ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 19, 1996 TAG: 9603190066
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LEXINGTON
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
Bart Bellairs and Bill Stewart have become a package deal for VMI. And VMI plans to keep the package for a while.
``We're two peas in a pod,'' said Stewart, VMI's football coach, of his relationship with Bellairs, VMI's basketball coach. ``We confer on a lot of things.''
For the past two months or so, they've been conferring with athletic director Davis Babb on the subject of new contracts. On Monday, they signed them in a joint ceremony at the school's Marshall Library.
Each agreement will last for six years and include a first-year base salary of $70,000. Stewart's runs through Dec. 31, 2001, and Bellairs' goes through March 31, 2002. Both signed their original contracts in 1994 - Bellairs for four years and Stewart for five.
``General [Josiah] Bunting and I both talked about the importance of keeping them both here,'' Babb said of his conversations with the VMI superintendent. ``We decided it was something we really wanted to do. It's important they feel good about their situations here.''
Bellairs led VMI to its most successful basketball season since 1978, going 18-10 and finishing second in the Southern Conference North Division. Stewart, like Bellairs a second-year coach, led the football team to a 4-7 record, the program's most victories since 1991. The team also won three Southern Conference games for the first time since 1981.
Stewart credited Bellairs for creating the impetus to draw up the new contracts.
``He got 'em all excited,'' Stewart said. ``How in the world can a guy go 4-7 and get an extension? They said they were giving me six years and my teeth fell out! I said, `Are you sure you want to do this?'''
Babb said he and Bunting wanted to do it because the two men had assimilated into the VMI system and are showing progress without cutting corners.
``I feel like we have two of the best,'' Babb said.
Bellairs' deal includes adjustments to the basketball budget, meaning more competitive salaries for his assistant coaches, more money for recruiting and improved locker rooms. Bellairs has received calls from a number of athletic directors looking for new coaches, including one as recent as Monday morning. But he said he's glad to know he can stay where he is for the next six years.
``When somebody extends something so long, it's a real leap in faith,'' Bellairs said. ``But now you can look at the total picture in terms of recruiting. That's the way it ought to be done.''
The new agreement allows Stewart some continuity in his family's life for the first time since he was married. Stewart has moved nine times in the past 16 years, but said he didn't want to keep doing that now that he has a toddler son, Blaine. He also didn't want his assistants to worry about where they'd be from year to year.
``As a member of the staff, I'm very excited they decided to keep Bill around for a while,'' said quarterbacks coach Kevin Sherman. ``We can do nothing but get better.''
LENGTH: Medium: 61 linesby CNB