1883-P-age 4B SPORTS COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN. Sunday. May 1. Martin receives Pied Piper off Amherst 3-ga- me suspension Ex-Massachus- etts homelife From our wlr. nric8 coach adjusts to quiet The Boston Glob New York Yankee manager Bflry Martin was hit with a three-gam- e suspension by American MacPhaQ after altercations I AMHERST, Mass. His supposed nervous breakdown League president Lee rumors with umpire Drew Coble Friday night in Arlington, came as news to him. He had heard the about Texas. marital problems. He knew they were saying that he'd you The suspension will not take effect until a hear- gone into seclusion like a Berkshire hermit and wouldn't 'The theory that requested by Martin, takes place shortly after talk to anybody. ing, you people teO in 9, when Yankees return to New York. "We have in our prayers," him is not May the McLaughlin can't win here Martin, who left the dugout three times to pro- church. "I appreciate that," Tom tells calls, was ejected Friday night when he kicked them, but everything's fine. Really. He's enjoying being test wife two young sons. hills like dirt on Coble. The third time, Martin came on the home with his and their The true. It's not a field wearing his cap backwards. are about to bloom. Job prospects are good. The crazi-nes- s has evaporated. Valley After eight years in the crucible of college basketball Death where Golf coaching, McLaughlin is sampling the normal life. ago who Julius Boros and Miller Barber, playing near ef-- He had come here two years as the man had you've been down for 5-un- I fortless golf, teamed for a der 65 to pull into a played with The Doctah, who had been to the NTT during with Australians Peter Thomson and Kel Nagle the glory years, who knew what it was like to win 20 tie was dynamic young alumnus who was long that you can't third-roun- games. He the so the d lead in the $485,000 Legends of for up out of doldrums Golf at Austin, Texas. HoDts Stacy, who has led going to pull UMass basketball the and pump excitement back in. 9-2- 16-- get out of it.' Last month, in the wake of a 0 season 40 over two years McLaughlin resigned. Officially it was vol- untary, but the inside wisdom says he probably would Tom McLaughlin have been fired if he hadn't stepped down. 2-over-- from the outset, survived a par 74 to carry a His departure is a delicate subject here, particularly two-sh-ot lead over Kathy WbJtwortb and Jan Ste- because one of his assistants, Ron Gerlufsen, was picked phenson into the final round of the Women's Inter- to replace him. Some of McLaughlin's colleagues at oth- national at Hilton Head Island, 5.C. Leading er schools talk privately about lack of support, even dis- money winner Lanny Wadktas overcame an early ' loyalty from below. One newspaper used the word "sub- , i stumble, subdued the wind tunnel atmosphere of marined." 3-un- the finishing holes and shot a der 68 that gave Some players didn't like him, and there have been ru- one-strok- e Duquesne questions about the program remain. Can UMass be him a cushion over Hal Sutton and Tom of expense irregularities. But McLaughlin will not house at Curry Hicks, UMass beat for the first mors me 38-ga- los- competitive in the Atlantic 10? Or is it, as one rival coach Purfcer going into the final round of the Byron Net program. He loves time in five seasons and ended a conference say anything he feels might hurt the went way whole two seasons, muses, "a program that changed leagues and died." son Golf Classic at Irving, Texas. UMass, says, he wants the team to win because ing streak. It that for the he and with UMaas winning or coming respectably close at Skeptics talk about the natural barriers. The historic "the students deserve a good program." losing badly anywhere else. inability to lure Ihs great Massachusetts kid beyond He 31, all, and not removed from them. home, but often is that far 7-2- Soccer after 0, A gym belongs in the Smithsonian. And 6-- The record that first year might have been but it Worcester. that McLaughlin was Class of 1973, the varsity captain, a 4 re- the perceived geographic isolation. The North American Soccer League plans to swingman whom coach Jack Leaman remem- was still the best in four years, better than the previous as- former seasons "Things so bad, we only UMass vive indoor soccer next season and abandon its good His teams went 57-2- 3 two combined. bad been It shouldn't be impossible to bring in recruits, bers as "a giver, a sacrificer." way to sociation with the Major Indoor Soccer League, an and twice played in the NIT back when the NIT had one go," says Gerlufsen "We could have boosters insist "The theory that you can't win here is not NASL spokesman said. Liverpool clinched the meant something. failed and still unproved." true,"' McLaughlin says. "It's not like a Death Valley English soccer championship title for the sixth He went on to play two seasons in Switzerland, spent They'd hoped for more this year, maybe 15 victories where you've been down for so long that you can't get out time in eight seasons despite losing 2-- 0 at Totten- three years as an assistant at Stanford before moving on and the NIT. Expectations were high. ofit" ham. to Notre Dame, where he was Digger Phelps' righttiand They were respectable enough at home, where they You show the recruit the town, colonial and trim amid man foranother three. won nine cf 13 and lose three others by a total of seven the lulls and farmland. You sell him on the education, on They were aware of all that back at Amherst, where points. But UMass was shut out as in 0--15 on the the schedule, on two big cities 2 hours away by turn- Boxing 52-year-- - be- the- UMass program had gone sour in three seasons. So road. ''There was a different sense in the locker room pike. You hope he doesn't ask to see Curry Hicks, a old Boxing promoter Bob Arum said the winner of when the administration cut loose Ray Wilson, Leaman's fore road games," McLaughlin said. "Just a mood, a cavern that is marvelous when 4,000 people are 13 the May middleweight title between Marvelous successor, after a 3-- 24 record in 1981, they quickly hired subtle feeling." screeching inside. Marvai Hagfer and WHford Scyafen might not be As the season wore on, observers say, McLaughlin "But Council McLaughlin. when the recruits see it," says Leaman, "the awarded the crown by the World Boxing if ng seemed to swept up He was good-looki- and energetic, a terrific salesman be in it, distracted. He was still the floor has been taken up and there's dirt and baseball net- fight scheduled for 15 rounds. -. the is who believed totally in his alma mater. "If Tommy could Pied Piper, with the arena jammed every night, the stu- ting everywhere. You tell them, well, the court goes this have had any job in the country," says his brother dents calling out to him as he walked across campus. But way and the bleachers come down. For a couple of years Football Frank, Harvard's head coach, "the UMass job was the there was growing skepticism, too, from some quarters: we tried not even showing them the cage. That didn't one he wanted." Where is this guy leading us? work either." The Minnesota Vikings announced the signing of As the losses mounted, it became convenient to isolate first-roun- From the beginning, McLaughlin threw himself into Yet UMass people believe it will be next year. their d draft choice, Joey Browner, to better his work. He hit the recruiting trail. He went to the McLaughlin, who'd never had a head coaching job be- Everybody who played at least 20 three one-ye- ar contracts. minutes is coming UMass band and convinced them to come to games. He fore, as The Problem. He became aloof, friends say, and back, and Gerlufsen is talking fundamentals, discipline, Forty-Minu- red-shirt- ed began spending more time office. A thought up the te Gang, a bunch of in his local newspa- intensity, optimism. The fans, who've retired the Scar- Basketball whackos who would sit behind the visitor's bench per columnist called him abrasive and hinted his days lett O'Hara Award for blind optimism, will be back, too. heD. were numbered. His players were said to be unhappy. Only UCLA forward Kenny Fields, the Padfic-1- 0 Con- and raise McLaughlin won't be. He'U have another job A local columnist dubbed him the Pied Piper. "People There were no visible signs of support from his assist- then, maybe in basketball, Ln ference Player of the Year, announced he would ants. maybe not; maybe Am- spec- flocked to him," says athletic director Frank Mclnemey. herst, maybe not But he'll still follow the return to school for his senior season, ending Ironically, improved. Minutemen, would his name in NBA I His teams were going to be disciplined, but their fans the team They won two of their wherever he is. "Even now, if a kid visited campus and ulation he enter the draft.