-sports
Spring football practice begins Brooks era
By MIKE MARINO
Ot the Emerald
On the night of December 23, ten
thousand Mac Court Ians were applauding
But they cheered not in appreciation ol win
ning basketball, but rather at that moment in
hope ot winning football That was the in
troduction Rich Brooks received as
Orogon's new head football coach
Brooks is no miracle worker, as he’d be
the first to toll you But he is very much his
own man, and he brings with him a fresh
new outlook on the entire program, which
begins its customary spring practice this
Saturday
The former OSU quarterback comes to
Orooon in his first head coaching role after
assisting the Beavers, the Los Angeles
Rams, the San Francisco 49er s, and most
recently UCLA, where he coached linebac
kers and special teams
"I hope to incorporate all the learning I've
done working for and with people like Terry
Donahue, Tommy Prothro, and Dick
Nolan," says Brooks But I've also got to
use my personality, my own way of doing
things I can t be something I'm not
All this doesn't mean that Brooks won t
change much. Indeed, going into
tomorrow s spring practice he has some
definite moves he plans to install im
mediately Offensively, we're going to in
corporate the option, with the emphasis on
a stronger running game, he explains
"Last year the offensive line concentrated
on pass blocking This year we re going to
move to the one-on-one, "knock-them-off
the-line" block."
Of course, installing the option depends
largely on the backfield you have to work
with, and Brooks will take a good look at
them this spring, with emphasis on quarter
back
"Right now it's wide open as to who will
start Brooks says unintentionally referring
to the 1976 motto. I hope Jack (Hender
son) can do it. He's a good thrower, but an
average runner . he’ll never be a great
one But he s showed that he is more than a
good quarterback, and now he II have to
show he can run the option '
While the offense undergoes restructur
ing, the defense, according to Brooks, is the
Ducks stablest factor."
"It needs some improvement, but right
now defense is our strongest aspect, he
claims. 'They're good, and have been in
the past because they're hard-nosed.'
And so beginning tomorrow Brooks will
get his first real look at things to come
“Oregon football is not blessed; we don't
have superior talent, but the grounds are
there, he concluded. "Well just try and
build on a solid base for good football.
Mindful that miracles don t happen over
night, hopefully the fans will continue to
cheer Rich Brooks — but at Autzen
Stadium
Distances may preview NCAA’s
By STEVE GEIGER
Ot the Emerald
Saturday afternoon s dual meet
lor the Oregon men s track squad
at Washington State holds more
than meets the eyo
To some its just another dual
meet, but actually it may preview
the NCAA long distance champ
ion ships
The reason is the lirm grip both
Oregon and Washington State
have on what may amount to the
best distanco squads in the na
lion The NCAA championship
races in the 5.000 and 10.000
meters may, in theend.be nothing
more than a rerun of Saturday s
5,000 meter race between the two
schools
Leading Oregon this year in
long distance has been Alberto
Salazar, a Ireshman from Way
land, Mass . who currently has
Pac-8 bests this spring in the
5,000 and 16,000 meters
Salazar s 13 47 8 in winning the
5,000 meters against UCLA last
weekend, and his 29 03 4 in the
Ducks, Huskies looking
for first conference wins
By BAN LINDAHL
Ol the Emerald
It’ll bo two lost teams searching
tor a start when Oregon and
Washington tangle in a three
game baseball series today and
Saturday in Seattle
Both tho Huskies and Ducks are
winless on the year in Pacitic-8
Northern Division play Washing
ton was swept by Oregon State in
•allis last weekend while
tington State dominated the
Ducks at Howe Field
Against the Cougars the Ducks
nemisis was poor pitching and
sloppy defense It is no surprise,
then, that Oregon coach Mel
Krauso cites those two areas as
being the crucial to the Ducks
success against the 9-10-3 Hus
kies
"It'll come down to who gets the
well pitched games and plays the
good defense, predicted Krause,
whose club sports an 8-15 mark
Pitching will be the real key
however, as Krause has faith in
his glovemon
We haven't played well defen
sively but we have good defensive
players," stated the seven year
Oregon leader The pitchers
Linkers trail
HOUSTON — Oregon s Jon
Hesselwood carded a two
under-par 70, but Oregon still
trailed the leaders by 42 shots
after 36 holes in the All-American
Intercollegiate here Thursday
Oklahoma State leads the
event with a 576 total after two
days.
Brent Murray scored a 73 for a
148 total and Dick Shafer shot an
83 for a 157. Brian Dempsey
carded a 78 for a 158 score and
Scott Tuttle rounded out Oregon s
entries with his 76 for 159
neod lo put the ball across the
plate When they don't do that, the
detense isn t alert and it leads to
errors
Oregon s most efficient pitcher
thus far. Glenn Fisher, will get the
call to open the senes on the hill
for the Ducks, just as he did
against WSU
Fisher. 5-4 on the year, will
have to be on his game again
against the Huskies UW offers
five top grade hitler;, topped by
Mike Carey who c irries a hefty
444 batting averao. - and has dri
ven in 25 runs.
Other than Fisher. Oregon's
pitching rotation is a question
mark But regardless of who
starts, it is likely that Oregon will
need to score plenty of runs to
earn any wins
Fortunately Duck hitting has
been on the upswing lately and
offensive production doesn’t con
cern Krause
Freshman Tom Dodd has es
tablished himself as the top hitter
on the squad and is currently in
the midst of a blazing streak which
Included three hits in Oregon s win
over Willamette Wednesday
Another encouraging sign has
been the return of center fielder
Mike Connolly to his 1976 form
Connolly got off to a horrendous
start, but has been hitting with
more consistency
While Duck hitting doesn t
worry Krause, Washington’s
newborn enthusiasm does
"Washington has been down in
baseball the last five years but
under its new coach (Bob
McDonald) they have some pride
and they're hustling now,” said
Krause
But overshadowing all intangi
bles such as pride is one very real
fact: someone is going to come
out of Seattle with their first win in
Northern Division play
10.000 meters tnree weeKenas
ago have qualified him for the
NCAA meet in both events.
In fact. Oregon currently has the
top two times in the 5.000, with
Rudy Chapa trailing Salazar with
a 13:53 07 clocking and the top
four 10,000 meter times, with
Chapa, Don Clary and Terry Wil
liams following Salazar
This weekend's meet pits
Salazar and his friends against
three of the toughest competitors
anywhere
I think I have to be realistic and
say (Henry) Rono is one of the
best in the world.' Salazar said
about Washington State's
25-year-old freshman If he has a
good day. or even a bad day, he
can beat us. If he s not exactly on
par and comes in over-confident,
we can beat him "
Whether or not Rono runs the
5.000 remains to be seen, be
cause he may run in the 1,500
meters, an event WSU has not
won since Bill Dellinger took over
the head coaching job
If he doubles in those events,
he could come into the 5,000 tired,
which would be good for us. of
course, Salazar said, but added,
"he d still be strong."
Rono isn't the only Cougar who
can burn the track up on any given
day Oregon also face stiff com
petition from Samson Kimombwa.
who has the third-best Pac-8 time
in the 5,000 (13:57 6). and Joshua
Kimeto, who stands third in the
1,500 meters behind Oregon's
Randall Markey and Matt Cen
trowitz. third best in the mile and
second best in the three-mile.
"I think we have a very good
chance of beating the other two
(Kimombwa and Kimeto) in the
races they run," Salazar said.
Salazar has faced the three
Kenya natives before, running
against them in cross country last
fall. While Rono and Kimombwa
did well in the NCAA cross country
championships. Salazar failed to
finish the race
"I've changed my attitude since
then," he points out "Last fall I
had somewhat of a defeatist at
titude. I was running against them
(the Kenyans) thinking in terms of
finishing close to them But I'll be
running this Saturday thinking in
terms of how I can beat them."
Salazar is working to reach a
season peak by the NCAA champ
ionships, which will be held May
31 through June 5 in Urbana, III
He plans to run either the 5,000 or
10,000 meters.
"I don't see anyone who can
beat me in those races outside the
Kenyans or my own teammates,"
he says. "All top four to six spots
are Oregon and Washington
State. Saturday will be a good in
dicator of how we ll run against
them in June "
Ptxao by Terry Gerattis
Alberto Salazar will face a real test Saturday when he meets Washing
ton State s running Kenyans.
Women meet unknown foe
When the Oregon women's
track team began its 10-hour jour
ney to Pullman, Wash,, early
today, the Ducks were in the dark
concerning their opponent,
Washington State
For, as the women prepare for
their half of this weekend's co-ed
meet with WSU. they have no idea
what type of competition they'll
face.
WSU will enter only 18 com
petitors. but as host team they in
sist on scoring the meet 5-3-2-1
with only the top two placers from
each team allowed to score in
each event.
That means the Ducks could
sweep an event yet still pull out
eight points to WSU's possible
three, as opposed to regular dual
scoring which would allow and 8-0
scoring sweep
Therefore, the Ducks plan to
run their strongest scoring combi
nation, relying heavily on Carol
boccer opens
The University men's soccer
team will open its spring term
schedule Saturday with a 4:30
p.m. match against the Oregon
All-Stars at Autzen Stadium.
Admission is free
Amaral, Dawna Rose and Kathy
Guiney in the 100 and 200 meter
sprints, and Georgene Rose, De
liene Wikoft and Rose Ann
Klmgerman in the 400 meter dash.
Mary Officer, still pained by a
foot injury, will try the 100 meter
hurdles. Officer will also meet
WSU's Katie Gray in the long
jump. Gray has leaped 18-5 3/4 in
the event while Officer holds a
season's best of 17-4.
Kori Hasselblad, who earned
3022 points in finishing second
last Monday in a pentathlon at Lm
field, set a personal best mark
thereof 16.3 in the 100 meter hur
dles Hasselblad will shoulder that
event and high jump for Oregon
against WSU
Mary Lou Armstrong and Cheryl
Bates tackle the 400 meter hur
dles and Sandy Trowbridge,
Robin Baker and Dala Ramsey
will run the 800 for Oregon.
Ellen Schmidt and Kim Spir
hope for a one-two finish in the
1.500 and Mona McGriff and Deb
bie Roth are Oregon's 3,000
meter run entries.
Mary Stevenson and Kathy
Picknell will compete for Oregon
in the discus, while Gail Shibley.
Lesley Winbigler and Maggie
Bonn will represent the Ducks in
the shot put.