CHUCK BROYLES

If you haven’t read my article yet that ran in Sunday’s paper about the current state of the Pittsburg State football program, please check it out here.

I went on the road early last week to head to southeast Kansas, first to Pittsburg to talk to several people for the article, including head coach Chuck Broyles, and then to Parsons to meet with Wayne Gilmore, who runs www.teamkong.net, a PSU fan site. You could say the whole trip was born out of PSU’s three-game losing streak to start MIAA play, but it’s bigger than that.

So … what was the impression I came away with?

Mainly, Coach Broyles is still the man. Three-game losing streak be damned, he still runs that town, although it’s not necessarily Shangri-La anymore.

Here’s how it went down:

I met with Assistant AD Dan Wilkes first, who was my de facto tour guide for the day. First was an interview with Dennis Gatewood, who is the Gorilla Club President. He’s been going to games for over 30 years, and his message was pretty clear: if you’re not with us, you’re against us. Dude doesn’t have a whole lot of patience for bandwagon-type fans. Ended with him, headed down to the weight room to talk to Kendall Fisher, a Garden Plain product and stud wideout for PSU. On the way, I passed former QB Mark Smith in the hall, who is now the QB coach for the Gorillas. That was cool. Talked to Kendall for a few minutes (pulled him out of the weight room) and I could tell the losses had worn on him. If you’re around athletes long enough you kind of get a feel for when something’s weighing on them, and I definitely felt that way after talking to him, especially when he said he’d been hearing stuff in his classes. Ouch.

Then I went to meet with PSU president Steve Scott. He straight up told me he didn’t make it a practice to talk about sports, so I guess that was his way of telling me I’m lucky to get an interview. His office … wow. It’s nice to be King, right? OH, and there was also a Lane Lord sighting in the parking lot on the way to see the prez. Think they’re happy to have him there? Lane Lord, that is.

Then it was time to meet with CCB.

Now here’s the thing about interviewing Coach Broyles … he’s Chuck Broyles. And he knows it. Here’s a snippet from the first couple of minutes we talked:

ME: So there’s things that people are saying about the program, about how it’s fallen off a bit and maybe they’ve got some questions about the direction it’s headed in.

CHUCK: Well if they’re saying it, they’re not saying it to me.

ME: Probably not.

And we went from there. He talked to me for a good 10-15, answered every question, and didn’t avoid any topic I brought up. And I respect that. I mean, we’re talking about a guy who once told me he was going to watch Smokey and the Bandit on the PSU jumbotron in the offseason. In the words of my generation … how player is that?

After my interview with CCB, I hit a sports bar (not for drinks, people) to meet with a couple of fans for lunch, then it was off to Parsons, where I met with Gilmore at his optometry office because, well, he’s an optometrist. Wayne was really insightful — no rah, rah, nothing like that, just straight talk. And he gave the story an angle it had been missing to that point.

Then it was back to the ICT and my beautiful apartment in Old Town. Just kidding, it’s not that nice.

Like I said, give my story a read if you have a chance.

Yours truly,

TA

-TA

Here’s how it breaks down — an anonymous bowl committee set up a game, the Mid-America Bowl — that was supposed to be played at Wichita State’s Cessna Stadium on Dec. 6, 2009. The NJCAA said that the powers-that-be behind this game called them and said it wasn’t going to go off, and the national office didn’t get much more than that.

But, that leaves two bowl games left in Kansas. The Citizens Bank Bowl in Pittsburg (Dec. 9) that will be played at PSU’s Carnie Smith Stadium, and the Salt City Bowl in Hutchinson. Presumably, these are bowls set up to facilitate the local schools — Fort Scott for the game in Pittsburg and Hutchinson for the game in Hutch. Under that same presumption, I’m assuming the Wichita bowl game would have been a vehicle for Butler. And, of course, there’s a chance that one of these game could end up the national championship game featuring the Region VI champion, because hey, that’s where the champ has come from the last two years.

One thing to ponder: Who was behind the Wichita game and why did it fall apart? Were three games just too much for one state? Anyways … more on this later. But having these bowl games can only help. Gotta think Hutch’s new digs are set up perfectly for an event like this.

OUT. TA

JOHN MCCOY

Thought a little spring football update was in order, now that Emporia State and Pitt State have both wrapped things up … but first lemme let everybody know that Sunflower Slate has gone national — our post on Phillipsburg’s Dylan Frantz got picked up on a Cornell (that’s in NY, people) basketball blog. So we’re shining on the East Coast. Gotta love Cornell … one of my all-time fave authors, Thomas Pynchon, went to school there, and so did his homeboy Richard Farina. Imagine those two, circa 1958, taking a writing class from Vladimir Nabokov? Man.

Here we go:

PITT STATE

The last time I talked to Pittsburg State Chuck Broyles — January, I think — he told me John McCoy (above, pic) was going to be his starting quarterback this fall. This surprised me only that he seemed so confident, so matter of fact when he said it. What’s this laissez-faire attitude when you’re trying to replace three-year starter Mark Smith!?!? Come on coach!!!!

But I guess that’s why CCB makes the big bucks and I’m banging on this keyboard. McCoy, one of four captains for PSU next year, led the White team to a 21-14 win over the Red squad in today’s spring game at PSU, passing for 150 yards and a TD and polishing things off with a 50-yard TD run. So the Southwest Baptist transfer that hails from North Attleboro, Mass., can really play.

Other highlights: Junior safety Alex Kuhlman (a Sunflower Slate fave) dropping Red quarterback Zac Dickey a yard short of a first down on a 4th-and-14 to seal the win … Garden Plain product Kendall Fisher — another of next year’s captains — grabbing a 21-yard pass from McCoy to put his team in scoring distance … sophomore safety Sam Byrd had a team-best eight tackles and one PBU for the Red.

EMPORIA STATE

KATREL LARKINS

ESU used a modified scoring system — which lets you pit your offense against the defense. I’m usually not a big fan of this … I guess I think it’s always nice to start building that team concept from the get — but hey this works, too. In this one, the ESU defense won, 37-36. Linebacker Katrel Larkins had a pair of sacks, Adrian Abner and Zach Rampy scored TDs and Chris Poston had an interception.

And on that note, I’M OUT.

P.S.

Here’s this … so amazing … God help me I love the NBA playoffs.

So let’s get it started.

BASEBALL

TAYLOR HOUSE

Pittsburg State’s Taylor House might not be big (5-foot-9, 175 pounds), but dude packs a punch. Your MIAA hitter of the week went 9 for 14 in four games against Southwest Baptist last week, racking up a home run, two triples, seven RBIs and seven runs. Yeah … that might help his stats a little bit.

STEVEN TREVINO

Newman’s Steven Trevino was the Heartland Conference pitcher of the week after tossing a complete game win against Texas A&M International last Friday and improving to 2-1 on the season. Trevin — from League City, Texas — struck out eight, walked three and allowed just one run. The Jets look like they might be ok this year.

SOFTBALL

AMANDA DeCASTRO

What’s in the water at PSU? They’re smacking the ball around over there … freshman Amanda DeCastro doesn’t mind college ball whatsoever, hitting .526 (10-for-19) in five games last week, which meant a homer, eight RBIs and two runs at the Missouri Southern tourney, on her way to MIAA hitter of the week honors.

A LETTER FROM MOROCCO

In five-plus years working in the newspaper business, I’ve ran across a lot of people. But this guy is one of my favorites. I worked with Doug Hanna at the Garden City Telegram when I was the sports editor and he was a sports writer. He went on to write for the Hutch News, he’s a Hutch native, HCC grad and WSU grad — I wrote on the HCC national title team of 1994 for Sunday’s Run N Gun — and from somewhere in Morocco (where he’s probably sitting in a cafe watching soccer and throwing tortillas at the screen) he sent me this e-mail, which I asked him if I could put up here and he kindly obliged:

Tony,

Nice column.

I remember that 1994 team. We’d just moved to Hutchinson, I think I went to one game that year, and I remember listening to the radio the night they won the championship. We didn’t try to get tickets even though my dad had graduated from the school. I didn’t think it was a big deal at the time. They’d won in 1988, and I figured it was something that happened fairly often.

Of course, I was 11.

I didn’t really appreciate it until I spent my year at the school later.

No student body of any value, an 80-percent empty Sports Arena, and a mediocre team with one legitimate player and no NBA future.

It was nice to be on hand for Seward County’s run last year. Nice to have Kansas residents have someone to cheer for. And nice to have a memory of what it used to be like.

-Doug

Ditto to everything he said. He’s a good friend, I miss him a lot. And I’m sure if he was here we’d crack on the fact that …

JOAQUIN PHOENIX IS STILL NUTS

I’ve talked about dude on my blog plenty, but the wackiness never stops with JP. He went berserker at a nightclub in Miami this week. Here’s a look at the madness, go to the 1:35 for the fight to begin:

Enjoy:

MIAA

JULIAN DOZIER

Emporia State

Two players from this class really stick out to me — Julian Dozier, a three-star cornerback out of Texas, and former Miami of Ohio and Coffeyville C.C. offensive lineman John Buckman, who runs about 6-foot-8, 335 pounds but hasn’t played football since 2006. Dozier is a player.

Fort Hays State

Butler Community College offensive lineman Matt Bruner — also an Andover product — will get a chance to reteam with Mike Garrison, the QB from Bruner’s first national championship team (yeah, dude won two). The 6-foot-3, 285-pound Bruner was a first-team all-Jayhawk pick, and is going to help the Tigers a lot. But in the MIAA, this team needs more than just help to become competitive. It’s almost an impossible task.

FORREST STUCKY

Pittsburg State

Wow, they cleaned up. They grabbed Nate Dreiling and Forrest Stucky out of Hutchinson High, two guys I think can come in and contribute at PSU, maybe right away, although I was under the impression that one if not both of these guys had DI offers. And it never hurts to recruit kids from programs that win as much as the one at HHS. Just ask Hutch C.C. coach Rion Rhoades what he thinks about Gage McKinnis.

Washburn

This is a team that seemed like it was on the brink of breaking into the upper MIAA echelon last season, but fell just short. They’ve got one of the smaller classes, maybe because they just don’t need much. I’m interested to see how Dane Simoneau develops at QB for them. He could be pretty good, but I’m wondering what head coach Craig Schurig thinks of him missing spring football to play baseball. But hey, he’s pretty good at that, too. Can’t knock the hustle.

Playing this deep in the season has got to be a thrill. For Butler, it means another shot at the national championship after beating Hutch 29-14 in the Region VI title game on Sunday. I’m curious if anyone else sees the irony in the Grizzlies losing the No. 1 ranking in the first game of the season to Blinn, the team that would hand them a shot at the national title by beating No. 1 Navarro yesterday. I guess it all comes around. That Butler is once again going to play for the whole thing really blows me away …. it doesn’t matter who is in there, they just get it done. That Hutchinson was able to make some noise this year, I mean, they led the Grizzlies headed into the fourth quarter Sunday. Watch out for Rhion Rhoades and the Blue Dragons.

For Pittsburg State, all this week means is a shot at redemption. They beat Nebraska-Omaha in the first round of the NCAA DII playoffs last week and now they get another shot at NW Missouri, the only team that beat them this season. And they beat them pretty handily, doling out an early October, 35-10 shellacking at Arrowhead Stadium. Maryville will be a crazy place to be Saturday.

At Friends … what an opportunity for the Falcons. They’re undefeated, ranked No. 5, and get the No. 10 team and an old Monty Lewis nemesis, Northwestern Oklahoma State, on Saturday in the first round. Bear in mind that Friends has never won a playoff game. Ever. I think this is definitely a game they can win … my only concern would be that it has been a long time since the Falcons have played a tight game and this one could go that route. That’s Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Austin-Adair if you’re interested.

I’m out.

-TA

Brian Alvarez, Newman

Newman SID Brian Petrotta wrote a great story on the game.

At Pittsburg, there’s a volleyball tournament going on, and the Gorillas pulled off a shocker in the final game of the opening night with an upset of No. 3 West Texas A&M. Aside from this volleyball tournament, will there even be anyone in Pittsburg tomorrow? I highly doubt it.

Here’s the write-up on the upset:

PITTSBURG, Kan. — The No. 16 Pittsburg State Volleyball team (16-3, 4-2 MIAA) upset No. 3 West Texas A&M (16-3), Friday night at John Lance Arena. The 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-23) win marked the Gorillas second victory over a higher ranked team in a week.
The game was as close as the scores showed, with the two teams extremely close in every statistical category. Pitt State had only four more kills than West Texas A&M and only one more dig. The biggest differences that helped seal the win for the Gorillas were four service aces, while not allowing one from the Lady Buff, and outblocking WTAMU 7.5 to 2.0.
Three Gorilla players finished the night with double figure kills. Senior Linda Igbinigie (Richardson, Texas) led the team with 12. Junior Pamela Cartagena (Bayamon, P.R.) followed with 11 and senior Sammie Williams (Blue Springs, Mo.) added 10. Cartagena finished the night with a double-double as she led all players with 19 digs. Sophomore Cassie Wilson (Pittsburg, Kan.) added 16 digs. Five different players had multiple blocks in the match. Williams, Igbinigie, sophmore Valeen Finney (Clearwater, Kan.) and senior Klaudia Grelowska (Belchatow, Poland) had three blocks a piece, while senior Lindsay Quall
West Texas A&M’s Leah Flatness led all players with 19 kills. She was the only Lady Buffs’ player with double figures in that category. Katie Rickwartz and Alyssa Bromwell each had 14 digs, while Laura Prinsen and Sara Contreras each added 10. (Topeka, Kan.) added two.

And more importantly, WELCOME TO THE JUNGLETRON

I mentioned the new scoreboard at Pittsburg State in my notebook a couple of weeks ago, but for those not in the know, this $1.7 million monolith will make its debut on Saturday as the No. 7-ranked Gorillas (2-0) take on Missouri Southern (2-0) in the annual Miner’s Bowl. Pittsburg State has won two tough, close games on the road and their fans are chomping at the bit to see them and the new addition to Carney-Smith Stadium.

But unfortunately for those of you trying to get a ticket to the game, it ain’t happening.

This one’s a sellout, and Coach/A.D. Chuck Broyles is saying that for safety reasons, nobody else is getting in.
Possibly, though, he’ll make it up to you with a special screening of Smokey and the Bandit, which he says he’d like to watch on the new Jungletron if he ever gets a chance. Coach, I’m pretty sure you could swing it.

-TA