Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 8, 1993 TAG: 9312080287
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANDREA KUHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The announcement shocked members of the Keydets team, which went 1-10 this year in Shuck's fifth season. Shuck, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, was 14-40-1 at VMI, 6-27-1 in the Southern Conference.
"I was very surprised," said Chris Meacham, a senior fullback from Lord Botetourt High School. "I thought, if anything, something like this would have happened last year. I thought at the end of this year he was making the changes necessary to turn the program around. I really thought it was heading in the right direction."
The Keydets went 3-8 in 1992, and before the 1993 season, Shuck signed a two-year contract renewal, which the institute agreed to buy out for nearly $117,000.
Davis Babb, VMI's athletic director, described the renewal of Shuck's contract in August as an "institutional decision."
"At the time, it was an effort to put some of the decision to rest that had been on the table at the time," he said. "Football continued to be evaluated and there was a feeling that a change needed to be made. There was definitely some money involved."
Babb said he began an official evaluation of the football program on Nov. 22 - two days after VMI's final game - and the evaluation included meetings with Shuck. Babb presented his evaluation to Knapp this week.
"In his five-year tenure, Coach Shuck has faced the toughest Division I-AA schedule in the country and has had to do so in a period of constrained resources," Knapp said. " . . . However, institute officials feel now is the time for a change. We will, of course, fulfill all provisions of Coach Shuck's contract. A search effort for a new head coach will begin immediately."
Babb said the institute would act quickly to find a new coach.
"At this time, the search committee is just being put together," Babb said. "We are not bound by a specific time line, but we realize that it is crucial to the effort to find a replacement as rapidly as possible."
VMI's assistant coaches are all under one-year contracts that expire Jan. 31, 1994. Babb said he planned to talk to each of the assistants individually, but that speculation on their future at VMI was premature.
"They will be given every opportunity to be interviewed by the new coach," Babb said.
One of Shuck's coaching trademarks was the Wishbone offense, which brought him early success but had been under fire recently at VMI. Shuck implemented a modified version of the offense (the I-Bone) for the last four games of the 1993 season with improved results.
"[The Wishbone] was the biggest complaint we'd hear, and sometimes it was justified, " Meacham said. "Before this year, [Shuck] wanted to keep things his way no matter what. Then he started making changes like the I-Bone and things seemed to be going well. It doesn't make any sense."
Babb, who said he was not under pressure from alumni to make a coaching change, said the Wishbone controversy was just one of many factors that led to Shuck's release.
"There's no question that we struggled with it this year," Babb said. "And statistically speaking, there were some improvements later in the season, but that's as far as I'll go."
Meacham said he did not feel like the team was under any pressure from alumni, either.
"But Coach Shuck always showed us the positive things that people were saying," Meacham said. "I didn't feel the pressure that would amount to anything like this."
Sam Woolwine, a member of VMI's Board of Visitors, said he thought Shuck was considering leaving the institute on his own before the termination.
"I was surprised that it happened this way," Woolwine said. "I thought maybe he would entertain options from other schools. He will have that opportunity to do that now, of course."
Woolwine said he did not think Shuck was forced out by pressure from alumni.
"There were a few people who voiced their dissatisfaction with the coach," Woolwine said. ". . . Those are the people who look at the win-loss record and judge by that, unfortunately. The alumni have backed Shuck."
The goal now would be to accentuate the positives of VMI and focus on retention, an area where VMI has faltered in recent years, Woolwine said.
\ THE JIM SHUCK FILE\ VMI COACH 1989-93
RECORD: 14-40-1 overall, 6-27-1 Southern Conference.
HOMETOWN: Bucyrus, Ohio.
ALMA MATER: Indiana ('76).
COACHING BACKGROUND: 1976-80, Indiana graduate assistant and part-time assistant; 1981-82: Indiana assistant coach, 1983-88: Army assistant coach (offensive coordinator '87-88).
by CNB