Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 13, 1991 TAG: 9103130201
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Allen, whose performance has been reviewed by Tech athletic director Dave Braine as required by Allen's contract, met with Tech President James McComas on Monday - at Allen's request, Braine said. Allen and Braine met separately on Monday, Braine said.
Braine would not confirm persistent rumors in the Tech community that Allen, with records of 56-61 overall and 19-33 in Metro Conference play in four years at Tech, has been relieved of his duties as coach after the team's third straight losing season.
"I will not confirm anything or deny anything," Braine said Tuesday.
However, the Daily Press in Newport News reported in today's editions that Allen was fired Tuesday and will serve the remaining year of his contract as an athletic administrator.
Allen did not return several telephone messages left for him Tuesday. McComas and Minnis Ridenour, Tech's vice president/chief business officer, could not be reached for comment.
A Tech administration source and a Tech booster indicated that Allen would not return for his fifth year as coach.
Of five Hokies underclassmen reached Tuesday, none said he had talked to Allen or any Tech assistants or said he had any knowledge of Allen's fate.
"I hope he'll be back," redshirt freshman Jimmy Carruth said from his home in Port Arthur, Texas, where he is spending spring break. "I like playing up there. That's the man who brought me to Virginia Tech, and that's the man I want to leave Virginia Tech under."
Allen has been either an assistant coach or head coach at Tech since 1976 and is one of the more popular figures in Tech's athletic department. He has one year left on his original four-year contract, which pays him approximately $75,000 annually.
"I don't know what Virginia Tech is going to do there," said Sen. Danny Bird, D-Wytheville, vice president of Tech's alumni association. "I certainly hope they'll take care of Frankie, and I think they probably will.
"I like Frankie Allen. He's a good man."
Allen succeeded Charlie Moir, who resigned after the 1986-87 season that included an NCAA investigation into the program and resulting probation. Allen was the 1987-88 Metro Conference coach of the year after his lightly regarded Hokies finished 19-10, but the probation kept Tech out of postseason play.
The next season, his first without the "interim" tag, Tech was 11-17. The next two teams went 13-18 and 13-16.
Allen said he felt the Hokies were improving, especially after they won five of their last seven games this season before losing in the Metro tournament.
This season, Tech beat Louisville and Memphis State - both of which had down years - twice, making Allen only the third Metro coach to accomplish that feat. The Hokies also won a game in the Metro tournament for the first time since 1984.
But fan interest in the program seemed to fade and the Hokies' average attendance dropped for the fourth straight year, reaching 5,888, slightly more than half of Cassell Coliseum's capacity and the third-lowest since the coliseum opened in 1961.
There also is discontent among some Tech boosters, who claim Allen's teams aren't fundamentally sound and that Allen hasn't recruited any big-time players.
Allen's supporters contend he couldn't effectively recruit as an interim coach, then was hampered by two years of probation and uncertainty surrounding the future of the Metro Conference.
by CNB