Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 12, 1990 TAG: 9007120048
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
That, however, may change.
"I think a lot of attention will be given to that possibility," said Fletcher, a coach and assistant athletic director at Virginia Tech for 13 years who will begin his new job Monday.
"We'll probably want to make sure the house is in order athletically [before pursuing football]," Fletcher said of the Division II school in Farmville. "It might be real soon, or it might take a little longer than real soon. But I feel there's a strong interest there by people in starting football."
Fletcher's first task at Longwood, however, has nothing to do with football. Longwood's basketball team is without a coach, and Fletcher said hiring a new coach is his priority.
Fletcher said he didn't have a single-minded desire to become an athletic director, but the the opportunity at Longwood intrigued him. He said the school, with an enrollment of about 2,600, is attempting to gain university status; that may boost athletics, he said.
Fletcher noted that the athletic programs at James Madison and Radford improved after those schools gained university status and said he thinks Longwood's program may follow those examples.
Longwood, though, may find its growth in a revamped Division II, Fletcher said. Proposals for the restructuring of NCAA divisions are likely to be voted on at the association's annual convention in January 1991.
"There's going to be a lot of shakeout at the top with the new Division I requirements," Fletcher said, adding that some Division I programs may drop to Division II if new requirements are approved.
Fletcher went to Tech as an assistant to football coach Bill Dooley in 1978 and was a position coach until 1984, when he took on administrative duties. In 1987, he became an assistant athletic director. One of his duties since then has been to work with the athletic director in setting up Tech's future football schedules, which now include series with Penn State, Miami and Oklahoma. The Miami and Oklahoma series are two-for-one deals, with Tech getting one home game in each series, and the Penn State contract has the Nittany Lions playing four games at home and two at Lane Stadium.
"We've put some attractive long-term things in there," he said. "I've always felt you have to have . . . good agreements on the road to take care of you financially [and] to attract top players. You have to start somewhere."
Fletcher, who also served as Tech's recruiting coordinator until 1988, said the Dooley staff tried to concentrate on in-state recruiting. Fletcher remembered that Dooley's 1977 North Carolina team, which lost to Nebraska in the Liberty Bowl, had 17 starters from Virginia.
"We kind of created our own enemy," Fletcher said.
Fletcher said he will miss the Blacksburg community when he moves to Farmville.
"I felt I worked hard to do the things in every capacity I was asked to do," he said. "I feel good about what I had the opportunity to contribute to Tech."
\ Former Cave Spring High School star Kelly Hunter, who recently graduated from William and Mary, has been selected for the Volvo Men's Tennis/Scholar-Athlete team. Hunter led the Tribe to its second Colonial Athletic Association title in three years.
\ Claire Forbes, a UVa track standout from England, has been invited to compete in the 1,500-meter run for the British Junior National Team at the World Junior Championships in Bulgaria from Aug. 6-12. Forbes, who finished ninth in the 1,500-meters at the 1990 NCAA Championships as a freshman, placed second in that event at the British National Championships in London on June 30 with a time of 4 minutes, 24.3 seconds.
\ Virginia Tech football signee Maurice DeShazo, who will play in the Virginia High School Coaches' Association football all-star game tonight in Lynchburg, said he has experienced few problems with the wrist on his throwing arm.
DeShazo said recently that the injury, suffered during the winter, is "like a stress fracture," but said it doesn't bother him when he throws. The only soreness, he said, occurs if he twists the wrist the wrong way. He added that the soreness goes away quickly.
DeShazo also said he has met the 2.0 grade-point average requirement of Proposition 48, so he is eligible to play for the Hokies this year.
\ Another future Hokie who had to qualify academically, former Pitt tackle Calvert Jones, said he is on the verge of completing the hours necessary to earn his junior college degree, which would make him eligible to play football at Tech.
"Unless I die, I'll be at Tech," Jones said.
\ Virginia Tech has filled the last opening on its 1990-91 basketball schedule with George Washington. The Colonials, from the Atlantic 10 Conference, play host to Tech on Dec. 22 in Washington, D.C. George Washington will visit Blacksburg during the 1991-92 season.
\ James Madison, which elects one football team captain, has selected free safety Eupton Jackson from Big Stone Gap for that honor for the 1990 season. Jackson led the Dukes with 96 tackles last year and "might be the most complete player we've had here since Charles Haley [now with the San Francisco 49ers]," said coach Joe Purzycki.
\ West Virginia has received a basketball commitment from 6-foot-8, 225-pound Ricky Robinson, who spent last season at Canterbury (Conn.) Prep after failing to qualify under Prop 48 guidelines as a high school senior. Robinson, from Roselle, N.J., originally signed with Rutgers.
\ The women's athletic program at Virginia was ranked ninth in Division I, according to a survey published recently in USA Today. The men's program, however, was not in the top 30 despite playing in a New Year's Day football bowl game, making the NCAA Tournament in basketball and capturing a share of the NCAA soccer championship. Texas finished first among men's programs and UCLA was tops among the women.
***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on July 13, 1990\ CLARIFICATION
It was reported in Thursday's editions that former Virginia Tech assistant athletic director Tom Fletcher had been an assistant football coach for more than a decade. Fletcher was an assistant football coach for 21 years before joining Tech's administration in 1987.
Memo: correction