ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 23, 1996 TAG: 9607230061
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
Ron Bradley, the men's basketball coach at Radford University, is one of four finalists for the head coach's job at the University of Maine and will be interviewed today and Wednesday.
``This is an interesting job to look at,'' Bradley said. ``I think we're in excellent shape at Radford now. We have good players and good people who graduate. They'll be very competitive for the foreseeable future. Maine will be something to look at.''
The Maine job came open when Rudy Keeling left to become head coach at Northeastern. Also in the hunt for the job at the school in Orono, Maine, are: University of California-Irvine coach Rod Baker; John Giannini of Rowan College, the 1996 NCAA Division III champion; and Mike LaPlante, a Maine assistant who has been the acting coach since Keeling's departure.
Keeling was the Black Bears' coach for eight years, a period in which they went 106-122. His best season , which was also Maine's, was 1993-94, when the Bears were 20-9, the best season in school history.
Bradley, 44, signed a new three-year contract at Radford this spring. He has been involved with other head coaching openings since he has been at Radford and was a finalist at Old Dominion two years ago.
Sources close to Bradley say that he is interested in the Maine job for several reasons. One is that he views it is as a challenge similar to the one when he took over a then-struggling Radford program in 1991 and immediately produced a 20-game winner.
He is also known to be troubled by the situation at Radford, his new contract notwithstanding. Radford has been beset by declining enrollment and the athletic budget has been slashed. The cuts hit hard in basketball, where the recruiting budget in particular has suffered.
Also troubling Bradley, sources say, is the unsettled situation with the Big South Conference. The membership in the league has declined to the point that the league will be down to six members in two years. More defections will cost the conference its automatic bid to the NCAA basketball tournament.
``I am loyal to the players we have at Radford and the ones we have recruited,'' Bradley said. ``But the Maine job is worth looking into.''
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