Position in the Spotlight: Kansas City

Kansas City is one of the best sports towns in the country, in my opinion. Despite how miserable the Chiefs are, Arrowhead is always sold out, even if they are watching Tyler Thigpen at quarterback. Royals fans seem to have a greater appreciation for baseball than the Royals front office, which is too bad. Even the MLS Kansas City Wizards are among the more stable franchises in the league. The NHL continues to use Kansas City as a threat for struggling franchises, and the area wants a team, and would certainly support them.
There is another team that plays in Kansas City for many of their home games. In fact, this team has compiled an 80-24 record while playing in Kansas City at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, despite officially calling Lawrence, 40 miles to the west, home. I’m speaking, of course, of the University of Kansas Men’s Basketball team. For as beloved as the Chiefs and Royals are in Kansas City, no team has the history of the Jayhawks. In an easy pick, the Position in the Spotlight is the Kansas Jayhawks Mens Basketball Coach.
KU has been marked by long tenures and winning teams. In fact, in the school’s history, only one coach has ever had a losing record, James Naismith. Inarguably, the worst coach in the history of KU basketball was the inventor of the game. That should give you an idea of how good his successors were.
His immediate succesor was Forrest C “Phog” Allen. Naismith said once to Allen that “You can’t coach basketball, you just play it.” Of course, Allen went out and proved him wrong, becoming known as the Father of basketball coaching. The arena in Lawrence to this day bears his name. He was at the university for 39 seasons and won only one NCAA Titile, because his career predated the NCAA tournament.
After Allen retired, Dick Harp took over, leading the Jayhawks, including Wilt Chamberlain to the national title game, losing in overtime to North Carolina. Ted Owens followed Harp and led the tea to the Final Four twice.
In 1983, the shortest tenured coach, and one who actually won a title with the Jayhawks, was Larry Brown. This is the same Larry Brown, of course, who was featured in our Indianapolis sporlight.
Unfortunately, Brown was involved in a recruiting scandal at Kansas and was replaced by someone else who has been in someone elses spotlight, Roy Williams, who moved on to North Carolina. Williams went 418-101 with the Jayhawks, which is an incredible record, of course. Among his other notable accomplishments was making the tournament every year after the probation year at the beginning of his career, going undefeated in the Big 12 in 2001-2002 and two trips to the Final Four. For as incredible as his teams were, he was continually dogged by critics who noted his inability to win the title.
After Williams left for North Carolina, Kansas hired Bill Self away from Illinois. After a rough start, including early round Tournament losses, he also has a winning percentage over .800. His coaching style and recruiting brilliance eventually took, and the Jayhawks won their first national title since Larry Brown coached the team. Self continues to coach there, and was named the NCAA Coach of the Year last year.

Honorable Mention: Royals third basemen: The Royals won the World Series in 1985, thanks in large part to the contributions of Hall of Famer George Brett. The Royals have had several good players before and since then, but Mark Teahen and Alex Gordon are the most recent to hear the hype. Is he te next George Brett?
Chiefs Linebacker: The hallmark of the Chiefs has always been the defensive side of the ball, thanks in no small part to the ferocity of their linebackers. Hall of Famers Bobby Bell, Willie Lanier and Derrick Thomas all spent their careers in Kansas City.
Chiefs Kicker: Jan Stenerud and Nick Lowery, two of the most prolific kickers in the history of the game called Kansas City home for a good portion of their careers.