A twister, a twister – that’s what happened to the University of Kansas.

Or at least, it seems that way because the firing of the Kansas Athletic Director Al Bohl plays topsy-turvy.

Basketball coach Roy Williams didn’t directly fire Bohl, but his pressure and hard feelings played a key factor.

Eastern director of athletics Rich McDuffie said he didn’t know much about the Kansas Kilimanjaro volcano, but said such a scenario wouldn’t happen at Eastern because the Big 12 Conference isn’t even in the same mountain range as the Ohio Valley.

“(For the Big 12), football and basketball have to be successful to pay the bills,” McDuffie said. “We can go 2-9 in football and we would be disappointed, but we don’t rely on the football revenue nearly as much.”

Bohl was hot enough to spew molten rock. It went beyond money for him.

“It is bad when a basketball coach can have the ability to hire and fire someone,” Bohl told The Associated Press Wednesday. “There’s no question I have been beaten up maliciously.”

McDuffie said punches won’t be thrown at Eastern any time soon – and they shouldn’t be. There are no hard feelings between any Panther coaches and him. Most of the coaches at Eastern have intentions of staying here for a long time. They immediately seek no higher peak, like say North Carolina – a potential climb for Williams.

“It’s always good to have good people in positions who stay a long time,” McDuffie said. “That’s really what you always hope for.”

u There’s plenty of dissention among Eastern baseball ranks, and Panther manager Jim Schmitz wouldn’t have it any other way.

With Major League Baseball in full swing, debate among Panthers about which side of Chicago plays better baseball, or if the best team plays in St. Louis.

Schmitz, a Cincinnati area native, makes the case for none of the above. He takes plenty of gruff from his players for supporting his team, but some of it was silenced after the Reds took two of three games from the North Siders last weekend.

“It’s nice to talk about something other than homework or the weather during practice once the baseball season starts,” Schmitz joked. “But it’s just terrible I take a lot of stuff from Cubs fans. I just might even stop recruiting Chicago-area kids if it gets any more out of hand.”

So which team rules the Panther dugout roost?

“I think we’re pretty evenly divided for the Cardinals and the Cubs and there’s a few scragglers who are for the Sox,” said Cubs backer and Panther backstop Bret Pignatiello. “I’d say Cubs fans are the loudest though, because we always think we’ll do well even though we suck every year.”

Who says Cubs fans are losers? They’d win at a loudest fan contest any day.