The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 57, No. 20, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 26, 1970 Page: 5 of 6
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Support requested for crucial TCU contest
By FORD HALL
Two strong opponents stand
in the way of a Southwest Con-
ference title for 1?he first place
Rice Owls: TCU and Texas
A&M. In Autry Court this com-
ing Saturday afternoon, the
Hornfrogs will undoubtedly do
everything they can to keep
their own championship hopes
alive. Then on Tuesday, Coach
Knodel's squad travels to Col-
lege Station to face last year's
champions, Texas A&M. The
Aggies and Texas Tech are only
a game behind now, so the Owls
will probably have to win one
of their two remaining games
to tie for a title. If they win
both, they can foi-get about the
l-est of the teams.
Rice played well against
Texas last Saturday night. The
Longhorns tried a variety of
defenses during the game be-
fore settlihg on a 2-1-2 zone,
but they were unable to prevent
Tom Myer and Gary Reist from
hitting on the wings. Don Sny-
der performed well coming off
the bench to run the point posi-
tion on offense, and Steve Wen-
del was also effective in his
usual relief role. The final re-
sult was a huge (for Rice)
victory \margin of 8 points.
In addition to the fine per-
formance by Rice, the game
against Texas was interesting
and/or significant in two ways.
First of all, it is becoming in-
creasingly obvious that Rice
University could increase spec-
tator comfort as well as gate*
receipts by building an arena
larger than the Rice Gym which
could be used exclusively for
basketball. The Owls are a ris-
ing power in the Southwest
Conference, so Autry Court will
probably be bulging with wan-
dering students and sweating
adults for some time to come,
until more adequate facilities
are built. Secondly, the Long-
horns' sartorial efforts bordered
on the ludicrous: several of the
Texas players looked as if they
belonged on surfboards instead
of on a basketball court. Maybe
the Texas Athletic Department
can trade in assistant coach
Bennie Lennox's car for some
new uniforms.
Texas Tech performed poorly
against Rice before 10,000
screaming partisan fans in Lub-
bock last Tuesday night, but the
Owls' efforts were even worse.
Coach Knodel's squad played
good man-for-man defense in
the first half and adequate zone
defense for part of the second,
but their inability to score and
rebound proved to be costly.
The Owls were behind for most
of the game, but pulled within
3 points with six minutes left.
However, their failure to run
the offense and rebound re-
sulted in 12 straight points for
Tech and an eventual 78 to GG
victory.
Some 25 Rice students drove
up in the rain for the Tech
game, and the team received
several good-luck telegrams
from the students and the col-
leges. Coach Knodel has asked
me to convey his appreciation
for this support and his apol-
ogies for the team's perform-
ance. He also hopes that the
student body will continue its
much-needed help by attending
the crucial game this coming
Saturday afternoon at noon.
The TCU game should be very
exciting. The Horned-Frogs are
a strong rebounding club and
can be effective on the fast
break. The latter should not
hurt too much: the Owls' pres-
suring man-for-man defense
forced several turnovers in the
Teoh game. However, if Rice
does not run its offense or hit
the offensive boards, TCU will
have several opportunities to
capitalize on missed Owl shots
by fast breaking. Coach Knodel
pointed out that the loss to
Tech was almost an instant re-
play of the earlier loss to TCU.
But those two games were
played under entirely different
circumstances. The team wants
this game very much, so the
fans should see some fired-up
Rice players this Saturday.
Come to the game early if
you wish to occupy one of the
1300 seats reserved for Rice
students.
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Astroturf money: is it necessary?
Last week the Rice Athletic
Department announced that,
from now on, the Owls would
play their home football games
on plastic grass. My first reac-
tion was one of surprise; the
fake stuff carries a price tag
of $300,000, and the athletic
department has been noted for
its ability to toss nickles around
like manhole covers.
In many respects it seems a
good move—perhaps a neces-
sary move. Rice Stadium is
under-utilized today, hosting
maybe ten games a year. Syn-
thetic turf takes more punish-
ment than the real stuff; hence,
more games—high school, All-
Star, and maybe professional—
could be played there_ if they
could be scheduled, and more
income would result. The new
surface might also attract more
fans to Rice games, although
to me the possibility of a good
game is more important than
whether- the field is concrete or
velvet.
There is also a "keep up with
the Joneses" aspect; everybody
in the SWC but Baylor will have
artificial grass next year, and
of course Cougar High plays in
the Dome. But the motivating
factor seems to have been re-
cruiting. Plastic grass might at-
tract potential footballers. More
importantly, Bo Hagan's em-
phasis tfiat the new field signi-
fies that Rice intends to remain
in big-time football should quiet
reported hints from other re-
cruiters that a boy who goes to
Rice might be stepping into a
program about to de-emphasize.
While basically pleased with
the move, I do wonder if the
money could not have been spent
better elsewhere. Look at the
pasture which serves Rice as a
baseball field.. Look at the golf
and swimming programs, which
are trying to compete in a very
rough league with no scholar-
ships and very little money for
expenses. Or if you have a
friend playing any of the minor
sports, ask him if he doesn't
feel at times that he has to go
second-class because someone
doesn't want to spend the money
to improve things. I can't help
wondering if money spent in
these places couldn't make
things much better for many
more people.
Coach Hagan replied to my
comments by pointing out that
football is the breadwinner at
Rice, as at everywhere else,
and that this was in large part
an attempt to increase revenue
in order to finance a long-range
plan to improve all sports.
But isn't it logical that the
quickest way to get more money
is scheduling games with U of
H ? With an eleventh football
game and two more basketball
games being permitted by the
SWC. next year, the Coogs
could be moved right into the
schedule; All a U of H series
promises is a great natural ri-
valry which would pack either
team's home place without in-
evolving travel expenses. On the
other -hand one wonders how
destitute any program can be
if it can afford to spend money
in $300,000 lumps.
In short, either they are hurt-
ing for money or they are not.
If they are, it seems that there
(Continued on Page 6)
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the rice thresher, february 26, 1970—page 5
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Murray, Jack. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 57, No. 20, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 26, 1970, newspaper, February 26, 1970; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245077/m1/5/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.