Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 5, 1993 TAG: 9308050077
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
It took him a little longer to find a direction once he left Tech.
Whitten worked a shift from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. for Overnight Transportation Corporation in Bristol for about a year. "I just didn't want to do that the rest of my life," he said.
That was followed by a near-minimum wage job at a Lowe's hardware store that "taught me I didn't want to work there anymore."
So Whitten, who finished his Tech career with 44 starts, 308 tackles and 13 sacks, as well as a degree in education, is pursuing his teaching certification by student-teaching at Radford High School. He will join Norm Lineburg's football coaching staff with the Bobcats.
Whitten will help Lineburg try to rebuild a team that went 1-9 last year, Radford's worst record since an 0-10 season in 1962. Whitten hasn't lost the intensity that propelled him during his years at Tech.
"Sometimes I think I expect too much," said Whitten, who is supervising preseason weightlifting and trying to run it the way he remembers it at Tech. "It's a voluntary thing, but I kind of treat it like it's a mandatory thing. I have gotten it a little more serious.
"Techniques, I'm trying not to expect too much. I don't want to put expectations too high. As long as they're willing to lay into somebody, that's all I'm looking for."
Whitten will work with Radford's defensive linemen, concentrating on the nose guard and tackles. It's the first step in what he hopes will be a career.
"I like working with kids," he said. "They respond. You're really teaching them the whole game. We have a bunch of kids who are seniors with only one year of experience."
The biggest challenge so far, he said, is creating a positive attitude after last season's record. He has to adjust to being the motivator instead of the motivated. His Tech career gives him some credibility, he said, but not star status.
As far as teaching, he said, he'll keep it pretty simple.
"I want to get some guys who'll get up there and get into an offensive lineman and get to the ball," he said. "We'll work on toughness. Football's a game of toughness, mental and physical."
\ HUSSEY ON HOKIES: Bobby Hussey has returned to Blacksburg after spending most of July on the road recruiting. Tech will have at least four basketball scholarships to offer. The Hokies assistant coach said the needs include inside players and a "big-time shooter," and he is encouraged about the prospects of finding the shooter in-state.
"Virginia is a productive state," he said. "There are some good players in the state we feel like we should be able to recruit. There are some real good ones, enough to go around. We certainly ought to be able to get one of those."
In-state shooting prospects with whom Tech may become involved include 6-foot-4 Robert Shelton of Louisa; 6-1 Tony Rutland of Bethel; 6-2 Curtis Staples, formerly of Patrick Henry; and 6-5 Mark Byington of Salem.
\ A HARSH JOURNEY: If Aaron Layne makes it big in college football, he can say he started the hard way. The Virginia Tech freshman, from Orlando, Fla., will arrive in Blacksburg on Friday morning with the rest of the Hokies' rookies - except Layne will be traveling by bus. He leaves Orlando at 1:45 p.m. Thursday and arrives in Christiansburg nearly 19 hours later, at 8:30 a.m. Friday. Layne planned to fly to Blacksburg, but a family reunion in North Carolina changed his itinerary.
\ PUNISHED: Clemson's Brentson Buckner, touted by some as the leading candidate for the Outland Trophy after recording an ACC-high 18 tackles for loss in 1992, will miss the Tigers' opener Sept. 4 against Nevada-Las Vegas. Buckner has been suspended for accepting air fare from an agent in December 1992, in violation of NCAA rules. Clemson reported the incident to the NCAA and Buckner repaid the agent, but the NCAA ruled Buckner must sit out one game.
\ SHUPE BACK IN STATE: Tom Shupe, who began his career in administration as sports information director at Roanoke College, has joined the staff at Virginia Commonwealth as associate athletic director for external affairs. Shupe, also the sports information director at VMI for four years, most recently was the athletic director at Wichita State.
\ LINEBURG ON BOARD: Robert Lineburg, the son of Radford High School football coach Norm Lineburg, will serve an internship with Bill Foster's basketball coaching staff at Virginia Tech this season. Lineburg, working toward a master's degree in sports management at Tech, will handle administrative chores for the Hokies as he tries to get his foot in the door of Division I coaching. He previously served as an assistant to Bob Johnson at Emory and Henry.
\ WHAT ALMA MATER? Virginia Tech recruit Jim Baron won't be able to follow the progress of his former teammates at Triton College this fall. That's because Triton suspended its 22-year-old football program in April. The River Grove, Ill., school needs a new artificial-turf field to replace the worn carpet that was installed in 1975, but the $475,000 cost is too much. Last season, Baron's sophomore year, the team practiced on Triton's soccer and softball fields and played home games at local high schools, which were paid by Triton. Sports information director Ed Schaffer said Triton will collect a portion of student fees to go toward buying a new artificial surface sometime in the future.
\ ACC PAINS: North Carolina quarterback Mike Thomas underwent shouldersurgery March 3, preventing him from playing football or baseball in the spring. Thomas, who injured a pectoral muscle while lifting weights, is expected to be close to 100 percent for the start of preseason football drills. Coach Mack Brown said Thomas, an outfielder in the Baltimore Orioles' organization, continues to pay his way to school, although he is not playing professional baseball this summer. . . . Maryland nose guard Jim Panagos, whose five sacks and 10 tackles for losses led the Terrapins last season, has given up football after his right knee did not respond to off-season surgery.
\ FERRUM-BOUND: Jereme Greer, a first-team All-Group AAA offensive guard on Pulaski County's state championship team, is one of 51 freshmen welcomed by coach Hank Norton at Ferrum.
\ PROMOTED: The announcement that Dale Kelley would become officiating supervisor for the Southwest Conference did not go unnoticed by 34-year-old Howie Burgess, who earlier had been appointed by Kelley to the officials' roster for the Metro and Sun Belt conferences.
by CNB