Rachel Seymour

Mike Fine, bowling coach, watches Zach Taylor, Silver City, N.M., junior, bowl last night at practice in the Kansas Union. Fine is leaving the University to take over the bowling program at Florida State University. He said that although he will miss the team and Lawrence, he will leave happy with what has been done with Jaybowl operation and the bowling team.

A 21-year career at the University of Kansas is coming to a close for bowling coach Mike Fine. He will begin a new chapter of his coaching career after this semester. Fine, who turned the bowling team and the Jaybowl into what it is today, will take over the coaching and recreation coordinator position at Florida State University.

Florida State approached Fine about the position. It was previously held by a friend, Marvin Overby, who died of a heart attack last summer. After a few conversations with Florida State, Fine applied for the position and was officially named Overby’s successor March 1.

Fine spent 19 of his 21 years in the Jaybowl and worked full time in the Student Union Activities office the other two years. During his tenure, Jaybowl went through extensive remodeling. The improvements included bowling upgrades such as new lanes, new ball returns and a control desk, and more setting-oriented features such as black lights and cosmic bowling.

“Over 20 years we’ve been able to do a pretty significant renovation,” Fine said. “You would not recognize the place from when I started in ’84.”

Fine’s efforts with the bowling teams have turned them from above-average into nationally recognized programs. In 1998, after his two-year stint in the SUA office, Fine met with three returning seniors and discussed ways to improve the program.

In the spring of 1999, the men’s team reached national recognition when it made it to the Intercollegiate Bowling Championship. Fine had gotten the women’s team to the IBC in 1995, and he said the team’s philosophy led it to continued success. That success reached its crowning moment last year when the men’s team won its first IBC National Championship under Fine.

It will be difficult to replace what Fine, who was the 2001-2002 Intercollegiate Bowling Coach of the Year, has done for the Jaybowl and the University of Kansas. He served not only as the bowling coach and recreation coordinator, but also as a mechanic in the Jaybowl. The multi-talent necessity of the job will make the search for Fine’s replacement difficult.

“Mike is such a multi-talented, three-in-one guy,” said Jim Waite, director of programs for the Memorial Unions. “We may have to resort to hiring an independent person from the position to serve as either a coach or a mechanic.”

Waite said David Mucci, director of KU Memorial Unions, was reviewing the current job description for recreation coordinator.

“The review process will probably take a week or two,” Waite said. “I anticipate we will head out on the search after spring break.”

Waite said he hoped to have a few of the current members of the bowling team help with the search for a new coordinator.

The fact that their coach will be leaving at season’s end has some team members wondering where the program will go.

“We could be in some trouble,” junior bowler Rhino Page said. “But I know that there’s a lot of people out there that care about this program, especially in town, so I don’t think — by any means — it’s going to go down the tubes.”

Page said Fine’s personality, in particular, will be a huge loss. Some bowlers had trouble verbalizing Fine’s place in their lives.

“He’s kind of like a father figure,” freshman bowler Nikki Johannes said. “You can just go and talk to him, he’s really easy to talk to.”

For senior bowler Kelly Zapf, who intends to come back next year to help the team make the transition, was holding back tears.

“He’s not just my coach, he’s not just my boss — he’s my friend and I don’t know where I’d be right now if it wasn’t for him,” Zapf said. “I can’t imagine this place without him next year.”

Fine’s decision to leave Kansas came two weeks before the IBC Sectional Qualifier on March 19-20. Florida State is in the same sectional as Kansas, and junior bowler Zach Taylor said he was concerned the team might get wrapped up in how Fine’s future players do.

“I think it’s kind of in the back of all our minds,” Taylor said. “We’ll probably be watching Florida State a little more closely than we would ordinarily.”

On May 20, Fine will end his career as the recreation coordinator for the Memorial Unions and the Kansas bowling coach.

Edited by Jennifer Voldness