ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 27, 1996 TAG: 9602270088
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Jack Bogaczyk
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
Radford University could be playing for more than its first Big South Conference men's basketball tournament title and NCAA bid this week at the Vines Center in Lynchburg.
The Highlanders could be playing for their coach's future.
Ron Bradley has done more than average 17 victories in his five seasons as Radford's bench boss. In his first year as a Highlanders assistant, he helped Oliver Purnell pull off a reversal of fortunes from 7-22 to 22-7. Bradley is a superb sideline strategist, his players graduate, his ethics are unquestioned and he represents the university very well.
For this, he's been given a one-year extension on a contract that was to expire after this season and the possibility of no raise from his base salary of about $70,000. Bradley wasn't happy, and still isn't, but he signed the extension midway through this season.
No one has said anything about firing Bradley, but were he to leave - could he be blamed for looking? - the Highlanders would have a difficult time finding a better coach. The last thing a department already seeking a new athletic director needs is to lose its men's hoops coach.
Surely, part of Bradley's situation is rooted in the administrative uncertainty that is part of a change in presidents. If first-year Radford president Doug Covington wants to make sure the school keeps its best assets, he will review Bradley's extension and extend it.
Outgoing AD Chuck Taylor recommended Bradley be given a multiyear extension, similar to the three-year deal that ends next month. Dr. Paul Harris, RU's vice president of student affairs and whose administrative domain includes athletics, then offered Bradley one year.
Harris used phrases like ``exemplary person ... superb on- and off-the-court credentials ... a role model,'' to describe Bradley. Harris also left no doubt that the one thing Bradley hasn't done is what he perhaps must do - guide the Highlanders to a Big South championship.
``Inevitably, as it does with any coach, you come to the point where it gets around to wins and losses,'' Harris said. ``We're hoping for some improvement in that area. We've done that in the round-robin [regular season], but we're still looking for that kind of success at the tournament level.''
No pressure there, right?
As financial woes and administrative upheaval have hit Radford, sources say Bradley's program has become the target of unrealistic expectations. Influential staffers and others who have bucks and the ears of campus poohbahs have asked why the Highlanders can't go to the NCAA, as state rival Liberty and Coastal Carolina have.
Of course, those are the only current members of the Big South who have gone to the Big Dance.
For six straight years, Radford has won its first-round Big South tournament game, but it has lost in the semifinals. The fifth-seeded Highlanders (14-12) could win the title this year. They just as easily could fall in Thursday's first round to Charleston Southern.
When Coastal became the first Big South club to reach the NCAA in 1991, a 30 percent rise in prospective student applications followed. Some see the NCAA as a ticket to sell more than sweat shirts. Radford needs more than notoriety. It needs enrollment.
Realistically, how is Bradley supposed to succeed when his recruiting budget has been chopped almost in half from two years ago? How is he supposed to extend Radford's string of six winning seasons when he has to tell recruits he's a lame duck next season?
His team's schedule also has improved, too. The non-Division I foes are gone in '96-97. Next season, Radford has games at Virginia, Georgia Tech, Evansville, East Tennessee State and Duquesne. VMI, VCU, Marshall and Richmond are scheduled to visit the Dedmon Center.
It's a big-time schedule for a low-major program.
Of course, Radford doesn't have to reach the NCAA to prove it has reached the big time. The manner in which it is squeezing Bradley says at least some Highlanders already think they're there.
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ANDRES ALONSO. Ron Bradley has averaged 17 victories inby CNBfive seasons. color.