Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 23, 1994 TAG: 9412230139
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BOWLED OVER: Virginia Tech's box-office performance for next Friday's Gator Bowl is a school record for a bowl trip. The Hokies have sold 17,653 tickets - 17,165 in Blacksburg and another 488 sales at the bowl's ticket office are credited to Tech.
Tech's previous bowl best was the combined Blacksburg-Atlanta sale of 17,743 for the 1986 Peach Bowl. Last year, the Hokies sold 7,174 Independence Bowl tickets on campus, and bowl officials said perhaps as many as 2,000 were peddled to Tech fans in Shreveport, La.
That means the Hokies have sold close to 45,000 seats for its last three bowl dates, a number that no doubt will promote Tech's postseason potential in future years.
RETURNING? Virginia offensive coordinator Tom O'Brien is the supposed front-runner for the vacant Navy football coaching job, but a familiar name has come up in the Middies' search.
It's Bill Dooley. Apparently, the former North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest coach has had callers to Navy campaigning for him. Dooley, 60, has been out of coaching for two seasons. And Navy, which goes off UVa's schedule, entertains the Hokies next season.
GERRYMANDER: The Bridgewater College football vacancy attracted the attention of one national name. Former Notre Dame coach Gerry Faust, reassigned at Akron last month, supposedly called the ODAC school several times about the opening.
Bridgewater is expected to name its new coach in the next few days. The leading candidate is believed to be Mike Clark, VMI's quarterback coach and former defensive coordinator at Tech.
NEW RIVAL: The NFL's revised scheduling formula with two expansion teams has the Carolina Panthers visiting Washington's RFK Stadium next season. All NFL teams' opponents for 1995 can be penciled in Tuesday, after the end of this regular season.
In addition to eight NFC East games, the Redskins will play the Panthers and Los Angeles (or St. Louis) Rams, the third- and fifth-place teams in the NFC Central (??? and Buccaneers) and the second- through fifth-place finishers in the AFC West (Chiefs, Broncos, Raiders and Seahawks).
The Panthers' first schedule includes eight NFC West games, the bottom four in the AFC East, the Redskins and Giants or Cardinals from the NFC East and the Bucs and whoever finishes third in the NFC Central.
CHANGES: Howard Schnellenberger's move from Louisville to Oklahoma last week means at least 15 of the 107 Division I-A football programs will have new head coaches next season. That seems like a lot of turnover, but it's not. There were 12 new coaches this season, with 16, 16 and 15 from 1991 to 1993. Since I-A shrunk in 1982, the high is 24 changes in 1987.
The candidates to replace Schnellenberger as the Cardinals move into a new conference include Mike Gottfried, the ESPN analyst and former head coach at Murray State, Cincinnati, Kansas and Pitt.
MISERY: In the NBA, somebody had to win last night's Washington and Golden State game. Since that big trade that sent Chris Webber from the Warriors to the Bullets for Tom Gugliotta and change, Golden State was 1-14 after a 7-1 start prior to Thursday, and Washington was 2-13 after opening 4-2.
No wonder Warriors coach Don Nelson was hospitalized a week with pneumonia.
AIR McNAIR: Alcorn State's Steve McNair could be the third black quarterback selected in the first round of the NFL draft. The others were Doug Williams of Grambling (No.17 by Tampa Bay, 1978) and Andre Ware of Houston (No.7 by Detroit in 1990).
NFL draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. projects McNair as a late first-rounder. The quarterbacks rated ahead of Alcorn's number-cruncher are Brigham Young's John Walsh - a top five pick - followed by Kerry Collins of Penn State, Kansas State's Chad May, and perhaps Southern Cal's Rob Johnson.
BLIZZARD: The Avalanche isn't just the new nickname for Salem's minor-league baseball team. It's what's happening in the club's creaking office on Florida Street. The former Buccaneers' front-office folks have sold so many caps, T-shirts and 1995 season tickets they sometimes have had people waiting in line in person and on the phone.
``In my years here, I've never seen anything like this,'' said Avalanche general manager Sam Lazzaro. ``The response [no doubt pushed by a new ballpark under construction] has been phenomenal.''
by CNB