Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 25, 1990 TAG: 9003251979
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bob Teitlebaum
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"It's definitely my best team, but we can't be this good next year. We may never be this good again. We had depth at every position and Anthony Cade was a very special player," said Steve Smith, coach of unbeaten Oak Hill, which was ranked third by USA Today with a 28-0 record.
The Warriors could still move up if Detroit Southwestern, ranked No. 2, fails to win the Michigan Class A title this weekend.
Cade, headed to Louisville, averaged 25.8 points and 10.4 rebounds in leading Oak Hill. Carlos Cofield (Rhode Island) and Gandhi Jordan (Pittsburgh) were other Oak Hill players signed in Division I, and Corey Baker, the point guard, is unsigned.
"I'm disappointed at not winning [the national title], but there's nothing we can do about it," said Smith. "Bob Gibbons [a recruiting specialist] has seen everyone in the country and says no doubt we're the best."
Oak Hill's best record came in 1980 before Smith was the coach when the Warriors rolled to a 36-0 mark. There were no national rankings in those days, and Oak Hill didn't travel like high school teams do now.
Oak Hill returns 6-foot-8 Ben Davis and 6-9 Wilfred Kirkaldy next year and has a shooting guard, Trumelle Allison of Gastonia, N.C., who was ineligible this year, and 6-6 Willie Cauley transfering in from Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Smith said all that is needed is a point guard, but he said he won't actively seek players unless they call him first. While Flint Hill in Northern Virginia has recruited a couple of players from Roanoke - George Lynch of Patrick Henry and Mark Ward of William Fleming - Smith has not been aggressive.
"If someone wanted to come, if they called me, then I'd call their coach. I won't do anything sneaky or behind people's backs. We want kids who want to come here," said Smith. "We'd have been happy to have Lynch and Ward, but they didn't seem to want us."
\ Names of applicants already are surfacing for the football coaching job at Franklin County. Graham assistant Doug Marrs, brother of Lexington head coach Chuck Marrs; Franklin County wrestling coach Kris Kahila; and Gar-Field assistant Jim Hall, runner-up for the Patrick Henry job, have applied or are planning to apply.
In the case of Hall, if he was to get the job, his son, Brek, would come with him. Hall, a junior, was quarterback for Courtland's Group AA Division 4 runner-up team, was voted the most valuable basketball player at the school and will be one of the strong participants in this year's Group AA track meet. His brother, J.C. Hall, was an all-Group AA linebacker.
One of the hottest names for the job is that of Cave Spring coach Jerry Little, who would seem to be making a parallel move. However, Little lives in Franklin County and his daughter is captain of the cheerleaders.
"I have no immediate plans of applying," said Little. "I haven't talked to anyone in the [Franklin County] system. Certainly the school itself and the programs interest me since my kids and wife went through them."
Little didn't apply when the Franklin County job opened up four years ago. He was involved in landing the Cave Spring job and said he felt that wouldn't be fair to the Roanoke County system.
\ Derrick Jackson, one of the three players suspended by Salem basketball coach Len Mosser for having an improper haircut in the Blue Ridge District Tournament, has transferred to Berean Christian.
Jackson transferred to Salem from Berean last fall and sat out the entire first semester. He played in only four games. Jackson missed three games before the tournament because of an injury.
\ George Wythe's Anne Fontaine has accepted a volleyball scholarship to Radford University, and teammate Eva Turpin will get partial aid from the Highlanders.
Both were members of Wythe's Group AA tournament volleyball team and were key players for the Maroons' Group AA girls' basketball championship team.
by CNB