4 Tuesday November 5, 2002 michigandaily.com sportsdesk@umich.edu SRe Tid Sgrn B& tUy 8 I Academics sideline Gajic indefinitely STEVE JACKSON By Courtney Lewis Daily Sports Writer Just when it looked like Milan Gajic had turned his season around, he took a sharp turn in the other direction. Michigan coach Red Berenson announced yesterday that he has sus- pended Gajic indefinitely for academic reasons. Berenson said the decision is partly a preventive measure. "He would end up being ineligible if he keeps going in this direction, so I'm giving him a chance to get back on track," Berenson said. "And if he does, he does and if he doesn't, I'm not going to babysit him any longer. " Gajic, who notched 22 points last season, struggled to find his scoring touch early this season, but seemed to regain his confidence last weekend. He scored two goals against the U.S. National Team Development Program Under-18 Team in an exhibition Friday night - his best performance of the year. Officially, he has registered just one point, an assist against North Dakota. But Gajic had apparently been struggling off the ice as well. Berenson said Gajic's trouble in the classroom had been going on for a while, and he felt it was time to take action. "We've had meetings and we've had concerns, and I finally got some feedback from his teachers in terms of attendance, and handed-in assignments and participation and approximate grades, and it's not Inspir ed By Joe Smith Daily Sports Editor good," Berenson said, adding that he will meet with Gajic weekly to fol- low his progress. When his coach informed him of the suspension, Gajic displayed a commitment to improve his academ- ic situation. "He said 'I'll get the work done,"' Berenson said. "So he knows what he should have been doing, and he hasn't done it, or he hasn't done it to anyone's satisfaction." The news of the suspension is par- ticularly harsh for a team that has suf- fered one loss after another this season. Neither sophomore forward Jason Ryznar (separated shoulder) nor junior defenseman Andy Burnes (mono) have returned to practice, and Ryznar's shoulder injury is his second of the season. Alternate captain John Shouneyia, who has yet to play an official game because of a fractured wrist, has skat- ed in practice for almost two weeks, and Michigan hopes to have him in the lineup this weekend against Bowl- ing Green. The Wolverines learned of Gajic's suspension before practice yesterday. 1 "It's definitely a blow to our team and it sucks not to have one of our buddies in the lockerroom everyday, but we're going to try to do whatever we can to get him back on the team and get his grades up," captain Jed Ortmeyer said, adding that the Wolverines will "keep his spirits high, and try and keep him positive 4 Williamss'firing a sad but necessary decision JASON COOPER/Daiy Sophomore forward Milan Gajic was suspended yesterday by coach Red Berenson for academic reasons. and keep him working at it." Berenson tried to be positive, saying that the suspension could be looked upon as an opportunity, but he also expressed his disappointment. "It really bothers me to see a kid not take advantage of the academic opportunity, even though he might think he's going to be a hockey play- er," Berenson said. "You never know about hockey." The coach said he relayed that mes- sage to the Gajic, telling him, "Hey, your options are pretty slim here. If you don't get your act together in school, you won't have the opportunity to play for Michigan or go to school at Michigan. And then you end up going home and trying to get a job and trying to get your life together. "In other words, this is important. This is a big turning point in your life." brother, LeSueur redefining image esterday's Michigan Daily proclaimed that Bobby Williams' days as a head coach were numbered. As it turns out, that number was one. One day was all that Michigan State could live with a coach that had no control of his program - on. or off the field. One day was all the time Athletic Director Ron Mason needed to real- ize that a change in leadership was the only way to stop the bleeding in East Lansing and restore credibility to Michigan State football. One day was more than enough. Fir- ing Bobby Williams was the right thing to do and yesterday was the time to do it. But when Michigan State named offensive coordinator Morris Watts as interim head coach, the number of black head coaches in Division I-A college football dropped to three. That's sad news for all college foot- ball fans, regardless of color. Bobby Williams was by no means the worst coach in the game, and he should get another chance. Much of what hap- pened at Michigan State was beyond his control. But the fact remains that he lost two captains to off-the-field shenanigans in two weeks and his team under per- formed all season before finally quit- ting in its biggest game of the year. Those problems have undermined his respect inside and outside of the pro- gram and effectively prevented him WILILIAMS Continued from Page 1 incessantly at home games and called for his firing. But not everyone at Michigan State University agreed with the decision. Joel Ferguson, vice chairperson of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees, said Williams' firing is unfair and starts a disturbing trend. "Since I have been an adult, Michi- gan State has also had a reputation for fairness to minorities," Ferguson said. "What is now incredibly disappointing to me is that MSU, under the cover of night, has decided to ignore the facts, ignore the precedent and damage its reputation of fairness and commitment to diversity." But Mason did consider some facts: Michigan State announced Sunday that suspended quarterback Jeff Smoker was seeking help for a substance abuse problem. That same day Michigan State also announced that another co-captain, from doing his job well. Even if he had won Big Ten titles in each of his previous seasons, these scandals and poor results have sabotaged his career at Michigan State beyond repair. Saturday, after his team suffered its worst defeat in 55 years - a 49-3 loss to Michigan at the Big House - Williams was asked if he had lost his team; he said: "I don't know" Yesterday Mason responded, "To me, that was the most defining moment." The next defining moment in East Lansing won't come anytime soon. Watts admitted yesterday that he doesn't expect to be the head coach next year, and Mason gave no timetable for when a full-time replacement will be named. As Mason and his advisors search for a replacement, they should take great care to evaluate every perspective head coach regardless of race, and find the best man for the job. It is a terrible shame that some people will use Williams' lack of success at Michigan State as ammu- nition against other qualified black candidates, but that is outside of the Spartans' control. This was an unfor- tunate yet necessary action that Mason needed to take for the better- ment of his program. Steve Jackson can be reached ai sjyackso@umich.edu. starting tailback Dawan Moss, was dis- missed from the team after being arrest- ed and charged with drunken driving, having an open alcohol container in his car and fleeing and eluding a police officer. Defensive end Greg Taplin was also suspended Thursday, and two other red- shirt sophomores, Jason Bradley and James Cooper, voluntarily quit the team last Monday. Williams, who was one of just four African American head coaches among the 117 Division I-A schools in college football, led a Michigan State team that was ranked No. 18 at the beginning of the year to a 3-6 record this season, including a 1-4 start in the Big Ten. His Spartans lost four straight games by more than 20 points and dropped six of their past seven games overall since starting the season 2-0. Since taking over for Nick Saban in December of 1999, Williams has gone 16-17 overall, 6-15 in the Big Ten and 1-9 in Big Ten road games. 4 Michigan cornerback Jeremy LeSueur needs only to glance at the tattoo on his right biceps to put his per- sonal errs of the past in perspective. Inscribed in LeSueur's flesh, and ultimately forever ingrained in his mind, is an image of the face of his younger brother, Jeremane. Surrounding the image are the words, "His Pain is My" Pain" and numbers "4:13" - which signify a Biblical verse in 9 - Phillipians which reads: "I can do all the things through Christ which strengthens me." Jeremane, 15, who is mentally retarded and has suffered from LeSueur chronic epileptic seizures since he was an infant, has- n't always had the strength to walk. He doesn't have the mental strength to fully under- stand that Jeremy is living his football dreams, playing in front of 110,000 fans each week. He probably couldn't comprehend the "living hell" Jeremy was going through last year after a costly penalty and embarrassing off-the-field arrest for soliciting prostitution brought him into the cen- ter of public ridicule. But Jeremane unknowingly gives his older brother the strength to admit and learn from his mistakes. He helps give Jeremy the proper focus to move on. "You never want to take anything for granted," Jere- my said. "Because you never know what can happen or when it can happen. You just have to live for the moment right now." Right now, Jeremy is living for the moment. After finding himself fighting for the trust of his coaches and his starting cornerback position in spring practice, he's now playing a critical role in Michigan's second- ary. He said his confidence is finally at the level it was when he was a highly touted recruit out of Mississippi nearly four years ago. "I'm a totally different person than I was a year ago," Jeremy said. "I'm more mature, and I've learned from a lot of stuff." LeSueur learned the hard way that the media and fans aren't always forgiving. On a crucial 4th-and-16 play in last year's heartbreaking, last-second loss to Michigan State, LeSueur's admittedly "dumb" person- al foul face-mask penalty gave the Spartans new life on their game-winning drive. "I wish I could go back and change that play," LeSueur said. "Until I saw it on (television) I didn't know how bad it was to be honest. I was shocked and felt horribly bad for my teammates." Detroit Free Press columnist Drew Sharp, unaware of LeSueur's brother's condition, made matters worse by calling the play a "brainfreeze" in his column the next day. Michigan coach Lloyd Carr called Sharp's words a "vicious, mean-spirited attack." "Mr. Sharp should know that Jeremy has a 13-year- old brother who was born with a severe brain injury," Carr said at that time. "And he should know his inex- cusable use of 'brain freeze' has resulted in ridicule and made Jeremy's life this past week a living hell." Fans and media didn't realize that Jeremy and his mother, Annetta - a school teacher - often alternated missing several school days to take care of Jeremane. "We'd have to take him to the hospital up to 15 times per night because he'd have seizure after seizure," LeSueur said. "He had two or three surgeries, either over his heart or on his brain. We were hoping he'd grow out of it, but we just thank God he's able to walk and get around and do stuff- that's important." Learning to focus has always been of great impor- tance to LeSueur - both on and off the field - and the junior found a unique superstition over the sum- mer that has helped him. He said he wrote the word "focus" on a slip of paper and places it in his helmet every time he plays - and will keep it there until he leaves Michigan. But isn't the thin piece of paper disintegrating from all the sweat, mud and blood from this season? "It's hanging in there," LeSueur said with a grin. And so is Jeremy. Spikers try for first win i By Nazeema Alli "This is a big challenge and we are Daily Sports Writer excited." After upsetting No. 25 Michigan State and No. 11 Penn State last week, the Michigan volleyball team climbed up the Big Ten standings into a tie for second place. With this weekend's matchups against Ohio State and Indi- ana, the Wolverines hope that this momentum will not subside. "Ohio State is always a big match for us," Michigan coach Mark Rosen said. The Wolverines swept the Buckeyes 3-0 on Oct. 5 at home, where Michigan owns a perfect 9-0 record this season. But at 2-7 away from home, the road has not been as kind, and the pressure increases considering the Wolverines have never won in Columbus. "Michigan has never won there, but this year I think we match up really well," Rosen said. "They have great players. Stacie Gordon, who was the i Columbus National Freshman of the Year, last year, is probably the best player in the conference. "They also have three good and very experienced seniors. Suzie Stil- ing, Shelly Draeger and Katie Virtue have all been starting since they were freshman." Despite this intimidating lineup, Rosen believes Michigan's balanced attack gives it a good chance to over- take the Buckeyes in their own gym. "They have weaknesses we can exploit," Rosen said. "We have to play well, stick to our game and not adjust to theirs. This year our team has had a good balance and we haven't had to rely on an individual player." Yet, the Wolverines are sure to derive COLUMBUS AND BLOOMINGTON Who: Michigan (8-4 Big Ten, 14-8 overall) vs. Ohio State (5-7, 11-10), Indiana (6-6,16-8) When: 7 p.m. Friday, 7 p.m. Saturday Latest: Jennifer Gandolph was named Big Ten play- er of the week this week, just the second player to win the award for Michigan since 2000. emotional leadership from senior Katri- na Lehman, Michigan's record holder in career blocks and block assists. "It's Katrina's last chance to play there," Rosen said. "I'm sure that she'll be hungry to come away with a win." And just in case the Wolverines were in search of more leadership, it would be hard to ignore the presence of mid- dle blocker Erin Moore, who was last week's Big Ten Player of the Week, as well as outside hitter Jennifer Gan- dolph, who currently holds that title. Cameron's departure opens door for others By Kevin Maratea the guys out wide." Daily Sports Writer Dishing out a Big Ten leading 11 Tied for second place in the Big Ten and riding an impressive four-game win- ning streak, the Michigan men's soccer team is about to suffer a personnel loss. Play-making sophomore midfielder Knox Cameron left Ann Arbor yesterday for Charleston, S.C., to join the United States Under-20 men's national team for the rest of Michigan's regular season, including the Big Ten Tournament. "Without Knox will we lose some creativity," Michigan coach Steve Burns said of his second-leading point scorer. Cameron finished his DE regular season with 23 points - including 10 Who:Michi goals and three assists - 7 6-1 overall two points behind sopho- 4-1 Horizon, more Mychal Turpin. But W he the adjustments that the anoffensive team will have to make Camara and won't necessarily be unfa- that have c vorable. goals and 1 "Knox gives us a lot offensively, but (is weaker) in terms of defense," Burns said, "Without him, we will be much stronger and tighter (in the midfield) defensively." Burns will have two choices today, in terms of filling Cameron's spot, when the Wolverines (3-3 Big Ten, 8-6-1 assists this season, Bruh has.been sensa- tional, and will be called upon more in Cameron's absence. "More pressure will be put on Bruh to maintain our rhythm on the field," Burns said. His second option is to play offen- sively and be aggressive. Junior forward Mike White, who's had a breakout sea- son (third in points with 20), would move to center mid, alongside Bruh, and either Juergen Schmieder or Karl Lopata would be inserted at the forward TROIT gan (2-3 Big Ten, )vs. Detroit (2- 11-5-2) M. Titans feature duo of Ablaye d George Kithas ombined for 23 8 assists. position. Despite seeing limit- ed minutes in nine matches this season - starting just three - Schmieder is fourth on the team in points (12), but has not scored a goal since playing Evansville on Sep. 27th. "I have waited a while for this and am anxious to score," Schmieder said of the possibility of playing considerable minutes or even starting versus Detriot. With six goals on the season, one could assume Schmieder will add to his points total if given the chance. At 11-5-2, Detriot is a team looking to further improve its resume for the E 40F imp .'< L mcForrdn 4:fltO -M i A