Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 1, 1995 TAG: 9501030102
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-4 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: RANDY KING AND JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: JACKSONVILLE, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
Tech athletic director Dave Braine said the addendum to the base-pay contract already signed by Beamer is one of the first orders of business for the Hokies after their return from the Gator Bowl today.
Beamer's attorney, Craig Kelly, of Columbia, S.C., returned the most recent draft of the pact to Braine just before Christmas. Braine and Beamer left for the Gator Bowl on Dec.26.
Beamer, whose club lost 45-23 to Tennessee in Friday's Gator Bowl, sees his annual base salary go from $128,587 to $135,016, starting today. He will receive a 5 percent raise each year through 1999. If he stays through that season, he also will get a $180,000 annuity.
Beamer already has signed for those terms. What has been negotiated in recent months has been other items the coach sought to enhance a program that has played in bowls in back-to-back seasons for the first time in school history.
The most significant of those ``wish list'' items is facility improvement. Tech soon will announce a commitment of more than $5 million for a football facility, likely to be an annex to the four-story Jamerson Athletic Center.
He also has sought pay increases for his assistants. Coordinators Phil Elmassian and Rickey Bustle and assistant head coach Billy Hite have gotten reported boosts in recent weeks.
Beamer's deal for television and radio, not part of his university contract, is worth a reported $100,000 annually.
Next season will be Beamer's ninth as the Hokies' coach. In Tech football history, only Frank Moseley and Jerry Claiborne, Beamer's coach as a Tech player, have had longer terms - 10 seasons each.
FADING DEFENSE: Tech's once-vaunted defense was shredded down the stretch. Counting the Gator Bowl, Tech yielded 145 points and 1,727 total yards in losing three of its final four games. Tennessee's 495 yards was the most run up against Tech this season.
LATE ARRIVALS: While a police escort led the four buses carrying Tech's football team through a pregame traffic jam, the final three buses carrying Tech administrators, including school president Paul Torgerson, and the game officials didn't show up until roughly an hour before kickoff.
``The officials were going beserk on the bus,'' said one rider on the bus with the Western Athletic Conference group.
POLL BOWL: Tech, ranked 17th, became the fourth top 25 team to lose to a lower-rated or unranked opponent in nine major Division I-A bowls entering Saturday.
The losers were No.10 Colorado State, No.11 Kansas State, No.17 Tech and No.19 North Carolina. Also, No.14 Utah beat No.15 Arizona in the Freedom Bowl.
Boston College, Tennessee and Texas have been unranked winners over poll teams thus far.
GATOR BITES: Tennessee, which finished 8-4 after starting 1-3, closed its season outscoring its final three opponents 162-23, running up 1,631 yards in the process ... Vols quarterback Peyton Manning completed 12 passes against Tech, tying his father Archie's record for a Hokie bowl opponent. The elder Manning was 12-for-28 in Mississippi's win over Tech in the 1968 Liberty Bowl ... Jefferson Forest High product Baron Spinner made his first career start for Tech at cornerback. He was the 33rd different starter at 22 positions for the Hokies this season. They had 31 starters last year ... Tech has lost its past 12 games in Florida. The Hokies' last win in the sunshine state was in 1974, 56-21 against Florida State ... The Gator loss ended Tech's two-game winning streak in bowls. The Hokies are 2-6 all-time in postseason play ... Tennessee improved to 19-16 all-time in bowls ... The crowd of 62,200 was the second lowest Gator Bowl attendance in 20 years. It nudged the 62,003 for Virginia-Oklahoma in '91.
by CNB