Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 2, 1991 TAG: 9103020154
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It also might be the regular-season finale for Frankie Allen, Tech's fourth-year coach, whose future in Blacksburg probably will be decided within the next two weeks. Allen has a year left on his original four-year contract with Tech, but three straight losing seasons, three straight lower-division finishes in the Metro Conference, no postseason appearances and alumni grumbling have made Allen's status tenuous.
Tech athletic director Dave Braine refuses to discuss Allen's situation, although he admits being aware of booster sentiment, at least a portion of which is anti-Allen. Braine will say only that he and Allen will meet to evaluate the basketball program, probably after the Metro Tournament in Roanoke ends March 9. At that time, Braine could recommend that Tech fire Allen as head basketball coach, allow him to coach out his contract and evaluate the program again next year, or even add time to the contract.
Allen, 54-60 at Tech but 35-50 over the past three years, has tried not to be sucked under by talk of his possible dismissal.
"We're going about business as usual," he said this week. "No one has said anything differently to me about my situation. . . . Right now I'm working as hard as I've ever worked."
Allen, an assistant at Tech for 11 years before taking over a probation-laden program in October 1987, said the frequent losses haven't killed his enthusiasm for coaching, or for coaching the Hokies.
"I'm enthusiastic always," he said. "It's difficult when you lose . . . but we're working extremely hard with the kids. Our players are working extremely hard. The outcome may not be what you like. I'm excited about it. I see freshmen and sophomores that can only help but get better. That's my approach."
Allen's detractors point to the Hokies' talent shortcomings within the Metro; to Tech's consistent offensive woes [none of Allen's teams has shot better than 44 percent from the field, and this year's edition won't, either]; and to the lack of big-time recruits Allen has signed.
Interest in the team has waned this year as the Hokies had their second-lowest home attendance total in 19 years. Including corporate sponsorships, Tech has sold about 2,000 tickets for the Metro Tournament next week. Normally, the host school sells at least half of the tickets to the tournament.
In Allen's defense is the team's youth - this year's team has just three seniors, only one of whom plays regularly - and a string of beyond-his-control events that his backers say have ravaged his recruiting efforts. Some in Tech's athletic department say Allen couldn't recruit effectively as an "interim" coach, a tag that was erased shortly before the end of his first season when Braine gave him a four-year contract. The basketball probation, for violations that occurred when Allen was an assistant to Charlie Moir, lasted two years and included a postseason ban in 1988-89.
When the university didn't exercise its option to add a year to the contract last March, Braine said Allen needed a chance to prove himself without a cloud hanging over the program, and thought this would be the year. But Tech spent most of the past year with its basketball conference affiliation in doubt because of the Metro's defections.
On Friday, Braine would not say whether he considered the conference uncertainty a major factor in his evaluation of Allen, and would not discuss whether he thought the program had shown improvement in any areas that would help Allen keep his job.
Allen said he thinks there has been improvement despite the Hokies having lost 10 of 11 games in stretches both this year and last, and having a 1-9 stretch in 1988-89.
"I really feel like things are going pretty good other than the fact that the won-lost record hasn't been going very good," Allen said. "I haven't come to work one day and wished I was doing something else. I'm still the same person. I don't envision losing my enthusiasm with this group."
by CNB