Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 5, 1990 TAG: 9005050053
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL BRILL
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
But what Virginia Tech basketball players Greg Brink, Bimbo Coles and Dave Herbster did - in writing the letter that accompanies this column - is rally to the support of a coach who publicly is not under pressure.
Yet, as players, they have perceived an attitude, one that, Brink and Herbster said Friday, represents only a small minority of Tech fans.
But they thought it was time to speak out on behalf of Frankie Allen.
Brink will become one of those Tech fans - an alumnus - at today's graduation. Coles has completed his eligibility. Only Herbster, who will be a senior next year, remains on the team.
Brink wrote the letter because, he and Herbster agreed, "a lot of people were turning anti-Frankie."
Allen has been Tech's coach for three seasons. The first was glorious, 19-10 with victories over Georgetown, West Virginia and Virginia. "[Maybe] people expected us to do that on a consistent basis," Herbster said.
The next two years were losing ones as Tech recovered from NCAA probation. Recently, athletic director Dave Braine elected not to extend Allen's contract for two years, a move that implied a lame-duck status for Allen.
"The contract was such a public event," Brink said. "Everything about it had a negative connotation."
Brink and Herbster believe the discontented haven't examined the situation thoroughly. "Nobody is pointing a finger at probation," Brink said.
As players, they agreed that many prospects were turned off by a lack of television exposure and postseason play. "It's like a disease," Brink said. "Many kids are not open-minded enough."
Brink also knows, firsthand, that future prospects likely will go elsewhere if they don't think the coach will be around for the duration of their careers.
"I was recruited by Dom Perno at Connecticut," he said of the former Huskies coach. "I didn't think he'd be there. I said, `Sorry, I'm going to Virginia Tech.' "
They don't want to see Allen in the same situation.
"It just isn't fair," Brink said. "The things that Coach Allen will do for you, the average Joe in the streets doesn't know anything about."
Brink said he believes the probation and the academic casualties and defections that cost Allen the services of Tim Anderson, Eric Sanders and Tom Savage ("They were all quality players," Brink said) have placed their coach in a difficult spot.
"Allen deserves a chance to be around," Brink said. "Recruiting is coming along slowly. It will take a couple more years."
According to Herbster, "If something goes right, you take it for granted. [But] when your own officials question the ability of your own team, that hurts."
Brink said Tech is infested with "a multitude of armchair quarterbacks. People don't understand. It doesn't take a lot to make things seem worse than they are."
The players wanted to be certain they weren't perceived as critics. "[Some] 90 to 95 percent of the people who support Tech athletics are great," said Brink, who figures to enhance that figure.
The players just want everybody to know they not only respect Allen as a man and a friend, but also as a coach. They expect him to win again, and soon. Brink said it will be next season, "and I'll laugh at everybody for giving him hell. I just want to see them exercise a little patience."
by CNB