Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 26, 1990 TAG: 9003251902
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS LENGTH: Long
Coffey is the leading rebounder for the Gophers (23-8), who will meet Georgia Tech (27-6) at 1:40 this afternoon at the Superdome for the NCAA Southeast Regional title and a berth in the Final Four.
With a 9.3-rebound average, he knows a little about skying. But he isn't impressed by regularly cited hoops statistics such as vertical leap and hang time.
Coffey is one of four senior starters for coach Clem Haskins, whose program has gone from downright rank to 20th-ranked. But the 6-foot-6, 212-pound senior forward was already mature when he was one of seven freshmen with whom Haskins started cleaning up and rebuilding.
Coffey was a member of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division. As a paratrooper for three years, he found time to make 46 jumps while being an All-Army basketball player.
Little wonder that during Friday night's regional semifinal win over Syracuse, Coffey leaped over press row and landed in the lap of a Minneapolis columnist, feet in the air wishbone-style.
"I've made night jumps, water landings, and even taken down a couple of tree limbs," said Coffey, who was a 6-1, 170-pounder without a scholarship offer when he graduated from Aurora (N.C.) High School.
"I went into the Army because I thought it would mature me as a person. It ended up giving me a chance to go all over the world and play basketball, too."
Coffey also wanted to experience more than his hometown could give him. "There were only about 30 people in our graduating class, about 800 or 900 people in town," he said. "It's about two hours drive east of Raleigh ... one stoplight."
In the Army, Coffey grew physically and mentally. And in his third year with the 82nd, he started hearing from schools that wanted him to play basketball, including Georgetown, Kansas State and San Francisco.
Haskins, then still coaching at Western Kentucky, heard of Coffey when a WKU assistant coach went to an All-Army tourney in San Francisco to scout someone else.
"The game the guy saw, Richard had 36 rebounds," Haskins said.
Coffey's only visit was to Minnesota, once Haskins had been hired to bring the Gophers back from NCAA probation and the shame of a sexual incident that involved several players.
"I had always been an ACC fanatic," Coffey said. "I grew up watching North Carolina and N.C. State. That's all I cared about. But I'm not an ACC fan anymore."
Although Coffey made 46 parachute jumps, he never really erased the fear of falling from his mind. "I'm not going to lie to you and tell you I wasn't scared. All 46 were really scary."
And maybe the last one, which came after Coffey had signed a grant-in-aid with the Gophers, was the most memorable.
"The guy right in front of me was fresh out of jump school and maybe had had five jumps," Coffey said. "When you're like that, you've only jumped with a parachute, but when you get farther along, you learn to jump with your weapon and a lot of gear.
"You're packed 66 into a plane, like sardines, and once you get moving and get your momentum, you can't stop. The guy in front of me was jumping with more than a parachute for the first time, and he just froze up in the door.
"I was moving, and couldn't stop, and I went over him and flipped out the door. I was falling with my left leg caught in my line, but I got untangled. That was it. I don't think I'll be jumping again."
That wasn't the end to Coffey's remarkable tales, however. The Minnesota program, since he and his classmates arrived with Haskins, has gone from nine, to 10, to 19, to 23 wins and a final eight berth.
Only once, in 1976-77, has any Minnesota team won more games. But the 24-3 mark of that year under coach Bill Musselman was changed to 0-27 by the NCAA because of improprieties.
"If you'd have seen us practice with this group for the first time on Oct. 15, 1986, there's no way you'd have predicted they'd be in the final eight today," Haskins said. "If you did, people would have asked what you were on, if you'd been sniffing the wrong stuff.
"It was an ugly situation. That's why I'm here. We started with seven freshmen and four other players. One we lost with a bad knee. The other three were mediocre-to-average players at best."
Coffey said the young Gophers of four seasons ago had no expectations. "We worked hard because the coaches told us we'd succeed if we worked hard," he said. "Then, we'd get blown out by 25, and we wondered if we'd ever get anything for it. Eventually, by our junior year, we started winning some games."
The Gophers reached the regional semifinals last year, losing to Duke. Having advanced further in NCAA play than any Minnesota team, they've not only won, but cleaned up the program's reputation.
"Four years ago, you wouldn't have gotten anyone in public to talk about Minnesota basketball," said Haskins, who in nine years in the NBA was known for his toughness. "Today, it's different. The whole state will be watching us on TV against Georgia Tech."
Forward Willie Burton, the Gophers' star, said the Southeast Region's sixth seed hasn't leaped into success overnight.
"We try to keep things simple," said Burton, another of the Gopher seniors. "Go to school, play basketball, eat, sleep. That's it.
"If you want to make us a team of destiny, you've got the paper. But I kind of think we've been building our destiny for four years."
by CNB