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OSCAR L. COMBS
CATS' PAUSE EDITOR/PUBLISHER
CM. Newton: 'Move quickly, but don't hurry'
?As the NCAA Final Four winds down this weekend, the University of Kentucky begins a search for a new head basketball coach and, at the same time, awaits its day in court before the NCAA Infractions Committee late next month.
Normally, this time of the year is highlighted with anticipation on the April hoop signing period with an eye toward the new crop of around-the-corner seniors.
New UK athletics director CM. Newton says he will put in some telephone calls to potential UK recruits, but he concedes it may be early May before the university has a new coach signed and on campus.
Last week Newton said he liked to use an old basketball term when discussing how long it would take to hire a new coach. "Move quickly, but don't hurry," said Newton of his mission to hire a new coach.
Those comments came after UK president David Roselle announced an eight-member screening committee to come up with candidates from which Newton could
pick and recommend to the university.
Heading that committee is William B. Sturgill, a long-time Lexington businessman and a former basketball Wildcat himself.
Also on the committee are Robert Lawson, a UK law professor; Dick Parsons, a UK fund raiser who formerly was an assistant UK coach as well as a former player; Terry Mobely, a former Wildcat and currently associate vice president for alumni and development; S.T. Roach, a former central Kentucky educator and ex-high school coach; Bobby Watson, a former UK basketball Wildcat; Charles Wethington Jr., chancellor of the UK Community College system and a member of the UK Athletics Association board of directors, and Peggy Meszaros, dean of the UK College of Home Economics and a member of the athletics association board of directors.
It is a committee that sports-minded UK fans couldn't have done a better job picking if they had chosen the committee members by popular vote themselves.
The group has the intrigity of an excellent group of educators with the experience to expertly select the right person to head the basketball program into the 1990s.
There were some who feared Dr. Roselle might eliminiate basketball-oriented people from the committee. He obviously didn't. It's another sign that Dr. Roselle has his sights set squarely on running not only a clean program, but one which can compete with the very best in the nation.
Now, hopefully, fans and the public will quietly sit back and allow this blue-ribbon panel the necessary time and patience to come up with the right selection to replace Eddie Sutton.
What the University of Kentucky doesn't need right now is to be pressured into making a hurried decision like it did
New UK athletics director C. M. Newton said last week that he wants to find a basketball coach as quickly as possible, but he won't hurry.
back in 1985.
The committee should, and we believe most assurdly will, conduct extensive
background checks on all the candidates so there will be no surprises down the road.
No timetable is so important that another couple weeks or so couldn't stand if it means getting the right person. For Newton to hire a coach under any other conditions would shock us.
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?NEWTON MET WITH the local media last week during the NCAA Southeast Regional tournament and said he had interviewed no one for the job at that time.
Newton said three or four coaches came to mind when he thinks about the UK job, but that he had not contacted any of them at the time.
"They're people who are very successful and very ingrained in their programs," said Newton. "And I'm not sure they'd be interested (in UK)."
Newton said it is important for the new UK coach to want to coach at UK and for him to be fully aware of the position he is about to embark upon.
At the same time, said Newton, he is very excited about his new role at athletics director at UK and can't wait to get started. He had previously planned an overseas trip after the Final Four, but he has since cancelled it and will be back in Lexington early next week.
Newton will be attending the NCAA Final Four festivites this week in Seattle and most likely will chat with more than a coach or two at the annual National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) convention.
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?WHEN MICHIGAN WON the
Southeast Regional at Rupp Arena last weekend, there had to be heartbreak for many Kentucky fans as they watched Terry Mills snipe down the nets after the championship game. Mills was recruited hot and heavy by
coach Joe B. Hall's staff for several years before his retirement in 1985. In fact, Mills had attended UK's summer camp at least four years in the '80s and most recruiting experts had Mills locked up in a Big Blue uniform.
Mills hit it off early with Hall and made no secret of his desires to play for Hall. Mills often attended UK home games with his high school coach.
It was near the end of Mills' junior year when Hall quit in 1985 and Mills' love for UK began to slip.
It was UK associate coach Leonard Hamilton who was in charge of recruiting Mills and it appeared Mills would still attend UK under the Sutton era. But that's before Michigan put on a big push, thanks to the help of a relative (John Long) who began to encourage Mills to stay close to home and play for Michigan.
In the end, Michigan's variety of Big Blue won out. Although UK later signed Reggie Hanson, Rex Chapman and Derrick Miller, Michigan beating out UK for a player considered "in the fold" so long was the first big recruiting loss of the Sutton era, a loss most recruiting experts now believe signaled the beginning of the end.
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?AND JUST HOW bad was the Southeastern Conference this past season? Some of you laughed when I suggested the SEC didn't deserve more than three invitations in the NCAA.
Well, the SEC clubs compiled a nifty 0-5 record in the NCAA and that should be evidence enough the SEC was downright bad this season, and I guess that's why UK's 13-19 record was even more depressing. Had it been in a good year like last season or year before last, the record wouldn't be so bad, but this year?
The good news is that the SEC will be better next season and so will the Kentucky Wildcats. I just wish everyone would wait until the NCAA reveals its results before everyone starts talking about how many Wildcats will be leaving Lexington over the summer.
I believe fans will be pleasantly surprised just how few Wildcats will leave when all is said and done.
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?THIS IS THE final regular weekly issue of TCP for the season, but we will be publishing a special issue later this month in hopes of having details and full information on the new head basketball coach at UK.
That issue will be published near the end of the month, even if a new coach has not been hired by then. Our regular monthly schedule has one issue each for May. June. July and August before returning to our regular weekly schedule in September.
Throughout the summer, we'll have some features on recruiting and other events affecting the UK sports program you won't want to miss, so be watching for these.
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?HITS AND MISSES ... Appearing on a local television show last Sunday, former UK assistant Dwane Casey said his career has been shattered by the UK investigation and admits his coaching career on the college scene could be in jeopardy. Casey, however, continued to insist his innocence in the infamous Emery Worldwide Air Freight package sent by him to the father of UK star Chris Mills. Asked several times if he believed there was a SI ,000 in the package, Casey said he knows he never put any money in the package, but Casey repeatedly sidestepped the direct question ... Add the name of Gary Williams of Ohio State to the growing list of potential candidates who might be interested in the Kentucky job. One very reliable source we have says Williams would be most interested in the job ... Despite denials from the particulars, local gossip still has the names of Mike Krzyzewski of Duke and Rick Pitino of the New York Knicks at the top of fans' popularity polls ... Spring football drills are underway at the Shively Complex with the spring football game set for April 22 at Commonwealth Stadium. And when the ball is teed up at 6 p.m. for the annual spring game, one key player will be on the sidelines. Mid-dlesboro native Vic Adams, a senior-to-be who was to be penciled in as the starter at right defensive guard, has decided to hang up his cleats. A mainstay on the UK interior line last season, Adams was often bothered by pinched nerves. So on the recommendation of team physicians, Adams, who has a wife and a young son to consider, ended several months of speculation by officially announced his retirement from the gridiron over the weekend. The 6-foot-l, 280-pounder, a three-year letterman, will still figure into UK's success this season, as he will stay on to help the coaching staff work with the defensive guards.