Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 8, 1993 TAG: 9308080076
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Last season was one that Tech football coach Frank Beamer can't forget. Part of the reason is that no one will let him. The Hokies became stuck in reverse, the last victory coming Sept. 19 against Temple.
It wasn't just that the Hokies finished 2-8-1. It was how. In five games that produced an 0-4-1 record, the difference was nine points in less than 5 1/2 minutes. You can't flunk finishing school any worse.
"It was crazy, the things that happened," Beamer said. "I've never gone through anything like that in my life."
The problem is that he's been living through it ever since, which is why Beamer is as eager as any of his fellow Tech alumni for the kickoff of the Sept. 4 opener against Bowling Green. That's why he so looked forward to the arrival of his second consecutive solid recruiting class, which just reported.
"This isn't like some other jobs," Beamer said. "In this job, the reality is that 11 weeks determine your whole year."
A summer ago, it seemed that 1993 would be the make-or-break season for Beamer's program. If it is, no one has told him. Maybe that's because Beamer has done everything asked of him - and more - except succeed on the field.
"There's no question that two wins is unacceptable," he said. "No one has to tell me that."
Is it now or never for Beamer?
Among Division I-A coaches in the eight major conferences and at independent programs, Beamer has been at his job longer than any other coach without producing a bowl bid. Virtually everything else surrounding his program is positive.
The graduation rate has climbed. His claim of having "more good kids" in the program isn't hollow. "And," he points out, "you can recruit more good ones if the kids you have in your program feel good about their experience. We have that now."
Also improved are season-ticket sales, average attendance, recruiting and strength of schedule. Tech has played 21 Top 25 teams and 14 teams ranked in the Top 10 in Beamer's tenure. He has changed two-thirds of his coaching staff in the last two winters, weathered two inherited seasons of NCAA probation and handled angioplasty much easier than he has East Carolina.
In Beamer's seventh year on the sideline at his alma mater, the Big East begins round-robin conference play - Tech's first league competition since a second-place Southern Conference finish behind West Virginia in 1964. That was Beamer's senior season at Hillsville High School.
Beamer says Tech's Big East admission may be "the best thing to happen to our program, maybe ever," and that isn't just coachspeak. Now, however, the Hokies must take advantage of that. As Virginia proved in the ACC before coach George Welsh's arrival, conference membership doesn't help if you don't win.
The Hokies have been picked to finish sixth in the eight-team conference, and with the unknowns within Tech's retooled 4-3 defense, that's a legitimate forecast. However, fourth place doesn't seem out of the question. To get there, Tech must play smarter and more aggressively.
Having an experienced quarterback in Maurice DeShazo and a solid offensive line anchored by balding All-America center Jim Pyne may be enough to get the Hokies close to success again. However, after back-to-back seasons when close counted too much for the Hokies, Beamer realizes that too much time on that fine line can be like walking a tightrope.
The alumni gripes about Beamer are few and seem rooted more in frustration than desperation. He's an easy man to like and respect. In so many ways, he seems the right person for the job he's doing, and his contract runs through 1995.
He also loves Tech so much that it's likely if the Hokies win only two games this season - and that's unlikely - then Beamer himself will realize that maybe it's time for someone else to get behind the wheel. However, it isn't a subject he plans to deal with all season.
Is Beamer in trouble? From this perspective, it doesn't appear so.
So, where does he stand?
"I think this university made a statement without saying anything," Beamer said. "I don't think many coaches could win two and tie one in their sixth season and stay around.
"If the right person is there, if the foundation is solid, that means something. Now, the next step is to get the whole program where we want it."
by CNB