Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 6, 1991 TAG: 9103060285
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD/ SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
What is uncertain is whether the non-sellout will overshadow Monk's two-year effort to create an impeccable college basketball tournament.
"[You know] it's not your fault," tournament director Monk said Monday, referring to lagging sales of ticket books. "But I'm the director of the tournament, it's still my tournament, and I want it to be perfect."
Chasing perfection has made Monk, Virginia Tech's associate athletic director, a telephone addict. His secretary said Monk has had 100 phone calls on some days and goes nowhere without his cellular phone. The Tazewell native's quest nearly has qualified him for residency in Roanoke, has forced him to miss his assignment as a radio color analyst for several Tech basketball games, and has sliced into his sleep time.
Monk said he once awoke at 1 a.m. worried that the spending for VIP gifts had gone over budget; he got up, went to work, and got the budget into line at about 5 a.m.
Only about 6,000 tournament ticket books have been sold for the 9,834-seat Civic Center, but that has not spiked Monk's sense of humor. Told that the Memphis State coach thought a first-round win by the Tigers could prompt 2,000 more Memphis fans to head for Roanoke, Monk said: "Do we need to give [Memphis] a bye?"
Monk said the ticket sales have been the only downer of the tournament planning, but even that hasn't consumed him.
"At the last full Metro committee meeting, Danny showed the true colors of the guy he is," said John Clarke, Dominion Bank's regional executive officer. "He alluded to the fact that sales were down but [said] the committee had to do the same amount of work whether it was a sellout or we had 7,000 people."
Thus, the tournament's hospitality - everything from the festival tent for fans to late-night food for visiting members of the media - will not be scaled back. To do that would contradict Monk's code word for the tournament: Extra.
"Anything extra we could do, we would do," Monk said. "Something that will make us stand apart."
Monk set up 15 subcommittees to deal with areas such as public transportation, officials, courtesy cars and housing. Each committee member received a 100-page binder listing detailed responsibilities. Instead of keeping a thumb on each committee member, Monk said he let them improvise in their areas of expertise and develop their own strategies.
Monk and other committee members scouted the two most recent tournaments, in Columbia, S.C., and Biloxi, Miss., to research what worked and what did not. Monk said the committee also reviewed, for example, what gifts were given to players at previous tournaments, to make sure the Metro '91 gifts would be the best ever.
"They've worked their buns off," Monk said of the roughly 25 committee members. "The easy job was mine. I got to be the head coach."
One old friend, Laban Johnson, was glad that the coach in this case was not a dictator. Johnson, Roanoke's special events coordinator, taught at Jefferson High School when Monk was an assistant basketball coach there.
"I really appreciate what he's done in turning me loose and letting me do some things I might not normally do," said Johnson, who is credited with the idea of putting up a festival tent on the Civic Center grounds.
Johnson said he admires Monk's salesmanship in helping court corporate sponsors. Clarke said Monk wasn't short on ideas, either, crediting Monk with arranging a lavish dinner at the Roanoke Marriott for the league's athletic directors when they toured the Civic Center in December. No previous tournament director had held such an event, and it wowed the visiting ADs, Clarke said.
Clarke, director of corporate sponsorships for the tournament, said Monk has been a perpetual-motion point man for the tournament. This year's corporate sponsorships were the most of any Metro tournament.
"[When] we've called and asked him to come to speak to a group or come with us to Roanoke County," Clarke said, "he just said, `Let me know what time and where I'm supposed to be.' And he didn't have to do that."
One requirement for Monk was frequent trips to Roanoke from his Blacksburg office. Of course, a hard-working tournament director needs to eat, and Monk and his assistant, Steve Davis, have found their breakfast hangout: Hale's Restaurant in Shawsville. Monk estimates he and Davis have eaten there three or four times a week for the past three or four months.
Monk is on a first-name basis with "his" waitress, Flo. One day, Monk accidentally dropped an expense check at the restaurant, and Flo found it. That night, Monk's wife, Donna, answered the phone at home, turned to Danny, and said, "It's for you. Who's Flo?"
Monk chuckles at that story. He's more serious, however, about having had to split time between his duties at Tech and his tournament responsibilities. Monk is Tech's administrator for men's basketball, baseball and golf. He works with the Hokies' scheduling, helps negotiate Tech's TV and radio contracts, and oversees the cheerleaders.
Monk sees the tournament as an opportunity for Tech to get some positive attention. And even though Tech's basketball team isn't the best of the eight in town this week, Monk said he wants to make sure Tech's team of tournament organizers is the best of the 16 previous editions.
"Now comes the time to play," Monk said. "In my mind, the big plan is in place. In my own mind, I've gone through this week many, many times."
by CNB