The golden goal

Sporting News, The, Oct 9, 1995 by Rachel Bachman

University support. Kansas State's total commitment to winning has affected the Gophers. The panel has recommended that the university hire an academic counselor who would be available exclusively to football players. This, the panel says, would help raise graduation rates. And it may help in recruiting. The university also has spent $1 million, which was raised mostly by panel members' soficitations (the work of the panel itself cost the school only $60,000), to replace the indoor practice-field turf, add an outdoor turf field and update video equipment.

The panel also set out to increase ticket sales, and it has. Student season-ticket sales have nearly tripled, from 1,800 last year to more than 5,000 in part because of an aggressive advertising campaign and promotions. The attendance on the opener was 48,420, just under the 50,000 the team hopes to average. Playing in a packed Metrodome against Big Ten competition may be hard for some recruits to turn down,

Attitude. Entering this season, Wacker was the state's most lovable loser. But his enthusiasm and the positive atmosphere surrounding the turnaround committee have begun to change the outlook And expectations of some players. And as Northwestern Coach Gary Barnett has demonstrated, this can go a long way. "Guys aren't looking for mediocrity," senior linebacker Justin Conzemius says. "And that used to be OK around here."

Rosga says: "It's not about getting better players; it's about having pride in yourself. That's what I noticed in playing Kansas State. When they came (to Boulder), they were so proud to be playing for Kansas State. And up until that time, they had nothing going for them."

Possibility is a wonderful thing. And after seeing first-hand Kansas State's promised land, Wacker, always the optimist, may dream: Someday, Minnesota fans, too, will bow deeply, hands outstretched, unworthy of the sweetness of redemption.