y... . -.. _.__ - u
Parkhill quits as Penn State coach
Penn State men's basketball coach Bruce Parkhill resigned
unexpectedly yesterday. Assistant coach Jerry Dunn has been named as
his replacement. Parkhill, 46, coached the Nittany Lions to a 181-169
record in 12 years. Dunn was an assistant for those 12 seasons.
Parkhill guided Penn State to the NCAA Tournament in 1991 - the
school's first trip since 1965.
Page 13
Thursday,
September 7, 1995
Zahnto
cad 'M'
y Barry Sollenborger
aily Sports Editor
As expected, Athletic Director Joe
oberson replaced one Michigan man
ith another as head baseball coach
sterday.
Former Wolverine pitcher Geoff
ahn takes over for former Michigan
tcher Bill Freehan, who resigned
ly 19 after six years as the Wolver-
es' coach.
Zahn, 48, was the pitching coach
rthe West Coast Conference cham-
on Pepperdine Waves last season.
is staff led the league with a 2.64
RA and ranked 17th in the nation
'th a 3.33 team ERA.
"Being named the head coach at
ichigan is special to me," Zahn said.
t was the one head coaching job I
as interested in. It gives me an op-
ortunity to give something back to
e school on the field."
The Wolverines are hoping that
ahn has a more successful run at
ichigan than his predeeessor did.
reehan is the only Wolverine coach
ce the baseball program began in
866 to leave the school with a losing
cord.
In six years, he posted an overall
ark of 166-167-1. Michigan went
-30 last season and finished in the
ig Ten Conference cellar.
"I think it's a good (selection) be-
use it will bring a lot of needed
ange," junior third baseman Kelly
ransfeldt said. "I really can't say
ough about (Freehan) but we just
ed a little fire under the hood."
Zahn is scheduled to have his first
icial meeting with the team tomor-
w afternoon.
Despite the coaching change, Art
ce"Adams will remain a Michigan
sistant through the season. The sta-
s of assistant Steve Merriman is
own.
"We are fortunate to have a Michi-
n graduate such as Geoff available
fill the baseball coaching position,"
oberson said. "He has an excellent
ckground and is a fine addition to
coaching staff."
Zahn was 12-2 in two seasons
966-67) as a Wolverine under head
ach Moby Benedict. In 1967, he
as 9-1 with a 1.19 ERA and was
ichigan's co-MVP.
In January 1968, the Los Angeles
odgers drafted Zahn in the second-
draft. He went on to play 12 sea-
ns with theDodgers, Chicago Cubs,
innesota Twins and California An-
Is before retiring in 1985 with a
eer record of 111-109 and a 3.74
RA.
His honors include the American
eague Pitcher of the Month (April,
82) and a selection to The Sporting
ews All-Star team in 1982.
Scherer leads Memphis to town
New coach brings Tigers into Saturday's game at Michigan
JOE WESTRATE/Daily
The men's cross country team held an open meet yesterday at the Michigan golf
course. The Wolverines are preparing for a Sept. 16 meet at Boston College.
Harrers dodge golfers,
fturf nseason opener
By Dorothy Chambers meet on Sept. 16.
Daily Sports Writer One problem the Wolverines will
The Michigan men's cross country have to face early in the season is the
team did more than just run yester- absence of Scott MacDonald. He de-
day- they dodged golf balls while veloped a stress fracture in his femur
they were at it. and will be out of action for three
The Wolverines hosted the weeks.
Michigan Open at the Michigangolf A decision will be made halfway
course in what was essentially a through the season whether or not to
time trial for coach Ron Warhurst redshirt him.
and his runners. The team was Considering the humid conditions
joined by a number of unattached and a course that was slowed by heavy
athletes, allowing it to be labeled turf, Warhurst said that he was happy
as an official meet. with the times turned in by his run-
Especially impressive was the per- ners, and is looking forward to the
formance of freshman John Mortimer, upcoming season.
who completed the course with a top "Last year we were seventh in
time of 20:33. the NCAA and finished second
"He ran 10 seconds faster thanthe to Wisconsin in the Big Ten,"
winner did last year - Ian Forsyth, Warhurst said. "Our goal this
who was my team captainlast year," year is to beat Wisconsin and
Warhurst said. "'Pretty much down finish in the top five in the na-
the line everybody that ran last year tionals, and I think we have the
ran this year about 30 seconds team to do that."
faster."
Warhurst was also pleased with the Want to write for
running of freshman Todd Snyder,
who finished with the second fastest
time of 20:55. Sophomore Don 0 t
McLaughlin also turned in a time of
20:55.
Rounding out the top eight were
junior Dave Barnett (21:05), junior
Chris Eggle (21:16), senior Theo Come to one of the
Molla (21:30), sophomore Nicholas
Watson (21:33), and junior Mike Daily's"ssmeetings:
Mahler (21:40). Monday, Sept. 11, 7 p.m.
Kevin Sullivan, coming off a fifth Wednesday, Sept. 13, 7 p.m.
place finish in the World Champion- Tuesday, Sept. 19, 7 p.m.
ships three weeks ago, was given the Thursday, Sept. 21, 7 p.m.
day off by Warhurst.
Sullivan will rejoin the team when Student Publications Building
they fly out to Boston College for a 420 Maynard St.
By Brian Douglas
The Memphis Daily Helmsman
When Memphis finished with a
third consecutive 6-5 record last sea-
son under former head coach Chuck
Stobart, most people considered it a
fair season.
The Tigers, after all, had accom-
plished something most teams strive
for - a winning record. But the only
problem was, it didn't get Memphis
anywhere in the eyes of the Liberty
Bowl Selection Committee. They took
foe East Carolina over the Tigers af-
ter the Pirates blistered the Memphis
30-6 to end the season. The Tigers
went home for Christmas.
President Lane Rawlins had to make
a decision about the future of Mem-
phis' football team, and his decision
was to go in a different direction.
"We just were not making any im-
provement," Rawlins said, and Stobart
was fired.
In a search for a replacement, one
coach was able to catch the eye of
Rawlins and former Memphis ath-
letic director Charles Cavagnero. That
man was James Madison coach Wil-
liam "Rip" Scherer.
The selection of Scherer as the new
coach for the Tigers was a shock to
many, who found it hard to swallow
that the William and Mary graduate
had only been a head coach for 48
games.
But Scherer was not the least sur-
prised. He was able to take a James
Madison team from mediocrity (15-
16 in three seasons before Scherer's
arrival) to their best record in years in
1991.
His Dukes were nationally ranked
for nine weeks and traveled to the
Division I-AA Playoffs for the first
time ever. Meanwhile, his creative
offenses rewrote many school records.
Now Scherer is charged with re-
vamping a Memphis offense that
ranked 105 out of 106 Division I-A
schools last season while trying to
keep a defense ranked third nation-
ally on an even keel.
"We have a long season to go, and
I think anything can happen," Scherer
said. "Our team has gone through a
lot of changes, and it will be impor-
tant to try and stick together as a
family."
Scherer's family attitude is the fo-
cal point of much of his coaching
attitude, along with stressing the ba-
sics of mental preparedness.
"When I got here, I found that the
players were ready physically for the
most part," Scherer said. "They just
did not have the mindset they needed
to play football and win. We have
worked on that a lot."
The work was too much for some,
and 14 players quit the team before
the season began. In all, the Tigers
sport just 71 scholarship athletes on
the 1995 squad, and only 10 offensive
linemen.
"I have not seen many teams make
it through a whole season with just 10
linemen," Scherer said.
So instead, the Tigers will rely on
speed and defensive strength while
the offense catches up with the coach-
ing expectations.
"We have not changed the defense
at all," Scherer said. "We still rely on
their attacking blitzes to get a lot of
takeaways for us. But the offense is
really going to have to work hard to
improve if we want to be winners
with the tough schedule we have."
First-year
Memphis coach
Rip Scherer
brings the Tigers
to face the
' Wolverines
Saturday. It will
v be the first
Sd 'meeting between
tetwo schools.
Scherer, who
;:>n""previously was
the head coach
at James
Madison, has a
11-5 against
nationally-ranked
teams. Memphis
r lost its opener to
Mississippi
State, 28-18.
MEMPHIS SPORTS INFORMATION
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