Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 7, 1994 TAG: 9407070135
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Scott Blanchard
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Strock's football tutelage didn't include eight-man teams, a bunch of two-way players, retaining walls with a foot-wide out-of-bounds area, no punting, end-zone nets to keep field goals in play, blitz restrictions and a 50-by-28-yard field. But the former Virginia Tech and NFL quarterback says he's ``very happy'' as an Arena League Football head coach.
``You're playing, really, on a hockey rink with artificial turf,'' Strock said. ``You can't escape.''
Strock said he relishes the unique challenges the game presents to a coach, such as: Because fullbacks and linebackers (among others) play both ways, do you keep three fullbacks on your 20-man active roster, or keep two and add an eighth defensive lineman? And which of your two offensive linemen (not including the center) do you designate as your tight end?
Strock, who also has coached a Miami entry in the Arena league, is 4-2 as boss of the Worcester-based Massachusetts Marauders. The league's head coaches answer a number of whatever-happened-to questions. The list includes former Dallas Cowboy quarterback Danny White, former Florida boss Galen Hall, former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce and, until he was fired by an 0-5 Milwaukee franchise, Lou Saban, whose many stops included the American Football League's Buffalo Bills and Denver Broncos.
Strock, who is Tech's career passing leader with 6,009 yards, was asked if his entry into coaching is the first step in a greater plan.
``It's a possibility,'' he said from his Marauders office.
Strock said he called Tech coach Frank Beamer to inquire about the Hokies' offensive coordinator job when Rickey Bustle left for South Carolina, but was too late; Beamer already had settled on Gary Tranquill.
So, for now, Strock will coach the 12-game season of what he calls ``man-to-man football'' where, for example, only one linebacker is allowed to blitz.
``It's a draining game,'' he said.
ON TV: The Big East Football Conference has confirmed that Virginia Tech's game Sept.17 at Boston College will be televised by the Big East's network. Air time is noon.
CHIP SHOT: Virginia golfer Simon Cooke was the leading vote-getter on the Virginia State Golf Coaches Association's Division I all-state team. Virginia Tech golf coach Jay Hardwick was named coach of the year for leading the Hokies to the NCAA Tournament.
The Hokies' Brian Sharp, Curtis Deal and Sean Farrell were first-team selections. UVa's Tripp Shreves was a second-team pick.
TRAGIC END: Harold Banks Jr. of Richmond, a 1989 Virginia Tech football recruit who left school before the 1990 season, was found shot to death in a late-model black Volvo on Sunday in the Highland Park area of Richmond. Police said Banks, 25, who resided in Henrico County, had ``numerous wounds'' and was dead when police arrived at the scene. A second Richmond man was injured during the incident, which, police said, left the street littered with bullet casings.
Banks was redshirted in 1989. When he did not return to Tech in the fall of '90, Tech's staff tried to contact him to encourage him to come back, but couldn't locate him.
VIRGINIA TIES: Mike Schuler, who survived a 1-25 record in his second year at VMI to become the National Basketball Association's coach of the year, retired as an assistant with the Sacramento Kings.
Schuler, 53, served five years as a head coach with Portland (1986-89) and the Los Angeles Clippers (1990-92). He was named the NBA's coach of the year after directing the Trail Blazers to a 49-33 record in his first season.
After spending three seasons at VMI, Schuler accepted an assistant's position at Virginia and was a member of the staff that took the Cavaliers to their only ACC Tournament championship, in 1976.
CONNECTIONS: Virginia Tech football radio broadcaster Mike Burnop, who attended a Buffalo Bills training camp for a month in 1977 and was cut after the second exhibition game, expressed sadness and disbelief over O.J. Simpson's legal troubles. When a Simpson friend read on live television what appeared to be Simpson's suicide letter to the public and mentioned former teammates such as Reggie McKenzie and Bob Chandler, Burnop said he was thinking, ``Man, I knew all those guys.''
RADFORD STUFF: The Highlanders' all-time leading soccer scorer and former All-American Dante Washington is playing for the Washington (D.C.) Warthogs of the Continental Indoor Soccer League. ... The Radford baseball team's .320 batting average ranked 17th nationally in Division I, the third consecutive year the Highlanders have made the top 20 in hitting.
ETC: Former Virginia quarterback Bobby Goodman has been waived by Baltimore, the newest Canadian Football League entry. ... Jenny Mitchell, a William Byrd High School alumnus who played at Wake Forest, has been named graduate assistant women's basketball coach at Missouri-Kansas-City. ... Roanoke native Todd Doughty, a decathlete at William and Mary, has been training since Saturday at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Doughty, selected for the training session by the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Development Staff, set a school record for points in the decathlon (6,875) this year. ... The Virginia men's soccer team is the preseason No.1 choice by College Sports magazine, receiving 11 of 16 first-place votes. Three ACC teams - No.4 Clemson, No.6 Duke and No.8 North Carolina - joined the Cavaliers in the top 10 ... Washington and Lee's football recruits include defensive back Ryan Fletemeyer, a Boulder, Colo., resident who was a second-team all-state selection by the Rocky Mountain News of Denver. Fletemeyer had 10 interceptions as a senior, six in the state playoffs.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB