Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 41

The Detroit News A Illinois' Shelly Clark gets a rebound, with some resistance from Duke's Chris Collins. Associated Press College Basketball Scores Bob wojnowski Michigan 83 PennSt.95 Kansas 81 71 Vandenbilt73 Massachusetts 75 Duke 70 Illinois 65 Penn91 Ohio St. 71 Arkansas 94 Missouri 71 -AS 4e 3 Wisconsin 70 Indiana 84 Georgetown 74 5 Texas Tech 65 Evansville63 DePaul68 1 'Section Sunday, December 4, 1994 Nick Saban: MSU's New Coach 1 jU uimuju MSU names Browns' defensive whiz coach By Dave Dye The Detroit News EAST LANSING Michigan State football fans have a new favorite NFL team. It's whoever is playing the Cleveland Browns. The sooner the Browns end their season, the sooner Nick Saban can go to work for MSU.

Saban, 43, was introduced Saturday by MSU President Peter McPherson as the Spartans' next football coach. He replaces George Perles, who was fired Nov. 8. Saban, an MSU assistant coach from 1983-87 and the defensive coordinator during the '87 Rose Bowl season, is the defensive coordinator for Cleveland. The Browns are tied for first place in the AFC Central Division and will likely make the playoffs.

"I can't be totally committed to Michigan State until our season is over," Saban said. "The assistant coaches I hire will have to carry the ball while I do that. "It's imperative that I get people in place who can recruit. We have to get them on the road right away. Please see MSU, 1 2E i I.

mmmm )' I 1 1 fi re-1 mni sd zJLL Sr mI i i 0 ii ifT? 1 -J a n-r- Ti iM inn Analysis At end, MSU president had two solid choices By Lynn Henning The Detroit News At the end of a long and sometimes clumsy search for a new football coach at Michigan State, Peter McPherson at least had what he wanted: A choice of two excellent candidates to succeed George Perles, and the chance to hire his own man, to put his personal stamp as MSU president on a major university's big box-office identity its football program. That he nearly lost both top candidates Fran Ganter and Nick Saban late in the game was simply one of the risks taken by a new university president who had never before been part of a process as sticky, or as feverishly followed, as a major school's hunt for a new football coach. The drama ended late Friday night when MSU hired Saban away from the Cleveland Browns 36 hours after he had threatened to take himself out of contention. In piecing together chronology and developments that led up to Saban's appointment, MSU sources close Please see SABAN, 12E By not trying to recapture MSU past, Saban puts emphasis where it should be on a bright future EAST LANSING No, he probably wasn't the first choice. No, he isn't an offensive whiz.

No, he isn't glib or gregarious, funny or flippant. But when you understand what Nick Saban isn't, and accept what he is, you'll realize he was the safest choice to lead Michigan State's football program. He might even be the best choice. Into a sickly program weakened by years of strife, Saban brings energy and intensity, enthusiasm and smarts. He's young enough (43) to build around, experienced enough not to fool around.

For the first time in 12 years, MSU has a head coach more interested in the future than in recapturing the past. Not once during Saban's 50-minute news conference did he mention Biggie Munn or Duffy Daugherty. Only once did he mention Michigan, suggesting he's neither hiding from the instate battle, nor consumed by it. And when George Perles' name surfaced, Saban dismissed it, politely and succinctly. "It's going to be difficult, but this program must be reviewed from top to bottom," said Saban, who coached under Perles from 1983-87.

"It starts with attitude." The link to MSU's recent past must be broken, and Saban seems eager to break it. Architect of the Cleveland Browns' highly rated defense, Saban might not send chills of excitement down MSU spines, but he should help dissolve the chill that paralyzes MSU's athletic department. To those who clamored for a bigger name with a bigger resume, I have a simple question: Who? Bill McCartney was approached and made it clear he was taking a year off. Penn State offensive coordinator Fran Ganter, likely the top choice, wasn't vitally interested in the job, which should have eliminated him immediately. Colorado assistant Rick Neu-heisel was too young and too big a risk.

None of the other candidates had any better credentials than Saban's. Saban was defensive coordinator on MSU's last outstanding team, the 1987 squad that won the Rose Bowl. He departed after that season, giving him the perfect perspective, the one university president Peter McPherson sought. "(Saban) knows Michigan State, but at the same time, he's been gone long enough to give us a fresh beginning," McPherson said, the most revealing statement he made all day. That's why the buck and the jokes now stop at the feet of a bespectacled man whose only head-coaching experience was the 1990 season at Toledo.

He made no brash statements, no big promises Saturday. He talked in vagaries of "toughness" and "discipline," and occasionally, his eyes flashed and his intensity flared. After years of Perles' muddled musings and hidden agendas, there was a respectability about Saban that was refreshing. I'm not sure he'll make MSU a Big Ten power, but I'm fairly certain he won't make the program a bigger joke than it's become. He knows the situation he's entering.

If he had feigned blindness to MSU's in-house squabbling, I wouldn't believe him and I wouldn't trust him. Now, don't be misled. There are legitimate concerns about Saban. His purported aspirations to' be an NFL head coach are troublesome, considering that's where the rancor began over Perles. His defensive background doesn't thrill people bored by years of conservative game plans, which means his choice of offensive coordinator will be his biggest hire.

On this day, MSU made its biggest hire. Nothing fancy, just fresh. Fresh enough to suggest the Spartans finally have reason to look ahead, instead of lag behind. Associated Prext Nick Saban, defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns and ex-MSU assistant, says he feels he's 'coming High School Girls Basketball State Finals Class A Florida tastes Sugar, beats Alabama, 24-23 Flint Northern 46, Detroit King 32 Class Dearborn Divine Child vs. Flint Powers (late) Associated Press ATLANTA All season long, No.

3 Alabama had straddled the line between victory and defeat. Saturday, the Crimson Tide crossed over it. Danny Wuerffel hit Chris Doer-ing with a 2-yard touchdown pass with 5:29 remaining and Judd Davis kicked the deciding extra point to give sixth-ranked Florida a 24-23 victory in the Southeastern Conference championship game, snuffing out Bama's hopes of a second national title in three years. The Gators (10-1-1) earned their second straight SEC title and a rematch with arch-rival Florida State in the Sugar Bowl, while Alabama (11-1) will have to settle for the Citrus Bowl against Ohio State. The Tide, which had beaten its 10 major-college opponents by a total of 80 points, went to the fourth quarter trailing for the fifth time this season.

But the cardiac kids Please see FLORIDA, Page 3E Class Bishop Borgess 58, Grandville Calvin Chrst. 39 i Dumars plays leadership role, and he doesn't mind it at all Class Portland St. Patrick 43, Painesdale Jeffers 30 Dumars, the Pistons' 31 -year-old All-Star and captain, provides more than leadership to a young and relatively inexperienced team. He also must carry much of the offensive and defensive burden. At times, he has to take charge when things get confused.

But Dumars is always prepared, as he was Saturday night when the Pistons played the Phoenix Suns at The Palace. The job requires leadership and tact because he is dealing with some fragile egos. Most of the time, Dumars leads Please see PISTONS, 10E By Bill Halls The Detroit News Joe Dumars has a larger load to carry this season, but he doesn't mind because he hasn't had this much fun since the Pistons won back-to-back NBA championships at the turn of the decade. This year's team will lose its share of games, but it plays hard and hustle, even when things are falling apart. 'It's not like last season when some guys would just give up in the middle of a game," Dumars said.

"These guys play hard. They want to learn how to win." Finals coverage on Pages 7-8E News Dream Team on Page 9E nm O'Neill I The Detroit News Detroit King's Courtney Anthony shoots over LaShawn Grays of Flint Northern. Anthony's five points led King in 46-32 loss..