Evanston Township High School has a long and proud tradition in football, from NFL Hall of Famer Paddy Driscoll to Heisman Trophy winner Clint Frank to coaches Murney Lazier and John Riehle.

But the Wildkits have fallen on hard times in recent years, producing only one winning team since 2000.

So athletic director Chris Livatino was understandably ecstatic when he called on Tuesday to announce that the school board had approved the hiring of Mike Burzawa as the new football coach.

"He'll bring a winning attitude to the program, something we haven't had in a while," Livatino said.

Burzawa doesn't know anything else but winning. As a player and coach, he helped to build Driscoll Catholic into the most powerful small-school football program in state history.

At the Addison school, Burzawa was the leading rusher on coach Gene Nudo's 1991 state championship team.

He served as an assistant to Tim Racki, who guided Driscoll to four state titles in a row.

When Racki left to become football coach and athletic director at Nazareth Academy in La Grange Park, Burzawa took over and the program didn't skip a beat. In the last three years, his teams have won 41 of 42 games and three state titles.

Whether Burzawa can achieve the kind of unprecedented success that Lazier did -- he was 125-17-4 in 18 years from 1957 to 1974 -- remains to be seen. Times have changed and Evanston athletes haven't demonstrated the willingness, desire and determination to win in football as they once did.

Mike Burzawa is anxious to change that.

Posted by Taylor Bell at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Recruiting has changed dramatically in the last 30 years, not for the better. Remember when prospects didn't announce their college decisions until signing day in February? Today, it's all about negative recruiting, early commitments, de-commiting and transfers.

It isn't a coincidence that the three top-rated players in the nation--quarterback Terrelle Pryor of Jeannette, Pa., running back Darrell Scott of Ventura, Calif., and wide receiver Julio Jones of Foley, Ala.--still are uncommitted. They can afford to wait. Colleges will hold scholarships for them. They can't be pressured.

But most of the others on the top 100 list have made early commitments, as long ago as last summer. It is estimated that more than 100 will de-commit before signing day. Prospects often make decisions for the wrong reasons. They aren't educated in the recruiting process and they panic if they have only one or two offers before July. Or they leap at the first offer.

Bill Rees recalls when the recruiting process was just as competitive but more sensible. He was UCLA's recruiting coordinator from 1979 to 1994 under coach Terry Donahue. He built a reputation as one of the top 10 recruiters in the nation.

In those days, Rees said, "you went down to the wire with a lot of great players and most of them didn't decide until the week of signing day. Very rarely would they commit until then."

Rees was the first truly national recruiter since Knute Rockne at Notre Dame in the 1920s. He changed the way the recruiting game was played. He went everywhere to find great players, from New Jersey to Virginia to Texas. Now every top 25 program recruits nationally.

He signed linemen Frank Cornish from Mount Carmel and Brian Wilcox from Libertyville and linebacker Jim Wagner from Buffalo Grove. He also persuaded All-Pro lineman Jonathan Ogden of Washington, D.C., to choose UCLA over Florida, Michigan, Notre Dame and Virginia.

He doesn't envy today's college recruiters. Recruiting is a "very inexact business" and he argues that it doesn't make sense to evaluate a prospect only on the basis of film and summer camp performance, then pressure him into making an early commitment.

"We had the luxury of seeing kids practice and play in games. Then we would offer. Rarely did we offer prior to his senior year," Rees said. "Now kids are offered as juniors, when they haven't matured. It always has been a guessing game but the risk is even higher now.

"But colleges dont' have any other choice because everyone else is doing it. If you don't offer, you fall behind. Today, a prospect's value is based on who offered him, not how good he is. You must watch a tape of a kid throughout his career to make a thorough evaluation."

Posted by Taylor Bell at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Talent is in the eye of the beholder. That's why, it seems to me, that it is always fascinating to examine how the major recruiting services establish their top 100 rankings in football and basketball.

Take the case of Mount Carmel linebacker Steve Filer.

According to CSTV's Tom Lemming, Filer is the No. 35 player in the country.

He is No. 72 on Scout's list.

He is No. 115 on ESPN's list.

He is No. 143 on Rivals' list.

In fact, Filer dropped 100 spots on Rivals' list after what they determined was a "lacklustre performance" at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl earlier this month.

"There were seven linebackers on the East squad and (Filer) was clearly No. 7," e-mailed Mike Farrell, Rivals' national football recruiting analyst. "When going against top competition as he did in San Antonio, his limited lateral quickness was exposed a bit so we had him overrated. We saw him in practice all week and in the game itself so we had plenty of time to evaluate him."

Farrell's comment about Filer being "overrated" was a reference to Rivals' earlier evaluation that the 6-3 220-pound Notre Dame-bound linebacker was rated No. 1 in Illinois by Rivals' Chicago-based analyst, Tim O'Halloran aka Edgytim.

"I did see Filer at Soldier Field for the tripleheader (in August) but I felt that Darius Fleming (of St. Rita) was the best player I saw that day and reported as much," Farrell e-mailed. "Our rankings process is a cooperative effort so no one person makes these decisions."

Farrell also pointed out that despite being dropped to the No. 143 spot in Rivals' rankings, "(Filer) still is very highly thought of and is a top 10 player at his position."

Lemming, who is often accused of being a Notre Dame booster (which he vehemently denies), claims Filer is getting a bad rap, that he is a victim of the politics that are played by some recruiting services.

"At San Antonio, Filer played out of position at outside linebacker. The East squad didn't have enough outside linebackers so Filer volunteered to play the position. He had only four days to learn the position, a position he had limited knowledge of," Lemming said.

"Based on his production in the game, I gave him a B-plus grade. It's ridiculous for a player to be dropped 100 spots on the basis of one game. It almost seems personal. You should never go by the performance in one game, especially when a kid plays only one-third of the game. Reggie Bush, Mitch Mustain and Brady Quinn had bad games at San Antonio but they didn't get dropped."

Lemming noted that Filer had an outstanding season and was named Gatorade's Player of the Year in Illinois.

But politics play a role in some evaluations. If a player doesn't attend a certain summer camp, he can risk being dropped in a recruiting service's ratings. They don't talk about it but some services favor certain colleges while some purposely devalue the classes at certain colleges.

Lemming said T.J. Prunty of Hargrave Military Institute in Virginia, who coached the East squad, praised Filer's play. "He was tentative early because he was learning a new position but he got better as the week progressed. He played well in the game," Prunty said.

"Obviously, Rivals didn't see what I did," Lemming said. "Filer did nothing to warrant being dropped 100 spots in their ratings."

Posted by Taylor Bell at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm sitting here in front of my computer and looking at a small bottle that someone anonymously mailed to me several years ago, in the early 1980s.

The label says: Fluoxymesterone. Caution: Federal law prohibits dispensing without prescription.

Inside are about 50 white and green tablets, about the size of an aspirin. At the time, they were referred to as "uppers" and "downers."

The bottle came from a well-known exercise and weight-training facility in the western suburbs. They were being distributed to young athletes who wanted to enhance their performance.

I don't know if the pills worked. I was informed that the athletes who swallowed them thought they would help them to get bigger, stronger and faster, that the pills would help them to get better than they were, that they could be the difference between earning a college scholarship or becoming an auto mechanic.

It reminds me of a story that Bob Nicolette, the former athletic trainer at the University of Illinois in the Dick Butkus/Jim Grabowski era, once told me when I was covering Illini football for the old Champaign-Urbana Courier in the early 1960s.

It was the beginning for the pill-popping era and several athletes--not all of them football players--had approached Nicolette and requested pills that would give them a boost of energy, more bounce to the ounce.

Nicolette obliged. He opened a large tin can that was filled with white and pink tablets. Each athlete would grab a fistful. Later, they would come back and ask for more. "Hey, those pills are great. I never felt better. They really work," they told Nicolette.

For years, Nicolette laughed whenever he told the story. The white and pink pills were Good & Plenty candy. The athletes never knew the difference.

Unfortunately, the issue no longer is a laughing matter. That was the early 1960s. More than 40 years later, steroids have become a serious health problem in our society and high schools across the nation are just beginning to address it.

The Illinois High School Association has joined New Jersey, Florida and Texas in implementing a mandatory random drug-testing program that will begin next fall. According to a national survey, 3.4 percent of all high school seniors admitted to using steroids at least once a year.

There are critics, of course. Some argue that there are other issues that are more pressing, like cost of education and alcoholism. Some insist an adequate drug-testing plan would cost too much. And purists question how the program will be policed? How will offenders be punished?

The upshot is something had to be done. Sitting on a fence and waffling isn't an option. In a Sept. 26, 2007, editorial, the Sun-Times applauded the IHSA's decision to draft a drug-testing policy and, citing health risks and a "need to ensure the integrity of the competition," called for a random program that "will provide some deterrent to those students who think they are immune from the side effects and who currently are not worried about getting caught."

Don Beebe knows all about steroids. As a high school coach, speed trainer and former college athlete and NFL player, he is all too aware of the problem, that steroid use in high schools has leaped 67 percent since 1995. Young athletes want to succeed and they believe steroids will take them to college and professional stardom.

"You would be shocked at the number of kids who take steroids," Beebe said. "Kids see it on television, how great is is for baseball players and college athletes. You can see the signs--acne, high strung, benching 400 pounds and squatting 600 in high school, a 5-9, 160-pound kid benching 400. Their bodies were made to carry 250 pounds, not 330.

"How do you weigh 280 pounds and run 4.5 seconds (for 40 yards) at the major college level? High school kids see that and ask how they can get there quickly. Instead of hard work, they go for a quick fix, whatever they have to do to get a scholarship."

Posted by Taylor Bell at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Every time I watch Eric Gordon and Derrick Rose play on television, I fantasize about what might have been. What if one or both of them had enrolled at Illinois? What if one or both of them were playing in coach Bruce Weber's backcourt this season?

I'll bet Weber has thought about the same thing more than a few times, while watching Brian Randle commit two fouls in the first two minutes and sit on the bench or Shaun Pruitt miss two more free throws or desperately hoping that somebody, anybody, will convert a shot from the perimeter.

But is isn't going to happen. And maybe it's just as well. After all, Rose and Gordon likely will opt for the NBA after their freshman seasons. So it makes very good sense for Weber to be recruiting the best underclass players in the state, kids who have room to develop and won't be one-and-done.

However, as an Illinois alum who cheered when the Illini overcame a 15-point deficit in the closing minutes to shock Arizona in 2005 and has suffered through their recent losing streak, I'd feel a whole lot bettere if Weber would sign a pure point guard and a five-star player who can be a difference-maker at any time in any game against any opponent.

At the moment, Weber has neither. It reminds me of a rudderless ship, no direction, no leadership, no enthusiasm. Sounds like the Chicago Bulls. Have you noticed that ever since general manager John Paxson declared he wouldn't make a trade for Kobe Bryant the Bulls have been in a funk? The Bulls desperately need a player like Bryant. Luol Deng and Ben Gordon aren't in the same league, right?

Well, Illinois deperately needs a player like Bryant...like Julian Wright or Derrick Rose or Eric Gordon. Maybe Alex Legion will be that type of player. Or Crandall Head or Jereme Richmond or Brandon Paul or Joseph Bertrand. It is too soon to tell. But the sooner, the better.

Posted by Taylor Bell at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you were a Chicago basketball fan in the 1970s, you knew the name: Arthur Sivels. He was a playground legend, the best player who never played in high school and better, his peers insisted, than nearly everyone who did.

How good was Sivels?

Take the word of Lloyd Walton, who was an all-stater at Mount Carmel, had an excellent career at Marquette and played for five years in the NBA.

"Arthur's reputation preceded him more than anyone else," Walton said in a 1993 interview in the Sun-Times. "He was better than we were, me and Rickey Green and Billy Harris and Maurice Cheeks and Sam Puckett...by far.

"He could score 50 points if he wanted to, 25 with his right hand and 25 with his left hand. No one could handle the ball like him...except Leon Hilliard of the Harlem Globetrotters, who taught a lot of us."

When Walton enrolled at Marquette, he met two playground legends from New York City, Butch Lee and Earl Tatum, who had been recruited by coach Al McGuire.

"We always talked about who was the best player in the city," Walton said. "New Yorkers always talked about Ron Behagen and Ricky Sobers. We talked about Arthur and Billy Harris (who played at Dunbar and Northern Illinois). They were, no doubt, the best playground players in Chicago."

Those who saw him--including Walton, Green, Harris and Bo Ellis--insist he was a better playmaker than Isiah Thomas.

"If he was playing today, Arthur would be recognized as the best playmaker to come out of Chicago, the best in the NBA," Walton said. "Playmaking was his thing. He was a great ball-handler. He knew how to run a team."

But Sivels never had an opportunity to showcase his enormous skills beyond the playground. He enrolled at Phillips, was expelled for excessive absences and transferred to Crane. He played during the second semester of his sophomore year, then dropped out. He didn't like school.

After working for two years in a metal factory, he attended Mineral Area Junior College in Flat River, Mo., for one year but left after a dispute with the coach. He briefly attended Kennedy-King College in Chicago.

He lost interest in basketball, sold drugs to make a living, began using heroin and spent time in jail for drug possession. He left his game and his life on the playground.

"Most of the guys who played (with Arthur) went to college and played basketball. But we lost track of Arthur," Walton said. "We all wondered what he was doing. We heard stories about him. We wondered what happens to a guy who has all the talent in the world but didn't want to go to school."

Posted by Taylor Bell at 7:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

While Illini Nation celebrates basketball coach Bruce Weber's notable successes on the recruiting trail--it is fun to contemplate the future rather than suffer through the present, isn't it?--a realist might caution that it is time to temper the euphoria.

History tells us that young players who are projected for future stardom sometimes don't achieve those lofty expectations. Why? Because they don't get bigger or better. Because they don't mature.

There are many examples. This isn't to say that Stan Simpson or Brandon Paul or D.J. Richardson or Joseph Bertrand or Jereme Richmond or Crandall Head won't become the next Dave Downey or Deron Williams or Deon Thomas or Nick Anderson or Kenny Battle in an Illini uniform.

But you can fill a scrapbook with the names and press clippings and pictures of eighth-grade phenoms and high school stars, even McDonald's All-Americans, who were touted as "the next Isiah Thomas" or "the next Cazzie Russell" and never made it. You've probably heard about many of them.

Thomas Hamilton, LaKeith Henderson, Ronnie Fields, Tunji Thurman, Superstar Edwards, Imari Sawyer, Marcus Catchings, Leonard Myles, Raymond McCoy, Teddy Grubbs, Jamie Brandon, William Gates, Glen Grunwald, Audie Matthews, Larry Rosenzweig, Prentis Baker, Arthur Sivels.

You could win a lot of basketball games with any five of those guys.

Perhaps it is unfair to include some of them in that list.

Grunwald, a three-time all-stater at East Leyden, was Player of the Year in 1976 and recruited by Indiana coach Bob Knight. But he suffered a knee injury during the summer before he enrolled in college and, although he was co-captain of Indiana's 1981 NCAA championship team, he never was the same.

Matthews was one of Bloom's all-time greats and Player of the Year in 1974. He had a good but not outstanding career at Illinois. Brandon, one of the state's all-time leading scorers, led King to state and national championships in 1990. But he had a checkered college career at LSU.

McCoy and Grubbs were members of the class of 1979, regarded by many as the best ever produced in Illinois. Some critics rated McCoy as a better guard than Isiah Thomas, another 1979 graduate. But he never blossomed in college. Grubbs started fast at DePaul, then suffered personal problems and faded out of sight.

Gates, one of the stars of the award-winning "Hoops Dreams" documentary, also was compared to Isiah Thomas. But a knee injury slowed his progress at St. Joseph and Marquette.

Fields and Kevin Garnett were standouts at Farragut in 1995 and Fields was Player of the Year in 1996. But poor grades and an off-the-court accident sent his career spiraling in another direction. After high school, it was discovered that he didn't have a "game" for the next level. He was an athletic freak of nature who executed spectacular dunks but had little else.

Edwards' mother named her son "Superstar"--yes, that was his real name--because she predicted her son would be the next great player in Chicago. But Edwards and Disco Cooper, who enrolled at King during the Marcus Liberty era, never lived up to the hype.

Neither did Henderson, who was supposed to follow Sonny Parker, Billy Lewis, Garnett, Fields and Michael Wright as the next great player at Farragut. Or Prentis Baker, a one-time Catholic League Player of the Year at Leo. He transferred from Leo to King and back to Leo, then enrolled at Northeastern University in Boston and disappeared.

But perhaps the best of all was Sivels, who attended Crane in the early 1970s. He was a legendary performer on the city's playgrounds but he played at Crane for only one semester, then became academically ineligible and dropped out. He later attended two junior colleges but left before ever suiting up.

How good was Sivels?

"Arthur's reputation preceded him more than anyone else," said longtime friend Lloyd Walton, who playe