Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 12, 1990 TAG: 9003122804
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: RAY COX SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
"I'm burning up the roads trying to get us some players," said Radford University's second-year coach.
The Highlanders need a few leapers and dribblers. "Sign on the line right here," Purnell has been telling aspiring college basketball players from Yugoslavia to Harrisonburg.
Purnell has seven scholarships with which to sell recruits on the joys of life in the New River Valley and the thrills of Big South Conference basketball.
Purnell has had nibbles but no bites. This, understandably, makes him a little edgy at this time of year. No Radford letters-of-intent were forthcoming during the November signing period, and the Highlanders definitely need some help.
"We'll be recruiting for all five positions," Purnell said. "We need to get stronger in a lot of areas, and we need to add some players who can help make the players we already have better."
The Highlanders finished 7-22 after being ousted from the Big South Tournament by North Carolina-Asheville last week in the semifinal round. Radford, picked to finish third in the league during the preseason, fell to the bottom of the standings by losing nine of 12 Big South regular-season games.
That is another reason Purnell is getting a little less sleep these days. He must explain these matters to his boss, athletic director Chuck Taylor, in the next week or so, whenever the coach can pull into the Dedmon Center parking lot from the recruiting trail long enough to sit down and chat.
The men spoke briefly in Rock Hill, S.C., after Radford concluded its tournament business there last week. The subject was Purnell's contract.
Purnell is completing the second year of a three-year $52,000 contract. It is Radford tradition that coach and athletic director discuss contract renewal after the second year.
"We'll probably know something in the middle of next week," Taylor said.
Just what will happen is not clear. No votes of confidence have been forthcoming from Taylor or his boss, Radford President Donald Dedmon, but neither have they criticized their coach.
Really, there has been little to indicate what is on the minds of Radford officials, except this from Taylor as the Highlanders were in the midst of a school-record 11-game losing streak: "Six-and-20 [the record at the time] doesn't look too good, does it?"
It doesn't, and nobody knows that better than the Highlanders' coach. Purnell, though, wants to make sure people understand the context in which that record was compiled.
"I was disappointed in the record, but I was pleased with the development of our young team," he said.
Radford won three of its last five, including a 68-44 blowout of Campbell in the tournament's opening round. The Highlanders also were tough in their regular-season finale, a 78-72 loss to eventual tournament runner-up North Carolina-Asheville.
"I would not dispute that the won-lost record was bad, but you have to evaluate the direction in which your program is going," Purnell said. "If we had a young ballclub that played poorly down the stretch, then it would look very bleak, indeed. However, that was not the case."
Radford started the season with three seniors and a junior, center Ron Shelburne.
Forward Vernon Brooks was dismissed from the team for academic reasons before the conference schedule began. At the time, he was the leading scorer and rebounder. Tim Blassingame, the only four-year senior in the program, suffered a knee injury and missed 11 games, nine of those coming consecutively in the heart of the season. Phil Young, a junior-college transfer, was the only starter in the lineup from start to finish.
Young, a point guard, did not have the sort of season Purnell and his staff expected. After leading the team with a 17-point average in 1988-89, Young averaged 7.4 points per game, fifth on the team. Young, who led the Highlanders in assists with 39, scored in double figures only seven times, not once in the last 16 games. Twice he was shut out, and nine times he scored five or fewer points.
Underclassmen took up the slack. Shelburne returned to the reliable form he showed as a freshman by scoring in double figures in 13 of the last 14 games. He finished as the team's leading scorer, with an 11.9 average. The 6-foot-7 junior from Pulaski County also was Radford's most accurate shooter, at 49.1 percent.
Shooting was one of Radford's main problems all season. The Highlanders hit 39.9 percent for the season, dipping under 40 percent nine times, with the low being 25.3 percent in a season-opening loss to Division II Lock Haven (Pa.) University.
Radford also was not an outstanding defensive team. Opponents shot 47.2 percent against the Highlanders and hit 50 percent or better 10 times.
Some of that was a result of the Highlanders' youth. Sophomores Stephen Barber, Pete Reece and Nate Joy played extensively. Backup point guard Chris Hawkins was a first-year sophomore. Freshmen Doug Day (11.6 ppg) and Tyrone Travis (8.1, 5.9 rpg) often were starters. Freshman center Tom Gallaher, a willowy 6-7, played 379 minutes.
"I think we had the best freshman class in the Big South," Purnell said.
Indeed, Day and Travis appear to be emerging stars, and Gallaher will make a significant contribution as he matures. Hawkins is the heir apparent at the point.
But Radford has to be bigger and stronger inside; it needs ball-handling help and some more shooters. That's why Purnell is out on the trail looking for recruits right now.
Among the high school players Radford has been looking at are George Wythe star Jamie Lee and Harrisonburg High swingman Don Burgess.
Purnell is as secretive as an oyster when it comes to identifying recruiting targets, but it is known that residents of Yugoslavia and England have visited the Dedmon Center.
"We must improve in two ways," Purnell said. "We have to further develop the players we already have and to bring some good new ones in. With an influx of talent, we have a chance to have an outstanding team next year.
That is exactly what he will tell Chuck Taylor when they meet again soon.
by CNB