arena. A closet-full of Michi- gan gear only proved metaphorically what he knew in his gut. Why throw away clothes that still fit? "I've bounced around a lot in my life, there's more to being a coach than a head coach," Pearson said. "That's not the ultimate objective. If I never become the head coach, so be it. I've done a lot of things and touched a lot of people and I feel good about what I've accomplished here. "There are more important things in life than being a head coach, and my family is one of the most important things." Enrico Blasi ended up taking over the Miami job and earned CCHA coach of the year honors. Pearson was made asso- ciate head coach at Michigan. THE 'GO-BETWEEN' This is not to say that Pearson's coaching schedule got any easier. On this day, Pearson's racoon-eyes reflect months of nights spent number-crunch- ing and driving back late from recruit- ing trips. Add to that the administrative responsibilities of the associate head coach's positiion, and it's hard to under- estimate the demands of the job, though it is a subordinate position. But that's all part of Pearson's con- .tinuing growth in the program. On the ice, Pearson's. persona bobs and weaves -- he is part Ned Flanders, part Bo Schembechlez. Though shared smiles are not an oddity between Pearson and the Wolverino6, he is not opposed to resorting to the spunk of a red head when the team does not perform. During one practice powerplay drill earlier in the season, Pearson became so frustrated with the unit's complacency, he chucked his stick into the empty bleachers of Yst, then kicked the puck into the corner. At the very least, it brought the tear to quick attention. "He's a very intense person, and he carries that oxkr in his coaching," defenseman Mike Komisarek said. "He cares about yo*, but when it comes down to the business, he is all business." It's a fine line.. Pearson admits to the difficulty of relating on a personal level with players, whife trying, as an authori- ty figure, to coax the most out of their abilities. It's anotier challenge of coach- ing, another privilege of staying put. "One of the biggest jobs of an assis- tant is to act as a go-between with coach and the pryers," Pearson said. "They need to feel comfortable telling you about their prablems. "At the same time, you have to get on them and push them --- they don't always like it, but. sometimes they are asking for it. Just like your own chil- dren, they don't necessarily like the dis- cipline, but they ask for it." And the players ionderstand it. Though Pearson can fire light-hearted barbs at them during practice and interviews, the dual persona is a necessity, another dynamic of what armounts to one of the '90s most successful$ coaching staffs. "This program is all about being good people," Cammallri said. "And any- time you have a gkality person (as a coach) you are going to feed off of that." There is no more fitting of a tribute for Pearson, a family man who took the road virtually nobody traveled. "Coming to Michigan is the best move I ever made," Pearson said. "I look forward to anotber 13 years." LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) -- Bob Knight needed just seven days to show he's in charge. Three players were kicked off the Texas Tech basketball team Friday for "some violation of team rules," school president David Schmidly said. A fourth player requested and was granted his release. Tech administrators on Saturday would not discuss the moves, and Knight could not be reached for comment. '"We're not going to say anything but what's been said," athletic director Ger- ald Myers said. "They're not on the team." Freshman reserve Brannon Hayes said he and two other players were dis- missed from the team because of a mis- understanding during a meeting with Knight earlier this week. The others were identified as Jamal Brown, the Red Raiders' starting guard who averaged 10.6 points per game, and Rodney Bass, another freshman reserve. Schmidly said he does not receive reports on problems with basketball players and was unaware of which rules or what kind of violations occurred. Bass told the Lubbock Avalanche- Journal the three had been late to practice. "It was just a misunderstanding in the meeting between the three of us," Hayes told the Associated Press. "All I know is I was just not wanted here next year. Personally, I think the decision was made before I even knew it." Brown, Bass and Hayes will keep their scholarships through next year. The school granted a fourth player, Ronald Hobbs, his release Friday. Hobbs, a backup guard who averaged 5.5 points per game, said his departure was planned weeks before former coach James Dickey was fired March 9 fol- lowing the Red Raiders' 9-19 season. The news caught other players off guard. "I was surprised to hear that," Hobbs said. "I thought I was by myself," Junior center Andy Ellis, who is Brown's roommate, said he didn't know about the dismissals. A number of players said they were having a hard time contacting the point guard Friday night. "Evidently something happened that coach Knight didn't like or didn't want on the team," freshman guard Andre Emmett said, "so coach Knight did what he had to do." AP PHOTO Bobby Knight has made his prescence known early on as coach of Texas Tech. If all four players' scholarships are released, Tech's roster shrinks to four scholarship players entering next sea- son. The school can then sign five scholarship players, which leaves the school down four players from the NCAA-allowed 13. "It's a business," Hayes said. "O'm pretty sure I will find my way. I have a desire to play basketball and that's l I need." Hayes said he is leaving the program more mature because of the lessonshe learned from Dickey. "I'm not talking down on Coach Knight," Hayes said. "I think Coach Knight is a good coach and l'r4 a coachable player." It was former Dickey who recruited the freshman from Port Arthur. And Hayes, 18, who said he will now go el se- where to live out his basketball dreams, would like to play for Dickey again. "He is a man of class. He is a martof honor and he always came straight with me," Hayes said. "I came to Tech a little boy and I'm leaving a man. I learned so much from James Dickey. I feel like I should pay him." "Jamal might be taking it pretty hard," Hayes said. "Me and Rodney are disappointed in things, but we are young, very talented and have a desire to play basketball. I'm sure once this is out, some other schools will start call- ing. I guess I will just have to look (or- ward to playing somewhere else." RHODES, MARSHALL, MITCHELL SCHOLARSHIPS OPPORTUNITIES Students eligible for the Rhodes, Marshall, and George Mitchell Scholarships are invited to 2 informational meetings, sponsored by the Provost's Council on Student Honors. Successful candidates usually have a GPA of 3.7 or better and a distinguished record of participation in activities that demonstrate leadership and commitment. These informational meetings have been scheduled for April 2, from 6 PM to 7:00 PM, Room 1210 Lurie Engineering, North Campus and, April 4, from 6 PM to 7 PM, Kuenzel Room, Michigan Union. Light refreshments will be served at each meeting. Please refer questions to Isabelle Turquat-Mertha, Office of the Provost, phone: 615-1634, fax: 764-4546, email: . I U Summer school has changed a lot since you were a kid. Summer classes at Eastern Michigan University can give you a whole new perspective on the May-to-September educational experience. .