Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 16, 1992 TAG: 9202160072
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
CANDIDATES SURFACE FOR CAVE SPRING FOOTBALL OPENING
Despite the lack of a winning football tradition, Cave Spring has received applications from three Group AAA head coaches in the state.The most prominent is Larry Smith, whose Halifax County team won the Group AAA Division 6 title last season. The other two are Bayside's Bill King and Mount Vernon's Bill Renner, both of whom played football at Virginia Tech.
The well-traveled Smith, who was a head coach at Lebanon, Honaker and Abingdon before moving to Halifax County three years ago, says better pay in the Roanoke County school system is one reason he applied at Cave Spring.
Smith applied for the Patrick Henry job when Larry Carter went to Lord Botetourt. Stories continue to circulate that his ultimate goal is to return to coach at Lee, his home county, when veteran Don Williams retires there.
"I get upset when somebody mentions that. I've got my parents who live there and they mean a lot to me," said Smith, who indicates that is not his intention.
Smith and Renner have not applied for the open Franklin County position, but King has.
"Basically, I just wanted to get back to Southwest Virginia," said King, a native of Radford who took Bayside to the Group AAA Division 6 playoffs for the first time in the school's history.
In three years as head coach, Bayside is 21-10 under King, who was an assistant under Jim Hickam at Northside in 1983-84. He played on Norm Lineburg's first Radford state championship team in 1971, then played at Virginia Tech.
There's a kicker to King's Cave Spring application. He has a 15-year-old son who could benefit the Knights' program should his father get the job.
Renner was a punter at Tech in 1981-82, then performed those duties in the NFL at Green Bay for two years. He also coached as a graduate assistant at Virginia Tech, then moved to Tazewell as an assistant.
At Mount Vernon, Renner followed Bruce Patrick, a successful coach. However, the Majors hit a down cycle the past three years, just as Halifax County hit an up cycle in 1991 after being down for so many years. Renner's three teams have won eight and lost 20.
"I would just say [Cave Spring is] an opportunity to get back into the southwest area of the state." Renner said. "I like that area better and it's a little bit less expensive. Also, the environment is better."
Renner, unlike the other two applicants, grew up in the Cave Spring district, although he left before going to high school. He played in the recreation program, but his father was in the service and was transferred.
\ With each game, Odell Hodge of Laurel Park is climbing the who's who scoring ladder in Virginia high school basketball. When he tallied 59 points in two games this past week to bring his four-year total to 2,278, he moved to second past Tabb's Terry Kirby (2,246), R.E. Lee-Staunton's Kevin Madden (2,236) and Brunswick's Bryant Stith (2,221).
Hodge already had passed Pulaski County's Mike Porter (2,177), Clyde "the Glide" Austin (2,150), Moses Malone (2,124), Alonzo Mourning (2,105) and former William Fleming assistant Barry Hamler (2,096), who coaches the state's top-ranked Group AAA team, Booker T. Washington.
Hodge needs 182 points to pass Pennington's Steve Marsee as the state's public-school scoring leader. Realistically, the Lancers probably will have to reach the Region III final - about eight more games - for Hodge to have a shot.
\ Remember the way the Western District kept beating on the Roanoke Valley District in football last fall. The RVD has returned the favor in basketball.
While there is a possibility the districts will hook up against one another in the Northwestern Region, the Roanoke Valley boys' teams own a 20-8 advantage over the Western.