THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 14, 1994 TAG: 9411140135
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
For the first time in the nine-year history of the Colonial Athletic Association, last season's all-conference first team included four underclassmen. That means the best of the CAA are back again, including player of the year Odell Hodge of Old Dominion.
``There's no David Robinson in the league, but Odell Hodge is pretty good,'' James Madison coach Lefty Driesell said. ``Overall I think the talent is better than I've seen.''
That's noteworthy, since Driesell has seniority among league coaches heading into his seventh season with the Dukes. While one story of the CAA this year is the abundance of premier players who are back, another is how many of its coaches are not - three of the eight coaches are newcomers.
All Old Dominion coach Jeff Capel is expected to do in his first season is win the league. Capel, 41, who led North Carolina A&T to the NCAA tournament last year, could go back again with Hodge and two other quality returning starters. The Monarchs were the media's preseason pick to win the title.
``We have high expectations, and we should,'' Capel said.
The expectations are also high at UNC Wilmington, where Jerry Wainwright takes over. Just as Oliver Purnell left ODU in fairly solid shape, so did Kevin Eastman at UNC Wilmington. Wainwright, 47, is a career assistant - he worked with Capel at Wake Forest - getting his first crack at a top job.
``I've tried not to lose the best thing I did as an assistant coach, which was to spend time with the kids,'' Wainwright said. ``Overall, the time constraints as a head coach are incredible.''
At William and Mary, new coach Charlie Woollum is hoping he can turn things around at his alma mater, which was 4-23 last year.
Like Capel and Wainwright, Woollum - an ODU assistant on Sonny Allen's Division II national championship team - is a proponent of up-tempo basketball, so there should be no shortage of fast breaks in the CAA.
``You've got to coach what you believe in, and it appears a lot of coaches in this league like to get it up and down the court and get quick shots,'' Woollum said.
A quick look at the Colonial: [list of college basketball teams for complete list, see microfilm] ILLUSTRATION: FILE photo
James Madison's Kent Culuko, at left in this 1992 photo, is picked
as an all-CAA guard coming into this season, his senior year. He
won't be forgotten by ODU fans anytime soon.
by CNB