Simmons eager for training camp
Anthony Simmons is
expected to challenge
Dean Wells for starting
middle linebacker
ByTimKIass
The Associated Press
SEATTLE — Anthony Sim
mons missed the phone call from
the Seattle Seahawks. Then he
nearly missed seeing himself
picked in the first round of the
NFL draft.
After agonizing over whether to
leave Clemson after his junior
year, the 6-foot-l, 231-pound line
backer doesn’t want to miss the
start of training camp.
In a news conference and inter
view Monday, Simmons said he
told his agent, Eugene Parker, to
get him a contract before camp
opens July 18.
“I’m just ready to get out in the
field, get started, get back to play
ing the game,” Simmons said.
He said he didn’t set any mini
mum terms.
“I’m not like that,” he said.
“Whatever you guys can work
out, just as long as I'm working
out so I don’t miss out on any
thing. I think that would be just
an unfair disadvantage to myself.”
Simmons, who played inside
linebacker at Clemson despite be
ing relatively small for the posi
tion, said his' first assignment
with the Seahawks would be in
the middle in a 4-3 set. He is ex
pected to challenge Dean Wells
for starting middle linebacker.
Seahawks President Bob Whit
sitt presented him with a No. 51
jersey. Simmons said he picked
the number because it was as
close as he could get to No. 41 he
wore with the Tigers.
He said he got into football at
the urging of friends in high
school in Spartanburg, S.C., play
ing first at free safety as a sopho
more and switching to linebacker
the next year.
Simmons, who has a 5-year-old
daughter, said he would move to
Seattle alone but hoped to return
to Clemson in the next few years
to complete work on a bachelor’s
degree in marketing.
A cross and a $5 gold coin
hanging from his neck, Simmons
said he was glad to be done with
the stress “of having no concept of
what’s going to happen to me
within the next couple hours on
draft day, just knowing that one
pick’s going to decide my future.”
He had visited Miami, which
had the 29th pick; Detroit, No. 20,
and Seattle, No. 15. Parker pre
dicted he'd be taken by Cincin
nati, who had the 13th and 17th
picks. Simmons thought it would
be Detroit.
Two hours into watching the
draft with friends in a hotel room,
hunger got the better of him.
When he went into the restaurant
to get his order, he left his cellular
telephone in the car.
Returning, he saw he had re
ceived a call. He got back to the
room just in time to see his name
flash on the screen.
“Oh my, whoa! I started jump
ing up and down. I couldn’t be
lieve it. I was totally surprised,”
Simmons said.
Jumping up and down is also
something he does a lot after big
sacks and tackles.
“I’m just a player that likes to go
out and play the game hard and
especially to go out and make
plays,” he said.
That attitude loomed as large
for the Seahawks as speed and in
stinct for getting to the ball, head
coach Deimis Erickson said.
“The thing about Anthony is he
loves to play the game. He has fun
playing the game, and that’s what
it’s all about,” Erickson said.
Watching game films, the head
coach explained, “Anthony just
jumped out at you. He got excited
playing the game. When he made
plays, he was excited about mak
ing plays. That’s what football is
all about.”
Simmons said he had been told
the players he most resembles are
Ray Lewis of the Baltimore
Ravens and the now-retired Mike
Singletary.
“I tend not to model myself af
ter anyone, you know. I like to
just be my own person, I would
say, play my own game — my
game,” Simmons said. "I haven’t
kept up with the NFL too much.”
Clippers fire Fitch after four years
Bill pitch, the only man to coach more
than 2,000 games, is second in NBA
history in wins and first in losses
By Ken Peters
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Head coach Bill Fitch was fired
by the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday, two days af
ter the perennial NBA doormat finished a 17-65 sea
son.
Elgin Baylor, Clippers vice president of basketball
operations, said he planned to compile a list of can
didates for the coaching job within a few days.
Fitch, 63, coached the Clippers for four years, com
piling a 99-229 record in Los Angeles, including 36
46 and a playoff berth last season.
Hit hard by injuries this season, including the loss
of floor leader Loy Vaught, the Clippers’ record was
the third worst in the NBA, behind only Denver,
which won 11 games and fired its coach Monday,
and Toronto, which won 16 games and saw its coach
resign in February.
Fitch, who began his NBA coaching career with
Cleveland in 1970, is second in league history in
wins with 944, behind Lenny Wilkens, and first in
losses with 1,106. He is the only man to coach more
than 2,000 games.
Baylor said he told Fitch he was being let go on
Monday morning, meeting with him in the coach’s
office at the LA Sports Arena.
“We had a very long conversation,” Baylor said.
“Like any coach, he was disappointed. We talked
about a lot of things. We probably talked half an hour
or longer.”
During a telephone conference call with reporters,
Baylor said there were several reasons Fitch was dis
missed.
“If you look at the disappointing season, I know
we’ve had injuries and all, but the organization felt
we should have had a better season,” Baylor said.
“Looking at the record and the overall perfor
mance, and the direction the team was going ... we
felt it was time for a change.”
The 17 wins is the same number the Clippers had
their first year under Fitch, 1994-95. They improved
to 29-53 his second year, then were 36-46 to finish
fifth in the Pacific Division and earn a playoff spot
last year. They were swept in the first round by Utah.
This season, however, without a solid center and
with forward Bo Outlaw lost to free agency before the
season and Vaught out most of it because of back
surgery, the Clippers slipped back into their old role
of being one of pro sports’ weakest teams.
Owner Donald Sterling is moving the team after
next season from the Sports Arena to a new arena to
be built nearby. The Clippers will share the facility
with the Lakers and the NHL’s Kings, however, and
will be the building’s “third tenant” as far as sched
uling games goes.
Asked if the organization felt a coaching change
was necessary since the Clippers will be more or less
competing with the Lakers for fans, Baylor replied:
“I think absolutely. Next season and when we go into
the new arena, we certainly want to be competitive.”
Fitch and the coaches who preceded him with the
Clippers always have been hamstrung because the
organization has a history of bad draft picks and bad
trades, and of letting good players leave rather than
paying high salaries.
Golf: Baumgartner said women will improve
■ Continued from Page 7
Gomric is in fourth with a first
round 73, while eight players —
three of them Wildcats — are tied
for fifth at 74.
The No. 1 player in the country,
the Sun Devils’ Grace Park, is
among the four players tied with
Patterson for 13th.
Anika Heuser is second on Ore
gon after the first round with a 76
that ties her for 17th. Heuser is
coming off an individual title at
the Peg Barnard Invitational on
April 12, which was the Ducks’
last tournament.
The other three players compet
ing for Oregon are Kylie Wilson,
Jerilyn White and Karen Bristow.
They are placed in that order after
the first round with Wilson’s 78
landing her in a tie for 26th,
White’s 80 tying her for 37th, and
Bristow tied for 42nd with 81.
“I think you’re going to see all
five of [the Ducks] improve dra
matically [today],” Baumgartner
said. "I think Paula Patterson is
going to go out and shoot par or
better. She’s going to know that
we’re going to need her leader
ship, and she’s going to step it up
a notch.”
The second 18 holes is played
today before the tournament con
cludes with Wednesday’s final
round.
“The Pac-10 Championships is
n’t won on the first day,” Baum
gartner said. “And we feel really
confident about the next two.”
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Was your
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003149
CompoAition
tit* y*a\
1997-98
Help us reward him/her.
If you have had an excellent teacher this year in an English
Composition class (any class with a 'WR' prefix), nominate him
or her for an Outstanding Composition Teacher Award. Leave a
note or a detailed letter with the English Department or mail it to
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Eugene, OR 97403. Nomination must be postmarked or
submitted by Monday, April 27,1998.
For information, call 346-3911.
003166
AuAbua ZnCflcuulL fyfia+tce
Qfieece. 9tahf,
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study programs in Vienna, Austria; London,
England; Angers, France; Athens, Greece;
and Siena and Macerata, Italy.
• Recieve UO resident credit for courses
taken
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