THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 24, 1994 TAG: 9408230145
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, BEACON SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
AFTER 21 YEARS as a head football coach, even after emergency open heart surgery and work to repair a bum shoulder, Red Stickney still felt he had a few good years left.
So at 57, Stickney is again at the helm - coaching the Tidewater Sharks semipro football team.
And he is a different Red Stickney.
Well . . . most of the time.
During his days as an assistant at Virginia Tech and head coach at Franklin County, Woodbridge, Langley, Potomac (Maryland) and Maury highs, Stickney was known for his sideline antics. If he had something to say or an opinion on something, he voiced it.
Sometimes loudly.
Stickney is more composed these days. Maybe it has come with age. Maybe making it through some physical problems has brought it on.
``I've learned how to control myself and my emotions a little more,'' Stickney said after the Sharks gave him a 22-7 victory in his debut. ``It could be that I'm getting older, I don't know.''
Last Saturday, in the Sharks opener, there were plenty of mistakes made by both the coaches and the players. Stickney often paced the sidelines, shaking his head or wiping his brow - a look of disgust on his face.
But after his punting team had botched its assignment for the third straight time, Stickney could take it no more.
He slammed his clipboard to the turf and called the special teams squad to the sideline for a brief, but very to-the-point conversation.
``I was frustrated,'' he said. ``You practice and you practice to get things organized and doing things the right way. Sometimes we'd have 12 on the field or 10 on the field or the guys weren't lined up right.
``To be a class organization, you can't do things like that.''
And class is what Stickney hopes to bring to the Sharks. That's the reason general manager Tom Overstreet pursued him for several years before talking him into taking the job.
``It's amazing what a job he has done already,'' Overstreet said. ``He's a good coach and a good person and his positive influence is what the team has needed.
``I was always confident that he would do a good job for us if we ever got him. But I didn't fathom what effect he would have. It's gone far beyond what I expected.''
But for Stickney, it hasn't gone far enough.
There is much work to be done if the Sharks are to become the type of football team he wants to be associated with.
``I wonder sometimes where some of these people played football,'' Stickney said. ``Many of them are so undisciplined. If you don't come to practice, you don't play. If you come late, it had better be good.
``I know this is a different situation and these people work, but if you've made the decision, you have to make the commitment.''
So far, so good.
``I think most of the serious people on the team wanted it to be more structured and most of the players have adjusted,'' he said. ``The really good players are glad to see we're changing things.''
While Stickney has dedicated himself to the Sharks, it is with the understanding that his assistant coaching job at Kempsville High takes top priority.
Stickney teaches health and physical education at Kempsville and has been an assistant for five years.
``As excited as I am about coaching the Sharks, I can't let it interfere with my job at Kempsville,'' he said. ``I told Tom when I took the job that that would be how it was. If Kempsville has a game rained out on Friday and we've got a game on Saturday night, I'll have to be with Kempsville and one of the assistants will have to take over here.
``I'm doing double duty right now, but with the practice schedules and game nights the way they're set up, it shouldn't be a problem.
``When I came to the Beach from Maury, I wanted to get another head coaching job. And even though that didn't work out, I'm a head coach again.''
After all these years. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by PETER D. SUNDBERG
Coach Red Stickney looks around Tidewater Sharks' Regi Eley during a
play against the Catawba Hornets. The team gave him a 22-7 victory.
by CNB