1997-11-21; Central Michigan Life

              Central Michigan LIFE
Volume 80, Number 39
Mt. Pleasant,  MI 48859
©1997 CM LIFE
78 years of serving the community
FRIDAY
November 21, 1997
14 pages
Two CMU coaches fired
■ Two defensive football assistants will
not have contracts renewed next season
By Doug Fisher
LIFE Sports Editor
The unraveling continues for the CMU football
team.
After a 2-9 record, the worst record in the
Chippewas' storied 96-year football history, head
coach Dick Flynn announced that two members of
bis coaching staff will not have their contracts
renewed for next season.
Denny LaFleur, defensive tackles' coach, and
Marcelle Carruthers, defensive backs' coach, will
remain on the payroll until their contracts expire
Dec. 31.
"We were disappointed with our play on defense
this season and felt that changes were necessary,"
Flynn stated in a press release. "We will begin our
search immediately for replacements plus we'll
make other adjustments within the staff."
Those other adjustments include Jim Schulte, the
defensive coordinator since 1994 when Flynn moved
from defensive coordinator to the head coaching job.
He will remain on staff, but no longer as the defensive coordinator.
Flynn also will have nine assistant coaches for
1998, after being the only Mid-American Conference
school to use eight this fall.
Flynn said he would be attending meetings with
individual players all day
Thursday, but
he 'will be available for addi- CARRUTHERS LAFLEUR
tional comment
this afternoon.
Carruthers, a former CMU quarterback, just completed his third year of coaching at his alma mater.
Before coming to CMU, Carruthers coached at
Ferris State for five years and was a graduate assistant at Michigan State in 1988.
The 31-year-old Carruthers is a 1983 graduate of
See FOOTBALL Page 2	
BRYAN BOSCH • CM LIFE
Employees of the Michigan Department of Transportation assisted the Mount Pleasant Police Department by putting up stop signs at Mission
Street and Broomfield Road after a power outage disabled traffic lights and contributed to a three-car accident.
Power outages contribute to two accidents
TONY CEPAK • CM LIFE
The scene at Mission Street and Bluegrass Road resembled the
accident a block away on Mission Street and Broomfield Road
Thursday afternoon as a power failure caused the light to go out
resulting in an accident.
By Jeremy Russ
and Joseph McCarthy
UFE Staff Writers
A power outage left several
businesses south of Broomfield
Road dark, and caused two separate accidents on Mission
Street Thursday. Jon Hall, pub-
he information director for
Consumers Energy, said customers south of Broomfield
Road went powerless around
3:15 p.m. Thursday, due to two
separate power failures in the
area.
- Hall said Consumers Energy does not
know the cause of the largest of the two
power failures. However, he said a second
power failure was caused when someone
digging near an area strip mall struck a
buried electric cable. Hall did not know
the exact location of the problem.
Crews patrolling the lines in the area
did not find any damage but indicated the
TONY CEPAK • CM LIFE
The accident on Mission Street and Broomfield
Roads stopped traffic and left a backup that
reached the Student Activity Center.
power outage may have been caused by
two lines slapping together, Hall said.
Power was restored to the area by 7
p.m.
The loss of power disabled traffic lights,
led to confusion for motorists and resulted in two accidents.
See ACCIDENT Page 14
STAFFORD
Senior Officer
resign after
two year career
By Jennifer Ackerman
LIFE Editor
Just two years after moving to CMU, Associate Vice
President of University Advancement Annie Stafford
submitted her resignation Wednesday morning.
Today is her last day.
Stafford said she has been considering her resignation for some time and decided to do so for a number
of reasons.
"My mother is in her mid-80s and I want to get closer to her," she said, explaining that she hopes to end
up somewhere near Atlanta where
her mother lives.
As soon as she was certain she
wanted to resign, Stafford said she
notified Russ Herron, vice president
of University Relations, so the university could start another search
as soon as possible.
"If s awkward being a lame duck
once you've made the decision," she
said.
Herron said he was "not particularly" surprised when Stafford offered her resignation
Wednesday.
Rumors circulating on campus earlier this week
indicating Stafford was encouraged to leave CMU by
top administrators were not clearly dispelled
Thursday.
When asked if she was forced into her decision to
resign by top ad_____nistrators, Stafford said, "No, I
resigned. __bu can check with Russ again."
Herron said, Tm really not going to comment."
University President Leonard Plachta did not
return a phone inquiry made by CM UFE, but bis
executive assistant Jan Wagester spoke on his behalf.
"What (Plachta) said is that he's aware she has
resigned and it's a personnel issue and ifs his practice
See STAFFORD Page 2
Baseball coach
ends career
after 13 years
By Doug Fisher
LIFE Sports Editor
Central will be saying good-bye to one of its most
devout advocates at the end of the 1998 baseball season.
Long-time baseball coach Dean Kreiner will retire
after the coming season, his 13th as head coach of the
Chippewas.
"Fve coached 40 years in high
school and college," Kreiner said.
"How many coaches do you know
•who can say they've coached 40
years? For this program to continue
to grow, you need a young and energetic person to take them beyond
where they are now."
Kreiner is also an assistant professor  in  the  physical  education
KREINER department and he has "been on
loan in the math department for 15-18 years." He will
retire from teaching in December
Kreiner has a 13-year record of 482-257-5 and a
MAC mark of 257-149-1 for an average of 38 wins per
year.
Two sources said top assistant coach Tbm Tbesh
may also retire, but he and his wife, Sandi, are out of
town until Nov. 30 and unavailable for comment.
Assistant coach Jim Fuller, who has been working
for Kreiner for eight years, said the current CMU
players do not yet know of Kreiner's retirement plans.
"He's a great coach and he's going to be missed,"
Fuller said. "When you look at success in athletics you
look at wins and losses and championships. You look
at Dean and hell be tough to duplicate. He's done a
great job at Central Michigan."
See COACH Page 14	
Volleyball team uses illegal player;
faces one forfeit, further infractions
i\ si  n i
By Brian Mackie
LIFE Sports Writer
Just what the Athletics
Department needs — more controversy.
The CMU volleyball team
was found guilty of using an
ineligible player during parts
of the 1997 season and now
must forfeit one of its wins.
The team may also face additional infractions yet to be
handed down by the NCAA.
Sophomore Heather Mitchell
practiced at a school that she
never attended and inadvertently left the name of that
school off of her Student-
Athlete   Participation   Form.
The form reads: "Please list
every school where you have
practiced or competed."
Because she never attended
classes there, she left the
school off of her Student-
Athlete Participation Form,
thinking she had never officially practiced or competed there
as a student.
Once CMU became aware of
the problem, it filed a Self-
Report Form for the violation.
Because she played this year, it
is an NCAA transfer violation.
CMU received a secondary
infraction and had to offer a
forfeit for every win it had in
which Mitchell participated.
CMU must forfeit the Oct. 11
game against Toledo. The
added loss brings CMU's record
to 7-19 overall and 3-13 in the
Mid-American Conference.
Mitchell did not participate in
any match after Oct. 29, when
the team realized the violation.
The Athletics Department
did not become aware of the
problem until Oct. 29, when
Mitchell mentioned something
about practicing at another
university to an academic advisor in the department, said
Associate Athletics Director
Marcy Weston.
Mitchell was unavailable for
comment Thursday.
Classified
Crossword
Et cetera
Sports
Voices
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Sterrtmeler reapplies for
Gay and Lesbian director
By Emily Gerkin
LIFE Staff WHter
Jeff Haywood
LIFE Assistant News Editor
After raising the position's
release time from quarter-time to
half-time, CMU finally received its
first applicant for director of Gay
and Lesbian Programs.
Michael Stemmeler, associate
professor of religion, applied
Wednesday for the same position
he resigned from in April.
*__t*s a very good decision (to
change the position to half-time). I
appreciate it and applaud the university for doing' it," Stemmeler
said.
Stemmeler       had       resigned
because he said the director position needed a half-time release
from teaching instead of the quarter-time.
"I have always said that if the
position was increased, I would be
interested again and would reapply," he said.
He said he first heard of the
increase to half-time Wednesday
when he saw the CM ________ story
and talked to Provost Richard
Davenport.
Stemmeler said he believes
there was a communications problem  between  Interim Assistant
See DIRECTOR Page 2
d