THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 4, 1996 TAG: 9608040215
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: TOM ROBINSON
LENGTH: 94 lines
One thing's for sure. Team Soja isn't cutting it for Lawrence Johnson. The four guys in Johnson's rhythm and blues group, Soja, can sing up a storm, but they aren't pole vaulting experts.
Yet, in the weeks leading to the Olympics, the boys in the band were also surrogate coaches for Johnson, who split with his former coach, Jim Bemiller, in late June.
Which means Johnson, 22 and technically unpolished, prepared for the biggest meet of his life essentially on his own.
Self-instruction is old hat to the Chesapeake resident, whose avid study of books and tapes helped make him an All-American at Great Bridge High School, a two-time NCAA champion at Tennessee and the American record holder.
Rehearsing for the world stage, though, takes more intensity and know-how than can be gotten from four well-meaning musicians, whom Johnson said pushed him in running workouts, observed vaulting sessions and provided motivation.
And as good as Johnson might be at teaching himself, results didn't materialize in Olympic Stadium last week. Johnson struggled to qualify Wednesday for the vault finals, then on Friday missed three times at 19 feet, 1/4 inch and finished eighth.
It was same height Johnson cleared to win the Olympic Trials in mid-June, when he was still on Bemiller's watch. Coincidence or not, the fact remains that Johnson badly needs a coach.
``I'll look all around the world,'' Johnson said after the final. ``It's definitely a top priority.''
Johnson and Bemiller, a 33-year-old Knoxville attorney and Tennessee's volunteer vaulting coach, tell different stories as to how Johnson became coachless.
The night he won the NCAA title in May, Johnson said he and Bemiller began discussing a contract under which Bemiller would continue as his coach. The men knew Johnson was on the verge of signing with track agent Brad Hunt and that endorsement deals and the professional circuit in Europe awaited.
Each man researched the market to strike a fair deal, Johnson said. But he said talking business by day and practicing by night was creating stress, so Johnson turned matters over to his father.
Finally, Johnson said his father, Hunt and Bemiller agreed to keep the status quo and resume discussions after the Olympics. But about a month ago, Johnson said Bemiller approached him at a practice with a contract that called for 10 percent of Johnson's earnings.
``He said, `Sign this or I'm not going to come out and coach you,' '' Johnson said. Johnson, who said an unusually high offer of a $10,000 salary plus bonuses was on the table, said he couldn't sign without his father's approval. Johnson said Bemiller repeated his request, Johnson repeated his answer and Bemiller left.
``I haven't heard from him since then,'' Johnson said.
Reached at home Saturday, Bemiller, a former vaulter at Miami of Ohio, offered different details.
After the NCAAs, Bemiller said he wanted to reach a deal that would work until Johnson inevitably upgraded his coaching.
``I know Lawrence well enough that I know he wants somebody to be there six hours a day,'' said Bemiller, who said he spends a few hours two to three days a week with Tennessee's vaulters.
Bemiller said there was urgency to striking a deal because the Olympics would require intensified training, and he needed to plan that around his job and his family. But he believed it would happen.
``I thought everything was fine,'' said Bemiller. ``But after Lawrence made an agreement with (Hunt) to represent him, the whole position changed. I couldn't get any straight answers from anybody. I felt I was being strung along.''
As he and Johnson's father were talking, Bemiller said, ``Lawrence started getting advice from other sources. I told him two weeks before the Olympic Trials, `Lawrence, I'm not going to turn my back on you before the Trials, but I need to know something here. I've got to plan my life, too.' But it was always sloughed off.''
Bemiller said he hasn't attended a Johnson workout since the Trials and hasn't been asked to. He confirmed that he and Johnson haven't spoken for a month.
``Look, this was not a last-ditch effort where I wanted some money,'' Bemiller said. ``I just needed a commitment from the kid.''
Bemiller said there was never a $10,000 offer. He said he never issued an ultimatum. And he said Hunt, who could not be reached for comment, took Johnson's mind off of performance and placed it on business.
``I'm totally frustrated by the whole thing,'' Bemiller said. ``I know I can take Lawrence at his word. But now that he's represented by other folks, I don't know that that's true anymore.''
Johnson said he always planned to stay in Knoxville and train with Bemiller. ``If the shoe fits, wear it,'' Johnson said. ``It's pretty depressing actually. Working with Bemiller I think now is probably out of the picture. My parents, of course, feel as betrayed as much as I do.''
Bemiller said he just feels confused.
``This is difficult for me to discuss,'' he said. ``I have the highest esteem for the kid. I feel bad about the whole thing. It's very sad.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
After splitting with his coach, Chesapeake's Lawrence Johnson
depended on members of his rhythm and blues band to help him get
ready for the Games. The result: An eighth-place finish in the pole
vault on Friday. by CNB