Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 24, 1990 TAG: 9005240065
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JACK BOGACZYK and SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITERS
DATELINE: DESTIN, FLA. LENGTH: Long
Those two hand-in-hand items - the subject of much speculation and the reason the Atlanta-based league commissioned an expansion feasibility study by Raycom Sports - will be the first item on today's agenda for the athletic directors.
The league's faculty representatives will meet apart from the athletic directors this morning, before the two groups combine for Friday's joint committee discussions that could lead to an expansion-football recommendation for the Metro.
"I don't really have a good feel right now for [whether a recommendation will be made to expand]," said King Dixon, South Carolina's athletic director. "There are still a lot of unknowns, and questions I'm not sure we're ready to answer.
"There are issues like special admissions for student-athletes, like scheduling, which can be a very touchy thing. There's how we determine conference champions, and, of course, revenue sharing.
"If we feel good about those things, I'd say we'll give a good recommendation to the presidents. At this time, I'm not sure we're ready to answer those questions. But we'll be asking them the next two days."
Virginia Tech athletic director Dave Braine, chairman of the Metro athletic directors, said he wants those issues resolved by Friday evening, when the spring meetings are scheduled to end.
"Hopefully, when we leave here, we'll know where we stand," Braine said.
Asked how soon the Metro might be ready to announce any additions, Commissioner Ralph McFillen said, "between 30 and 60 days," and looked at Braine.
"I'd say 60 days would be a good starting point," Braine added.
The presidents of the eight Metro members meet next Wednesday in Atlanta. Any expansion recommendation from these meetings will be considered there.
Since a May 7 meeting in Atlanta in which the Metro athletic directors received and reviewed Raycom's report and began pushing toward expansion and football, McFillen and Metro athletic directors have visited non-league campuses to gauge interest in the Metro.
In addition to the eight Metro institutions, the report included academic, athletic and marketing information on nine football independents - West Virginia, Miami, Temple, Rutgers, Pitt, Syracuse, Boston College, Penn State and East Carolina.
Asked whether he would reveal which schools have been visited, who has been doing the visiting and when the visits took place, McFillen answered, "No, no and no."
McFillen said the schools being considered have been shown the Raycom report.
"The Raycom study was done . . . to share that with other schools, to let them see the extent we've gone to to evaluate ourselves as well as them," McFillen said.
"The general reaction has been that the Metro, by employing and going out and getting a consultant, is going about it the right way."
Florida State athletic director Bob Goin said he is eager to hear reports today of how Metro representatives were received at targeted schools.
"[Braine] and Ralph have to be the people that address that," Goin said. "I'm going to be sitting at the table hearing what they have to say."
Although McFillen and Metro officials won't disclose the schools they want, speculation continues that to raise league membership to double figures, West Virginia and Miami or Pitt are top choices.
"The feeling among the athletic directors is it has to be two or it won't work," Braine said when asked whether the Metro would consider only one addition. "I don't think there's any one with enough clout for us to be the kind of football and revenue-sharing league we're talking about."
Braine said the Metro isn't committed to adding just two schools, and he said the league might consider four.
Miami is considered a key to Florida State's willingness to stay in an expanded Metro. Asked if that was so, Goin said, "I think you could probably answer that question yourself."
McFillen said Raycom has gone back to the surveyed schools to compile additional information. Raycom is expected to present those new facts and figures today.
The league's basketball coaches also will meet today. Included in their three-hour session is a scheduled presentation by the committee that will be host to the Metro Conference basketball tournament for Tech at the Roanoke Civic Center next March.
Also today, the athletic directors are expected to consider Virginia Tech's request to postpone its turn to be host to the league's baseball tournament in 1991. Under the Metro's rotating-site plan, Tech is scheduled to play host to the event next spring. Braine has said he would rather the Hokies switch years with Tulane and take the tournament in 1992 because it is unlikely Tech's English Field will have lights by 1991.
Also in Wednesday's 3 1/2-hour meeting at the resort town on the Gulf of Mexico, the athletic directors:
Agreed to standardize compliance at league schools by sending a checklist to the members, who would then be audited annually by assistant commissioner Dale Smith, a former NCAA enforcement staffer, as was McFillen. The athletic directors also agreed to create a compliance pamphlet for school boosters full of do's and don'ts;
Agreed unanimously to explore the possibility of having all four spring sports championships - baseball, tennis, track and field and golf - at the same site. If adopted, the first Metro "Spring Festival" would be held in 1992;
Agreed to allow Metro women's basketball coaches to have the option of playing weekend series on Friday night and Sunday afternoon instead of Saturday and Monday. The reason for the change would be to cut down on classes missed by athletes.
by CNB