Tix a hot commodity

If you plan to see the Michigan-Michigan State football game this weekend and you don't already have tickets, here are two suggestions - go to East Lansing with a lot of money, or stay in Ann Arbor and watch it on TV.

Prices for tickets to Saturday's game are sky high. Some ticket brokers are quoting prices starting at $700 for lower-level seats at 72,027-seat Spartan Stadium.

Tickets for the game have been sold out since June, according to Michigan State ticket manager Don Loding.

"It's the hottest game in several years," Loding said. "I'm still getting requests for tickets. Everybody keeps trying."

While the game features two top-15 teams and an old rivalry, many are left wondering why tickets cost $700 for a regular-season game.

EMILY NATHAN/Daily At Michigan State University, students guard Sparty 24 hours a day, fearing rival attacks from the University.

"It's an intrastate rivalry between two ranked teams with a lot of national attention," said Michigan State Vice President for University Relations Terry Denbow. "It's a popular weekend at a great place to watch a football game."

Scalpers and ticket brokers, who typically guarantee tickets to any event, are scurrying to find tickets. The most abundant tickets available seem to belong to students.

About 10,000 seats in Spartan Stadium are allotted to students. These tickets cost $72 for the six-game package, or $12 per contest. This week, these $12 tickets are selling for an average of $150-$200 each.

"There are tons of fliers all around campus," Michigan State first-year student Jeremy Wren said. "A lot of people are trying to sell their tickets. Not because they can't go to the game, but because of the prices people will pay."

Even after Michigan State lost its perfect record to Northwestern last weekend, the big-game atmosphere has not seemed to diminish. Anticipation has continued to grow throughout this week.

"Everyone here is talking about how it's the biggest game of the year," Michigan State first-year student Joel Miller said. "Most people seem willing to sell their ticket for the right price."

The high prices seem to be deterring many Michigan students from even attempting to get tickets. Sophomore ings. His first two recruiting classes ranked in the top 40.

Before joining the Redbirds, Stallings served as an assistant coach under Gene Keady at Purdue and Roy Williams at Kansas, accumulating an 11-year assistant coach record of 272-82.

Neither Doherty nor Dougherty, the current Kansas assistants, have any head-coaching experience. Doherty, who is starting his fifth season with the Jayhawks, specializes in recruiting.

Dougherty, who is entering his second season with the Jayhawks, has 12 years of assistant coaching under his belt, including four years at Vanderbilt and two years at South Carolina.

Russell and Reid are the only candidates who have Michigan connections.

Russell, who is starting his second year at Savannah, played for Michigan from 1963-66 and helped lead the Wolverines to two NCAA Final Fours and three Big Ten titles. Russell's play also helped fuel the overall popularity of the Michigan program, which eventually resulted in the construction of Crisler Arena. The Wolverine's home court is historically known as "The House that Cazzie Built."

But Russell's lack of major collegiate coaching experience may be a liability. Before taking over the Savannah Bees, a Division III program, Russell coached for Continental Basketball Association and high school teams.

Reid looks to be a more qualified candidate, but as of yesterday, he said he was still waiting to hear from Goss, who left a message with Reid saying that he would call back.

Reid was fired last year by Brigham Young, seven games into his eighth season, after leading the Cougars to a 152-77 record during his tenure. Reid's Cougars made the NCAA Tournament five times and the National Invitation Tournament once.

In the wake of his dismissal, Reid's son Robbie, who played for his father at Brigham Young, transferred to Michigan this fall and will play for the Wolverines this season.

The most recent name to surface as a possible candidate is Bibby, who would neither confirm nor deny that he has talked with Goss. Bibby is entering his second full season with the USC Trojans and is known as a strong disciplinarian. But Bibby was an assistant coach at Arizona State in 1985, when the NCAA found numerous rules violations, which may be a big strike against him considering the present situation at Michigan.

Goss is looking to clean up a program that has admitted to three minor NCAA violations under Fisher's reign. Fisher's dismissal came just two days after the Kansas City-based law firm Bond, Schenk and King released its report after a seven-month investigation.

That report is now in the hands of the NCAA, which will decide whether or not to conduct its own investigation into the program.

LOUIS BROWN/Daily
Aaron Seidman, whose parents are alumni, came to the University from out of town to shop for Michigan paraphernalia.

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