All elementary and middle schools and youth organizations in Colorado are eligible to participate in Ralphie’s Kids Roundup, a program that provides free football and women’s basketball tickets to youth.

Ralphie’s Kids Roundup, a program in which donors give money for football and women’s basketball tickets for children, kicked off its seventh year this fall. Ralphie’s Kids Roundup provides an opportunity for Colorado children ages 13 and under to attend a game at Folsom Field or the Coors Events Center.

How many children received free admission to CU home football games during the 2011 season through the Ralphie’s Kids Roundup program?

Thanks in part to donors, 1,500 youngsters ages 13 and under were invited to each of three home football games against Cal, Washington State and Arizona. Those kids also received free food, a drink and other goodies.

For more information on donating to the Ralphie’s Kids Roundup please contact the Buff Club office at 303-492-2200, or e-mail buffclub@cufund.org.

Recruiting tip

Is CU responsible for the actions of its boosters and athletics representative groups?

Yes. CU is responsible for the conduct and actions of its athletics representatives and all organizations that promote the institution’s athletic programs.

It is CU’s responsibility to educate athletics representatives and other organizations about basic NCAA rules, monitor their actions involving current and prospective student-athletes and encourage them to ask questions. If a NCAA rule violation occurs, even unintentionally, it may jeopardize a prospect’s or current student-athlete’s eligibility.

Jon Embree (Comm’88)

Like Bill McCartney experienced while coaching Jon Embree (Comm’88), Embree began his head coaching career at Colorado with one win in his first nine games. Facing one of the tougher schedules in the nation, Embree picked up his first coaching victory at CU in week three with a 28-14 win over rival Colorado State.

But with losses by three points in overtime to Cal and by four points to Washington State after leading by 10 with five minutes remaining and a big loss to Oregon, Embree praised fans for their support, regardless of the scoreboard.

“Obviously we’re not where we’d like to be this year from a record standpoint and one of the ways for us to continue to improve is obviously recruiting,” he said after the loss to Oregon.

“That’s the number one way, and our fans have a tremendous impact on that. So the fact they did what they did at the Oregon game and how they were down there at the Stampede and how they  are down there on Pearl Street after the game goes a long ways.”

Things became tougher on the field with a series of injuries that kept players like quarterback Tyler Hansen, wide receiver Paul Richardson, leading rusher Rodney Stewart, free safety Ray Polk, senior cornerback Travis Sandersfeld and others out of action.

Colorado had 14 confirmed oral commitments in mid-October for the 2012 recruiting class and is expecting to sign a full class of 25.

Missed some of the season?

Basketball player Julie Seabrook and golfer Emily Talley competed in the World University Games in China. Talley finished 16th, while Seabrook’s Canadian team placed sixth.

Men’s basketball coach Tad Boyle and several assistants participated in a September basketball coaching session organized by the Denver Nuggets and coach George Karl.

The equestrian team, led by sophomore Kaley Silipo, won its first English show of the year at its home barn, Fall River Farm, in Fort Lupton, Colo.

	CU linebackers coach Brian Cabral (Rec’79), former Buff player Emery Moorehead (Comm’77) and their Chicago Bears teammates from the mid-1980s went to the White House in October to celebrate their 1986 Super Bowl win. The Bears didn’t go to the White House that year because of the space shuttle Challenger explosion.
	The Buffs swept the team and individual titles at the 26th annual Rocky Mountain Shootout cross country race held on CU’s South Campus. Senior Richard Medina and sophomore Shalaya Kipp finished first. In his first cross country race in nearly two years, Medina posted the fourth-fastest time in course history.

Head coach Marc Wetmore was excited about the cross country men and women’s teams winning the first Pac-12 title in late October. “I would give each team an ‘A’ for today’s performance,” he said. “They came out and raced what they were capable of and some even exceeded expectations.”

The cross country teams won the first ever Pac-12 Conference titles in any sport, sweeping the men’s and women’s races in October.

The victories mark the 13th time in school history that the men and women have won both titles at a conference championship since the inception of a women’s program in 1976. This is the first time CU has won both titles since the Big 12 Championships in 2007.

The men entered the meet with a No. 6 national ranking and the women were ranked No. 16.

The men recorded 46 points to defeat No. 4 Stanford by seven points. The women scored 50 points, followed by No. 2 Washington and No. 8 Stanford.

“In a conference that has the history that this one does and that has such great competitors, it means an incredible amount to show them what we have and what we bring to the table,” says Andy Wacker, who finished sixth in the 8K.

	In September Jenny Barringer Simpson (Econ, PolSci’09) became the first American woman to win the world championship title in the 1,500-meter race since former CU runner Mary Decker Slaney (A&S ex’79) pulled off the feat in 1983. “It’s very exciting to follow in her footsteps and bring the U.S. back to that level,” Simpson says.
	For the first time since 2008, the men’s and women’s golf teams won invitational titles in the same season. The men also picked up an individual victory with Beau Schoolcraft, left, which was the first individual win by a CU men’s golfer in two-and-a-half years. Both the men’s and women’s teams cracked the top 25 in the national rankings.

Athletic director Mike Bohn stands with former CU linebacker Alfred Williams (Soc ex’91) who became the fifth Buff to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in December 2010.

Hired in spring 2005, Mike Bohn has had an eventful tenure as athletic director. He has brought in new head coaches in three of CU’s most prominent sports — football and men’s and women’s basketball — led CU’s move to the Pac-12 and received a contract extension through June 2016.

Do you consider orchestrating the move to the Pac-12 the accomplishment you’re most proud of at CU?

Well, it’s certainly one of them. But I’m very proud of a lot of things. For example, the teamwork that went into creating an incredible environment for our men’s track & field team to win the Big 12 Championship in 2008 was certainly very, very special. I’m extremely proud of what we’ve done to help the basketball enterprise long-term with the practice facility that also helps volleyball.

I’m also proud of the partnership with Colorado National Golf Club that supports our men’s and women’s golf programs. And I’m proud of the Stampede [pep rally] tradition that we’ve started in downtown Boulder the evening before football games.

Since CU officially joined the Pac-12 during the summer, have you noticed a palpable excitement among the fans and in the department?

Everywhere you go people are excited. So it’s a big change for us — I don’t want to say a cataclysmic change but pretty close. And I think it’s exactly the boost we needed to build the intensity of interest in our program.

Has the move affected ticket sales or boosters kicking in more money?

It has. For example, before we joined the Pac-12, we had about 97 Buff Club members out of 23,000 alumni in California. And currently we’re at 500 with a goal of 3,000 in that state alone.

How much of a difference does the lucrative new Pac-12 media rights deal make for the CU athletic department?

It is significantly more revenue than we received in the Big 12. However, our season ticket sales, our donations and our sponsorships are all vital elements for us to continue to grow and meet the goals we have.

What are your biggest priorities looking ahead?

Our biggest priority right now is to improve our recruiting efforts and do everything we can to address the competitive nature of this league. It’s known as the conference of champions.

Is there any thought, at least long-term, of adding any sports?

We would love to add some sports. Again, it’s going to come down to the resources we have to put it together. I will say the first sport we add will be a women’s sport to help with our commitment to proportionality and the number of women participating.

Is there a sport you have in mind?

I think women’s lacrosse seems to be gaining a lot of momentum. A lot of people talk about baseball on the men’s side, and it would be wonderful to add baseball and some other sports, but it’s going to come down to that intensity of interest from our fan base and our donor base and our alumni to be able to fund those programs.

Whenever you speak to public groups, you always end by saying “Go Buffs.” Why is that important?

If you’re going to be a leader you’ve got to demonstrate a commitment and a passion. And that’s my way of saying that my passion and commitment to the program, to our community, to our campus and what the Buffs represent is intense.

April 12, 2010 Hires Linda Lappe (Mktg’02) as women’s basketball coach.

April 19, 2010 Names Tad Boyle men’s basketball coach.

June 11, 2010 Regents approve CU’s switch to the Pac-10 Conference.

Dec. 6, 2010 Hires Jon Embree (Comm’88) as football coach.

Emma Coburn won the women’s USA title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in June at the 2011 USATF Outdoor Championships at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field. Coburn, the 2011 Big 12 and NCAA champion, won her first U.S. title with a time of 9 minutes, 44.11 seconds.

CU is quickly becoming Steeplechase U. Jenny Barringer Simpson (Econ,PolSci’09) won NCAA 3,000-meter steeplechase titles in 2006, 2008 and 2009, and junior Emma Coburn claimed victories in the event this year at both the NCAA meet and the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships.

What Buff-turned-assistant-coach placed first this year in the steeplechase at the USATF meet?

Billy Nelson (EthnSt’08) placed first. In addition, sophomore Shalaya Kipp proved she’s another up-and-comer in the event by placing third in the NCAA steeplechase after finishing fifth in the race as a freshman.

Recruiting tip

Can a booster/donor help pay for a prospect to attend CU sports camps or clinics?

No. A booster/donor may not assist a prospect or his/her family in paying to attend CU sports camps or clinics. Monetarily supporting a prospect’s athletic endeavors is considered an extra benefit and contrary to NCAA rules.

Visit the Compliance Corner at www.cubuffs.com.

The move marked CU’s first wholesale change in conferences since it switched from the Mountain States to the Big Seven in 1948.

The challenge is to capitalize on the excitement and keep fueling that sense of optimism and pride, athletic director Mike Bohn says.

CU coaches are emphasizing the importance of making an immediate impact.

“We want to make a statement,” women’s basketball coach Linda Lappe (Mktg’02) says. “The first five years can be very pivotal to how other teams view you for the next 20 years.”

	A legend passes Billy Lewis (PE’60), the first African-American to play varsity basketball at CU, passed away in mid-June at the age of 72. Read the Buff Tribute to him on page 58.
	1990 throwback jerseys here to stay Fans loved them, so they’re back. The jerseys with the big “Colorado” that commemorate the 1990 national championship will be worn at home and away football games this fall.

The new basketball and volleyball practice facility, attached to the north end of Coors Events Center, opened in mid-summer.

The basketball and volleyball teams moved into their $10.8 million practice facility attached to the north end of the Coors Events Center this summer.

The 44,000-square-foot building includes two full-sized basketball courts and locker rooms for the women’s basketball and volleyball teams. The facility also houses offices and a conference room for the volleyball team.

“There are going to be so many logistical nightmares alleviated,” men’s basketball coach Tad Boyle says. “Our guys will have a place to go and get better.”

Adds volleyball coach Liz Kritza: “It’s a heightened level of professionalism for us, as far as the surroundings. It’s going to help us a ton with our daily operations.”

	Trading one red jersey for another For the 16th consecutive year, the CU football team will play a game the day after Thanksgiving. The Buffs will face Utah on Nov. 25 in Salt Lake City after playing Nebraska for the past 15 years.
	Making the grade CU’s student-athletes received their best rankings in the Academic Progress Rate report since the APR was created seven years ago. The men’s golf and women’s tennis teams placed among the top 10 percent in their sport.

Mark Wetmore

Mark Wetmore, left, has been head coach of the CU cross country and track & field teams since 1995, winning five national cross country championships — three men’s and two women’s.

You’re the second-longest tenured head coach at CU. What keeps the job interesting for you?

The students. A track is 400 meters and these days probably red. Track meets are in a handful of towns, but it’s the same handful of towns. What remains fresh and compelling and keeps you hooked are the new personalities, fresh faces and the new people who trust you with their talent and their dreams.

Is there anything special about CU as opposed to any other job you might have?

Well, Boulder is a wonderful town. I’m apparently a pretty good fit for CU, better than I would be for Yale or Louisiana Tech. CU certainly has its challenges as you can tell when you walk through [the aging] Balch Gym to come into our offices, but in all, I would be foolish to move cavalierly somewhere else.

Is your coaching philosophy unique?

Among my peers, I think I’m a bit of an oddball. We don’t recruit internationally. I’m not interested in tracking down some world-class runner from Rwanda who can come in and score points for us immediately. I’m more interested in the craft of building and developing a runner, and that’s rare. That enterprise of developing athletes patiently sometimes takes precedence over scoring points on a conference level, and that is definitely abnormal.

How do you bring out the best in athletes? Is there any pattern, or does it depend on who it is?

Both. There is the science of the physiology of exercise, which is 90-something percent known and despite the protestations of 19-year-olds, fairly dependable. But from the eyeballs up, every athlete is a unique package, and it takes a certain amount of learning. So we like to think we apply sound physiology to open-minded, soft-eyed psychology.

With almost 20 years of coaching here, have your methods evolved appreciably?

I deliberately change things from one year to the next. Otherwise, one ends up entrenched in some 20-year-old, yellowed method. No matter how successful the year, we sit down and ask, “What could we have been done better?” You can learn from a good year and you can learn from a bad year — either way. We’re still greedy, so we are still trying to find out how to do it better.

Do your juices get flowing more for cross country than track or vice-versa?

When people ask me that, I ask, “Which of your children is your favorite?” Cross country is special, and outdoor track is special.

Honestly, indoor track is a bit of a circus that I’m not thrilled with, and now that we’ve moved to the Pac-12, which doesn’t have indoor track (on a conference level), we’ll probably approach that season differently. It’s too much competing from December to June. For cross country runners, the season runs from September to June.

How else is competing in the Pac-12 going to be different?

It will be harder. The Big 12 is maybe the best track conference in the country, but in the events that we emphasize — middle- and long-distance running — the Big 12 is a little less deep than the Pac-12.

When we swing over to the Pac-12, it definitely will be the best conference in the country and definitely better than the Big 12.

Gary Baines (Jour’83) is a former sports editor at the Boulder Camera.