Speaking Of Stunners

A guy learns something new every day. I mean, I didn't know being the athletic director at Northern Iowa was a good job. Rick Hartzell, who likes to wear striped shirts, never acted like it was. It's a shocker to me that 41-year-old Troy Dannen, executive director of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union since 2002, is interested in being the Panthers' next AD. The university lists him as one of five finalists for the job. And here I thought Dannen already had one of the biggest sports jobs in the state of Iowa. To be in charge of an office that oversees all girls' high school sports in this state sounds like a pretty big responsibility to me. Obviously, UNI's search committee didn't put Dannen among its list of finalists just because it liked the sound of his name. Dannen had to show interest in the job, and had to send the committee his credentials. Dannen must know some things about the UNI job that I didn't. Frankly, I've never regarded the UNI athletic director job as a very good one. To me, UNI has always seemed like a place with a chip on its shoulder. The Panthers play their games in the shadow of the University of Iowa, and they're always fighting for respect and for fans. A big decision was whether to play Drake or South Dakota State in football. UNI schedules its home football games at 4 p.m. or later on Saturdays so they won't conflict with Iowa's. Fans in Cedar Falls/Waterloo are Iowa fans first, UNI fans second. Maybe. Iowa State might figure in there a little, too. I've always ranked the UNI job behind the AD jobs at Iowa, Iowa State and maybe even Drake. I always thought the guy who had the UNI job would be looking to move to a place like Bowling Green or Tennessee Tech in two years. Or, as in the case of Rick Hartzell, look for more basketball games to officiate. Rick Hartzell, the athletic director didn't like who his immediate superior was. Rick Hartzell was the clown who quit at mid-year because he wanted to report to the school president, but he got his marching orders from a vice-president instead. If you ask me, Hartzell should have been glad he even had a job at UNI. He spent most of the winter officiating major-college basketball games around the country. Even on nights when UNI had games in Cedar Falls, Hartzell was wearing his striped shirt at Purdue or Northwestern. I'd still like someone to explain that to me. I assume Dannen doesn't plan to moonlight as a basketball referee, but these days you never know. For all I know, maybe UNI considers it a plus when a candidate for the AD job can ref Big Ten games so he can supplement his income. Since nobody else seems to have any questions about all of this, I do: Is Dannen unhappy at the Girls Union? Is the UNI search a lock for Dannen, a UNI graduate? I mean, is he the guy the Panthers are choosing, and are the other four finalists just window dressing? What credibility will Dannen have among school administrators if he doesn't get the UNI job? How's this going to play in Ar-We-Va and Iowa Valley? Are they going to wonder if he's applying for athletic director jobs around the nation every time he sees an ad in the classifieds? And if Dannen should realize he's not getting the UNI job, will he suddenly come out from under the table, make himself available to reporters and say, "I appreciate UNI's interest in me. I am honored by my alma mater. But I am taking my name out of consideration for the job so I can concentrate on my duties with the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union." What does Wayne Cooley think about all this crap?....Don't give me that stuff about a team being entitled to a bad century. I'm already uneasy about the Chicago Cubs. After watching the Chicagos get hammered by Milwaukee, 10-7, last night on the tube, I already feel they're the third-best team in the National League Central behind the Brewers and St. Louis. Neither their pitching nor their hitting can match Milwaukee's. St. Louis is winning because of Tony LaRussa. I don't like the guy and I don't like his sunglasses [especially in the dugout during night games], but he has a way of getting his players to perform better than the other team's players. For him to be winning with that bunch of stumblebums he's got in St. Louis this season already makes him my manager of the year. The Chicagos' best story is Kosuke Fukudome, their first-year player from Japan. He's on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week, which immeidately means he'll go into an 0-for-33 tailspin at the plate. Fukudome brings something to the table that is foreign to players from this country [especially those who play for the Chicagos] -- patience at the plate, the ability to hit the ball to all fields, the ability to run and the ability to catch -- all in the same game. Sports Illustrated points out that the Cubs really didn't tell him they hadn't won a World Series in 100 years when they signed him: "Four months later, sitting in the coffee shop of a downtown Chicago hotel, Fukudome came clean. 'I had no idea it had been 100 years,' he said through his interpreter, Matt Hidaka. "The fact that Fukudome stuck around is making this 100th-anniversary season a whole lot easier to stomach. Instead of picking at old scabs, the Cubs are celebrating a new player who does not know Bartman from Bart Simpson. Fukudome has been a Cub for only a month, but he already gets the loudest pregame ovations at Wrigley Field. Every time he walks to home plate, the organist plays a catchy melody that inspires chants of 'FOO-koo-DOUGH-may.' Vendors say his jersey is their best seller, by approximately two to one. He has also spawned a cottage industry outside the ballpark, where you can buy bandanas with Fukudome's name spelled in Japanese characters or T-shirts with shout-outs such as FUKUDOME IS MY HOMIE. [The Cubs, though, did have to pull one unlicensed T-shirt from the outdoor marketplace because it featured their bear logo with slanted eyes and Harry Caray glasses, over the words HORRY KOW.]" All I know is, the Cubs better get five or six more guys from Japan before the Fourth of July or they'll be out of the race....It was good to see that the paper finally announced Nancy Stockdale as its Olympics reporter. Evidently Bryce Miller's duties in Beijing with Gannett News Service haven't yet been spelled out. It could be that Gannett is uncertain whether "Bulldog Buzz" will play in Tuscaloosa. "Don't forget 'Postcards from Beijing,'" a guy from my lunch group said to me. I've been trying to.

'Bob Huggins Never Was Offered, Nor Would He Ever Have Accepted, the Coaching Job At Drake'

A man who identifies himself as "Setting The Record Straight At Drake" wrote an e-mail to me that's headlined "Your Country Needs You."

Well, I'll do what I can for my country, and I'll also try to put some sense into what's going on with Drake's basketball program.

Here's the e-mail from "Setting The Record Straight at Drake:"

Ron:

"We need you to chime in on something -- the never-ending 'Drake turned down Bob Huggins in 1986' story.

"I have talked to a few people at Drake, and others around town. Here is what a man I regard as a good source says about the Huggins line. And I've had this confirmed by a couple of Drakies. Huggins never was offered, nor would he ever have accepted, the job at Drake. The three finalists at that time included Tim Floyd, who then was coaching at Idaho and later was at Iowa State [and after that the Chicago Bulls and now Southern California]. I don't remember the other finalist.

"After Gary Garner, Drake wanted a coach with an outgoing personality, Division I head coaching experience, and someone who had been a top assistant at a major program. That fit Floyd and Tom Abatemarco, but not Huggins. Athletic director Curt Blake brought Abatemarco in for an interview and it was over. Tom sold himself on the job.

"A group of Drakies, not connected with the athletic department, went to Ohio to see Huggins. They came away saying Huggins [a former Cincinnati coach] wouldn't leave Ohio. His dad was a high school coaching legend there. And except for one year at K-State, the present coach at West Virginia really hasn't left that 'comfort zone.' Makes sense to me.

"I just want you to help clear this up. I think Des Moines Register sports columnist Sean Keeler is a hack. I thought that idea of printing news based on what Jess Settles says, in Keeler's Sunday column, was one of the top 10 worst decisions made in sports media.

"Tell me what Jess Settles knows about what makes a good coach. Because he played major Division I basketball? Geez, if that's the qualification, we just legitimized about a million people in this country. Because Jess Settles coaches somewhere? Because he's hired coaches?

"Absolutely idiotic of the Register."

Setting The Record Straight At Drake

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Rumors, rumors. And more rumors. What would sports be without rumors? Not as interesting, I'll tell you that. Over the years, I've heard those same worn-out rumors that guys like Bob Huggins, Eddie Sutton and Denny Crum were bypassed for the Drake basketball coaching job, and that small-thinking athletic directors chose Howard Stacey and Tom Abatemarco instead. Don't forget, for every Stacey and every Abatemarco [pictured at the left], there's an athletic director who doesn't have any balls or backbone. And just because a coach asks about a certain job doesn't mean he'd take it. There are only so many "Johnny Orr-jumps-at-the-Iowa State job" stories around. It was Orr who was contacted when the Cyclones were looking for a new coach. The thought was that Iowa State wanted Bill Frieder, Orr's top assistant at Michigan, but when ol' Johnny found out how much the school in Ames was paying he took the job instead. I, too, doubt that Bob Huggins would have taken the Drake job. And even if he'd come to Des Moines, he wouldn't have stayed long. How long did he last at Kansas State? One season. And I don't think Crum or Sutton would've come to Drake either. I'm also pretty sure John Wooden wasn't offered a chance to coach the Bulldogs. By the way, Huggins is pictured in at the right side of this column. In the event you're wondering, I'm pretty sure that's the present West Virginia coach at the left in the photo alongside the Mountaineers' mascot].

*

Marv and Ruth Hiddleson, my neighbors from West Des Moines, write:

"Ron:

"We talked to our daughter Le Ann this evening and she now lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. She has been in Florida since December, even though her husband and daughters continue to live in Northfield, Minn. [Both daughters, junior and freshmen, are on Northfield High School's golf team, and aredoing well.] Le Ann accepted a position with the PGA Headquarters and is National Promotions Specialist. As such, she writes for Golf Digest, and organizes and helps at various PGA Exhibition Clinics, the most recent being in Washington, D. C. the weekend of the Masters.

"Oh, yes, the Tuesday and Wednesday of the Masters, she was in Augusta enjoying the experience of her lifetime. Several weeks earlier, a PGA tournament was in Palm Beach Gardens, and she was assigned to the eighth hole, relaying a device back to the TV cameramen indicating the distance the ball on the green was from the hole. As Zach Johnson left the eighth green on Saturday, she mentioned to Zach, 'Go, Hawks!' and he turned to her and smiled.

"She will be going to Minneapolis this weekend for a PGA event, then later to New York State and Michigan, plus the Ryder Cup in Kentucky this fall.

"The purpose of us writing is Le Ann will contact you, suggesting you do a story on Bill Coldiron’s lifetime coaching at Valley High School, and how numerous of his golf students have gone on to high-powered golf jobs in the U. S. Le Ann has started a list of his students. The two Egley boys, Lori Gaffney here in Johnston at the dome, Le Ann and several others.

"Thought this might be a new twist for you to write."

Marv and Ruth

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: I'm glad Le Ann is doing well, and I'm betting the temperatures where she's living now are considerably better than those we've been having around here the past few months. By the way, Marv and Ruth, why did Zach Johnson take notice of the "Go, Hawks!" mention? Johnson is a Drake graduate].

'I Wrote This Book From My Heart!' Felecia Carey Tells Me

Tony Lopez was on the phone, calling from New York City. He wanted to talk about Felecia Carey's book, "My Jim -- Five Decades Of Coaching." Felecia had sent it to me during the winter, and I was in the process of reading it. "I'm on page 48," Lopez said of the part that referred to Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls. "I'm right there where Mrs. Carey says, 'I always would wonder who Jim's favorite player was over all the years,' Lopez said. "He always said, 'I loved them all,' but you can't tell me that he didn't forever have a special place in his heart for Tony Lopez of the 1968-69, 1969-70 teams. Jim always called him 'Spanish Tony' and as the years went by we would never lose touch with Tony." Lopez said he went from Ellsworth to Northern Iowa, and earned a degree in 1973. Lopez told me he's been trying to help Felecia Carey market the book about her husband's basketball coaching career. Carey [pictured at the left] played at Moberly [Mo.] Junior College when Maury John coached there, and later captained the team at Drake, but never was given a chance to coach the Bulldogs. He died Feb. 4, 2006 at 76 after a long battle with congestive heart failure. "I got into contact with Simon & Schuster and Barnes & Noble," Lopez said. "Barnes & Noble told me I would have to write a letter saying why the company should sell the book." Lopez said he was "a New York street kid" when Carey recruited him. "He changed my whole life," Lopez said. "I wasn't a superstar, but he made sure I graduated and that I got a scholarship at another school." When I talked with Felecia Carey during the 2007-2008 basketball season, she told me she "wrote the book from my heart. Jim would be surprised, but he always told me I could do anything I decided to do. He had such faith in me. I miss him more each day...." In the book's introduction, Felecia -- who lives in Garden City, Kan. -- writes, "'My Jim' is the story of a very special man, Jim Carey, my husband of nearly 47 years. He was my best friend, my lover, my soulmate. This is a love story--the love of a man and woman and their love for the game of basketball....I lost Jim at St. Francis Hospital in Wichita. I told the nurse that I couldn't live without Jim. She threw her arms around me and said, 'God is not ready for you yet. He wants you to do something.' I told her I couldn't imagine what I could do, and she assured me it would come, and one day I would know....'" Red Murrell, who became Drake's career scoring leader from 1955-58, and Dan Callahan, an assistant coach on Maury John's 1968-69 Drake Final Four staff, were together on Bulldog teams. "I don't know much about Jim's two years at Drake," Felecia Carey writes. "He always said Drake was so expensive; he could not have gone there without playing basketball and having scholarship, plus working....I know Jim was chosen captain of the Drake team in his senior year. John Benington was the coach, and Jim really liked [Benington]....Jim said he was always proud to be a 'D' man; however, I know he was disappointed that whenever Drake had a coaching vacancy Jim never got an interview. In my opinion, they really didn't want a winner!" Well, ask Callahan, Willie McCarter and [if you could] the late Gus Guydon about that. They were never asked to be Drake's head coach either. After graduating from Drake in 1957, Carey's first coaching job was at Tama High School. He spent 11 seasons at Ellsworth, and his 1971 team won the national junior college championship. From 1972-76, he was an assistant at Arizona State; from 1976-81, he was the head coach at the the University of Nevada-Reno, and he later was the head coach for 11 seasons at Garden City Community College. "My Jim -- Five Decades Of Coaching" is published by Mennonite Press, Inc., of Newton, Kan., and sells for $16.95. It's a very nice book.

Food Is Mentioned, So Alive In Clive Surfaces

The minute I began writing about food, Alive In Clive, not his real name, surfaced after being in hiding under one of the downtown bridges throughout the winter. "Maly, Nice dogs, but I didn't see any chili. You mentioned Omaha and chili dogs. Being my old home town, I know something about this subject. Two places come to mind for great chili dogs, however, they were called footlongs because that's what the were 12-inch hot dogs. I can taste them now. Also, they were within a couple of blocks of each other. One was called 'The Saddle Creek Bar & Grill.' Great footlongs and the place had a drive-through liquor store. I don't know if it is still there. The other was 'The Homey Inn,' and they were also great, and I don't think I could say one was better that the other. I believe it is still there. Sorry to ramble, but Big Al would have rated either as top drawer. Also, Dumping and Krause today, at the Bohemian Cafe was the way the radio commerical used to go.....I remain Alive in Clive, remembering 40 years ago, but not what I ate for breakfast." Alive [pictured at the left] was referring the chili dogs I made for my Friday breakfast. The black beans replaced the chili because they're better for one's cholesterol and overall well-being. Now, pay attention, Alive, because I'm going to write about food again in the next item.

*

I was in scenic Iowa Falls this morning for church. The choir from Central Lutheran School in St. Paul wound up its spring tour that went as far south as St. Louis with a concert today at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Iowa Falls. My granddaughter [pictured at the right] is a soprano in the group. If I say so myself, their singing was sensational. Indeed, it woke anyone up who might've been asleep late on a Sunday morning. Lunch was served afterward at the church, but if that wasn't enough there was another lunch available at Wang's Buffet in Iowa Falls. The $7.99 buffet included everything a person would want, and I tested anything that once lived in the water. I zeroed in particularly on the grilled salmon and garlic shrimp, as you can tell by the photo at the top. I'll tell you what, if I'm ever in the Iowa Falls area again around noon, look for me at Wang's. Alive, you would've loved it.

*

An alert reader forwarded me the lousy review that was in the paper recently of "The Pajama Game" at the Playhouse. The mean-spirited review came up at one of our sportswriters' lunches, and one wise old guy said the reviewer -- whose name he didn't know or didn't care to know -- shouldn't waste his time reviewing locally-produced plays because of the "Joan Bunke Rule." It's a no-win situation. Tue numbnuts who reviewed "The Pajama Game" was Michael Morain, who may have been reassigned to the Fairgrounds auto races after pissing everyone off at the Playhouse. I read through his review in about 10 seconds, and that was enough to know I didn't wnat to spend any more time with it.

*

A guy in the Wednesday lunch group thinks Drake will have a 23-10 record in Mark Phelps' first season as coach. "Well, they might as well not even play the games," I told the guy. "Phelps will take that record right now. That might get him in the Big Dance." Drake was 28-5 this past season under Keno Davis, of course. Me? I expect no better than 17-16 in 2008-2009.

Proof That Bob Modersohn Will Go Anywhere To Get Good Pictures

I'm taking it easy today. Bob Modersohn is doing all the heavy lifting. I'll admit it, I'm pretty much like Jones Ramsey, the Texan who used to say he didn't like track much, and he thought even less of field. Ramsey is in charge of sports information at the big stadium in the sky now, and I doubt he watches much track these days, and probably not much field either. But I've known for a long time that track and field are a big part of the athletic framework one weekend a year in Des Moines. The spectacular event they're holding this weekend at Drake Stadium, and every other weekend at this time in April, called the Drake Relays is...well, pretty darn impressive. I was on hand for my share of track and field during what is simply called "The Relays" in my newspaper days, and that includes a day more than 30 years ago when I had the opportunity to work alongside Bob Modersohn [pictured at the right]. I've written about Modersohn before, and you know by now that I regard him as one of the very best photographers -- sports and otherwise -- ever to work for any newspaper. I was writing in this space the other day about some of the things Modersohn and I covered together, and he reminded me of the Saturday we followed Mac Wilkins and Al Feuerbach around. As I recall, it made a very nice package in the "A" section of the Sunday paper. No track involved in this one. Just field. And I'm 100 percent sure this is the first time I've ever published a photograph of two guys emptying their bladders while standing at separate urinals. I keep track of those kinds of things, you know. "I think it was 1977," Modersohn explained. "I believe it was the year after Wilkins won the Olympic gold medal in the discus. He was competing in a special Drake Relays shot put event -- no special discus event for him -- with his buddy, Al Feuerbach of Preston, Ia., who had thrown the iron ball over 70 feet! But on this day, Mac beat Al. After their event, they sped off to the Des Moines Airport with a police escort to fly back to San Jose, Calif., for another meet. But they first had to change clothes in the airport's men's room." Modersohn took the two outstanding photographs at the top of this column. "The guy drying his hands next to Mac [in the lower photo] asked what team he played for," Modersohn said. 'Mac said, 'Oh, I'm not a football player. I'm a track and field athlete.' Geez, he was an Olympic champion, for Pete's sake!" By the way, Modersohn said neither of his photographs was published by the paper. So Bob has given all of us a scoop today.

Chili Dogs and Thunder At 7 O'Clock In the Morning

Thunder woke me up at 5 o'clock this morning.

I thought I'd go back to sleep, but there was more and more thunder, then rain pounding the roof, then more thunder.

At 6 a.m., I said forget it to no one in particular.

I made the coffee and started thinking about chili dogs.

Yes, chili dogs.

I already had the turkey hot dogs, the mustard and the can of black beans. That stuff came from Hy-Vee a few days ago.

I bought the hot dog buns and the sweet pickle relish last night at Wal-Mart after my grandson's whopping 14th birthday party ended.

All I needed were some sweet yellow onions.

So it was off to my friendly 24-hour Hy-Vee at 6:30 a.m.

I needed a chili dog fix.

"Chili dogs at 7 o'clock in the morning?" my editor asked. "You've been making sense all week. Why the chili dog thing at that hour of the day? Did something in the paper piss you off again?"

"I'm taking all my medication," I said calmly.

"Chili dogs at 7 in the morning are no big deal. No different than people who eat eggs, sausage and toast that's loaded with butter and grape jelly at 7 a.m. Besides, what I'm having is healthier. The turkey hot dogs are virtually fat-free, and the beans and the onions are vegetables, aren't they?

"My doctors will be proud of me."

Now that I had everything I needed, I drove back home in the rain.

The thunder now was minimal.

I'm not exactly Emeril from the Food Network, but I can handle making a chili dog or two.

So I went to work with the microwave and the toaster oven and made two of the best chili dogs I've ever had.

My friend Al Schallau was telling me a few months ago about the best hot dog he ever had, and I even wrote about it -- photograph included.

And I recall legendary basketball coach Al McGuire talking about chili dogs when I covered him in an NCAA Regional tournament game in Omaha a number of years ago.

"Every time I go into a new town, I look for the best chili dog I can find," McGuire said at the time.

I think Al was a pretty good bullshitter, so I don't know if he was making that chili dog story up or not.

I know he also had a routine that went like this: When he'd appear at his first press conference in an NCAA tournament, he'd say he spent the day wandering around town while looking for antique tools because it was one of his hobbies.

As for the chili dogs in Omaha, I don't know if Al ever found any.

Once you get past the Bohemian Cafe, Omaha can be kind of backward, you know.

Anyway, I satisfied my chili dog craving this morning. The photograph of the first one I made is included in this column.

The second one looked just like the first one, and it tasted just as good.

*

This just in at 1 p.m. After reading this column, my friend Jay Davidson wrote to me to say, "What a Dog!" and "What a chili dog!" regarding the chili dog I have pictured. It's a big day, of course, for the Dogs -- as in Bulldogs. The Drake Relays are in session at the stadium. Good hearing from you on what turned into a cold, windy day, Jay.

Happy Birthday To My 14-Year-Old Grandson

Two Thumbs-Up for Pajama Game

It was another of our famous sportswriters' lunches at the Chinese eatery, and a guy who has newspaper ink running through his arteries was thinking out loud. The guy's doctor has told him to quit worrying about such things, but he can't. "Joan Bunke always refused to review shows at the Des Moines Playhouse because it was a no-win situation," the guy said. "She always felt she'd get in trouble with somebody if she told the truth in her reviews." The guy then went on to talk about a less-than-favorable review of "Pajama Game" that was in the paper recently. High-profile reviewer Joan Bunke has been gone from the paper for a number of years, and I'm not even sure who reviewed "Pajama Game" at the Playhouse. I really don't care. It makes no difference. Here today, gone tomorrow with these modern-day reviewers at 8th & Locust. The next stop is usually the paper in Indianola, which also is owned by the Gannett Co. Anyway, I guess the clown who reviewed "Pajama Game" gave it four thumbs-down, but as far as I know the reviewer has just two thumbs. If I were in the cast at the Playhouse, I wouldn't worry about it. The reviewer's next assignment will likely be the only event the paper cares about -- the bicycle ride across the state. If he gives that a bad review, you know damn well he's headed to Indianola. Maybe even to Prole. Anyway, I saw "Pajama Game" last night at the Playhouse and thoroughly enjoyed it. I quit caring about what reviewers said a long time ago. I'm sure no expert on the theater, but I thought the acting [pictured at the left] and the music were outstanding.

*

Longtime Drake fan Jay Davidson sent me this e-mail:

"Hi, Ron,

"Enjoyed your recent columns, especially hearing from Jane Burns (one of my longtime favorite writers) and my friend Scott Pierce. Knowing he spent some years in the Lexington area, I'm glad Scott weighed in. Of course, praising Herb Sendek is not an endorsement of his protege, Mark Phelps, but it helps ease the anxiety somewhat. Although from where I sit,Chris Davis would have been the prime hire, I'm with Scott on trusting Sandy's judgment. Actually, I think we'll have a good read on Phelps' coaching skills well before this time next year.

"In an age when fewer and fewer people are getting their news, sports, and comment from the traditional print media, I think any medium that serves up words coherently, interestingly and conveniently will have a chance of success. At 60, I find myself going to the computer several times a day to get the latest, knowing it truly will be the latest. The internet certainly has become my primary source for news and public affairs information, followed closely by National Public Radio. I know people in their 80's who can say the same thing, and anyone who doesn't access the internet is really missing the action.

"Best,

Jay Davidson

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: I know there are plenty of Drake followers who wish athletic director Sandy Hatfield Clubb would have chosen Drake assistant coach Chris Davis [pictured at the right] as the successor to Keno Davis in the Bulldogs' basketball job. Chris certainly paid his dues -- working for Kurt Kanaskie, Tom Davis and Keno Davis at Drake. Now that he's been passed by for the head coaching job at Drake, I hope Keno takes Chris with him to Providence as one of his highly-paid top assistants].

*

R. H. of Des Moines weighs in on the basketball situation at Arizona:

"Ron,

"I ran across this press release from the University of Arizona earlier this evening. Things are indeed getting stranger out in Tucson.


TUCSON, Ariz.—University of Arizona athletics director Jim Livengood announced today that Kevin O’Neill has been reassigned to duties within the athletic department for the remainder of the fiscal year.

"O’Neill, 51, who had served as interim men’s basketball coach during the 2007-08 season while head coach Lute Olson took a personal leave of absence, will serve as an assistant to the athletics director until June 30.

“Kevin and I will sit down in mid-June to determine the next step,” Livengood said.

"Olson held a news conference April 1 to announce his return to head coaching duties. O’Neill’s reassignment opens a vacancy on the men’s basketball staff.

"During his service as interim head coach, O’Neill guided Arizona to a 19-15 record and a berth in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championships. It was the school’s 24th consecutive tournament appearance, the nation’s longest active streak."

"On April 2, it was announced that O'Neill wasn't coming back. In fact, my email to you was posted on April 2nd.

"What on earth is going on? Did Lute have a change of heart, or did Livengood feel sorry for Kevin and decided to give him a temporary gig until he finds a new job? Or maybe perhaps this was a smokescreen, because the unconfirmed rumors going around is that his divorce proceedings is about to get ugly in the terms of the pre-nupital agreement and money.

"I'm totally at a loss for words. I wonder what your West Coast correspondents are hearing about all of this at this point?"

R.H.
Des Moines

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: This crap in Tucson is maybe getting too deep even for my staff of West Coast Correspondents to shovel through. Lute Olson has a history of screwing things up, and he's certainly doing it now. The Arizona basketball situation seemed to be in pretty good shape when Olson was taking a leave of absence. Knowing Olson, though, he didn't want anyone to feel comfortable, so he decided to return to the coaching job, and now everything is in a mess. Again. As they say, stay tuned. It'll probably get worse].

Jane Burns Writes About Then and Now

I heard from my friend Jane Burns today, and she shared with me her final essay as a media columnist for The Capital Times in Madison, Wis.

These are difficult times, of course, in the newspaper business, and Jane has observed first-hand what's happening.

"Ron, I think I told you about the changeover at my paper," she wrote. "This is my last screed as a media columnist for them, as it has a little Des Moines in it, thought you might be interested. I will be staying on as a feature writer for one of the weekly publications."

I'm wishing Jane well. Here's her column:

Last fall, many of my friends gathered for a party to mark the 25th anniversary of the demise of the Des Moines Tribune.

The Tribune was an energetic afternoon newspaper that did great work but had circulation figures that increasingly paled in comparison with its morning competition, the Des Moines Register. I was just a college student then at Drake University in Des Moines, and many of our class discussions were about the fate of the Trib and the future of our business.

The reason many of the former Trib staffers are my friends is because they ended up at the Des Moines Register, where I became an intern shortly after the death of the afternoon newspaper and stayed for another 17 years.

It warms my heart that they consider me a member of the Trib family even if I never worked there. Unfortunately, in some ways, I'm now getting to experience this for myself all these years later.

On Saturday, the last daily edition of The Capital Times goes to press. But because of our company's unique business plan and the onset of further technology, we don't have to suffer the same fate as the Des Moines Tribune. The Capital Times will still print twice a week and continue as a daily online presence.

That's the good news, and the part that gets discussed as an exciting time in our paper's history. That's all well and good, and I might be a little more excited after the sadness subsides of watching so many of my co-workers walk out the door.

Because as intriguing as this step into the new media age might be, the fact is we wouldn't be doing it if as many people were buying the newspaper as they used to. People might be getting their news online, and are certainly advertising more online, but papers were dying well before this thing called the Internet was invented.

That's not just an issue with The Capital Times. Heck, it's not even just a media issue. Indifference is a cultural issue, the result of which we experience in so many ways on a daily basis.

Even here, in this city in which people like to consider themselves plugged in and engaged, getting people to buy the newspaper -- either daily newspaper -- is a real struggle. We pride ourselves on buying local and sustainable products here, yet somehow that doesn't translate into media.

As these final weeks of the Cap Times daily wound down, I found myself getting snitty. "I can't imagine this city without the Cap Times," well-meaning people say to me. "Do you subscribe?" I respond, and the answer has mostly been "no." Co-workers have told me of earnest supporters who ask about a fund to donate to in order to help keep the Cap Times viable. They don't want to subscribe, but want to help. They couldn't see the connection.

And readers wonder why newspapers are trying everything and anything to stay solvent. Sometimes it's like we're trying to sell a flashy new car to people who can't drive.

You can look at our government and all the troubles and scandals and say, "How did we get into this mess?" Sure you can blame Republicans or Democrats, but you can also blame the voting percentages. Our leaders can connect Iraq to 9/11 all they want because too much of the public can't bother to become informed enough to know the difference.

That's not to say the media are blameless for driving away viewers or readers, from the glut of celebrity news to the ways they failed to question the run-up to Iraq. Nor are the media blameless in the way that the owners have changed their priorities from public service to profit-making, which has created monopolies, mistrust and timidity.

But this paper is not corporate-owned and did question the war, showing the kind of skepticism people scream that they want from their media. Yet it wasn't enough to save our current format.

Perhaps this is where the Internet can truly be a friend to all of us. The rise of citizen journalism and involvement and limitless boundaries for news should be ways to get the truth out there, particularly if it can be harnessed in such a way as to be less random and credible enough that readers can believe what they are reading.

That's a path down which the new Capital Times can lead our readers, a path that online magazines like Salon and Slate have forged impressively, but we'll have the added bonus of a hands-on paper to accompany it. The paper part is important in this. The Washington Post recently won a Pulitzer Prize for its expose on conditions at Walter Reed Hospital. As much as that coverage deserved the Pulitzer, the fact is Salon had reported on it two years earlier. The differences? A newspaper in hand and an established brand name.

"See you in the funny papers," is how friends said goodbye in decades past. We don't have to say that, because besides those two papers a week, the Cap Times will see you online.

Eustachy Says Getting Fired Was the Best Thing That Happened To Him

Over the years, I've written a lot about Larry Eustachy.

Nearly everyone who has been paying attention to collegiate basketball knows that alcoholism cost Eustachy his job as Iowa State's coach after the 2002-2003 season.

A couple of guys have forwarded me Blair Kerkhoff's story in the Kansas City Star about Eustachy's struggles, so I want to share it with you today:

The first question came from the fifth-grader in the back.

“What influenced you to stop drinking?”

Larry Eustachy, the former Iowa State basketball coach, stood in front of a cafeteria full of fifth- and sixth-graders at Belinder Elementary in Prairie Village and paused for a moment.

“What got me to stop is I got fired,” Eustachy said.

Another hand.

“How did the people who fired you find out you were an alcoholic?”

Eustachy spoke of his night at Missouri, partying with students, some of whom wanted their photo taken with the coach.

“Raise your hand, guys, if you don’t want to put your arm around a pretty girl and have your picture taken,” Eustachy said.

No hands.

The photos showed up on the Internet, and that’s how Eustachy became the ex-coach at Iowa State.

Why he was in Prairie Village, speaking to 11- and 12-year-olds, also has to do with why he’s the Cyclones’ former coach. Eustachy sees the visit, arranged by a friend with children at the school, as part of the 12-step program originally devised by Alcoholics Anonymous.

Tell your story.

Today, Eustachy recognizes five years of sobriety. If it sounds strange that he believes he’s better off today as Southern Mississippi’s head coach, in a less prestigious conference and making fewer bucks than the $1.1 million he pulled in annually at Iowa State, then you haven’t walked in his shoes.

“Getting fired was the best thing that could have happened to me,” Eustachy said. “If that didn’t happen, I don’t think I’d have stopped drinking.”

It started, Eustachy told the kids, when he was in high school, and he struck all the right chords for his audience. Peer pressure forced him to drink his first beer. After drinking a few, he worked up the courage to talk to girls, even dance with them.

“I was a great dancer with alcohol in my system,” he said.

Drinking became part of his nightly routine through his coaching stops.

At Iowa State, Eustachy turned the Cyclones into a monster. They were the only Big 12 team to beat Kansas five straight times.

The 2000 group of Marcus Fizer and Jamaal Tinsley might have been the nation’s second-best team.

Unfortunately for them, the best — Michigan State — was in their NCAA Regional, and the Spartans won a close Elite Eight battle. His five-year Iowa State tenure ended after the 2003 season when the Des Moines Register ran the Missouri party scene photographs [one of which is shown at the left]. Even as he faced the end, Eustachy tried to scheme his way into saving his skin. He agreed to call himself an alcoholic, even attend some AA meetings.

“I was trying to create a reason not to be fired,” Eustachy said. “Even then I didn’t think I was an alcoholic. This life I led that seemed so normal to me — after practice go to a bar, hook up with my favorite coaches — was so abnormal.”

This revelation came during a 28-day rehabilitation stint at Hazelton in Minnesota.

“That’s when I realized I had a disease,” he said.

His marriage didn’t survive.

And when Eustachy was drinking, he avoided his mother, Helen, who lived in Los Angeles.

After his rehab, Eustachy reconnected. He traveled from Mississippi over the winter until she died in January. Today is her birthday, the anniversary of Eustachy’s sobriety.

I'm Staying Out Of This Controversy

You know me. There's never been a controversy I didn't like.

Well, most of the time anyway.

Several people -- Mark Robinson of Iowa City and my West Coast Correspondent among them -- have forwarded newspaper columns to me that are unkind to my friend Bob Bowlsby.

Bowlsby, of course, is the former Iowa athletic director who now is in charge of the athletic department at Stanford.

Among those who have recently written negatively about Bowlsby [pictured at the right] is Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle, who authored a column headlined "Stanford athletic director is clearly on hot seat now."

Take it for granted the words "hot seat" are two that no athletic director or coach likes to hear or see.

The center of this mess in northern California is Trent Johnson, who recently resigned as Stanford's men's basketball coach and was hired by Louisiana State.

"It's been almost two weeks since Trent Johnson got tired of waiting for what he deserved and decided to go elsewhere for it," Ratto wrote. [Bowlsby] is in a nasty jam, which might cost him his job sooner than he knows.

"Bowlsby's handling of the Johnson departure was textbook awful -- thinking you have leverage when you don't, lowballing a popular employee, being clumsy in reaction, putting out a statement when a personal explanation....was clearly indicated, not having a Plan B, C or D, and not consulting thoroughly with the proper superiors....Is there a preposterous error he didn't make?"

Something tells me Ratto and other columnists out there are having a problem with Bowlsby.

Frankly, I'm staying out of this. I got along well with Bob Bowlsby when he was at Iowa, I liked most of the things he did there and I was sorry he decided to go to Stanford.

I hope he's able to find a good basketball coach, and I hope his working relationship with columnists on the west coast improves. I still regard him as one of the best athletic directors in America.

*

I've exchanged several e-mails in the last couple of days with Scott Pierce, the play-by-play radio announcer for Drake's football and women's basketball games.

Pierce has been around the block several times when it comes to collegiate sports, and has a good handle on how things are working. Among his thoughts on Mark Phelps, Drake's new men's basketball coach, and other subjects:

"Ron:

"I like Phelps' background. I like his presentation. Most importantly, I trust Sandy Hatfield Clubb's judgment on things like this....

"Like everyone else should do, let's wait and see. After a couple of years, we'll know whether he can coach. After about three years, we'll know if he can recruit. Pretty simple, huh?

"I was doing sports radio in Lexington, Ky., from 1991-97. Herb Sendek was Rick Pitino's top assistant during that time. He moved his way up after Tubby Smith and Ralph Willard moved onto head coaching jobs. Just under him was a youngster cutting his teeth named Billy Donovan.

"You could always tell when Herb had the scouting report on a game. It was flawless. When Kentucky had a big game, Herb had the scout. That includes the '92 Regional Final with Duke...the Laettner game. So, again, I don't know Mark Phelps. But I think Herb Sendek is a pretty smart basketball guy.

"You were talking about about the Register's juggling act between reporting, video
shooting, blogging, etc. I have an idea for the newspaper business. Be a newspaper.
Wasn't it Hayden Fry who said, 'Stick to your knittin''?

"Newspapers can not do video better than the TV people can. Newspapers can not do blogging better than the bloggers can. TV stations and bloggers can not do in-depth reporting better than the newspapers can.

"Bottom line, the newspaper people should sit down and identify what they can bring to the table that no one else can and then concentrate on doing that and only that. However, because newspaper people have never been in a competitive situation before, they don't know how to compete. Except in select markets, they've never had to compete with another newspaper for stories, readers, and revenue. A radio station may have 5-15 other radio station companies they're competing with. There are at least six different companies in Des Moines asking for television ad dollars. But each business has only one newspaper sales rep calling on them.

"Now, that newspaper sales rep will lament lost ad dollars to one of the other mediums, it is not the same as competing with another newspaper. Most businesses take their ad dollars and decide how much they're going to allocate on billboards, radio, TV and the Register."

Scott Pierce

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Herb Sendek is the present coach at Arizona State and the former coach at North Carolina State. Phelps was on Sendek's staffs at both places, and it was Sendek who recommended him to Clubb, Drake's athletic director. As for newspapers, all of them are having financial problems -- certainly the one in Des Moines. There will always be a newspaper in this town, even though it's shrinking now and will continue to shrink. Indeed, it's a mere shadow now of what it was 25 and 50 years ago. If it wasn't shrinking, the parent Gannett Co. and editors of the paper wouldn't be trying to attract people to its website. However, there are plenty of people I know who refuse to read a newspaper on a computer. Indeed, I know some people who still don't even have a computer].

*

As for the news that Phelps was going to be Drake's new coach, "Chris from Coralville," not his real name, writes:

"Hey, the Register got badly scooped again!"

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: The Arizona Republic in Phoenix and the East Valley Tribune in Mesa AZ, had the first stories on Phelps being in line for the job. I was somewhat surprised that the paper here carried the Arizona Republic story Monday morning instead of generating its own story. There were many times at 8th & Locust when that wouldn't have happened].

*

Still on the subject of Drake basketball, "Isaac In Iowa City," not his real name, writes:

"Ron, This guy might be too obvious for the folks at Drake, or even Keeler."

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Isaac In Iowa City was referring to what I wrote the other day about Mike Leaf, whose Winona State basketball team from Minnesota has won two of the last three NCAA Division II championships. I thought Leaf deserved to be interviewed for the Drake job because anyone who wins any NCAA title, regardless of the division, is an outstanding coach in my book. As far as I know, Leaf didn't get a call from Drake. Maybe he'll get one from Bob Bowlsby at Stanford. That's a joke. Well, maybe it isn't].

*

I don't know many Baltimore Orioles fans, but my friend Al Schallau may soon become one. He tells me his nephew, Jeff Lantz, is the new media relations director for the Orioles. The photo at the left shows Lantz with the late Kirby Puckett.

Mark [Thank Goodness He's Not Digger] Phelps Deserves a Chance--And I'm Giving Him One As Long As He Wins Over 20 Games a Year, Plus Valley Titles

"Doctor Tom and Keno [Davis] did an unbelievable job the last several years putting together a program that is in extremely good shape. I look forward to maintaining that level of excellence and dreaming big dreams, working extremely hard and doing great things on the basketball court."

-- New Drake coach Mark Phelps

* * *

This is almost making me feel old.

Remember, I said almost.

Emphasis on the almost.

I mean, I've been in town so long that Mark Phelps is the 11th Drake basketball coach I've been listening to and watching.

Only two of them -- Maury John and Keno Davis -- had winning records but, hey, nobody has ever mistaken Des Moines for Lawrence, Kansas.

The 11 Drake coaches I've observed is counting Eddie Fields, the lucky stiff who was tabbed to take over in the last few games of the 1989-90 season after Tom Abatemarco got his pink slip.

That was after the players went to a lawyer's office and told him they were being mistreated by Tommy.

I'm just hoping Mark Phelps -- the guy they introduced this morning at Old Main as the new coach, and called the opportunity "an unbelievable privilege and honor" -- isn't Digger Phelps' illegitimate son, or even Digger's nephew.

That'd be a lot of baggage to carry around in the Knapp Center for the next year or two.

At least I hope Mark, who is coming here after being an assistant at Arizona State, will last a couple of years at Drake. That would be an improvement. Keno Davis, the coach he's replacing, bailed out after one season at the university.

Some people, I guess, aren't real happy about that. Not me. I think Keno did the right thing. Wave $7 million -- that's $1 million a year for seven years -- in front of one of my sons and I'd say, "Take it."

I realize Drake is a steppingstone-kind-of-coaching-job in the good times, but it would be nice for the season-ticketholders if next-miracle-man-in-the-wings Mark Phelps could go beyond one 33-game season.

I'm sure athletic director Sandy Hatfield Clubb has told Phelps everything he needs to know -- that the Des Moines temperature in mid-January is 72, that the Raccoon River is really a beach in disguise where sweet-young-things parade around in bikinis 12 months a year while appearing in Corona commercials, and that Drake fans wear shoes with tassles, not five-buckle galoshes, on the night of the Iowa game.

After all, Sandy is a veteran at this Tempe-to-Des Moines act, even though she told people at today's press conference that this isn't "Arizona State Midwest." She knows when you go to Walgreen's for something to cure skin rash that you tell the new coach it's suntan lotion.

And I hope Mike Mahon hides all of his press guides that show Drake has winning records only about once every 40 years.

And make sure the woman [her name is Alissa] Phelps is going to marry in five weeks is made aware of all those things, too.

*

Let me get back to Tom Abatemarco for a minute.

I got along pretty well with him -- to the point he slipped me a can of beer that I thought I could drink on the team's chartered flight back to Des Moines after a road game one year.

One of Abatemarco's players stole the beer before I could open it, but that's a column for another day.

Anyway, Abatemarco made the kid give the beer back to me.

Maybe that was why the thug who took the beer was one of those who showed up at the lawyer's office a few weeks later to bitch about Abatemarc.

I didn't have to cover any of Fields' 13-18 season, and I wish I could've stayed away from all of them in 1990-91 when Rudy Washington was in his first season.

That wasn't any fun either.

*

As I was thinking yesterday when I found out that Phelps was getting the Drake job, I have no way of knowing if the guy can coach.

He hasn't been in a head coaching job since high school.

All I know is, he's 42 years of age and he no doubt figured he'd better get to be a head coach pretty soon or everybody would regard him as a career assistant.

After all, Keno Davis was 35 when the Drake job was turned over to him a year ago. When he was 36, the Bulldogs were the rage of college basketball.

They beat Iowa in Iowa City, they crushed Iowa State by 35 points at the Knapp Center, they swept a two-game Missouri Valley Conference series with Northern Iowa, they won the Valley's regular-season and postseason titles and they finished 28-5.

If you ask me, Keno probably had athletic directors at Iowa, Iowa State and UNI wondering about their coaches, and why they were paying 'em so much money.

It could be they were calling Todd Lickliter, Greg McDermott and Ben Jacobson into the office and asking, "How can this young guy in his first season as a head coach be such a big winner at a place where the actuary school is more important than men's basketball?"

I know it wasn't easy, but Keno made it look that way.

Then, just when Drake fans were starting to wonder if Keno was the second coming of Maury John, he proved that timing is everything in coaching.

The athletic director at Providence College of the Big East Conference was starting to get some heat because he couldn't get anyone to take the coaching job. Three guys said they didn't want the job.

Finally, he turned to our man Keno and said, "Young fella, could I interest you in this job if I pay you a million bucks for the next seven years?"

Well, now.

Keno talked to his dad, Tom, about that one.

*

Tom Davis has been around collegiate basketball a long time. He doesn't date back to the peachbasket days or anything, and I don't think he used to have coffee with James Naismith, but he knows a good deal when he sees it.

He told Keno he'd better take the Providence job, even though the Friars aren't mentioned in the same Big East breath as Georgetown, Louisville or UConn, and they play their home games in an arena called -- get this -- the 12,500-seat Dunkin' Donuts Center.

*

The next assignment for Mark Phelps is to drum up enough interest in Drake basketball to fill the 7,002-seat Knapp Center every night next season.

It would help if he had Adam Emmenecker for another year, but no such luck.

Phelps is going to have to do it with Bucky Cox, Josh Young and who-knows-what-else after that.

Phelps better know how to coach because Drake fans will it out quickly if he can't.

I mean, they saw enough of Rudy Washington to know if a coach has what it takes to survive in the Missouri Valley Conference, or if he just talks a big game.

I know, maybe Phelps would be smart to add Emmenecker to his coaching staff.

That guy was all-everything in his senior season. I'm just glad Keno knew enough to get him into the starting lineup in November.

*

It was interesting that Chris Davis, who was on staffs put together by Kurt Kanaskie, Tom Davis and Chris Davis at Drake, didn't get the job that Phelps was handed.

Obviously, our athletic director Sandy had her reasons for bypassing the guy who recruited a lot of the players instrumental in the 28-5 record in 2007-2008.

So the Davis Days at Drake -- and by that I mean the Tom, Keno, Chris and Rodell Davis days -- have ended. Heck, I don't know, maybe there's even a ballboy named Davis over there.

I know Keno will be at Dunkin' Donuts gym in Providence, and maybe Chris and Rodell will be, too. And I suppose Tom won't be explaining basketball to me at press row during Drake's games at the Knapp Center.

There's a better chance he'll be renting an apartment at Providence next winter so he can see The Kid do his stuff at Dunkin' Donuts.

I'll miss Keno. It was fun having Monica, the very nice lady who was his office administrator, escort me into his office the day I told him I thought he'd win the Basketball Times national coach of the year award, and that I'd be writing the story about him.

It was fun watching Tom sign autograph after autograph during Drake's home games. It was fun watching Chris and Rodell being very valuable members of Keno's staff.


*

It's time to get serious about Mark Phelps.

The only things that people who have been around the Drake scene a long time ask for next season are 20 or more victories, a third straight sweep of Iowa, Iowa State and UNI, Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and postseason championships and an advance to the Sweet Sixteen in the Big Dance.

And, by the way, big fella, make sure all of your players get their degrees.

After all, Drake is an academic school, and don't you forget it.

*

[Photo courtesy of Drake University]

If I'm Looking for a Basketball Coach, I Call This Guy

I'm coming at you from leftfield with this one. I'm bringing up the name of Mike Leaf, and I'm thinking Drake should interview him as part of its search to find a new basketball coach. Mike Leaf [pictured at the right] coaches at Winona State, an NCAA Division II school in Minnesota. He's been the head coach there for 10 seasons, and all he's done is win two of the last three Division II national championships. He almost won three straight, but lost in the title game two years ago. His team wrapped up a 38-1 season in 2008 with an 87-76 victory over Augusta State in the championship game at Springfield, Mass. Winning two out of the last three national championships isn't exactly John Wooden stuff, but it's in the ballpark -- and I mean at any coaching level, even the YMCA noon league. Leaf has gotten the attention of Minnesota coach Tubby Smith. Tubby came to Winona this past season to attend one of Leaf's practices so he could see how the guy performs his magic. If you're a Drake fan, you might be asking, "Haven't I seen Winona State at the Knapp Center?" You sure have. Indeed, Leaf's Warriors beat Tom Davis' Bulldogs in an exhibition game a few years ago. They've also beaten Minnesota in an exhibition, but that was before Tubby got there. The national championship Leaf's team won late last month gave his seniors a 129-17 record. He'd listen if a Division I athletic director called about a job [any Division II coach is silly not to when Drake's salary is in the $225,000-to-$250,000 range], and I think the university's Sandy Hatfield Clubb should call him at 507-457-5530.

*

I did something yesterday I'd never done before. I drove to Hoyt Sherman Place for the Bar Admission Ceremony. That meant a bunch of new lawyers were given permission to practice in Iowa. I always like to stay on the good side of lawyers, so I made sure I cleaned up for the occasion. One of the new lawyers was John Bruzek, my nephew, who is with a law firm in St. Louis. John grew up in Cedar Rapids, and maybe one of these years he'll want to practice law in Iowa. John [pictured at the top after the ceremony with his wife, Emily, who also is an attorney, and 4-year-old daughter Ella] is no kid, so passing the Iowa bar at 44 years of age makes it even more of an accomplishment. John gave me his business card, which has his phone number and e-mail address on it. I'll be keeping it handy.

*

I guess Keno Davis took me seriously when I talked to him after one of Drake's basketball lunches this past winter at Christopher's in Beaverdale. The Bulldogs' season was only about half over, but I told Keno he was already my national coach of the year. "You know, something like this happens only about every 40 years at Drake," I told him. I, of course, was referring to when Maury John was taking Drake to NCAA tournaments in the late-1960s and early-1970s. After this season's 28-5 record and a first-round loss in the Big Dance, I guess Keno didn't want to wait until he was 76 for it to happen again.

*

I wouldn't hire Barry Hinson for the Drake coaching job if he said he'd work for free. Drake needs Barry Hinson the way Iowa needed Steve Alford.

*

If there is an Olympics, Nancy Clark will be there to cover it for the paper. Nancy has been providing the coverage on Shawn Johnson, the gymnast from West Des Moines who is a possibility for an Olympic gold medal. Bryce Miller, the paper's sports editor, will also go to the Olympics, but will be working primarily for Gannett News Service. In other words, he'll be traveling on Gannett's nickel and doing what Gannett tells him to do. Miller has been the pointman on such high-profile projects at the paper as "In the Loop" and "Bulldog Buzz."

*

Speaking of the paper, and the sports editor, a guy sent me a note saying, "Register reporters try to please advertisers." Attached was a story from www.forbes.com that referred to something that's not really news -- the fact that newspapers are in bigtime trouble. Forbes wrote, "....Plenty of external factors have thrown the newspaper industry into turmoil. The easy availability of news and information on the web, the rise of Craigslist and other online ad platforms, the slowing economy -- these all have produced an exceptionally difficult environment for newspapers to maintain, much less grow, ad revenue....Newsrooms have long cultivated a strict 'church-state' division between themselves and their papers' advertising departments, fearing a loss of independence and integrity--and with it the trust of readers. Like it or not, the newspaper industry's increasingly grim financial outlook leaves editors with little choice to work across the aisle. During a recent meeting at the Des Moines Register to discuss ways of revamping the paper's online local business directory, an editorial staffer asked why the newsroom was involved in a project that was so clearly aimed at generating more advertising, Register editor Carolyn Washburn says. Washburn's response? 'This isn't a news story, but it's content and we know how to organize it better than anyone,' she recalled saying. Washburn says cooperation between the news and advertising staff at the Gannett newspaper now runs far deeper than in the past. For instance, before key state high school sports tournaments get under way, the paper's sports editor confers with advertising to determine what they can do together. 'It wouldn't have happened 10 years ago,' Washburn says. 'Five years ago, it wouldn't have happened.' Ironically, though, as newsrooms get more comfortable with the need to cooperate in efforts to monetize their reporting, they're grumbling that the changes they've made -- writing blogs, shooting video or shifting around reporting and editing duties as they contend with recent staff reductions -- haven't been matched by corresponding adjustments in their ad sales departments." Just think, it wasn't long ago that the biggest problem in the sports department was who to blame for why nobody had the good sense to arrange coverage of a Valley High School football game. I'm pretty sure it was Randy Brubaker who was asleep on that one.

Thank Bob Bowlsby for Bringing Drake Basketball Back From the Dead

The Keno Davis-to-Providence story is the hot topic among readers today, and "Chris from Coralville," not his real name, says I didn't give the right guy credit for getting Keno his new job and for bringing basketball back from the dead at Drake:

"No, Ron, Bob Bowlsby is the guy to thank. He is the guy who put everything in motion.

"A couple of questions -- How could the Des Moines media, especially the Register, have slept through this story? And is Keno over his head in the Big East? He will compete in a very tough league with very little personal experience.

"He better be able to get some players."

Chris from Coralville

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: I heaped praise on Tom Davis, Keno's dad, for bringing Drake basketball off life-support. It was Tom who came out of what most of us thought was retirement to take the Drake coaching job prior to the 2003-2004 season. Tom had become the winningest coach in history at Iowa, but was forced out by Bowlsby [pictured at the right], who then was the university's athletic director. Bowlsby didn't renew Davis' contract, evidently because he didn't think the Hawkeyes were finishing high enough in the Big Ten standings, weren't advancing far enough in NCAA tournaments and that Davis was being out-recruited in his own state by such places as Kansas. More than a few Iowa fans thought Davis was treated unfairly -- especially after his successor, Steve Alford, proved he was the wrong guy for the coaching job and eventually bailed out for New Mexico. So I guess, in a way, Bowlsby could be given credit for Drake's success under Tom and Keno, for Drake's 28-5 record this past season and for the nice contract Keno was able to get at Providence. Had Bowlsby, who now is the athletic director at Stanford, not pulled the plug on Davis at Iowa, I'm sure Tom would have stayed in that job and would never have been available when then-Drake athletic director Dave Blank was looking for a coach in 2003. Of course, if Tom Davis hadn't come to Drake, neither would Keno Davis have come. He might still be scuffling around as an assistant coach at a place like Southeast Missouri State, not getting ready to make $1 million a year at Providence for seven years. As for the Des Moines media, it's asleep a lot].

*

NOT SO 'HOT' -- AND NOT SO 'MODERATE' EITHER

Still on the subject of Drake basketball, "Random Thoughts from Rockwell City," not his real name, writes:

"Ron:

"Where in the hell did Randy Peterson come up with those possible coaching names? Did he put all of the coaches' names in a hat and draw them out? I mean, to call Brad Soderburg, Greg Lansing, and Barry Hinson 'hot' and Matt Woodley 'moderate?' Come on.

"Imagine those four as the finalists. Someone in the room says 'we gotta get this list down to three.' Are you telling me Woodley is the odd one out? I don't think so.

"Don't even ask me how the hell Wayne Morgan's name got on that list.

"Here's another thought......If you're Providence, did it really take seven years to pry Keno away from Drake? You think five would've done it? I hope Keno does well. He's a nice guy and it appears he knows what he's doing. But seven years for someone who's been a head coach for only one year TOTAL? I want to play poker with that athletic director. He's all-in on the first hand.

"Pessimistic view.....let's say after three years, it's not working for Keno. Providence still owes him $4-mill. And they don't have a football program to help offset that kind of money. If this doesn't work, Providence's athletic program will be wrecked for a decade or more."

Random Thoughts from Rockwell City


[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: I, too, thought Keno was given a fantastic financial package from Providence. Most coaches figure they're getting a good deal when they can receive a four- or five-year contract from an employer. To get seven, at $1 million a year, is amazing. But, don't forget, Random, Keno had Providence right where he wanted them. Providence was desperate. The school had already been turned down by three other coaching candidates, and the athletic director didn't want to get a "no" from yet another guy -- especially someone with one year of Division I head coaching experience. So Providence sweetened the pot nicely to attract Keno. Time will tell if he can handle the pressures of coaching in the Big East Conference against such opponents as Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame, Connecticut, Marquette, West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Syracuse. The photo at the top shows Keno answering reporters' questions following his first press conference at Providence. As for the list of possible Drake coaches in the paper here, I doubt that many people know how those things are put together. It's not exactly rocket science. Whenever a coach quits or is fired from a university, the boss at the paper looks around the office for someone to write a story about who might be the replacement. If he finds someone who's not working on a story about World War III or Babe Ruth dying, he says something like, "Drop everything. I'd like you to put together a list of guys who might be Drake's next coach." So the reporter calls a few people and asks, "Who should I put on my list?" Together, they get a list of a dozen guys -- nine-tenths of whom aren't qualified. So, Random, you're not impressed with Barry Hinson, huh? I agree, it wasn't a very impressive list. Peterson is a veteran reporter, but it's easy to lose touch with reality after having to cover bad Hawkeye football and basketball in the same school year. I know. I did it enough times -- like in the Frank Lauterbur/Dick Schultz coaching eras. I'm sure Drake athletic director Sandy Hatfield Clubb isn't spending much time with the list in the paper].

*

LOOKING FOR THE FACTS? YOU WON'T FIND THEM IN THE PAPER

"BusinessBoy In Bondurant," not his real name, writes:

"Ron, I read in the morning paper's Biz Buzz column thia week about Geneva Overholser and David Westphal. There was nothing there about what went on in the newsroom when they were there. I didn't live in the state then. What's the scoop?"

BusinessBoy In Bondurant

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: BusinessBoy, your e-mail is kind of foggy, but maybe you're referring to what happened when Overholser was editor and Westphal was managing editor of the Des Moines Register. I've written about them numerous times, but here's what I had in a column earlier this week: "Several sources, including my always-accurate West Coast Correspondent, tell me that my very good friend Geneva Overholser is changing jobs again. This time she's becoming the director of the journalism school at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication. Overholser was editor of the paper here from 1988-1995, and before that was editor of the paper's editorial pages. It was during her time as editor that the paper won its most recent Pulitzer Prize. That was a long time ago, my friends. The Pulitzer came in 1991 for public service in a series on the rape of an Iowa woman, using her name and photographs. Jane Schorer Meisner did the writing. Geneva was well-liked by nearly all of us in the sports department. She seemed sincerely interested in what we were doing, and went out of her way to support us. The Des Moines Cyclone Club was a frequent pain in the ass to me. When I was having one of my many hassles with the group that was reluctant to have me report on what was going on there, she gave me strong backing, and I thanked her for it. On more than occasion, she said of the sports department, "It ain't broke, so I don't have to fix it." Overholser has won many other industry awards. She was named "Editor of the Year" by the National Press Foundation and "Best in the Business" by the American Journalism Review. In 2002, Overholser received the Anvil of Freedom Award from the Estlow International Center for Journalism and New Media at the University of Denver. While she was the editor in Des Moines, she helped break up two marriages by engaging in a relationship with managing editor Dave Westphal. She and Westphal later married. But that's a column for another day. Westphal, is Washington editor of the McClatchy Washington Bureau and McClatchy Tribune Information Services. He joined McClatchy in 1995 as deputy bureau chief and three years later was named bureau chief. Before becoming the managing editor in Des Moines, he was the sports editor -- and he was a good one. Unlike other sports editors, Westphal was willing to dive into a tough news situation so he could take the load off his sports columnists and reporters. In addition, he usually had good ideas and morale was generally good [which is unusual in the newspaper business] when he was in charge." Biz Buzz, which is authored by Dave Elbert and Lynn Hicks [pictured at the left], gave Overholser and Westphal a free pass -- not mentioning what took place outside [Inside, too? Get outta here!] of the newsroom when they had adjoining offices at the Register. But the paper has always given them a free pass. Newspapers never know how to report on their own people. It was never explained in the paper why Overholser and Westphal left the Register at almost the same time in the mid 1990s. But I suppose no one can blame Elbert and Hicks for overlooking the facts. With the newspaper business as shaky as it is these days, they never know when they'll need another job].

[Photo of Keno Davis' press conference courtesy of the Providence Journal]

Tom Davis Is the Man To Thank In All Of This

The man who should be thanked by everyone at Drake and by all basketball fans in the state of Iowa in all of this Keno Davis-to-Providence stuff is Tom Davis.

Tom is Keno's dad, the man who became the winningest coach at the University of Iowa from 1987-1999 and later had a tremendously large impact on the basketball program at Drake.

If Tom Davis hadn't decided to come out of what most of us regarded as retirement prior to the 2003-2004 season, Keno Davis wouldn't have a $1 million-a-year contract for 7 years at Providence now.

Indeed, Keno Davis might still be scrambling around as an assistant coach at a place like Southeast Missouri State if his dad hadn't taken on the enormous responsibility of rebuilding a dying program at Drake.

Drake basketball was on life support when Dave Blank, then the athletic director, made a telephone call to Iowa City -- where Tom Davis was living in a house on the Finkbine golf course.

When Blank pulled the plug on Kurt Kanaskie, a good guy who had an awful 62-136 record as Drake's coach from 1996-2003, I wrote that it might be a good idea for him to give Tom Davis a call.

I didn't know if a man who had a 269-140 record at Iowa would be interested in trying to put some life into Drake's sagging program, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

It was either that or sink to Division III, where they don't give basketball scholarships.

Fortunately, Tom Davis figured taking on the challenge at Drake would be an ideal way to improve Keno's stature in the basketball coaching world.

If Tom could get things going in Des Moines, and by that I mean just have a winning season, maybe Keno could wind up with the head coaching job.

Tom Davis did what any dad would offer to do for his son. He made him the top assistant on his staff, and Drake's losing finally ended with a 17-15 record in 2006-2007.

Keno wound up with the coaching job after that, and the rest is history.

Tom Davis saved the basketball program at Drake, and now Keno Davis is on board at Providence -- where he'll see if he can perform the same type of magic he carried out in one season at Drake.

It's storybook stuff, to be sure.

But be glad Tom Davis was willing to come to Drake, and be glad Keno came with him.

*

Tom Davis has been a special assistant to athletic director Sandy Hatfield Clubb at Drake the past year, but I'll be interested to see where he is next winter.

I sat next to him at press row [photo at the top] during most of Drake's games at the Knapp Center this past season, and it was a very enjoyable experience.

I covered Davis' teams at Iowa, and went through many highs and lows with him. I covered Chris Street's last game as a Hawkeye, I covered the Hawkeyes when they suffered a last-half meltdown against Jerry Tarkanian's UNLV team in a West Regional championship game at Seattle, I covered them when they won big games over Michigan, Illinois, Michigan State and Indiana.

It was fun watching Davis' emotions up-close this season when Keno was Drake's coach.

I guessing Tom probably won't stick around the Drake scene now that Keno isn't part of it. I suppose there's a better chance he'll rent an apartment in Providence, R.I., so he can again keep a close eye on the kid's new team.

But maybe there's a limit to how long a dad can follow his son around the country. We'll see.

*

The Providence Journal said this about Keno's decision to take his new coaching job:

When it came time for Keno to make the biggest basketball decision of his life, he did what he normally does. He called his father.

Davis received a call last Saturday from Providence College athletic director Bob Driscoll. Would the 36-year-old, newly minted consensus national coach of the year consider leaving Drake University for the Big East? Tom Davis, a coach who won nearly 600 games in a career that included a successful run at Boston College, had a quick answer.

“When I said Providence is interested, he said, ‘You’ve got to go. You’ve got to go and take a look, at least. It’s great basketball. They’re going to know their basketball up there,” said Keno Davis.

On Sunday, Davis presided over a team banquet and then he and his wife, Krista, hopped on a plane to Providence Monday morning. After a day of touring the East Side, Newport and Rhode Island’s other hot spots, Davis returned to a hotel in Boston. He spoke with Drake officials several times yesterday morning and the Iowa school offered to sweeten his contract, but he ultimately chose to make the jump to the East.

“Last night I was leaning towards coming here. But it wasn’t done, contrary to what everyone thought. I really didn’t decide until around 11 or 12 o’clock (yesterday).”

When Davis shook hands with Driscoll and Providence College's president, Rev. Brian Shanley, a mini-celebration erupted at the intersection of Eaton Street and River Avenue. Providence's month-long search to replace Tim Welsh was over and the job is now filled by one of the top young coaches in the country.

“I’ve been walking around today with a huge smile on my face,” said Father Shanley. “I told Keno this morning that he is an answer to a prayer. I really believe that.”

After being turned down by [three] other candidates in very public fashion, the Friars believe they landed a prospect who may have been the best fit of anyone they’ve considered. Davis has just one season of head-coaching experience, but he led the Bulldogs to a school-record 28 wins and Drake’s first NCAA appearance in 37 years. That he lived a jump shot from the BC campus from the time he was 5 to 10 years old and still treasures his Carl Yastrzemski baseball cards made a return here exciting.

“Drake did everything that I could’ve asked of them and more. If it was about money, I’d have probably gone back. Not that they were offering more money but they were doing everything they could,” he said. “It was about what Providence is and that they aren’t. It was about the Big East, and it’s my roots and an opportunity.”

Davis would not comment on the length of his commitment to PC because he said he has yet to sign a contract. The two sides have agreed in principle, however, on a multiyear deal that will pay upward of $1 million a year, plus incentives.

“Drake did everything, and more, to try to keep me there,” he said. “It was a tough decision for us. But with my background, being in this area I love the Big East and big-time college basketball. As excited as I am about being here at Providence, I want to bring that excitement because I think we’re at that tipping point where we can do something special here.”

Who is Providence getting for all that money? A tireless, aggressive coach who wears his Midwestern roots on his sleeve. He’s not slick. In fact, he admitted he doesn’t necessarily enjoy the pomp and circumstance on display at his introduction yesterday at Alumni Hall. “When can we start practice?” he said with a smile.

Davis was a self-described “average player” in high school in Iowa and said he knew by then he wanted to coach. He enrolled at the University of Iowa, where his father coached the Hawkeyes and let his son sit alongside him as a volunteer student assistant. He charted defensive statistics for four years and fell in love with the craft.

“I wanted to be like him in a lot of ways. The coaching thing just fit for me,” he said.

Davis’ first job in the business came as an assistant coach at Southern Indiana from 1995-97 under Bruce Pearl, who now is the highly successful coach at Tennessee. He then moved to Southeast Missouri State for six years. In the spring of 2003, Tom Davis ended a four-year “retirement” to fill an opening at Drake. His first hire was his son.

“There were a lot of naysayers when we took the job (at Drake),” said Keno Davis. “They asked why come back , why is that a job you’d want to go to? They had all these things that you could look at as being negatives. As a staff we looked at those same things and said, ‘No, those are positives.’ The small school size, the population, everything about the program. Those were the reasons we wanted to be there.”

The Bulldogs finished 17-15 in 2007, their first winning season in 11 years. Tom Davis retired for good and Drake hired Keno. Picked to finish ninth in the Missouri Valley in 2007-08, the Bulldogs split their first two games and then won 21 in a row.

“I don’t care if you’re playing checkers, 21 consecutive games is an unbelievable figure,” said PC’s Driscoll.

Drake earned a five seed in the NCAA, but was upset by Western Kentucky (101-99) in a wild, overtime game. Soon after, Davis received six different national coach-of-the-year awards. Davis is the second straight first-season head coach to win national coach-of-the-year honors, following Washington State’s Tony Bennett.

Davis met his future players yesterday but admitted he knows little about the Friars. He was briefed by Driscoll and friends in the game on a PC team that returns a good collection of talent from a squad that finished 15-16 last season.

“They were able to show that the cupboard isn’t bare,” he said. “The work the previous staff had done was good. They’ve gotten some talented players in here. It’s my job to continue on what they were able to accomplish.”

Drake has one player who resides east of Chicago. Finding an assistant coach or two with roots in the East is vital, Davis says.

“It’s paramount. I’d be naïve to say I can come here with Midwest guys and recruit. I’m not saying a Midwest or West Coast guy can’t recruit here, but I need a guy that knows the Northeast better,” he said.

Davis will return to Iowa today, but will shuttle back and forth from Des Moines and hit the recruiting trail over the next few months.

[Photo of Keno Davis and his wife, Krista, courtesy of the Providence Journal]

So You're Disappointed Keno Davis Is Leaving Drake--Well, If Your Kid Said, 'I've Got a $1 Million-a-Year Job Offer,' Would You Say, 'Don't Take It?'

The term "one-and-done" took on a whole new meaning today at Drake.

Last month it meant the Bulldogs' basketball team was finished after a 101-99 first-round loss to Western Kentucky in the NCAA tournament.

Today it meant Keno Davis lasted just one season as Drake's coach.

The 36-year-old Davis, whose team had a 28-5 record that made him nearly everybody's national coach of the year in 2007-2008, became the coach at Providence College of the Big East Conference.

Believe me, it's not the greatest coaching job in the world. At least three other guys had already turned it down.

But Keno figured Providence was a place he had to go, even though he was the fourth choice.

Time will tell if he made the right decision.

Obviously, many Drake fans are disappointed Keno didn't stay longer.

Some no doubt are bitter that he's leaving after his only season as head coach.

But look at it this way:

If your son or daughter were offered a job that would pay him or her $1 million a year and that he or she had a 7-year contract, how would you react?

Surely, you wouldn't say, "You owe it to your boss to stay another year or two."

No, you'd say, "Take the job because you may not get this chance again."

Face it, folks. There's no such thing as loyalty in coaching.

Ask Tom Davis, Keno's dad, about that.

Tom coached at Iowa for 13 seasons, and had the Hawkeyes' winningest record.

All it got him was a one-way ticket out the door.

Athletic director Bob Bowlsby didn't renew his contract, and he was gone.

Tom was replaced by Steve Alford, and you know how you feel about that guy these days.

Iowa's program still hasn't recovered.

Ask Dan McCarney, a former Iowa State football coach, about loyalty. He was loyal for a long time, too.

What did it get him? A pink slip.

That goes to show you that coaching basketball at Drake and coaching football at Iowa State are about the same: The minute you win, you'd better get out.

In this day and age of high-pressure, bigtime basketball, Keno Davis had to go when he felt the time was right.

I probably think he could've gotten an even better job had he waited a year or two, but who knows how next season's team at Drake might do? Or the team the year after that?

Drake isn't one of those places that reloads instead of rebuilds. It's always a struggle there.

Ask Bob Ortegel. Ask Gary Garner. Don't bother asking Rudy Washington. He didn't have a clue from day one.

Maury John even left the coaching job, but not until after his 13th season.

Be glad Tom and Keno Davis came to Drake. The coaching job is much better now than it was when they got here.

Consequently, it will be easier for president David Maxwell and athletic director Sandy Hatfield Clubb to find a qualified coach now.

I've told you many times before that I like Clubb's style. I think she's going to give another Davis -- associate head coach Chris Davis -- a long look as the next coach, but she'll also have a number of other strong candidates from whom to choose.

She'll find Drake a very good coach, and it won't necessarily have to be somebody else's assistant. She knows what she's doing.

Happy hunting, Sandy.

*

MAXWELL SAYS IT WON'T TAKE DRAKE LONG TO FIND A NEW COACH

Drake president David Maxwell and athletic director Sandy Hatfield Clubb said the search is already under way to hire a new coach.

"Drake University is grateful to Keno and Tom Davis for the masterful job they did in building a winning legacy at Drake University," said Clubb. "We are sorry to see [Keno] leave. However, the foundation he built for success is a platform to hire our next great leader for men's basketball."

"Our first priority at this point is to reassure our players and our incoming recruits of our commitment to the basketball program, and that it will not take us long to find a coach who will build on the foundation Tom and Keno Davis have created in the last five years," said Maxwell.

"I appreciate the incredible opportunity that I was privileged to have over the past five years at Drake," said Keno. "The quality of people that I have worked with during my time at Drake will always be one of my best memories.

"It took an incredible opportunity for me to be able to leave such a special place and I wish nothing but continued success for the student-athletes and people that support Drake University.

"I appreciate Drake's efforts and support in an attempt to retain me as part of the basketball program. They did everything they could and more. The final decision was not about things that could be placed in a contract."

In conversations with President Maxwell and Clubb, Davis stressed that ultimately it was a matter of the next steps in his career, his affection for the Northeast [where he grew up] and the opportunity to coach in the Big East Conference, where his father's trajectory began [Boston College].

*

KENO SAYS DRAKE 'TRIED TO DO EVERYTHING IN ITS POWER [INCLUDING FINANCIALLY] TO KEEP ME THERE'

Here's an Associated Press story from Providence, R. I., that was filed after Keno Davis' introductory press conference late this afternoon:

Keno Davis can't guarantee he'll have the same success in his first season at Providence as he had this year at Drake, where his team won 28 games, was ranked in the top 25 and earned an NCAA tournament bid.

But Davis, hired today as Providence's new coach, promised the Friars won't be outworked on the court.

"That's all I can ask -- is our players' best effort," Davis told reporters after a news conference introducing him as coach. "How many wins that means, I don't know. I'm not going to put a number out there that we have to live up to or live down to depending on how successful we are."

Davis, the son of former longtime Iowa coach Tom Davis, was lured from Drake two weeks after being selected as the Associated Press national coach of the year. This season, Keno Davis' first as a head coach, he took Drake to its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1971, and led the Bulldogs to a 28-5 record and their first national ranking in 33 years.

Davis replaces Tim Welsh, who was fired last month after taking Providence to two NCAA tournaments in 10 seasons and finishing with losing records in three of the last four seasons.

The hiring ends a frustrating and protracted coaching search for Providence during which George Mason's Jim Larranaga, Massachusetts' Travis Ford and Davidson's Bob McKillop turned down offers from the Friars.

Davis said he has no problems with not being the first choice.

"When you look around the country and you look at some of the unbelievably successful coaches, that doesn't mean they were the first choice when they were hired," Davis said. "It doesn't have to be the first choice, it just has to be the right one - so I'm looking forward to proving them right."

Providence athletic director Bob Driscoll said the school had looked for a coach who had been successful in the past, someone who was the right "cultural fit" for the program. and someone who believed the Friars could win in the Big East.

"I don't want any more excuses," Driscoll said. "I want somebody that says, 'Hey, we can get the job done.'"

Davis inherits a Providence team that returns its key nucleus of starters, including leading scorer Jeff Xavier, but that has struggled to stay competitive in the Big East. The Friars went 6-12 in the conference and 15-16 overall this season, playing all but one game without injured starting point guard Sharaud Curry.

Davis spoke briefly with his new team before being introduced to the public.

"I just told them I was happy to be here -- introduced myself to each one of them and told them what I was kind of going to expect," he said. "That's not necessarily the wins and losses. That's the kind of effort that we want to have the pride of playing with and see if it's good enough to win some ballgames."

Davis succeeded his father, as Drake coach in March, 2007. The team was picked in a preseason poll to finish ninth in the Missouri Valley Conference. Instead, Drake opened with a 16-1 record, cracked the national rankings in January and then knocked off then-No. 8 Butler a month later.

The Bulldogs won their first Valley regular season title since 1971 and their first conference tournament title.

They entered the NCAA tournament as a No. 5 seed in the West Regional, but were upset in overtime by Western Kentucky, 101-99.

Davis said it was a hard decision for him to leave Drake.

"They tried to do everything in their power to keep me there," he said. "That's financially, that's conversations, that's the pep talks."

Davis and his father became the first father and son to win the national coach of the year award. Tom Davis won it in 1987 as coach of Iowa.

[Photo courtesy of Providence College]

Here's What I Think: Keno Should Stay At Drake. There Will Always Be Providence [Or a Coaching Job Like It] Out There

I wrote that it could happen.

Rick Wanamaker knew it might happen.

You should've known it might happen.

Keno Davis [pictured on the right] getting an offer to coach basketball somewhere else, I mean.

The buzz in the business is that our man Keno is being offered a million-dollar package from Providence of the Big East Conference and that the job is his if he wants it.

After one season at Drake.

That shows you how desperate people are who hire collegiate basketball coaches.

Even though it was one marvelous season at Drake for Keno.

Providence of the Big East Conference is just a semi-big name in collegiate basketball, we all know that.

Certainly not a name like Kansas, certainly not Texas.

Not a perennial top-25 name.

Actually, not any bigger name than Drake. A university in a more high-profile basketball league than the Missouri Valley maybe, but that's all.

But certainly more money.

I've been saying since mid-January that Drake had better lock up Keno to keep the wolves away.

All of a sudden, the Bulldogs' record was an astounding 28-5 and everyone around the country who had observed Drake in the Rudy Washington and Kurt Kanaskie years couldn't believe it.

I know I couldn't believe it.

In early-January, I waited for the bottom to drop out of the season.

It didn't.

Drake kept winning. And winning more and more.

The Bulldogs even won on the road.

With players who were supposed to be better in the classroom than on the basketball floor.

At midseason, ran into Rick Wanamaker when he was having lunch at the buffet line at Hy-Vee in West Des Moines.

Wanamaker played on Maury John's 1968-69 Drake team that finished third in the Final Four.

We talked about Keno, and I mentioned that it was going to be difficult for Drake to keep him.

Wanamaker said that's why the university should offer him a financial package before another school came along with a million-dollar offer.

Well, here's the million-dollar offer.

What happens now, from Drake's standpoint, is between Keno, athletic director Sandy Hatfield Clubb and president David Maxwell.

We'll find out how serious Drake is about keeping him.

Here's what I think:

Keno should stay at Drake.

I know Drake isn't a place where outstanding coaches remain. Even Maury John left.

In the long run, I know Iowa and Iowa State are better coaching jobs. Until this season, the UNI job was even better than Drake's.

I do know that the coaches at Iowa, Iowa State and UNI will be rooting for Providence.

They want somebody else coaching Drake.

Keno scares them.

They saw this season what Keno could do, and they don't want to go through it again because it's a reflection on how they're doing.

The Providence job is not an outstanding one either. Like I said, it's semi-big. Indeed, I'd call it an "armpit" job in the Big East.

It's no more than a place that coaches use as a launching pad to other jobs.

Two other guys we know of -- George Mason's Jim Larranaga and Massachusetts' Travis Ford -- said no to the job.

If Keno is an outstanding coach -- and I think he is -- he should stay at Drake another few years.

There will always be a Providence out there that will hire him.

But there might also be something better for him.

If our young guy wants quick money now, he'll take the job and see how long he survives in the tough Big East.

Hopefully, he won't do that.

And if he goes? Well, it was a fantastic one-year run.

They'll never be able to take that away from Drake.

If he does bail out, I'm sure Maxwell and Clubb will take a long, hard look at yet another Davis -- this time Chris Davis -- as the next Drake coach.

Chris Davis [pictured at the left] has been Drake's associate head coach since April 7, 2007.

Chris has done much of the recruiting work the past few seasons. He'd deserve a shot at the top job.

However, I hope Drake doesn't need to worry about that for a while.

New Gig for Geneva Overholser

Several sources, including my always-accurate West Coast Correspondent, tell me that my very good friend Geneva Overholser is changing jobs again.

This time she's becoming the director of the journalism school at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication.

Overholser was editor of the paper here from 1988-1995, and before that was editor of the paper's editorial pages. It was during her time as editor that the paper won its most recent Pulitzer Prize.

That was a long time ago, my friends.

The Pulitzer came in 1991 for public service in a series on the rape of an Iowa woman, using her name and photographs. Jane Schorer Meisner did the writing.

Geneva was well-liked by nearly all of us in the sports department. She seemed sincerely interested in what we were doing, and went out of her way to support us. The Des Moines Cyclone Club was a frequent pain in the ass to me. When I was having one of my many hassles with the group that was reluctant to have me report on what was going on there, she gave me strong backing, and I thanked her for it.

On more than occasion, she said of the sports department, "It ain't broke, so I don't have to fix it."

Overholser [pictured at the right] has won many other industry awards. She was named "Editor of the Year" by the National Press Foundation and "Best in the Business" by the American Journalism Review. In 2002, Overholser received the Anvil of Freedom Award from the Estlow International Center for Journalism and New Media at the University of Denver.

While she was the editor in Des Moines, she helped break up two marriages by engaging in a relationship with managing editor Dave Westphal. She and Westphal later married. But that's a column for another day.

Her present husband, Dave Westphal, is Washington editor of the McClatchy Washington Bureau and McClatchy Tribune Information Services. He joined McClatchy in 1995 as deputy bureau chief and three years later was named bureau chief.

Before becoming the managing editor in Des Moines, he was the sports editor -- and he was a good one.

Unlike other sports editors, Westphal [pictured at the left] was willing to dive into a tough news situation so he could take the load off his sports columnists and reporters. In addition, he usually had good ideas and morale was generally good [which is unusual in the newspaper business] when he was in charge.

Overholser has always been well-liked in the news business.

Here's what Larry Wilson, public editor of the Singleton newspapers in the San Gabriel Valley wrote about her in a blog item:

"Geneva is esteemed (and honestly well-liked and even revered). She now holds the Curtis B. Hurley Chair in Public Affairs Reporting for the Missouri School of Journalism in Washington, D.C., and is a print, broadcast and online media critic. She's no stranger to the USC campus, as she spoke in February on the future of journalism and journalism education there.

"She'll replace Michael Parks, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Pasadenan who is the former editor of the Los Angeles Times. Parks -- equally esteemed, equally well-liked -- will continue to be a professor at the school.

"It's the best possible news for a school trying to stay on its arc of growing prestige at a time that finds journalism programs in almost as perilous a state as traditional journalism."

The Columbia Missourian wrote:

“'I have had seven wonderful years at the Missouri School of Journalism, and I have just loved it,” Overholser said. 'I never had thought I would leave because it’s a great job, but this opportunity came along and I realized I was ready for a new adventure.'

"Overholser said that although she will miss her Missouri colleagues and her students in Washington, D.C., she is ready to embrace the administrative responsibilities of her new position.

“'The journalism school at Annenberg is singularly poised for an exciting new chapter, and I am excited for the chance to lead it,' she said.

"Overholser has been a syndicated columnist for the Washington Post Writers Group, an editorial board member of the New York Times, ombudsman of the Washington Post and a reporter for the Colorado Springs Sun.

"She is also a print, broadcast and online media critic and co-edited the book “The Press as an Institution of Democracy” with Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a communications professor and director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

"Overholser has a bachelor’s degree in history from Wellesley College and a master’s in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, as well as a French language certificate from the University of Paris."

*

SORRY, I'M UNAVAILABLE

I'm going to have to miss that chat the paper is conducting today with Barnstormers coach John Gregory. That's the time I take one of my walks.

Nothing Quite Like the Smell Of Bowling Alley Smoke

Rev. David P. Mumm, pastor at Concordia Lutheran Church in Machesney Park, IL, and a former pastor at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Des Moines, writes:

"You mentioned in your blog that Iowa is about to ban smoking in restaurants. Illinois issued that ban as of January this year. It is so nice to go into an eatery and not smell smoke. The other place that I really appreciate not smelling the smoke is bowling alleys. I don't come home smelling like an ashtray.

"After a 6-1 start, I was beginning to think the Brewers were going to be a contender. Now I'm beginning to wonder. It's still way to early to think about the postseason, but talk in Milwaukee is that anything lsss than the playoffs will be a failed season. I agree. The Brew-crew made some changes this season that should really help. Eric Gagne as a closer is a proven commodity, although he hasn't shown it yet. Jason Kendall is a top-flight catcher. The surprise so far is Gabe Kapler. He retired and coached last year. The Brewers approached him about trying out, and so far, he has been an excellent addition to the team. [They have] Yovani Gallardo back from the disabled list. That should help the pitching staff. I would guess they will send Dave Bush to the minors.

"Have a good weekend. And thanks again for your excellent blog."

David P. Mumm, M.Div.
Senior Pastor
Concordia Lutheran Church
Machesney Park, IL 61115

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: It's nice to see Iowa join the 21st century. It will be so pleasant, starting July 1, to go into a restaurant and not come out of it smelling like a carton of used cigarettes. My prayers are with the families of people who have already died over the years as the result of either first-hand or second-hand smoke. Lungs aren't the only part of the human body that are influenced negatively by smoking and second-hand smoke. Hearts are, too. Thank you, Iowa Legislature. And I wouldn't give up on the Milwaukee Brewers yet. Thanks to my new satellite dish, I watched them in their three-game series against the Chicago Cubs at the start of the National League season, and right now I feel they're a better team than the Cubs. They hit better and they pitch better. I figure it'll be a race to the wire between Milwaukee, St. Louis and Chicago in the Central Division. If the Cubs don't win, I hope Milwaukee does. Any team but St. Louis].

*

George Wine of Coralville sent this to the editor of the Iowa City Press-Citizen, and forwarded the e-mail to me:

"To the P-C Editor --

"Your Sunday front-page story on about Susan Curry, the UI's new dean of public health, was very interesting. However, I thought there was a much bigger story within that story.

"You quote Ms Curry as saying about her grandfather, "At 7, he was teaching me the Morse code."

"A 7-year old grandfather! Now that's some story! I can't imagine a younger grandfather.

"My son is with the Associated Press. I am going to pass this along to him and suggest he put it on the national wire."

George Wine
Coralville

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: You're right, George. Steve would be interested in that, So would Ripley's Believe It Or Not].

*

This is the time of year when collegiate basketball players who don't think they're getting enough minutes [or points or rebounds] start looking elsewhere.

One of these players is Scott Christopherson [pictured at the left] of LaCrosse, Wis., who appears to be have been in over his head at Marquette. The 6-3 guard was in Ames the last couple of days, showing the folks at Iowa State what he could [or couldn't] do. He may also try to persuade the coaches at Iowa that he can play.

Christopherson, who was a Mr. Basketball in Wisconsin as a high school player, played in 18 games but started none in his sophomore season at Marquette. He has been released from his scholarship at the Milwaukee school.

He played only 87 minutes and averaged 1.3 points this past season for a Marquette team that went 25-10. Coach Tom Crean has already left for Indiana. Obviously, Christopherson didn't feel he had a future at Marquette.

Here's what Todd Sommerfeldt of the LaCrosse Tribune wrote, thanks to Bud Appleby of Des Moines:

"Scott Christopherson spent Friday afternoon and Saturday morning in Ames, IA, playing basketball at Iowa State University.

"It may or may not be his new academic and basketball home after having his request for a release from a scholarship at Marquette University granted on Thursday.

"That’s why the former Aquinas High School standout embarked on a 6½-hour drive to Ames on Friday after a morning class at Marquette and played 90 minutes of basketball with current players in the ISU program. After that, it was dinner, a bit of time to relax before bed and an early wakeup call for more basketball at 9 a.m. Saturday.

"Christopherson hopes to visit Iowa sometime this week and possibly Minnesota and/or Butler eventually, but those plans have yet to be finalized. He may go through a similar routine.

"The wheels for all of this were set in motion the day Tom Crean decided to leave Marquette to coach Indiana. It wasn’t something Christopherson saw coming, but it was an event he knew would change his future immediately.

“'I knew I was going to ask to be released pretty quickly,” Christopherson said Saturday morning, “just because of the situation.”

"Crean was the one who convinced Christopherson to commit to Marquette after his sophomore season at Melrose-Mindoro. Before he even took a class as an Aquinas High School junior, Christopherson knew his college future.

"That’s what made Crean’s announcement, and the fact that players only learned of his plans through media reports, disappointing Christopherson.

“'I found out when everybody else did,' Christopherson said. 'It would have been nice to hear it from him, but he did what he had to do. What happened, happened.

“'The same people who want to criticize him for it wouldn’t pass up a chance like that at Indiana.'

Although Christopherson’s initial list includes the four teams listed above, it could expand. Aquinas coach Rick Schneider said that he didn’t even know how many schools contacted him since Christopherson’s release.

“'There are a ton of schools interested in him,” said Schneider, whose list of recent contacts included UW-Green Bay, William & Mary, Bradley and many others. “They are very interested, too.”

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: My guess is that guys like Christopherson are a dime-a-dozen. Iowa State and Iowa don't need players like him. They've already got too many of them].

There's Plenty On My Dish

As you may recall, I had a satellite dish installed at my home late last fall, which opened up a whole new TV world to me.

One of the things I got with DirecTV was the Big Ten network, which has been criticized more often than Kirk Ferentz's salary.

There was good news and bad news associated with the Big Ten network.

The good news was I got to watch Iowa's basketball games.

That was the bad news, too.

I don't need to tell you it was a long season for the Hawkeyes. So long that the record was 13-19. First-year coach Todd Lickliter had his eyes closed and held his head in his hands [photo at the left] so often that the doctors at nearby University Hospitals were starting to worry about him.

The only guy who knew exactly how Lickliter felt was Dick Schultz, who specialized in 8-16 and 9-15 seasons when he coached at Iowa.

One thing that made watching Iowa on the Big Ten network even worse was that Gene Keady did the pregame, halftime and postgame analysis.

Very painful stuff. Like the last time, and the first time, I had a tooth extracted.

The former Purdue coach with the pasted-on hairpiece should be organizing adult education basketball leagues back home in West Lafayette, Ind., not trying to tell us why Iowa was so bad.

But enough of that. Things aren't going all that smoothly on the dish this spring either.

The Chicago Cubs are on a lot, and that's a problem.

I'm wasting a lot of my time watching them.

Which means I have to see Aramis Ramirez go at half-speed for 3 1/2 hours every day and night.

The Cubs' third baseman doesn't know the meaning of the word run.

He turns more doubles into singles than any player I've seen in this century. He lets pop flies drop that he should be catching.

He's got one of the strongest arms in the National League, but I don't think he's thrown the ball straight to first baseman Derrek Lee all spring.

For all of that, the Cubs are paying him $15 million a year.

At least the Cubs have Kosuke Fukodome, an outfielder from Japan whom they got for the bargain price of $12 million a year.

Fukudome [I'm glad I'm not a radio announcer and have to say his name often] at least runs to first base, and he acts like he enjoys playing the game. I just hope he doesn't pick up a lot of bad habits by watching Ramirez.

The Cubs have won more games than they've lost, but only because they swept a series in Pittsburgh, which has a Double-A team, and because they play in the very weak Central Division.

Kerry Wood is now the closer, which is bad news right there. One thing is that it means Wood will soon develop a shoulder or elbow problem and will be sent to No-Name Ballfield in Des Moines on a rehab assignment.

Des Moines will immediately renew its love affair with Wood. He's here so often that he's thinking of applying to be the next city manager.

I just checked, and there's snow on the ground outside my home.

No yard-work today. But the Cubs will be the tube at 6 p.m.

I can't wait.

*

The baseball season is only a couple of weeks old, but I'm already sick of Tony LaRussa.

Probably because his Cardinals were supposed to be one of the worst teams in the National League, and now they're in first place.

*

It was good to see Ken Fuson in the paper today. It's beyond me why Carolyn Washburn replaced him with Charles Krauthammer on the op-ed pages.

*

The athletic director at some university in this country may take note of the wonderful things Keno Davis did in his first season as Drake's basketball coach -- a 28-5 record and regular-season and postseason championships in the Missouri Valley Conference -- and offer Keno a job.

But it won't be at Stanford.

Take it to the bank that is not going to happen.

*

After writing about Kosuke Fukodome earlier, Japanese food is starting to sound good to me today.

'The List Of Athletes Who Have Diabetes Is Noteworthy'

An e-mail from R. H. of Des Moines:

"Ron,

"Not only did I not know that Sam Fuld was a Type I diabetic, but I'm extremely disappointed that no one at the daily did some research and asked Fuld and the trainer about how he lives with diabetes. Iowa Stars hockey player Toby Petersen has Type I diabetes and the daily did a short blurb on him two years ago.

"As a full admission, I'm a Type II diabetic for 15 years, being diagnosed before going to college. I pull out my meter every day, check my glucose, take insulin shots before eating, and I stay active in sports, activities, and in my career. A year ago, I decided to sign up as a volunteer with the American Diabetes Association, which is located a few blocks north of Buccaneer Arena (formerly Metro Ice Arena) in Urbandale. I wasn't compelled to do it for someone I love, a friend, or an acquaintance. I was doing it for me.

"It was the best decision I made. It helped me learn how to be a better individual living with diabetes. Diabetes is a silent killer and if you add denial on top of that, it's a double trouble for anyone who doesn't get help when they have the symptoms.

"The list of athletes who have diabetes is noteworthy: Former Hawkeye football star Jonathan Hayes, Arthur Ashe, Billie Jean King, Ron Santo, golfer Scott Verplank (who's at the Masters right now), and Adam Morrison, to name a few.

"For as much as the daily and the media harp on wellness and health, diabetes is right up there with cancer, breast cancer, and heart disease as chronic illnesses that has to be addressed. Sadly, at times, most people, particularly those in my age demographics (21-40) are not interested in understanding living life with diabetes like Sam and me.

"On a lighter note, I wonder if 'that guy' over there at No-Name Ballpark is pulling whatever hair he has left on his head after a third postponement within a week, thanks to Mother Nature. I can see him try to pull Mother Nature's parking privileges away and charge her $5 to park her cloud in the parking lot."

R.H.
Des Moines

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: R. H. was referring to my column yesterday on Sam Fuld, an outfielder for No-Name Ballteam. Fuld has been a Type I, insulin-dependent diabetic since he was 10. However, for reasons unknown to me, that information was not included in Sean Keeler's column about Fuld in the paper. The outfielder has been very open in the past about his battle with diabetes, and my guess is he would be eager to offer support to diabetics young and old who are confronted with insulin injections, pills and dietary restrictions -- just to stay alive. I admire Fuld for what he has accomplished as a professional baseball player, and I hope he gets to the big leagues on a permanent basis sometime soon. I know one thing -- he's the kind of guy I would want on my team. Scout.com wrote this about Fuld: "The 25-year-old Fuld has one ongoing medical issue that he has to deal with every day: Type I diabetes. 'I take insulin shots twice daily and check my blood sugar several times a day. Especially when I’m playing, it’s important for me to regulate it pretty carefully,' Fuld said. 'It’s such a routine at this point. It’s habit, but it’s something I’m always thinking about. I’m always watching what I eat and when I eat and how much. It’s tricky. Even though I’ve been doing it for 15 years now, it’s still a challenge every day, Fuld added. 'There are a lot of variables. You don’t eat the same thing every day, and you don’t do the same amount of exercise. There is so much that goes into it. It’s a daily struggle, but it’s something I am definitely used to.' Manager Pat Listach said Fuld handles the medical matter with ease and could easily be a role model for other young athletes with diabetes. He also handles the macabre humor of the clubhouse. 'He can take a little bit and we dish it out pretty good about his insulin shots,' Listach said. 'We always give him stuff about putting needles in the refrigerator and shooting up in the clubhouse. He takes it all in stride. He’s a good guy.'" Another good guy is R. H. of Des Moines for serving as a volunteer with the American Diabetes Association. Take it from this longtime Type I diabetic, your work is appreciated very much. As for the rainouts at No-Name Ballfield, the loss of income from the sale of hot dogs and popcorn will no doubt cause the atrocious prices at the concession stands to rise [again] at the next homestand].

Kind Of a Sad Time In Sports

To me, this is kind of a sad time in sports. The collegiate basketball season ended three nights ago, and now the big story is how many underclassmen are skipping their last one, two or three seasons so they jump to the NBA. I mean, Eric Gordon says he's turning pro after one season at Indiana. The same with O. J. Mayo of Southern California, who led his team all the way to a first-round loss in the NCAA Regional at Omaha. Some pro prospect, huh? I realize a number of people are excited about that kind of stuff. But not me. There are never-ending rumors about the next hotshots who will give up their college eligibility so they can maybe be lottery picks and make a lot of money. One day Kevin Love, a UCLA freshman, and teammate Darren Collison, a junior, are rumored to be declaring for the pro draft, the next day they're not. Hey, I'm the last guy to say a talented collegiate basketball player shouldn't be tempted to go to the NBA after one, two or three seasons. After Magic Johnson of Michigan State was trying to decide whether to turn pro after the Spartans won the 1979 NCAA title, I wrote that he should go. He did, and I certainly feel he made the right choice. Still, it's too bad we won't be seeing guys like Mayo and Gordon -- and maybe Love and Collison -- lighting up our TV screens next season in collegiate games. I guess it'll be good that they're on NBA rosters, but I'll tell you this -- my interest in the NBA is near zero. I don't watch the NBA until the final 2 minutes of the championship game in the playoffs. So I won't be seeing much of Gordon and Mayo.

*

There was a column in today's paper about Sam Fuld, an outfielder for No-Name Ballteam at No-Name Ballfield. I read the column three times, wondering where the information was about Fuld being a Type I diabetic. And I'm still looking. Surely, a copy editor didn't take it out of the column, did he [or she]? At least I hadn't heard that Ira Lacher was back on the copy desk. And surely the guy who wrote the column knows that Fuld is an insulin-dependent diabetic, doesn't he? And I couldn't imagine that Fuld told the writer that he didn't want the information about him being a diabetic in the column. After all, he's been very open about having the disease. Even if Fuld didn't want the information in the column, it needed to be there. I know if I didn't have it in my first paragraph, I'd have it in the second paragraph. In italics. Mlb.com wrote of Fuld: "This is a special kid. He has Type I diabetes and has tried to help others. He donated the money raised from the auction he had in conjunction with winning the Stenson Award to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation." Fuld was the first player to win both the MVP and Dernell Stenson Award, which is presented to the player who displays the best leadership qualities. And Wikipedia said of Fuld: "Fuld was diagnosed with Type I juvenile diabetes when he was 10. When he was 12, he met pitcher Bill Gullickson, who also had diabetes, and talked to him for two minutes. 'That was enough to inspire me,' Fuld said. 'Anytime I can talk to young diabetic kids, I look forward to that opportunity.' Now, five or six times a day he opens a small black case, withdraws a Glucometer and [sticks] his finger ['It's pretty painless; I've got calloused fingers'] and checks his blood sugar. He then gives himself shots of insulin at breakfast and dinner times." Type I diabetics must take insulin injections; Type II diabetics can sometimes rely on pills, but some of them also take insulin. Unless a Type I diabetic has a pancreas transplant, he or she has the disease throughout life. The most high-profile ballplayer to have diabetes during his competitive seasons was Ron Santo, a standout third baseman for the Chicago Cubs and now a commentator on the Cubs' radio broadcasts. Santo has been very active in fund-raising for juvenile diabetes. He talks throughout the Cub broadcasts about the need to find a cure for the disease. Believe me, Santo knows. Because of circulation problems associated with the disease, Santo has had both of his legs amputated.

*

The best news I've heard lately is that smoking will soon be banned in restaurants and bars in this state. In a sidebar to that, a woman wrote a letter to the paper, saying she thought the Legislature should have looked for alternatives to the ban. Obviously, that idiot doesn't know the people who have been lifetime smokers and now have lung cancer. I just found out about another guy who was diagnosed with the disease the other day. It's people like that letter-writer who should move to Iceland, and stay there.

I Think Bill Self Will Look Fine In Rattlesnake Boots

I think this is pretty funny. One minute Bill Self and his Kansas basketball players were celebrating their NCAA championship, the next minute reporters were asking Self if he planned to take the Oklahoma State coaching job. Like any smart collegiate coach, Self said he'd listen to what Oklahoma State has to say. Rumors are making the rounds that Okie State is offering Self a $6 million signing bonus and a yearly salary of about $3.5 million. The money evidently will be provided by Thomas Boone Pickens, Jr., aka T. Boone Pickens [shown in the Okie State photo at the right], who already has forked over nearly $300 million to Okie State for football and geology department improvements. Okie State's stadium is now called T. Boone Pickens Stadium and the geology building is named after the rich old fart, too. Now Pickens wants to get his grubby, though always-busy, hands into the basketball operation. Okie State has already sent Eddie Sutton's son packing. The kid, and everybody around him, found out he didn't know anything about coaching a Big 12 Conference team, and I'm certain Pickens decided it was time for him to go. If Self accepts Okie State's offer to take the coaching job at his alma mater I guess that'll make him the wealthiest college basketball coach in America, unless Jerry "The Shark" Tarkanian comes out of retirement or out of a nursing home, wherever he is, and is paid millions of dollars from a slush fund at Nevada-Las Vegas. They call the place simply UNLV now, but regardless of what they call it, there's money out there. Just like there's a never-ending supply of money in the safe at Pickens' home. If I were Bill Self, I'd certainly give strong consideration to becoming Okie State's next coach. If he stays at Kansas, people will be wondering if he's going to win an NCAA championship every season. The only guy who has been able to do that is John Wooden of UCLA. I don't think what Wooden did will ever happen again. Before I visited Stillwater, Okla., for the first time, I kept hearing what a boring place it was. Then I went there and found out they like to drink beer and smoke cigarettes while wearing cowboy hats, western boots and leather jackets with fringe on them. Take away the cowboy hats, the western boots and the leather jackets with fringe and you've got Ames. Nothing wrong with Ames. Or Stillwater. If you don't like beer and cigarettes, stay home and inhale dust. A $6 million signing bonus and $3.5 million a year would feed Self's family nicely, certainly in boring little Stillwater. And I think he'd look all right in rattlesnake boots [pictured at the left]. Take the job, Bill. At least Greg McDermott at Iowa State will have to draw up a game plan to play you just once a season, not twice.

*

I once worked with a guy who always took a day of vacation at the paper when the Pulitzer Prizes were announced. I guess he didn't like the atmosphere Pulitzer Day created in the newsroom, whether the paper won one of the prizes or not. For those just in from the moon, Pulitzer Prizes are awarded for journalistic excellence. The Washington Post won a half-dozen Pulitzers yesterday, which indicates to me that there was plenty of so-so work going on at lots of other understaffed papers around the country. The New York Times won only two Pulitzers, which probably means the bosses there will be laying off half the newsroom in a couple of weeks. Some editors and publishers have been known to gather in little offices so they can do a group jackoff when their papers win Pulitzers. The Register has won 15 Pulitzers over the years, but none since 1991. The paper got shut out again yesterday, so there evidently was no group jackoff on the fourth floor, unless Carolyn Washburn and Laura Hollingsworth worked themselves into a frenzy because they scored in the Best of Gannett. Wait a minute, I just got an update. The only commotion came when one of the janitors -- a guy with prostate trouble -- had to pee four times in 75 minutes. At least it wasn't Kenny Fuson.

*

The Kansas-Memphis title game was outstanding -- one of the best NCAA finales ever. Billy Packer's ridiculous jabbering couldn't even screw up this one. I'm still trying to figure out how Memphis lost it. John Calipari is, too.

It's Not Everyone Who Got To Play Tennis Against Moses and Michelangelo

The news that bigtime movie actor Charlton Heston died the other day at 84 brought back memories to me.

And they're very pleasant memories.

Indeed, I recall beating Heston in a tennis match at the Wakonda Club on a nice afternoon during the previous century.

I'm not taking much credit for the victory. A guy I'd never seen before, and whose name I have forgotten, was who won the match for us.

I was just pretty much along for the ride. I decided early in the match that we had a chance to win if I didn't make too many mistakes.

I got along very well with Heston throughout the match. By the time it was over, he was calling me Ronnie and saying, "Why don't you come out to Hollywood next winter. We'll play tennis at my mansion, then have dinner and drinks before we hit some of the spots around town together."

[Well, maybe I imagined that last part].

The event that brought Heston, an Academy Award winner who starred in movies that portrayed him as Michelangelo, Moses and other historical standouts, was the promotion of one of his films.

[Heston is shown in the photo at the left portraying Moses in the 1956 movie "The Ten Commandments].

I don't rememeber the movie that brought Heston to town as being one of his blockbusters, and now I can't even recall the name of it. Maybe one of the scenes had a chariot race through a cornfield or a farmers' market. I don't why else he picked Iowa as a place to hold a premier.

Whatever, Heston or his publicity people decided he wanted to play tennis with some local folks to help in the promotion.

They got some big-name Des Moines tennis players -- guys like Walt Shotwell and maybe even Bill Reichardt -- to be the opposition in the doubles matches.

I got picked, I think, because I was the only guy in the paper's sports department who knew, or cared, anything about tennis. I was assigned to cover whatever tennis events my boss at the paper, Leighton Housh, thought were worthwhile.

In those days, I even played occasional mid-morning tennis matches against some other newsroom folks -- guys like Chuck Reynolds, John Karras, Knox Craig and Bill Holden -- who were trying to stay in decent physical shape.

I even had a match scheduled one day against Charlie Edwards, who went on to be the paper's publisher. But he was a no-show. He told me he overslept, and I haven't let him forget it.

Because I knew the difference between a lane violation in basketball and a line violation in tennis, I got stuck being the guy who had to cover tennis events and tennis people.

I got stuck with such non-Wimbledon tournaments as the Hawkeye Open in Des Moines, the Iowa Open in Cedar Rapids and the state high school boys' and girls' meets in Des Moines.

Occasionally, there would be some exhibition matches at Veterans Memorial Auditorium that I'd cover, too.

John McEnroe played here once or twice, and Arthur Ashe did, too. I remember interviewing Ashe while both of us were riding in a car that was taking him into downtown Des Moines from the airport.

I also played in an exhibition doubles match at Hilton Coliseum in Ames. The guy who was coaching tennis at Iowa State then set up a match that had me and a then-promising member of the women's professional tour play Pete Taylor and another women's tour member.

Taylor then was the sports director at KCCI and the play-by-play announcer of Cyclone football and basketball games. He later went to work in the Iowa State athletic department and continued as the Cyclones' announcer until his death several years ago.

Anyway, I let the girl who was my partner carry the load in our match against Taylor and his partner. I had a couple of decent shots and didn't embarrass myself in in front of what was a sizable crowd, and we won the match.

Those of us who participated in the matches with Heston were invited to attend the movie he was in that night in Des Moines. The movie people arranged a party afterward, so it was nice to be able to say I broke bread and had a glass of something-or-other with Charlton Heston.

Like I said, the movie wasn't anything like Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments," and Heston didn't exactly have a role similar to Moses. But it must have been a good picture. Ol' Charlton never made a bad one, did he?

My sympathy to his family. He was a class act, and we'll miss him. The good thing is that there are still such things as the Turner Movie Classics channel, where we can watch his films.

Hey, Somebody Call Mayflower -- More National Coach Of the Year Hardware for Keno Davis [This Time from CBS, the NCAA Tournament Network]

Keno Davis may have to rent a moving van to get all his hardware from San Antonio, where the NCAA basketball tournament is being held, to Des Moines, where he is Drake's coach. Keno was named the Chevrolet National Division I College Basketball Coach of the Year by CBS-TV this evening. He received the honor at halftime of the UCLA-Memphis semifinal round game in the NCAA tournament. It's Davis' sixth coach of the year award after taking the Bulldogs to a 28-5 record that included the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and postseason championships and a first-round loss to Western Kentucky, 101-99, in the Big Dance. He was named the Associated Press coach of the year yesterday. Davis was presented the Chevrolet award by General Manager Ed Peper in the Alamodome. Davis has also been honored by CollegeHoops.net, Basketball Times, the Sporting News and the U. S. Basketball Writers Association. He also is a finalist for the Naismith National Coach of the Year, the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year and the Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year. Not a bad rookie season, huh?

Awards Continue Rolling In--Drake's Keno Davis Is Named AP Coach Of the Year; He and His Dad, Tom, Are First Father-Son Duo To Win the Honor

We're all well aware by now how impressive Drake's basketball team was this season. Equally impressive are the honors that are coming the way of first-year head coach Keno Davis. Keno, who led the Bulldogs to their first NCAA appearance since 1971, was selected the Associated Press college coach of the year. The 36-year-old Davis and his father, Tom, whom he succeeded at Drake, are the first father-son duo to win the national coach of the year award. Tom Davis was at Iowa when he won it in 1987. "I remember seeing this trophy when my father won it and thinking, except for championships, there couldn't be anything better to win," the AP quoted Keno as saying in San Antonio, TX, where the Final Four starts tomorrow. Keno led Drake to a school-record 28 victories, its first top-25 ranking since 1975 and its first NCAA tournament berth since 1971. He becomes the second straight first-year coach to win the award. Like Washington State's Tony Bennett last season, he succeeded his father as head coach. Keno, [shown in the AP photo, talking to reporters in San Antonio after winning the award]] an assistant to his father for four seasons, took a team picked to finish ninth in the Missouri Valley Conference to the league's regular-season and tournament titles and its first national ranking since 1975. Davis is the second straight first-year head coach -- and second straight son who succeeded his father -- to win the award, following Washington State's Tony Bennett last season. "I don't want to speak for Tony, but since we were assistants we knew the players, recruited the players and that made the transition easier," Davis said. Bill Hodges of Indiana State in 1979 was the only other first-year coach to win the award, and he is the only other coach from the Missouri Valley Conference to have won it. Davis received 29 votes from the 72-member national media panel that selects the weekly top 25. Bo Ryan, who led Wisconsin to the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles, was second with 14. Bruce Pearl of Tennessee got six votes and John Calipari of Memphis and Matt Painter of Purdue each had five. Davis was an assistant to Pearl at Southern Indiana from 1995-97. "Bruce Pearl taught me to work hard and at full speed," Davis said. The Bulldogs, a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament, lost, 101-99, on an overtime buzzer-beating 3-pointer to Western Kentucky in the first round. "I was hoping not to hear about that shot again, but this was a season of unselfish players succeeding," Davis said. Drake, which lost four starters from last season's 17-15 team, finished with a school-record 28-5 record this season. With a starting lineup that featured two former walk-ons, including conference player of the year Adam Emmenecker, Drake won a school-record 21 straight games. The AP award was Keno's fifth coach of the year honor. Yesterday, he was named the CollegeHoops.net coach of the year, and he also was honored by Basketball Times, the Sporting News and the U. S. Basketball Writers Association.

*

'PROGRAM OF THE YEAR'

In addition, Drake has been named the CollegeHoops.net basketball Program of the Year. Texas was runner-up and Davidson was named the CollegeHoops.net Mid-Major Program of the Year. "By now, Drake's surprise success has been discussed many times over," said Shawn Siegel, editor of CollegeHoops.net. "The 28-5 record, the Missouri Valley Conference championship, the top-25 ranking. The unknown players like Adam Emmenecker turning in all-star seasons, and a first year coach earning national coach of the year plaudits. But every time you read about the success of Keno Davis' squad, the more shocking it truly seems. Here at CHN, we pride ourselves on our top quality season preview and preseason rankings. Yet when it came to Drake, like everyone else, we were completely wrong. 165th place was our prediction and we were only about 140 places off. In fact, Drake was projected to be 85 places worse than the second-lowest team (Western Kentucky) that ended up in our final top 40. For shocking CHN's experts and the college basketball nation, Drake is a worthy program of the year."

*

AND FINALLY....

Tyler Hansbrough had a very busy morning today in San Antonio on the biggest weekend of his basketball career. The North Carolina junior forward was selected the AP's college player of the year, an honor that came less than an hour after he was presented the Oscar Robertson Trophy by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association as its player of the year.

A Troubled Man

I've got to admit I thought long and hard before deciding to write anymore about my very good friend Lute Olson.

Olson, of course, is regarded as America's best basketball coach -- at least by himself and his family.

But right now he's a troubled man. He's in divorce proceedings with his second wife, he recently returned after taking a season-long leave of absence as Arizona's coach, he has parted ways with the man who served as Arizona's interim coach in 2007-2008 and he insists on coaching in his 73rd year on this planet -- even though people are questioning his good sense and his health.

I've been hearing from some other friends about ol' Lute, who is shown in the photo at the left, courtesy of the Arizona Daily Star. My West Coast Correspondent reminded me that Olson's very first press conference at Arizona was 25 years ago [a champagne-and-balloons celebration I attended on the campus in Tucson], and R. H. of Des Moines writes, "Olson announced that his assistant (and interim head coach) Kevin O'Neill will not return to the staff in Tucson. Somewhere, our friend and former longtime Olson assistant Jim Rosborough has to be shaking his head in disbelief and quietly saying, 'Well, I'll be damned. The guy he replaced me with is now looking for job himself.'

"Lute, in case there are new readers to your site, threw Rosborough under the bus, so he could get O'Neill on the staff and to be the 'head coach in-waiting' after the end of last season. You said it spot-on that Jim got hosed. Now, Kevin is thinking the same thing, despite his credentials. Lute must have become allergic to head assistant coaches, because he can't see anyone coaching the Wildcats but himself."

Rosborough was on Olson's staff at Iowa before going with him to Arizona. He was dumped off his staff to make room for O'Neill prior to the 07-08 season.

Actually, the only reason I finally decided to write about Olson again was because of all the space he devoted to me in his recent book. After seeing how much ink he gave me, I figured he regarded me as his alltime favorite sportswriter.

Now it's my turn to do him a favor.

I wish Olson would go into retirement on a high note and not feel he has to keep proving himself year after year. The Tucson papers are saying this is an embarrassing way for a Basketball Hall of Fame coach to be acting but Olson, of course, doesn't pay attention to anything anybody writes or says.

So take it from me, Lute. Go smell the roses while you can. I know you read everything I write and that you pay close attention to all of it.

*

HIRING CREAN A SMART MOVE BY INDIANA

The Big Ten, a league that needs basketball help, got some when Indiana hired Marquette's Tom Crean [shown in the Associated Press photo at the right] as its new coach. I figure it'll take Crean an hour or two to get people to forget about Kelvin Sampson.

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A SUGGESTION FOR NO-NAME BALLTEAM

More from R. H. of Des Moines:

"I have a suggestion for No-Name Team playing at No-Name Ballpark: It wouldn't hurt to schedule UNI one of these days, instead of making the Iowa Hawks a yearly sacrificial lamb for the final tuneup before the regular season begins. Nah, who am I kidding? I hope the players on No-Name team do well this year."

Celebrating the Holiday

One of the batboys from No-Name Ballteam showed up at my front door.

He was in full uniform.

Actually, the kid told me he's usually called the "Executive Batboy" by others on the staff.

He's in charge of the broken bats and the cracked bats, but leaves the heavy lifting to others.

"I'm here because the batboys and batgirls in the area are passing the hat to pay for Mike Gartner's new tricycle," the kid said.

"Who's Mike Gartner, and what new tricycle?" I asked.

"Gartner owns No-Name Ballteam, and he plans to ride a tricycle around the bases before tonight's exhibition game against the University of Iowa at No-Name Ballfield," the kid explained. "We think it's very timely because, if he rides the trike on the night No-Name Ballteam plays the Hawkeyes, maybe people won't dislike him so much in Iowa City.

"K-Mart has a trike that's a Blue Light Special for $19. It's even got tassels on the handlebars.

"Let that clown pay for his own tricycle," I said. "He's got plenty of money because he's been gypping people for years. He's in everybody's pockets but his own."

"I know," the kid said. "I see it and hear about it every day. That's one reason he's become the most hated man in the state."

"Well, I'm not giving any money for Gartner's tricycle, but explain to me why he's planning to do it anyway," I said.

"He likes to celebrate April Fool's Day because he's the original April fool," the kid said. "He writes about it in his newspaper and sometimes on No-Name Ballteam's website.

"Now he's peddling this story to the news media about how he plans to ride his trike around the bases. He thinks a couple of his three friends and all of his enemies will snow up and make it a big crowd at No-Name Ballfield.

"He plans to wear a bow-tie, a ballcap that says 'No-Name' on the front, striped shorts, an orange tanktop, knee-length argyle socks, kneeguards, shoes with buckles on them and, of course, a helmet."

"Why the kneeguards?" I asked.

"In the event he falls off the trike rounding second base," the batboy explained.

"Hey, that'll be quite an April Fool's Day at No-Name Ballfield," I said. "The paper might even drag Don Ultang out of retirement, or George Yates out of his grave, to take the pictures."

"Sounds great to me," the kid said. "I'm also hoping channel 5 sends a camera to No-Name Ballfield. The owner loves to be on TV. If he knows that's happening, he'll put on a clean tanktop."

That's sickening.

Happy holiday anyway.