Eric Brock is facing the Catch-22 all coaches of losing sports teams must confront.

“It’s switching the mind-set,” said Brock, Haskell Indian Nations University’s first-year football coach.

Haskell will begin the 2002 season on an 18-game losing streak. The Fightin’ Indians lost all 11 games last season and their last seven in 2000.

To switch the mind-set, Haskell has to win. But to win, the whole mind-set around HINU football has to change. Thus the conundrum.

“If you can get people to believe the way the kids believe, it helps,” Brock said. “But sometimes it takes a couple of wins to do that. We need to get over the hump.”

Brock, a former Haskell player who was defensive coordinator at Ft. Lewis State in Durango, Colo., last season, expects about 75 players when preseason drills begin on Monday. Of that number, more than 50 will be returnees, including seven seniors  John Bighorse, Ben Buckskin, Mike Gillman, Nick Lewis, Bobby Harris, Tim Holt and Steve White.

Lewis is a fifth-year senior, a defensive back who missed last season with a foot injury. White, a 6-foot-3, 295-pound offensive lineman from Heavener, Okla., was a second team All-Central States Football League selection last season.

Haskell had only three All-CSFL picks last season. The other two  defensive end Ricky Bigger and cornerback Mike Murray  transferred to other schools.

Peter Hahn, a 6-foot, 225-pound sophomore from Live Oak, Fla., will return at quarterback. Hahn was more or less the entire offense last season.

In the first six games, Hahn completed only 31 percent of his passes, while throwing eight interceptions. Statistics from the last five HINU games aren’t available, because no one kept them.

Regardless, Brock has seen plenty of Hahn on film.

“A lot of times he tried to create plays on his own,” Brock said. “He’s one of our better athletes, and he was running for his life a lot of the time.”

Hahn will likely be pushed by Chris Muniz, a 6-3 transfer from Langston University.

“He was here in the spring,” Brock said. “Muniz is a taller kid, and it should be a pretty good battle at quarterback.”

Haskell had virtually no running game in 2001, but Brock hopes Joe Claunch, who went into the military out of high school and has now enrolled at HINU, will help.

“He’s not a breakway guy, but he has about 4.7 speed,” Brock said.

Brock, who will double as defensive coordinator, hopes the return of Lewis and linebacker Matt Kalfsbeck, a standout in 2000 who didn’t play last year, will improve a unit that surrendered an average of 37 points a game in ’01.

Another player who should help, Brock said, is safety Ivan Billy, a transfer from Mississippi State.

It’s no secret Haskell, funded by the federal government, has money woes. The school was forced to drop summer school, for example, because of a lack of funds.

In the same vein, Haskell’s football program could use more money, but Brock refuses to use his budget as an alibi.

“The biggest cost for most schools is scholarships,” Brock said. “Here everybody pays $100 a semester, so scholarship costs don’t affect us like other schools.”

At the same time, Brock points to such positives as the year-old locker facility under the south stands at Haskell Stadium, new turf on the football field (provided by co-users Lawrence High and Free State High) and a fresh coat of paint at the stadium.

“The budget is by no means an excuse to lose here,” Brock said.

Haskell will play only nine games this fall. Brock had hoped to play 10, but Paul Quinn College pulled out of an Oct. 26 date that will leave the Indians with two straight Saturdays off. Paul Quinn is located in Dallas.

Notes: Rich Brewer, a holdover from last year, will be the Indians’ offensive coordinator. Track coach Joe Bointy will work with the running backs. Jim Snyder and Ted Tyner, both KU students, also will be on Brock’s staff as will Wayne Thompson, who also works in the HINU maintenance department  Brock will celebrate his 29th birthday in 10 days.  Two-a-days practices are scheduled for 6:30 a.m. and 6:15 p.m. on the fields south of the stadium.

 Sports editor Chuck Woodling can be reached at 832-7147.