DATE: Thursday, August 28, 1997             TAG: 9708280715

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C2   EDITION: FINAL 

SERIES: ACC FOOTBALL TOUR: GEORGIA TECH 

SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: ATLANTA                           LENGTH:   73 lines

BRAINE SETTLING INTO JOB AT GEORGIA TECH COACH O'LEARY IS HOPEFUL THAT HAVING A ``FOOTBALL MAN'' IN AD'S CHAIR WILL HELP THE YELLOW JACKETS.

Dave Braine worked almost 10 years to get Virginia Tech in an all-sports conference when he was athletic director at the school.

The conference Braine most wanted the Hokies to join was the ACC.

It was one of the few goals Braine failed to accomplish, but he did get a consolation prize of sorts.

Braine made it to the ACC last June when he was named to replace retiring Homer Rice as Georgia Tech athletic director.

``I didn't know what I was getting into when I began this job six weeks ago,'' Braine told members of the ACC media tour Wednesday.

He quickly added he meant that in a positive way.

``The facilities are much different and better than I thought they could be,'' said Braine, a Georgia Tech assistant football coach under Pepper Rodgers in 1974-75.

``Back then the facilities were as bad as they could be.''

While the Tech facilities are competitive with most in the conference, Braine faces several other challenges in this major league market.

One is to help football coach George O'Leary return the Yellow Jackets to power in the ACC.

They have been down since Bobby Ross moved to the NFL, two years after the 1990 11-0-1 national championship season.

O'Leary, the defensive coordinator on the championship team, followed Ross to the NFL. He returned two years ago and took over from Bill Lewis as head coach with three games remaining in the 1994 season.

O'Leary was delighted when he learned that Braine, ``a football man,'' would replace Rice.

He thinks it will make the task of getting the Yellow Jackets back on top of the ACC easier.

``Dave has coached this game and he knows what it takes to get the job done,'' O'Leary said. ``He's been through the war.''

Braine, whose family is still in Blacksburg, is a frequent visitor on the football practice field.

Virginia Tech experienced unprecedented success under Braine. The Hokies played in the Sugar Bowl and the Orange Bowl the last two years.

Braine, who got the Hokies into the Big East as a football-only member, said the success at Virginia Tech was a team effort.

``We all did it together,'' he said. ``It was fun. But now my heart and body is fixed on what we can accomplish here.''

Braine joins the Yellow Jackets with the program already on the upswing.

O'Leary said he has the best and most experienced team he's had in his three years.

``For the first time we don't have a freshman in our two-deep,'' he said. ``If we get good play from our offensive line, we could be very good this season.''

O'Leary also is excited about the return of Ralph Friedgen as offensive coordinator.

Friedgen served in the same role on the staff of the 1990 Georgia Tech team.

He also went to the pros with Ross and stayed until Ross left San Diego for Detroit following last season.

Friedgen was offered other pro and college positions, but O'Leary convinced him to return to Atlanta.

``I recruited him as hard as I've ever recruited any player,'' O'Leary said. ``He has a great mind for attacking defenses and will cause some problems in the ACC.''

While Tech may be better, so will its opponents.

Notre Dame and Boston College replace Navy and Central Florida on the schedule.

The Yellow Jackets open the season Sept. 6 against the Irish in South Bend in a nationally televised game. MEMO: Coming Friday: Florida State

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