Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 13, 1993 TAG: 9308130138
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Check his temples. They're starting to gray.
Check his record. Thirteen victories in four seasons may sound ho-hum, but in a program with 11 consecutive losing seasons, it's a significant number.
The only two coaches who have survived for more than a decade on the post were John McKenna and Bob Thalman. In their first four seasons guiding the Keydets, each had 13 victories, too.
Times have changed. VMI no longer competes with the big boys of Division I-A, and it struggles to stay afloat in the Southern Conference, which has six of its nine teams in the preseason NCAA Division I-AA poll.
The Keydets spent last autumn scrutinizing the uncertain financial future of their program. The numbers don't add up to success on the field, but then, as a wise man who spent a lot of time in the shadow of Stonewall Jackson's parade-ground statue once said, "A .500 season at VMI is like 9-2 other places."
Shuck seems to grasp that fully now, although he doesn't have to accept it - and won't. So, as Shuck enters the final season of his original five-year contract, he - like McKenna and Thalman - isn't anywhere close to finished after four years.
Shuck, 39, and VMI athletic director Davis Babb have discussed a contract extension. They have met as recently as this week and seem to be agreeable. Shuck said a deal could be reached before the season begins, and he and Babb have agreed that if there's no handshake by Sept. 1, they won't resume talking until after the season.
For a program in dire need of some good news, the importance of a renewal for Shuck can't be overstated. With VMI - the school and the athletic program - facing so much uncertainty in the next few years, the Keydets don't need more changes in a program that too often has been gutted by rat-line attrition and academic losses.
It isn't simply a case of rewarding the Ohio native and former Indiana University lineman. The Keydets have been competitive against a schedule that only gets tougher this season.
"I'm satisfied that we've made a lot of positive strides," Babb said Thursday. "Knowing what Jim inherited and where he's come with the program, yes, we want him back. That's not to say we don't want to improve. But whatever being competitive means, we've been much more competitive."
Shuck isn't satisfied with the status quo, but neither he nor Babb was going to negotiate in the newspaper. The length of Shuck's extension - three years? - could hinge on VMI's football profile in the next few years. There are questions Shuck wants answered about VMI's future and about his future.
Babb can't answer some of those questions. One is what will happen to the I-AA scholarship limit. A proposal to be voted on at the NCAA Convention in January would cut the maximum number of grants I-AA schools can give from 63 to 45. If it passes?
There are answers Shuck has been seeking, however, on his recruiting budget, on scholarship funding, on facilities. The bottom line for Shuck is that wherever VMI plays its football future, it provides the funds to be competitive. "What I'm most interested in is that we be fair to our kids," he said.
At a base salary of $54,600 - that's only a $2,600 increase in five years - Shuck, considering the challenge, has to be one of the most underpaid coaches in Division I. Still, as he looks forward to the 1993 season, he sees beyond it.
"I plan on being here in 1994," he said. "I trust everything will work out for the best. . . . If this were the kind of place where someone would say, `You've got to win eight to stay here, then I don't want to be here.' "
The other day, VMI's most successful coach called Shuck. Bobby Ross was a quarterback on McKenna's best teams in the '50s. He coached Georgia Tech to a share of the national title and has turned the San Diego Chargers into an NFL playoff club.
"Bobby said to me, `You have to realize the job was at rock bottom when you got there,' " Shuck said. "He said, `You've only been there four years. It's going to take a lot of time. You have to realize where you're at and where you've come from as much as where you need to go.' "
It's a tough job. Somebody has to do it. Shuck has done it as well as anyone could.
by CNB