Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 8, 1995 TAG: 9508080044
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
There has been speculation about Drinkard's future since Terry Holland's return to Virginia as athletic director. Drinkard, who has been in charge of the VSAF since March 1991, was hired by former athletic director Jim Copeland.
``With the appointment of a new athletic director, I have come to the conclusion that for the good of the VSAF, the department of athletics and the university, it would be best for the VSAF board to be in position to select a new executive director,'' Drinkard said in a statement released by the university.
The VSAF, which raises funds for UVa athletics, is within $54,000 of its annual goal of $4.2 million - an all-time high - with more than four months remaining in the fund-raising year. Nothing in the news release suggested Drinkard was forced to resign.
``Absolutely, unequivocally it was my idea and no one else's,'' Drinkard said in a conference call Monday afternoon. ``It was not Terry's idea, it was not the board's idea. In our meeting, Terry said he was sorry it turned out like this.''
Drinkard made his plans known to the VSAF executive board at the end of a meeting Friday.
``I can assure you that I in no way asked for his resignation,'' Holland said Monday. ``I was not only surprised but disappointed in his decision. I did ask him to reconsider and, as late as today, he still had that option as far as I was concerned.''
Drinkard, 44, is a 1973 Virginia graduate who was chief executive director of an architectural firm before going to work for UVa. He had been on the job for slightly more than two months when he notified Copeland that loans had been made to student-athletes in apparent violation of NCAA guidelines.
``Lawson Drinkard has served ... in accordance with the best principles of the university,'' said Rudy Austin, a Roanoke attorney who is president of VSAF. ``He has done so with a love for athletics, a genuine concern for the interests of the student-athletes and with a fierce and unbending dedication to integrity, fairness and decency.''
Drinkard's resignation is effective Sept.1. In addition to the annual giving, UVa has raised $13 million since 1993 in a capital campaign to improve facilities and endow scholarships.
``I don't think Lawson would be leaving unless we were in great shape,'' Holland said. ``The fact that we've had phenomenal success in our annual giving allowed him to think about it. It was the only time we could afford to lose him with all that faces us.''
Barry Parkhill, a former Cavaliers basketball star who has been a fund-raiser in the school's development office, was one of the first names to surface as a possible successor.
by CNB