Chat transcript with Tom Keegan and Chuck Woodling

Posted Friday, September 16, 2005

Welcome to our online chat with past and present Journal-World sports editors Chuck Woodling and Tom Keegan.

The chat took place on Friday, September 16, at 1:30 PM and is now closed, but you can read the full transcript on this page.

Moderator: Hi and welcome to our chat today. I'm Andy Samuelson the online sports editor for KUsports.com and I will be today's chat moderator. Today we our joined by Journal-World sports editor Tom Keegan and former J-W sports editor and current columnist Chuck Woodling. Thanks to both for joining us.

Tom Keegan: Your welcome, Andy. Thanks for having me.

Chuck Woodling: Hi again, everybody. Glad to be here.

Moderator: Well lets get to the questions.

Corey, Olathe: How do you two differ on your philosophy of sports coverage?

Chuck Woodling: I think that's something the reader will eventually have to decide.

Tom Keegan: I think that's something the reader will eventually have to decide.

Moderator: Pretty similar, huh?

John, Minneapolis, MN: Outside of the four freshmen, what KU basketball player do you see having the greatest impact on the upcoming season?

Tom Keegan: Great question. The answer to that will be the same as the answer to who will be the most improved player on the team. My guesses: CJ Giles and Russell Robinson. Let me flip a coin. ... CJ Giles it is.

Chuck Woodling: Hmmm. I think it will be the sophomore big man who shows the most improvement -- either Giles, Kaun or Darnell Jackson.

Matt, Lindsborg: I was just wondering why the jayhawks and coach mangino won't schedule a game like k-state did at marshall or iowa state did at army and get themselves on espn?

Tom Keegan: First things first. Get to a bowl game. The only way to do that is to finish 6-5. At the point the program is now, they need a 3-0 nonconference record to get to six wins.

Chuck Woodling: People forget that before Kansas State reached its current level of national perception, coach Bill Snyder scheduled Dala Horse U., Coronado Heights State and Swedish International. Once Kansas reaches the ESPN want-list, then the Jayhawks can play tough road games.

Jensen, Overland Park: Do either of you obtain subject ideas from posts on the message boards that are made available to the general public by your company?

Tom Keegan: No. Am I missing some good story ideas?

Chuck Woodling: Generally, no. Ungenerally, no.

Moderator: You guys are missing out on the real show, watching these two at the Journal-World. Looks like we have a question aimed at Chuck.

Mike, Belton, Mo: Chuck- who are four or five of your favorite coaches, and athletes you have interviewed over the years?

Chuck Woodling: Gosh, that's a tough question. Don Fambrough is certainly up there along with Mike Gottfried, Roy Williams and Ted Owens. The athletes are too numerous to mention. Ninety-nine percent of them were fun and a joy to work with.

Matt Overland Park: Can Bill Self Provide enough playing time for all of the incoming freshman Superstars?

Tom Keegan: Sure, if the players work hard enough in practice he can. For instance, let's suppose all the freshmen match their hype and understand what it takes to compete at the D-1 level. Here's a wild, blind, premature guess at how the minutes could be divided come tourney time:

PG: Chalmers 30, Hawkins 10.

2G: Rush 30, Case 10.

SF: Wright 10, Robinson 10, Downs 10, Stewart 10.

PF: Wright 20, Moody 10, Jackson 10.

C: Giles 20, Kaun 20.

Chuck Woodling: That's why Bill Self is a coach and I'm a sportswriter. His job is to find enough minutes to keep everybody happy. I'm glad I don't have that job. Then again, that's why major college men's basketball coaches make the big bucks.

Shawn, Wichita: Why doesn't KU schedule a nonconference basketball game with Mark Turgeon's Shockers at Wichita State? What is your impression of the job Turg is doing down there?

Chuck Woodling: It's a tribute to the job Turgeon has done that people are interested in resurrecting the KU-WSU series. If memory serves me, Roy Williams ended the series several years ago because Wichita State would not agree to play two games in Allen Fieldhouse for one in Levitt Arena. Bottom line, though, is that Kansas has everything to lose and nothing to gain from playing Wichita State. Just ask Don Fambrough, who lost a home football game to the Shockers one year.

Tom Keegan: It's that way everywhere. The big program never wants to play the less powerful in-state school because, as Chuck said, it's that everything to lose, nothing to gain line of thinking.

Philip, Omaha: What do you think of the rivalry between Free State and Lawrence High? Does one school have an edge over the other?

Tom Keegan: My initial impressions are that the kids love the rivalry and the parents are stressed over it. Then again, that can be said about all youth sports everywhere. Bottom line: two very good academic schools. Having seen both football teams play one game, it looks as if Lawrence is the deeper team. And as Chuck can tell you any rivalry is only a great rivalry if the underdog often wins.

Chuck Woodling: I think it's great to have an intra-city rivalry. School administrators went out of their way in the early days to stress there was no rivalry, ostensibly because they worried about potential trouble. Today, although there have been some pranks, it has proven to be a healthy rivalry. Both schools have virtually the same enrollment, so I don't see one having an advantage over the other.

Moderator: Well lets liven this chat up a little bit with a bizarre question from Brian, who I believe might be a another media member in this town.

Brian, Lawrence: Who would win in a one-on-one game to 10 between Chuck and Tom? I know Tom brings some quality post moves to town, but I hear Chuck can stick the three. Who wins this epic editor matchup sure to be an Instant-Classic on ESPN?

Tom Keegan: Chuck has the height advantage. I have the weight advantage, and not by a little. As far as three-point shooting, I'm confident I can take on anyone in Lawrence not named Jeremy Case or Micah Downs.

Chuck Woodling: Tom went to Marquette. I went to Missouri. Marquette has been to numerous Final Fours. Missouri has been to none. Thus, give the edge to Tom.

Tom Keegan: I studied Journalism at Marquette, Chuck at Missouri. Marquette has a fine Journalism school, but give the edge to Missouri, so in the writing department, we'll have to give it to Chuck.

Moderator: Well it looks like we have time for just a few more questions.

Matt Lawrence: What is a realistic projection for the football team once the Big 12 slate gets going? And do you think KUs defense will be able to live up to the pre-season hype this year (with most their B12 foes offenses looking as potent as they do)

Tom Keegan: I do think KU's defense can live up to the hype and it had better in order for the Jayhawks to meet my predicted finish of 3-5, 6-5 overall, a bowl game.

Chuck Woodling: You have to remember Kansas has one of the most difficult schedules in the league and posting the 3-5 record mandatory for earning a bowl bid will be difficult. However, it is doable, at least at this stage.

Moderator: Looks like another Missouri native wants to pick Chuck's brain.

Tom, Nevada, Mo.: Chuck--

Now that you a no longer the sports editor, will you be pulling for KU or your alma mater in the future?

Chuck Woodling: When I attended MU, long before the Boer War, the school was named Ozarks A&M and the nickname was Pralines. So, really, I have much stronger ties to Kansas than to Missouri.

Moderator: These two wags (their own wording) have time for one last question.

Axel, Houston, Tx: I am very impressed with Coach Self's knack for recruiting top 25 talent, and Im excited that there seems to be every indication that he will keep this up year in and year out. If he can take a Tulsa team to the elite 8, do you think we're on the verge of asserting ourselves as THE elite bball program in the country??

Tom Keegan: I don't see why it's important to be THE elite basketball program in the country. I do think he can build it to the point KU is among the top five, joining such traditional powers as North Carolina, Duke and Marquette.

Chuck Woodling: No one will ever be able to claim a status as THE elite program in the country. But Kansas is certainly among the schools that, I believe, will always be among the elite.

Moderator: Well I would like to thank both Tom Keegan and Chuck Woodling for their time today. And also a big thanks to you guys, our readers and viewers.

Tom Keegan: Thank you, chatters. Thank you, Chuck. And most of all, thank you, Moderator.

Chuck Woodling: Thanks for inviting me to join the chat, and thanks to all you who took time to submit questions. Oh, and thank you Mr. Moderator. You were very moderate.

Moderator: These two, nudge, nudge. Anyway thanks again.