Tuesday, June 14, 1988A'he Battalion/Page 7
Sports
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New kids on the block
Brown leaves KU Jayhawks
for San Antonio, huge salary
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Kan
sas University basketball coach
Larry Brown, saying yes to a
“once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,”
resigned Monday to become head
coach of the ailing San Antonio
Spurs of the NBA, officials said.
Brown, 47, who guided the
Jayhawks to the NCAA
championship last season, report
edly will become the highest-paid
coach in the league, agreeing to a
$3.5 million, five-year contract.
“I will do everything I possibly
can to provide a great basketball
team,” Brown said at a news con
ference in San Antonio. “I don’t
know about a win-or-loss record,
but we are committed to doing
the best.”
Brown brought with him his
Kansas assistant coaches Ed Man
ning and Alvin Gentry and said
he hopes former assistant Lee
Rose would fit into the organiza
tion.
Second-year coach Bob Weiss,
who compiled a 59-105 record,
was fired June 7 by new Spurs
owner B.J. “Red” McCombs.
“The offer at San Antonio was
simply a once-in-a-lifetime op
portunity which I couldn’t turn
down,” Brown said.
“Kansas has been a very special
place to me,” he said. “And it was
a very difficult decision to leave. I
can’t believe that any college
coach in the country has a better
situation than I did at KU.”
McCombs said, “I believe I
have selected the very best basket
ball coach in the world. Larry has
always been in the hero category
to me for what he has done not
only on the court, but with the
lives he has influenced.”
McCombs said he spoke to
Brown on June 7 but did not
pressure him into making a quick
decision.
“We initially discussed what my
feelings were for San Antonio . . .
and the significance of this fran
chise for San Antonio,” McCombs
said. “We spent very little time
talking about basketball.
“We spent a lot of time talking
about Larry and his concerns and
his feeling for the people in Kan
sas, the kids he recruited.”
McCombs, has said he wants to
change the direction of the team
and would like to increase indi
vidual gate revenue, which last
year averaged at $78,000, com
pared to the league average of
$170,000.
Brown, meanwhile, will inherit
former 7-1 Navy center David
Robinson, who has signed a $26
million, eight-year contract with
the Spurs. Robinson is finishing
his two-year commitment in the
Navy and will be available in
1990.
Shortly after the Jayhawks won
the national title, Brown was of
fered and accepted the UCLA
coaching job, but changed his
mind when he returned to Kan-
But the Spurs’ offer was differ
ent, he said.
“After I made the decision not
to go to UCLA and stay at Kan
sas, I had no intention to consider
any other job,” Brown said in the
statement. “But the San Antonio
situation presented itself and I
didn’t think it would be fair to my
family not to consider it.”
Chaney returns to Houston
to run Rockets, calm Akeem
HOUSTON (AP) — Don
Chaney, named head coach of the
Houston Rockets because of his
communicating skills, delivered a
quick message to critics of star
center Akeem Olajuwon: Get off
his back.
Chaney, a former star at the
University of Houston, signed a
three-year contract Monday to
coach the Rockets and one item
he stressed was that he would
have no trouble icommunicating
with Olajuwon.
“To be honest, I’m tired of
hearing all the negative talk about
Akeem,” Chaney said. “You’ll
have to ease up on him a little.”
Olajuwon criticized former
coach Bill Fitch, who was fired
June 6, and also publicly crit
icized his teammates during the
tension-filled 1987-88 season.
“You can’t play team ball and
talk in public about your team
mates,” Chaney said. “That’s a
no-no.”
But Chaney said he under
stood how frustration can mount
in a player when a season goes
sour.
about frustration,” he said.
“Sometimes you say things you
later regret. I’m sure if you asked
Akeem today to make the same
statement, I don’t think he’d do
it.
“If one of you has never said
anything he regretted, you
should pat yourself on the back
because you are very pure.”
“I’ve been a player and I know
Chaney said he planned to talk
with each Rockets player individ
ually and that Olajuwon would
prooably be the first.
Chaney, 42, former head coach
of the Los Angeles Clippers, has
been an assistant coach for De
troit and Atlanta.
Fitch was fired after leading
the Rockets to the NBA playoffs
in four of his five seasons as head
coach. The Rockets reached the
finals in 1986 but dropped to
third in the NBA Western Divi
sion last season and finished
fourth this past season.
Chaney said the Rockets could
be competitive with their present
personnel but were “one or two
players away” from challenging
for the league title.
“We need some outside shoot
ing,” Chaney said. “We need a
guard at the No. 2 spot who can
shoot and a power forward who
can rebound and shoot.”
The Rockets ended the Twin
Towers era early this season
when they traded Ralph Sampson
to the Golden State Warriors.
They became a half-court team,
centered around feeding the ball
to Olajuwon, and faded in the lat
ter part of the season.
The new Rockets will be a run
ning team that plays tough de
fense, Chaney said.
“If you start with a player like
Akeem, you can find a support
ing cast to do the job,” he said.
Forward Rodney McCray had
an off-season, but Chaney said he
wouldn’t allow another off-year.
“I love Rodney McCray and I
love his type of game,” Chaney
said. “He’s the type of player you
need on the floor as a starter.”
The Rockets still are searching
for a player personnel director, a
position Fitch also held. Rockets
assistant coach Rudy Tomjano-
vich was in line for the job but de
cided to continue coaching.
Great Scott! — Astro hurler
delivers second one-hitter
HOUSTON (AP) — Houston’s
Mike Scott is the latest to learn that
the ninth inning has become no
man’s land for no-hit pitching ef
forts this season.
Scott was on the brink of his sec
ond career no-hitter Sunday when
Atlanta’s Ken Oberkfell lined a sin
gle to right field with two out in the
ninth inning. Scott then retired Ger
ald Perry to end the game for his
second career one-hitter and a 5-0
victory.
But it made Scott the sixth pitcher
this season to lose a no-hitter in the
ninth inning.
“There’s no looking back, but I’m
sure I will,” Scott said. “Sure, I
wanted to throw that no-hitter.”
Scott retired the first 13 batters he
faced until Dion James reached base
on shortstop Rafael Ramirez’s field
ing error in the fifth inning, spoiling
Scott’s hope for a perfect game.
Ozzie Virgil reached base on third
baseman Craig Reynolds’ throwing
error in the eighth inning.
James and Virgil were the only
baserunners until Oberkfell lined a
hit to right field in the ninth.
“I’m sure no-hitter was on every
body’s mind late in the game,”
Oberkfell said. “His stuff was out
standing. He threw a great one-hit
shutout.”
Scott has been accused by several
managers of scuffing baseballs, but
Braves manager Russ Nixon never
challenged Scott.
Walling raps
game-winner
HOUSTON (AP) — Denny
Waiting’s run-scoring single
broke an eighth-inning tie as the
Houston Astros beat the Atlanta
Braves 6-5 Monday night.
With the score tied 5-5, Kevin
Bass led off the eighth with a sin
gle off Jose Alvarez, 2-2. Bass
then stole second and scored on
Walling’s first game-winning hit
of the season.
Juan Agosto, 3-0, got the vic
tory with one inning of relief.
The victory moved Houston
into a virtual first-place tie in the
National League West with Los
Angeles. The Astros trail L.A. by
two percentage points.
“It doesn’t do any good unless you
just want to get some time in front of
the camera,” Nixon said. “We’ve got
ten pails of balls of his and others,
but nobody cares or does anything,
so why bother with it.”
Instead, Nixon said he thought
Scott pitched an outstanding game.
“I tip my hat to him,” Nixon said.
“He’s capable of doing that every
time out. We need more like him in
baseball, but I know the hitters
wouldn’t say that.”
Dale Murphy, who was hitless in
three tries and was Scott’s eighth,
and final, strikeout victim, said
Scott’s control was at a peak.
“He had control and stayed ahead
of the hitters,” Murphy said. “When
the pitcher gets behind, the hitter
has a good chance. Today he pitched
ahead the whole game and had good
stuff.”
Scott, 7-2, won his first six games
this season, his best start ever. But he
had thrown poorly and lost his last
two decisions before Sunday’s game.
He pitched four innings in losing to
the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-1 last
Wednesday.
“When you build up a lot of in
nings, you just may need some rest,
and after getting knocked out early
against LA, I got some,” Scott said.
“I felt rested and better today, and
the results were better.”
Scott pitched a no-hitter against
San Francisco on Sept. 25, 1986, that
clinched the National League’s
Western Division title.
He had a one-hitter in a 4-0 vic
tory over Los Angeles April 15,
1987.
The Astros maintained the tradi
tional silence on the bench while
Scott was working on his no-hitter.
“You don’t dare mention it in the
dugout,” teammate Terry Puhl said.
“In the eighth inning, you really
think about it.”
And the ninth?
“The ninth inning really gets ha
iry,” Puhl said.
Sierra heats West race
as June weather warms
ARLINGTON (AP) — Ruben Sierra’s idol is the late
Roberto Clemente.
In games like he had Sunday night, Sierra even looks
like the former Pittsburgh Pirates’ star, the greatest
player Puerto Rico ever produced.
The switch-hitting Sierra served a Dave Stewart fast
ball deep into the rightfield stands to give the Texas
Rangers a 3-2 victory over the Oakland A’s.
It was Sierra’s 10th homer of the year and his third in
the last four games.
If Sierra could only play all of his baseball games in
the simmering summer.
“Once the weather warms up, Ruben warms up,”
Rangers’ manager Bobby Valentine said. “He’s starting
to put up the kind of numbers he put up last year.”
Sierra, signed as a free agent by Texas in 1982, had a
.263 average with 169 hits, 109 runs batted in, and 30
home runs last year.
He became only the sixth player in major league his
tory to post so many homers and RBIs before he turned
22.
And this was after he got off to a bad start in the cold
and damp spring when he had only five hits in his first
36 at-bats.
“I got off to a bad start again this year, but I hate to
blame it on the weather,” Sierra said. “I’m just being
more selective at the plate. Before, I was swinging at
bad pitches and getting behind on the count. I’m stay
ing back and using my hands more.
hot.’
‘I guess I do always get hot when the weather gets
Sierra is definitely on another one of his highs.
He has hit safely in 24 of 27 games and has 27 RBIs
in the last 18 games.
“It seems that when Ruben gets going the whole team
gets going,” Valetine said.
Sierra still resides in Rio Piedras and like many
Puerto Rican youngsters grew up imitating Clemente’s
Hall of Fame swing.
“I’ve been told a hundred times I swing like he did,”
Sierra said. “I just hope some day I can have the same
results he did.”
The Rangers’ rightfielder has a tremendous arm and
is one of the fastest players on the team.
He scored 97 runs last year, fourth highest total in
club history.
Sierra also had two inside-the-park homers, attesting
to his great speed. He also stole 16 bases.
“Ruben has it all,” Rangers’ general manager Tom
Grieve said. “He can hit, run and field. When he puts it
all together he can be very exciting. He can just domi
nate a game.”
Currently, Sierra and the Rangers are in fourth place
in the American League Western division. Texas trails
division-leading Oakland by 10 games.
However, the Rangers would be in first place — if
they and Sierra played all their games in the June heat.
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