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 1 /YA.rn I