ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 25, 1997 TAG: 9704250053
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM THE ROANOKE TIMES
Mike Scharnus is leaving Liberty for Rustburg, while Shawsville loses its head man for a college assistant's job.
Liberty High School football coach Mike Scharnus, who has a reputation for rebuilding football programs, is going to set about the task once again.
Scharnus was recommended for the Rustburg High School job in Campbell County by school superintendent Dr. George Nolley. The school board was expected to approve the move Thursday night.
Meanwhile, Darrell Sutherland has turned in his resignation as the football coach at Shawsville after three years to take a job as an assistant coach under third-year coach Mike Clark at Bridgewater College near Harrisonburg.
Scharnus, who has been at Liberty the past five years, was unavailable for comment. The move seems to be lateral one considering he's going from one Seminole District school to another. Scharnus is a former head coach at Carroll County and he got his start as an assistant under Joel Hicks at Pulaski County.
Liberty athletic director Steve Boyer said the school was shocked at the change, which he found out about Wednesday.
``All I can say is Mike is an excellent football coach and a quality individual,'' Boyer said. ``He's been an asset to Liberty High School. We hate to lose him, especially to district rival. We'll just have to pick up and go on.''
Boyer wouldn't give the reason for the change. ``Their tradition is pretty strong, but our program is in pretty good shape compared to theirs,'' he said. ``We don't have his resignation yet, but I'm sure that's a matter of time and we'll open up the job then.''
Nolley first met with Scharnus several years ago when there was an opening at Altavista, but lost out when Scharnus chose to go to Liberty.
``The situation at Rustburg is similar to what he had at Liberty when Mike built up that program's numbers,'' Nolley said. ``We had Paul Wheeler at Rustburg, but when he left [two years ago], the numbers of the kids fell off. At the start of the season last year, we had only 19 players out.''
Rustburg, which won Group AA titles under Wheeler in 1990 and 1993, dropped to 3-7 this past year.
``We're interested in getting more kids into the program and make some changes beneficial to the program,'' Nolley said. ``I started talking to Mike two or three weeks ago. Rustburg has enjoyed a tradition of being very strong in football and that appealed to him.''
Scharnus gave Liberty its finest hours. The Minutemen played in the 1995 Region III Division 4 playoffs for the school's first postseason appearance in history.
When Scharnus first came to Liberty, the school hadn't had a winning program since the 1983 team went 6-4. In five years under Scharnus, the Minutemen were 31-20 and enjoyed three winning records. That included a 9-2 mark in 1992 when the Minutemen lost in the first round to eventual state champion Amherst County.
At Carroll County, Scharnus turned a losing program into one that made the playoffs. The Cavaliers went 20-24 in his four years, making the Region IV Division 4 playoffs in 1990 and 1991. Carroll County's best record under Scharnus was 7-4 in 1990.
Sutherland was only 6-24 in three years, though he had his best season in 1996 as the Shawnees went 3-7.
Sutherland, 26, played one year at Virginia Tech under Clark (then the Hokies' linebackers coach) after transferring from Wingate College. He played at Annandale High under Bob Hardage, one of the state's winningest coaches.
``It was a very hard decision leaving Shawsville,'' Sutherland said . ``It's a fantastic place to coach and everyone has been great. Coach Clark is a solid Christian man; someone I like a lot. The way the position was presented, it seemed like this was God's way of opening the door.''
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Scharnusby CNB