VCU'S SMITH VOTED METRO COACH OF YEAR

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 12, 1993                   TAG: 9303120133
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LOUISVILLE, KY.                                LENGTH: Short
VCU'S SMITH VOTED METRO COACH OF YEAR
Sonny Smith, who acknowledged in preseason that he wasn't getting the job done at Virginia Commonwealth, was told Thursday he'd done the best job of any Metro Conference men's basketball coach.
Smith was named the Metro's 1992-93 coach of the year in voting by the Metro Conference Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association, getting seven more votes than Louisville's Denny Crum.
VCU went 6-2 after losing 1991-92 first-team all-league player Kendrick Warren to injury last month, and the Rams' 18-8 finish followed three straight losing seasons under Smith.
Few had been more critical of VCU's slow progress under Smith than the 56-year-old former Virginia Tech assistant coach.
"It was really a nice award to win because of the problems we've gone through, or that I've created," said Smith, a two-time Southeastern Conference coach of the year at Auburn. "This one's kind of special to me. I kind of felt so empty about what I'd done for VCU. I hadn't done much. The only thing that fulfills [you] is wins. This type of thing culminates that."
Also Thursday, the Metro crowned Louisville center Clifford Rozier its player of the year and UNC Charlotte guard Andre Davis its freshman of the year.
Rozier (15.6 points, 11.5 rebounds per game) got 30 votes to 15 for teammate Dwayne Morton. Davis (13 ppg., 34.7 percent 3-point shooting) got 28 votes to 17 for South Florida's Chucky Atkins.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB