Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 3, 1990 TAG: 9003032642
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Bimbo Coles proved that much.
"I know I saw him play in the summer in a pickup game with some guys on an outdoor court," said the James Madison coach, who was at Maryland when Coles was in high school. "I liked Bimbo, I thought he was excellent, and then I kind of turned it over to my assistants."
The Terrapins didn't chase full steam after the 6-foot-1 West Virginian, and Coles ended up choosing a basketball scholarship at Virginia Tech over a football grant at West Virginia.
"No, I didn't," Driesell said when asked if he had thought Coles would go on to break numerous scoring records and become a potential first-round NBA draft choice. "If I would've, I'd have gone to see him two or three more times. We made a mistake and didn't recruit him that hard."
Four years later, Coles is nearing the end of a college career in which he has become Virginia Tech's first Olympian, the co-player of the year in the Metro Conference, the first player to lead the conference in scoring three straight years, the only player to lead the Metro in scoring and assists in the same season and the all-time leading scorer for Tech, the Metro and all Virginia Division I schools.
Coles plays his last home game at 1 p.m. today against Memphis State at Cassell Coliseum.
"I'm real proud of him," said former Tech coach Charlie Moir, who beat Don Nehlen's football team for Coles' services four years ago. "I consider him a great friend of mine. He'll be an outstanding NBA player. He's such a ferocious competitor, he'll just get better in the pros. He'll do whatever it takes."
What he didn't do was forgo his senior year at Tech and enter the NBA draft last year. This year could have been a source of endless frustration for Coles, who has had to endure a season in which Tech has had losing streaks of six and four games. But Coles swears he doesn't regret his decision.
Why? Friendship, he says. The new blood in Tech's program gave Coles a new role.
"They see me as a big brother sometimes," Coles said of the newcomers, including freshmen Rod Wheeler, J.J. Burton and Dirk Williams. "I see them - Rod, J.J. and Dirk - as my three little brothers."
Besides those admirers, Coles has gained a few more during his career.
"It seems like he's been there forever," said Denny Crum, the coach at Metro rival Louisville. "Over the years, he's been one of the toughest guys to guard in our league. We'll miss him from the standpoint of recognition, certainly. Obviously, the teams that have to play against him won't miss him."
Though his team doesn't play in the Metro, Richmond coach Dick Tarrant has seen plenty of Coles - especially this season, when Coles scored 29 points in an overtime loss to the Spiders.
"He's a marvelous, marvelous athlete," Tarrant said. "And he's certainly going to be a professional."
Not the least of Coles' fans is Frankie Allen, Tech's coach. Allen took over the team before the 1987-88 season, after Moir resigned in the wake of an NCAA investigation into the program. In Allen's first season, the Hokies were picked to finish sixth or seventh - but, led by Coles' 24.2 points per game, Tech finished 19-10 and Allen was voted Metro coach of the year.
"I'd hate to think where the basketball program would've been the last three years without him," said Allen, who then engaged in a bit of politicking. "I firmly believe he's the best player in the league. In my own mind, if Bimbo was the point guard for Louisville, he'd still be the best player in the conference. Or if he was the point guard for Southern Miss, he'd still be the best in the conference."
Coles hasn't only impressed coaches. He has left at least two opposing players - Cincinnati freshman Tarrance Gibson and South Carolina sophomore Jo Jo English - agog at his talent this season. English, after a recent game in Columbia, S.C., labeled Coles a top 10 pick in the NBA draft. The wide-eyed Gibson went one better, gushing that Coles was a definite lottery pick.
That's doubtful, but it seems likely that Coles will end up in the NBA. Coles said his friendship with Wheeler, Burton and Williams has helped him mature, and he said he thinks maturity means he might not be "Bimbo" Coles anymore.
"I'll probably be called Vernell," he said, thinking ahead to his potential career in the pros. "When you get older, nicknames tend to disappear and people call you by your first name. I think there will be a lot of people that'll still call me Bimbo, but I think more people will start to call me Vernell once I get in the NBA."
by CNB