OLVERINE OLYMPIANS
Coming soon to Daily Sports:
profiles of Michigan athletes
and coaches participating in
this summer's Olympic Games.
SPORTS
Wednesday A
June 5, 1996-
Gardner hurdles
to NCAA title
'M' senior surprise winner in 400
0
By Chris Farah
Daily Sports Writer
It was a weekend of both triumph
and disappointment, of surpassing
high expectations and failing to meet
them, for the Michigan men's and
women's track and field teams at the
NCAA Track and Field
Championships in Eugene, Ore. on
May 29-June 1.
Senior Neil Gardner had the most
notable performance of the Michigan
squads, winning his first national
championship in the 400-meter hurdles
with a personal best-time of 49.27.
"I never go into a meet thinking that
I can't win, because what's the point?"
Gardner said, speaking of not being the
race favorite. "If you go in thinking
you're going to be second, second is
probably the best you're going to do -
so I was expecting to win no matter
what the odds were."
Even Gardner, however, was sur-
prised with how well he ran - consid-
ering how little he had been able to
work on his technique due to the resur-
facing of Michigan's outdoor track
this season.
"I didn't expect to run as fast as I
did; it wasn't the smoothest race I had,
and I felt I had a lot of flaws," he said.
"But after the first round I felt confi-
dent that there was no reason I should
lose."
Gardner's teammate, senior Trinity
Townsend, surprised everyone except
himself by placing fourth in the 800-
meter run with a time of 1:46.02.
Townsend entered the race picked to
finish near the bottom of the pack in
11 th place, but proved he has only
begun to reach his potential in an
event he has been competing in for@
just one year.
"I knew I could do it, but that
nobody else knew I could do it'
Townsend said. "I just wanted to run
up to my potential, and I was able to
do that. I'm just getting started in the
half-mile, I'm only scratching the sur-
See NCAA Page 15
Michigan's Neil Gardner throws his hands in the air after winning the 400-meter hurdles race at the NCAA Track and Field
Championships on Friday. Along with Gardner, Trinity Townsend finished fourth in the 800-meter run and Stan lohanning
placed 14th in the Javelin. For the Michigan women's track and field team, Courtney Babcock finished third in the 3,000-
meter run, and Monika Black in the high jump competition and Tania Longe got ninth place in the heptathlon.
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Roberts had to go; Blue needs new direction.
By Jim Rose
Daily Sports Writer
The biggest surprise about the depar-
ture of Trish Roberts as the Michigan
women's basketball coach was that it
didn't come sooner.
After four unproductive years, the
Trish Roberts Era officially came to an
end May 23, when Athletic Director Joe
Roberson announced a resignation
which was termed a "mutual agree-
ment." At the very least, Roberson
sounded relieved to be moving on, say-
ing that the interests of not only
Roberts, but also the basketball pro-
gram, "are best served by this course of
action."
In four seasons, Roberts guided the
Wolverines to five
victories and 63
lossesin the Big
Ten. The fact that
the coach lasted
four years mystified
many.
It wasn't as if
Roberts was a play-
er favorite, or the
University kept her
around because she was well-liked.
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On the contrary, Roberts was at the
center of controversy throughout her
term.
In 1992, four players were actually
part of a petition to have her fired. She
was placed on probation in 1994 to
monitor her treatment of players and
her attitude toward academics.
She, along with the University, has
been sued by Tannisha Stevens, a for-
mer player who claims Roberts forced
her to quit the team because of an eye
injury incurred on a team bus ride.
So it's not as if Roberts was popular
while controversial; it's not even as if
she was winning while controversial.
In fact, Roberts was losing while con-
troversial - which did nothing to help
the basketball program.
What went wrong
Why was the Trish Roberts Era such
a miserable failure?
Here was a coach who compiled an
82-32 record in four seasons at Maine.
She was an All-American while play-
ing for Tennessee in 1977, and she was
captain of the 1978 U.S. National
Team. Clearly, Roberts knows basket-
ball.
So why didn't anything go right in
Ann Arbor?
Some might say injuries were the
main problem. Four key Michigan
players suffered season-ending knee
injuries while Roberts was in charge.
But lawsuits, petitions and probation-
ary measures suggest that the women's
basketball program was on its own set
of shaky knees.
In fairness, the rash of injuries clear-
ly hurt the Wolverines over the years.
And there were probably players who*
enjoyed playing for Trish Roberts.
But for every player who found the
problems great enough to speak out -
even sign a petition or file a lawsuit -
you can't help but wonder, how many
players felt the same, but bit their lips
and said nothing?
I do not propose to have the expla-
nations for the problems of the Trish
Roberts Era, and maybe no one ever
will.
But I do know this: when players -*
several players at a time - look like
they'd rather be home studying than
out on the basketball court, something
is not right.
Something is not right when players
are arguing on the floor, when the
coach is throwing up her hands in exas-
peration on the bench - and the team
isn't getting any better.
Something is not right when the
enthusiasm level is even lower than the*
team's last-place position in the confer-
ence.
To be sure, a losing season takes its
toll. Four straight losing seasons, like
See ROBERTS, Page 14'