Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 24, 1994 TAG: 9411260015
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
``It's been a big issue with us all year,'' Braine said Wednesday. ``Not only are we aware of it, but we've been charting it. The slipping has only gotten worse.''
The Hokies are going to do something about it, too, in the form of a $50,000 commitment to re-sod Worsham Field at Lane Stadium.
``We looked into it very strongly last year,'' Braine said. ``[Coach] Frank [Beamer] asked about it, but it was hard to find a way to pay for it. We did not have it in the budget last year; it's in the budget this year.''
George Welsh, Virginia's coach, said one of his assistants counted 10 plays on which UVa defensive backs fell during Saturday's game in Blacksburg. On two of those plays, Joe Crocker and Percy Ellsworth were getting to their knees when they made interceptions.
``It could have cost us,'' Welsh said. ``It couldn't have been our shoes, because we were wearing the same shoes Tech was. I think it's the field. I saw a lot of slips in Tech's game tapes, too.''
Crocker said the field was not wet and speculated the players may have slipped because the grass was too short. However, Braine said the grass was cut early Saturday morning in hopes of reducing the slippage.
``Our field is a mixture of rye grass and bluegrass,'' Braine said. ``Rye grass slips more than bluegrass, but at this time of year you have to sow [the surface] with rye to keep it green.''
You don't spend seven years at Tech and not learn a little something about turf management.
``One reason we had so many problems in the Rutgers game was we had an early frost and couldn't mow on the morning of the game,'' Braine said. ``It's the grass that makes people slip, so the longer the grass, the more the slipping.''
The new turf will be a cold-weather strain of Bermuda that has more of a web-like surface than the rye and provides more traction. The resodding probably will take place in June, following graduation.
``The Bermuda loses color after it freezes,'' said Don Perry, an associate athletic director at Tech, ``but even the normal Bermuda would have lasted almost the whole season this year. This new Bermuda is supposed to be better, but, if it turns brown, all you've got to do is paint it.''
HOKIES' COMMITMENT: Tech's first football commitment of the fall is from 6-foot, 215-pound Myron Newsome, a former All-Group AAA linebacker from Hampton High School.
Newsome spent the past two seasons at Butler County (Kan.) Community College, where his 4.4-second speed for 40 yards enabled him to spend part of his time in the secondary.
Kevin Thompson, a Butler assistant, said Nebraska and Tennessee were two of the schools that had expressed interest, but Newsome, who visited Tech during the weekend, wanted to be closer to home. ``They kind of placed him here,'' Thompson said.
IN THE BIG EAST: Pittsburgh staged a ground-breaking ceremony Friday for a $6.6 million expansion that will include a new football locker room, new weight and training room, new equipment room and new player entrance into Pitt Stadium. It is the first stage of an eight-stage project that will cost $20 million, most of that raised through private donations.
DOING HIS HOMEWORK: Virginia athletic director Jim Copeland, criticized last year for being outhustled by rival athletic directors, was praised by Peach Bowl executive director Robert Dale Morgan for his persistence in promoting the Cavaliers this year.
``Though he may find it awkward to compete with other ACC schools, Jim Copeland has called me the last six Mondays to make sure that I know of Virginia's interest and to make sure we're interested in Virginia,'' Morgan said. ``No other AD has called that much. He's done it better than anybody.''
TRAVELING 'PACK: North Carolina State, which visits Virginia at 11 a.m. Friday, bused to Lynchburg on Wednesday night and will practice this morning at Liberty University before going to Charlottesville in the afternoon for a ``walk-through.''
Mike O'Cain, the Wolfpack's coach, said he liked the idea of going to Liberty because the Flames' artificial surface is similar to that at UVa and indicated Scott Stadium in Charlottesville would not have afforded the privacy he would like.
WAKE-UP CALL: James Madison quarterback Mike Cawley, who passed for more than 2,000 yards during the regular season, missed the first two series of the Dukes' game Saturday as punishment for arriving late to a meeting. Northeastern (2-9) stunned the Dukes 9-6, but didn't prevent JMU from making the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs or getting a home game against Troy State.
LOCAL UPDATE: Clinch Valley forward Darren Morton, a junior from Blacksburg, went over the 1,000-point mark for his career and was named most valuable player at the McDonald's Autumn Classic basketball tournament in Richlands. Clinch Valley defeated Mount Olive 73-72 in the final.
WVU UPDATE: West Virginia's two early basketball signees were 6-4 Todd Myles from Brooklyn, N.Y., and 6-6 Terrence Springer, from Brooklyn by way of Southwestern College in Chula Vista, Calif. ... The Mountaineers' latest football commitment is from Danny Pratt, a 6-3, 205-pound linebacker from Shinnston, W.Va.
NON-REVENUE: Virginia Tech has signed Barry Gauch, a catcher from Woodbridge High School who was named Commonwealth District Player of the Year after throwing out 21 of 25 base-stealers as a junior and batting .408. Gauch, a three-year starter in baseball, also starts at quarterback in football and threw for 336 yards Friday night in a Group AAA playoff loss to Patrick Henry.
nAssistants Lynn Richmond and Richard Waggoner coached the Roanoke College women's basketball team during the weekend in the absence of head coach Susan Dunagan, whose mother was hospitalized Thursday. Junior guard Marcee Hufton missed the trip to Arlington for the First Virginia Bank Tournament following the death of her grandmother.
nSouthern Virginia College for Women finished first among 11 teams in the Zone 4 Region 2 horse show in Buena Vista. Virginia Tech was second and Hollins third in a field that included Radford, Ferrum, North Carolina and N.C. State.
by CNB