Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 1, 1990 TAG: 9004010115
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bob Teitlebaum Sportswriter
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Martinsville hadn't been in the Group AA boys' tournament since 1986, when the Bulldogs won the championship. This season, Martinsville wasn't picked to win its district, but the Bulldogs went through league competition unbeaten and returned to the Group AA tournament, losing in a semifinal.
Copenhaver hadn't guided a team to the state tournament since she was at G.W. Carver and the Trojans lost the 1985 Group A final to Clintwood. This season, Wythe (25-2) stormed to the Group AA tournament under Copenhaver and swept to the championship by beating a good Radford team for the fifth time.
Those banner seasons have earned Timesland coach-of-the-year awards for Copenhaver, the girls' coach, and Hall, the boys' honoree.
While Copenhaver seems to be hitting her stride, Hall hints that the end of his career may be near.
"I contemplated this being my last year," said Hall, who is Virginia's winningest public school coach, with a 492-143 record (77.5 percent). "But I'll go on as long as I can and I enjoy basketball."
Hall, 61, said day-to-day teaching has its drawbacks and that he will be eligible for early retirement within a year.
"I'd like to stay on as coach," he said. "I would like to come back [in retirement] and help in the coaching phase. But I'm not sure Martinsville has any [provision] for that. I'm not staying just to get my 500th victory, though."
Hall said he talked with Bulldogs football coach Taylor Edwards, a success in his own right. "He told me, `You can't get out when you feel so good and you're so close to your 500th victory.' But this [next season] will be my 35th year as a coach and teacher," Hall said.
Hall was surprised at the success of this season's Martinsville team, which had only two returning starters. He got banner years from Travis Wells at point guard and Curtis Pilson at wing as the Bulldogs lost only to Group AAA GW-Danville and Franklin County during the regular season.
"It was one of the most satisfying years I've had," Hall said after his Bulldogs finished their season at 25-3 with a 68-56 loss to Matoaca in a Group AA semifinal. "At the beginning of the year, we were saying that we should win this game or that game. Then, we went to Magna Vista and got a victory. Then, somehow we won at Laurel Park."
That proved to be the key to the season. The Lancers, picked to win the Piedmont, got off to a slow start and lost three league games in December. That left Bassett, which lacked depth and height, as the only team chasing Martinsville. It meant the Bulldogs controlled the Piedmont District race before Christmas.
Before it was over, Martinsville had beaten Laurel Park four consecutive times. Both teams lost in the Group AA semifinals.
Copenhaver's teams are 258-82 (75.9 percent). Until this season, though, Copenhaver hadn't been able to win a state championship despite having some quality teams.
"I think everybody, in whatever chosen field they have, sets goals to do such and such," said Copenhaver. "A state championship was a goal I have reached. It was fleeting, but it's something that can never be taken away. You can always look back and say that team won a state championship."
Copenhaver is a motivator who doesn't believe in requiring her athletes to work out with weights to outmuscle opponents.
"I have set expectations for kids," she said. "You have to enable them to understand they have to work hard if they want to be successful. Teamwork is part of it . . . that everybody is important whether they're on the bench or a starter.
"But I've never had them work out on weights. I haven't had time, being a wife and a mother whose husband [George Wythe's Al Copenhaver] is also coaching. Also, my kids [basketball players] are involved in other sports and I'd rather have them doing something like playing volleyball rather than lifting weights."
Hall beat out James River's John Shotwell, whose Knights finished second in the Group A tournament when their 22-game win streak ended with a loss to Fluvanna County in the final. James River went 26-2 and dominated Region C.
Copenhaver edged Pulaski County' Rod Reedy, who has turned around the Cougars' program. Pulaski County (16-5) made the Group AAA Northwestern Region tournament for the first time in the school's history. Before losing at Gar-Field in the region, the Cougars had lost only to Roanoke Valley District champion Cave Spring.
by CNB