Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 10, 1990 TAG: 9003102260
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: BILOXI, MISS. LENGTH: Long
After the game, they got an edict from coach Frankie Allen. Gentlemen, he told the returning players, your bank account is drawn. Your credit is no good. You start from scratch next season.
"Coaches always say, `It's wide open,' " Allen said, referring to the battle for playing time and starting jobs. "When I make that statement, it's going to be a fact."
Allen is motivated by more than just a desire to reverse a two-year skid in which the Hokies have gone 24-35 overall and 7-19 in the Metro. By the end of this month, Tech athletic director Dave Braine must make a recommendation on whether the university should extend Allen's contract by another year.
Allen, who has two years left on his original four-year deal with Tech, knows the Hokies' back-to-back losing seasons have the Tech community edgy. Some observers have wondered aloud if Allen will be back next season. Braine, however, has said that Allen deserves a chance to run the program without the shroud of NCAA probation, which ended in November.
"I would be shocked if I wasn't back next year," said Allen, who left Biloxi on Friday morning to begin a recruiting trip.
"I can't coach from an attitude of fear, fear of not winning enough games to keep my job," he said. "If you go out with that approach, I think you compound things."
It's not hard to analyze Tech's 1989-90 season: The Hokies couldn't shoot; they were less talented overall than their opponents, they were too small, too young and too easily flustered to succeed in the Metro.
The Hokies will be a year older and should be a year wiser next season, and they'll tout their regular-season-ending three-game winning streak as a sign of things to come. But questions remain.
Despite Bimbo Coles' record-setting season, disappointments abounded. Perhaps the biggest, Allen said, was Tech's inside game.
John Rivers, a member of the Metro's all-rookie team last season, was shuttled between small forward and power forward during the year and did not improve significantly on his freshman stats in scoring and rebounding. And the rest of the frontcourt lagged, especially after Greg Brink's season-ending knee injury in the 19th game.
"I thought we'd be a little bit more consistent, especially with our inside play. That's why we elected to redshirt [Jimmy] Carruth and [Corey] Jackson," said Allen, who expected a bigger contribution this season from junior college transfer Ibraheem Oladotun. "Our inexperience showed early. Ibru, [with] his inexperience learning our system, didn't develop."
Tech's poor shooting puzzled Allen, but each of his three Hokies teams has shot less than 45 percent from the field. When Allen talks about signing a player or players with the two scholarships Tech has available, he talks about getting someone who can shoot.
The Hokies (13-18), who had their second consecutive losing season and third in the last four, will be without Coles and his 25 points per game. The Hokies will welcome back Metro all-freshman team pick Dirk Williams, 3-point shooter Rod Wheeler, two-year starter Rivers, starting guard J.J. Burton, starting center David Herbster, backup center Oladotun and several others.
At times, each of them played well. But few showed much consistency, which will be Allen's byword next season.
The Hokies will welcome 6-10 Carruth and 6-7 Jackson, both redshirt freshmen, and recruits Jay Purcell and Donald Corker, both 6-2 guards. Jackson and Corker are, by reputation, good shooters. Purcell is most comfortable handling the ball, and Carruth is a shot-blocker.
Allen said he doesn't regret redshirting Carruth and Jackson. In fact, he says redshirting them has given Tech a good freshman class next season and a reason for optimism. Allen remains coy about whether he will use his two remaining scholarships, but he admits the Hokies are a step behind the league's top teams.
"I think we've got a pretty good nucleus of players coming back," Allen said. "We're young, but a lot of other [teams] are young, with perhaps more critically acclaimed-type players."
Memphis State has two McDonald's All-Americans sitting out under the NCAA's Proposition 48: 6-7, 260-pound Anthony Douglas, who averaged 19 rebounds per game as a senior at East High School in Memphis, and 6-5 guard Billy Smith. They also have signed 6-7 guard Anfernee Hardaway, considered one of the top high school seniors in the country. Hardaway has had academic difficulties this season, but reportedly is close to qualifying under Prop 48 guidelines.
Florida State has 6-8 Douglas Edwards, another Prop 48 player, who was considered one of the country's top recruits last year. Louisville has one of the nation's top incoming classes, including 6-9 Anthony Cade of Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va. South Carolina has signed 6-4 guard Jamie Watson, a Top 44 pick by Blue Ribbon magazine. And, former Georgia center Elmore Spencer, a 7-footer now at Conners Junior College in Oklahoma, is considering South Carolina and Louisville.
Even last-place Tulane will have 6-4 swingman David Whitmore, a transfer from Georgia Tech who likely will start next season.
And, 27 of the 35 starters for Tech's Metro opponents return next season. Second-place Southern Miss loses no one.
Conversely, the Hokies are losing a prolific scorer, Coles, from a team that struggled offensively all season. Allen's head may be aching from now until November, and maybe longer.
"You know there's going to be some adjustments without Bimbo, and that's always a concern," Allen said.
Probably, Allen's fondest wish is that the university extend his contract - not only for his security, but because he needs a couple of high-profile recruits and needs to be able to tell potential recruits that he'll be around. If Tech doesn't extend his contract, it may scare off prospective Hokies, and the program could suffer more.
Allen is realistic, though.
"The extension is going to be a real tough call for Dave," said Allen, who said he and Braine will meet in the next couple of weeks to discuss the situation. "I've got to handle it [the best] way possible."
by CNB