The Washington Post - 19.09.2019

D6 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 , 2019

and he has a five-year contract at Kansas, so it appears he will be happy to coach his way into the sunset. But he’s not in any rush. “When I first met with the players here, I told them I was here to win,” he said. “I found a group that was very committed to doing just that. They’ve done everything I’ve asked of them so far.” The Big 12 schedule, which begins Saturday, is a gantlet. After West Virginia, which is coming off a rout of North Carolina State, the Jayhawks will go to TCU, host Oklahoma, visit Te xas and host Te xas Te ch before archrival Kansas State comes to visit. Road games against Oklahoma State and Iowa State and a home game against Baylor round out the schedule. Is Miles worried? “I guess we’ll find out who is who,” he said with a laugh. The Hat doesn’t worry. He just keeps doing his thing — whatever it happens to be. [email protected]

For more by John Feinstein, visit washingtonpost.com/feinstein.

packed for Saturday’s game against West Virginia. That certainly hasn’t been a frequent occurrence in recent years on a campus where basketball tends to be a 12-month obsession. Kansas’s greatest success in football came from 1891 to 1930 — which is to say, just a little while ago. Since then the Jayhawks have made three Orange Bowl appearances, after the 1947, 1968 and 2007 regular seasons. The latter capped a 12-1 year and was one of four postseason games the school made under Mark Mangino. In 2009, after the team lost its last seven games, Mangino was accused of emotionally abusing his players and resigned. His 50- 48 record is the only winning record among 11 full-time Kansas coaches since 1966. “I really didn’t look at anyone else’s record,” Miles said when asked whether Mangino’s success had influenced his decision. “I don’t look at what other people have done one way or the other. I just concentrate on what I think I can do. I think I can coach.” Miles will be 66 in November,

Amy O’Deen, said Carson’s thoughtful effort “demonstrates the generosity and goodness of Iowans, uniting Cyclone and Hawkeye fans t o make a difference for o ur kids.” According to King, both parties have since come up with a plan: King will visit at the end of the month, where he will receive a tour of the facility and meet some of the children the funds will ben- efit. He will carry with him a check. And this time, the paper he wields w on’t b e a joke at a ll. michael.brice[email protected]

He works on the rapid response team at Prairie Meadows Casino, after a ll — why n ot spend i t there? For King, the answer was obvi- ous. “There’s a better purpose for it,” he said. “The kids deserve everything they can g et. If I can g ive it to them, I’m going to give it to them.” King called the hospital Mon- day morning and introduced him- self. “Oh, my God,” a receptionist exclaimed, according to King. “I’ve wanted to talk to you!” In a statement Wednesday, the hospital’s interim executive director,

when I wasn’t coaching, but I always knew when the chance came to go some place I’d be proud to coach that I’d go back.” That chance came in November when Kansas hired Miles to replace David Beaty, who had just finished the most successful of his four seasons in Lawrence at 3-9. Beaty was the fourth coach, including one interim hire, at Kansas since 2010; they had a combined nine- season record of 18-90. Miles knew about all the losing. It didn’t deter him even a little. “When I was coaching at Oklahoma State [from 2001 to 2004], I can remember standing on the 50-yard line when we played Kansas and wondering, ‘Why haven’t they had more success here?’ ” he said. “I saw a beautiful school, lots of green grass and hills surrounding the place. So why not win there?” The Jayhawks hadn’t thrown fear into anybody the first two weeks of the season, barely escaping against Indiana State, a Football Championship Subdivision team, before losing to Coastal Carolina. Now Miles expects Memorial Stadium to be

College and won their first road game against a Power Five school since 2008, ending a 48- game losing streak. They went in as 21-point underdogs and came out with a 48-24 win after trailing 17-7 at the end of the first quarter. “I thought this team could succeed,” Miles said. “We’ve got talent. We really got it going in that game. It’s the first thing we can check off on our list.” It has been almost three years since LSU hit the panic button and fired Miles four games into his 12th season in the wake of a controversial loss at Auburn, a game in which the Tigers scored the apparent winning touchdown on the last play only to have it negated after a replay review showed the snap came a split second after the clock hit zero. In some ways, the ending fit. There was little routine about Miles’s time at LSU. He went for fake field goals so often, more often than not successfully, that the play seemed as much a part of his offense as the fullback dive. He liked to eat grass, an old habit left over from his days as a sometimes-bored outfielder. He was different from the typical big-time college football coach. Most strive to be full-bore drones; Miles entertained on and off the field. He did, however, have one thing in common with his most successful colleagues: He won. He was 114-34 at LSU. He won a national championship in the 2007 season and took his team to a second title game four years later. He won at least 10 games seven times, and his worst record was 8-5. He was 9-3 in 2015, the year before he got fired, and that had LSU fans screaming for his head. As one SEC writer put it back then, “Les Miles succeeded Nick Saban [in 2005] at LSU, and now fans there expected him to succeed like Nick Saban.” Miles says now that the firing wasn’t that big a deal. “It didn’t change the way I felt about myself,” he said. “I always thought I’d coach again. I enjoyed doing the things I did

FEINSTEIN FROM D1

of beer) to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. As his friends and relatives spread the message, the contributions to his Venmo multiplied. They kept coming in Monday, a nd by Tuesday afternoon, Busch Beer and Venmo took n otice, each offering t o match his donation to the hospital. King’s account will remain open for d onations until the e nd of the m onth. As attention to King’s poster- turned-charity reached its zenith, he said some of his friends won- dered why he had opted against holding on to some of the money.

country Iowa i s no joke.” King said he brought his sign along on the off chance he appeared on TV. But his strategic po- sitioning near a stage paid off, and within half an hour of holding up the poster he received more than $400 in contributions. As hun- dreds of dollars became thousands, King realized he had a chance to do “something a little more special than buy Busch Light.” After c onsulting with his f amily, King pledged to donate his earn- ings (sans about $15, for one case

GAMEDAY FROM D1

Sign of the times: Altruism through ‘College Gameday’

JOHN FEINSTEIN

It’s no act: Miles confident Jayhawks can be winners

BY STEVEN GOFF

With the regular season wind-
ing down and D.C. United emerg-
ing from a summer rut, Ben Olsen
is largely done experimenting
with players and formations.
Except in the case of injury or
suspension, the lineup and the
primary substitutes seem set.
There is, though, one position
worthy of discussion: striker.
Olsen prefers to start one, not
two. He is, however, equipped
with a pair of proven scorers,
Wayne Rooney and Ola Kamara.
Since the latter’s a rrival in mid-
August, it hasn’t been an issue.
Rooney was saddled with injuries
and a two-game suspension for a
red card.
When the Englishman re-
turned for Sunday’s 1-0 victory at
Portland, he was supposed to
come off the bench and Kamara
was slated to start — a reward for
scoring twice at Montreal the pre-
vious outing.
On the eve of the game, howev-
er, Kamara’s tight hamstring ren-
dered him unavailable.
That lingering ailment — Ka-
mara did not practice in full
Wednesday — will allow Olsen to
maintain the status quo Sunday
against the Seattle Sounders at
Audi Field.
When both are healthy, Olsen
will have to decide.
“Looking to the future? I don’t
know,” he said. “You could prob-
ably make a guess on what’s next,
but we haven’t made any deci-
sions, and these are always long
weeks.”
Given the health of the players,
it’s Rooney’s job to lose, even
though he has gone two months
and five matches without a goal.
United (12-10-9, 45 points) has
struggled in the attack as a whole:
Its 40 goals are the fewest among
teams currently in the 14 playoff
spots and, entering Wednesday’s
action, tied for fourth fewest in
the 24-team league. The victory at
Portland was fueled by a first-half
own goal.
Since his fourth game last sum-
mer, Rooney has started all but one
in which he was available. United
signed Kamara before the transfer
window closed last month to pro-
vide depth this year but mostly to
help fill a large void next season:
Rooney will cut short his MLS
tenure this fall to become a player
and assistant coach for Derby
County in England’s second flight.
While Rooney has not been in
top form this year, the blame for

United’s ills run deeper: The attack in general has sputtered, and ineffective playmaker Luciano Acosta lost his starting job. “I’m sure Ben has got different ways to play, w hether that is me or Ola up top,” said Rooney, who leads the team in goals (11) and assists (seven). “That is Ben’s d eci- sion. I have to keep trying to be ready to play and be there, whether that means playing [striker] or a deeper position.” Along those lines, one thought is to start both Rooney and Ka- mara, with Rooney as a with- drawn forward or attacking midfielder. But with the playoffs near- ing, Olsen is comfortable with the one-forward formation and the accent on defense. (United is fourth in fewest goals conceded, and Bill Hamid is second in shut- outs with 11.) Rooney and Kamara did start together on the front line Aug. 21 during a 2-1 defeat to the New York Red Bulls. Because of Rooney’s absences, that experi- ment did not continue. “We made that decision a few weeks ago where we said, ‘Okay, we have to drill down on who we are and who we are going to be,’ ” Olsen said. “It’s important to have a structure with the ball and without the ball that everyone is really well rehearsed in at this point in the season.” He added, though, “That’s not to say we’re not going to adjust at times throughout the games and to the opponent.” Notes: United thought it had scored a second goal in Portland, when a deflection appeared to cross the goal line for a two-goal lead. Video assistant referee Ri- cardo Salazar, however, did not recommend a full review to on- field ref Drew Fischer. “It’s not conclusive, and it should be conclusive,” Olsen said. “We have the ability and the tech- nology is out there to make it conclusive.... Just got done [watching] U.S. Open tennis; they seem to have it down pretty well.” Goal differential is the second tiebreaker after total victories and could play a role in deciding home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. United is even with fourth-place To ronto on points and victories but be- hind by two in goal differen- ti al.... Forward Quincy Amarikwa missed training Wednesday for personal reasons. [email protected]

For Olsen, choice looms:

Start Rooney or Kamara

ASSOCIATED PRESS

No N eymar. No Kylian Mbappe.
No p roblem.
With two first-half goals from
Angel Di Maria and a rare late
strike from right back Thomas
Meunier, a new-look Paris Saint-
Germain missing its headline
stars beat Real Madrid, 3-0, at
home in t he Champions League t o
take the lead in Group A in an
impressive start to its European
campaign Wednesday.
Di Maria, a Champions League
winner with Madrid in 2014, was
rampant against his former club,
using his phenomenal speed and
clever placing to torment a de-
fense sorely missing the suspend-
ed Sergio Ramos.
The Argentine’s f irst goal poked
pa st Thibaut Courtois’s near post
in the 14th minute was his 25th in
100 European matches. Di Maria
doubled the advantage when he
struck again in the 33rd min-
ute....
Also in Group A, Club Brugge
and Galatasaray each had shots
hit the top of the crossbar and
settled for a draw, 0-0, in Bruges,
Belgium....
Harry Kane and Lucas Moura
scored early goals, but Tottenham
could not hold a 2-0 lead and took
a draw i n Group B with host Olym-
piakos in A thens.
Daniel Podence scored before
the break after exchanging passes
with Mathieu Valbuena, who lev-
eled the match from the penalty
spot in t he 54th minute....

Also in Group B, Kingsley Co- man opened the scoring in the 34th minute and Robert Lewan- dowski and substitute Thomas Müller scored second-half goals as host Bayern Munich beat Red S tar Belgrade, 3-0.... Manchester City became the only English club to win its open- ing Champions game, beating Shakhtar Donetsk, 3-0, in Group C in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Riyad Mahrez a nd I lkay Gundo- gan combined for the first two goals, with Mahrez scoring the opener from a rebound after Gun- dogan hit the post in the 24 th minute. For the second, the roles w ere reversed.... Also in Group C, Mislav Orsic scored a hat trick as host Dinamo Zagreb ended an 11-match losing streak in the Champions League group stage with a 4-0 win over Atalanta in Croatia.... Héctor Herrera scored in the 90th minute as host Atlético Ma- drid salvaged a 2-2 draw against Juventus in Group D. Cristiano Ronaldo was held scoreless in his return to Madrid, but Juventus was able to open a 2-0 lead with goals by Juan Cuadrado and Blaise Matuidi in the second half. Stefan Savic scored in the 70th minute to start Atlético’s c omeback.... Also in Group D, Bayer Le- verkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky sent a pass to Lokomotiv Moscow midfielder Dmitry Bar- inov, who promptly scored the tiebreaker in the 37th minute of a 2-1 win in Germany. l MLS: Josef Martínez scored two goals six-minutes apart in the second half to help A tlanta United FC beat host FC Cincinnati, 2-0.

SOCCER ROUNDUP

Missing stars, PSG rolls

in its Champions opener

PARIS ST.-GERMAIN 3, REAL MADRID 0

BY ROMAN STUBBS

A New Jersey high school referee who told a wrestler he had to cut his dreadlocks to avoid forfeit was suspended for two years, the state’s Division on Civil Rights announced Wednesday. Alan Maloney will be banned from officiating matches over the next two seasons, according to New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal, who also announced that the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic As- sociation (NJSIAA) agreed to mandate implicit bias training for officials and staff involved in athletics across the state. The findings came after a nearly nine-month investigation into a Dec. 19 incident at Buena Regional School, when Maloney told junior wrestler Andrew Johnson that he had to cut his dreadlocks to be able to compete. A video of school officials cutting Johnson’s hair before the match went viral on social media and caused widespread outrage. The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights also issued a new “Guidance on Race Discrimina- tion Based on Hairstyle” to explain that treating people differ- ently because of their hairstyle may violate the state’s anti-dis-

crimination laws and to help prevent such discrimination in the future, according to Grewal. “Student athletes should be able to compete with each other on a level playing field,” Grewal said in a statement. “Racial discrimination in the enforcement of the rules of any sport is inconsistent with the spirit of fair play. The Division on Civil Rights’ action today makes it less likely that any student athlete will have to endure discrimination that not only undermines fair competition but also violates our state laws.” The parallel investigations in- terviewed Johnson, Maloney, the NJSIAA rules interpreter and officials, members of the New

Jersey Wrestling Officials Associ- ation, and the rules interpreter for the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), which develops and publishes the rules for high school wrestling across the country, among others. A video of the Dec. 19 incident showed an emotional Johnson, who is biracial, standing on the mat while a white female trainer cut off his dreadlocks shortly after Maloney, who is white, had given him the ultimatum. Following the incident, Buena made international headlines as countless politicians, celebrities, athletes and activists defended Johnson, from Chance the Rap- per to New Jersey Gov. Phil

Murphy to the Rev. Al Sharpton. Some in the New Jersey wrestling community defended Malo- ney, who in 2016 was also accused of using a racial slur during an altercation with a black referee. In March, Maloney s ent a notice of intent o f filing a lawsuit, claiming defamation of character and emotional distress. He could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday. According to the Division on Civil Rights investigation, Malo- ney had argued that Johnson’s hair violated the National Feder- ation of State High School Asso- ciations’ Rule 4.2.1, which gov- erns the length of an athlete’s hair and when an athlete must wear a hair cover. “However, that rule had previ- ously b een interpreted b y various New Jersey wrestling officials to require a hair covering for sev- eral traditionally Black hairstyles regardless of hair length,” Grewal said in the statement. As part of the agreement be- tween the Division on Civil Rights and NJSIAA, the NJSIAA will provide training to all of its local rules interpreters and to all wrestling officials in the state emphasizing that Rule 4.2.1 is based solely on hair length, not on hair style. According to Wednesday’s re- lease, the training will be com- pleted before the start of this year’s wrestling season and “will also explain the long history of discrimination based on hair style.” [email protected]

Wrestling ref is banned for two years

ORLIN WAGNER/ASSOCIATED PRESS Les Miles has his own IMDb page and considered getting into politics, but coaching is his true calling.

Official told competitor to cut his dreadlocks before match or forfeit

MICHAEL FRANKEL/SNJTODAY.COM/ASSOCIATED PRESS Buena Regional (N.J.) wrestler Andrew Johnson had his hair cut before a match in December in an incident that sparked outrage.

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The Washington Post - 19.09.2019

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