Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 21, 1993 TAG: 9301210020
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Doug Doughty Staff Writer
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
CONFERENCE RUMOR MILL GRINDING
Virginia Tech athletic director Dave Braine has heard the reports that the ACC and Big East are having informal discussions on a superconference for football. What he'd like to know is how they got started."The people I saw at the NCAA Convention never mentioned it," Braine said. "It just so happened I ran into [ACC commissioner] Gene Corrigan and asked him if there was anything on the horizon as far as expansion. He said, `No, none.' "
Not long after Braine returned, he learned of a Boston Globe story that spoke of an alliance or merger that would control all of the television markets between Boston and Miami. The same story mentioned a 14-team conference that would "jettison" Big East members Virginia Tech, Rutgers and Temple.
"They can't throw us out without a unanimous vote," Braine pointed out, "and, with us voting, I don't see how it could be unanimous. Somebody is being purely speculative. I think it's just a case of a reporter saying, `What if?' "
Nevertheless, Braine called the Big East office Wednesday to see if his impressions were correct.
"I knew [commissioner] Mike Tranghese was out of town," Braine said, "but [associate commissioner] Tom McElroy told me there was nothing to it."
\ COPELAND BEWARE: Battle lines have been forming for tonight, when Virginia athletic director Jim Copeland comes to Roanoke to discuss a new University Hall seating plan for men's basketball that would award the best seats based on size of contribution.
Several longtime contributors, who have faithfully made the four-hour round trip from Roanoke and supported the program before it was successful, are reluctant to give up seats that some have had since the early 1970s.
\ UVA COACHING SEARCH: It is almost certain that Rick Lantz will add linebackers to his responsibilities as defensive coordinator at Virginia. Head coach George Welsh has said he would wait until the end of recruiting to fill the vacancy created when Mike Archer took the defensive coordinator's job at Kentucky.
John Gutekunst, perhaps the best known of Bill Dooley's assistants at Wake Forest, has taken a position coaching outside linebackers at South Carolina. Gutekunst previously was the head coach at Minnesota after stints at Virginia Tech and Duke, where his boss was current South Carolina athletic director Mike McGee.
\ RECRUITING: Virginia Tech received two football commitments Wednesday, its sixth and seventh of the week, from 6-foot-3, 247-pound tight end Charles Woolridge from DeMatha High in Hyattsville, Md., and 6-6 1/2, 255-pound offensive tackle Michael Murray from Camden, Del.
Woolridge, rated the No. 9 prospect in the Mid-Atlantic Area by SuperPrep magazine, had 24 receptions for 238 yards and eight touchdowns as a senior. He picked Tech over Rutgers and also visited North Carolina State and Boston College.
Murray, who played at Caesar Rodney High School, started the season at 6-5 3/4 and 228 pounds and has been told by doctors he may grow to 6-8. He took visits to Temple and Delaware and held his own against high-school All-American Chuck Beatie from Wilmington, Del., who is considering Tech along with Nebraska and Florida State.
Running back Mike Geter from Yorktown in Arlington became the first player from a Virginia high school to commit to North Carolina in three years. Geter also visited Notre Dame, where his uncle, Allen Pinkett, was a star tailback in the early 1980s.
Salem High coach Willis White reports that wide receiver Keith Moyer wants to earn an academic scholarship, although he has several Division I-AA offers for football. Offensive lineman Josh Pugh is getting significant interest from James Madison, Marshall and Appalachian State.
The Spartans' top two prospects are juniors, running back Marcus Parker and defensive lineman Chad Custer, both of whom made first-team All-Group AA. Parker already has exceeded the minimum score of 700 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test as required for a Division I scholarship.
\ ALL-STARS: VMI was represented by center Lorenzo Carpenter in the All American Classic football game Monday at RFK Stadium. Carpenter played for the American team, composed of Division I-AA and NAIA players. The National team included two players from Virginia, Bobby Goodman and Tim Samec, and three from Virginia Tech, running back Tony Kennedy, wide receiver Bo Campbell and linebacker Melendez Byrd.
\ SPEAKING: George Curry, whose football team at Berwick (Pa.) High School was ranked No. 1 in the country by USA Today, will be one of the speakers April 2-3 at Virginia Tech's annual coaches' clinic. Curry was selected national coach of the year.
\ ACC HOOPS: Shawn Jones has abandoned his effort to play basketball for Georgia Tech in order to prepare for a possible NFL career. Jones, the all-time ACC total offense leader, played in two games for the Yellow Jackets and made his only 3-pointer.
Clemson center Sharone Wright, whose technical foul late in an 82-72 loss to North Carolina constituted his fifth personal, had some rather unflattering comments about Tar Heels' center Eric Montross.
"He's no better than anybody I've played," said Wright, who got the technical for protesting his fourth personal. "He didn't have any post moves. All he does is turn around and shoot, which I suppose you can do when you are 7-feet tall."
There was more bad news for N.C. State coach Les Robinson, who liked what he saw of scholarship triple jumper Neil Chance, but was told the Wolfpack would exceed the 14-scholarship NCAA limit if Chance was activated. "Just our luck - the one guy we picked out of 28,000 students can't play for us," said Robinson, who is down to eight able-bodied players.
\ TALL TEXANS: Virginia Tech men's basketball signee Brandon Price, who is 6-9, won't be the tallest college basketball player from his hometown, Floresville, Texas. That distinction is held by 6-10 Heidi Gillingham from the nation's No. 1-ranked women's team, Vanderbilt.