Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 13, 1991 TAG: 9103130582
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"Most coaches who lose [for] three straight seasons don't get the chance for a fourth season," Allen said today. "That's a fact of life."
Tech athletic director Dave Braine said Allen was neither asked nor advised to step down. Instead, Braine said, Allen had asked to be reassigned.
Braine said a search for Allen's successor will begin immediately, but that there is no timetable for bringing the new coach on board.
The 41-year-old Allen, a native of Charlottesville who is a member of the Roanoke College Hall of Fame, will work under Tech assistant athletic director Don Perry in the areas of facilities and facility management. Allen also will be a liaison to the office of academic advising.
Allen, whose annual salary is $80,980, will be the highest-paid athletic administrator at Tech outside of Braine. Braine said Allen, who has one year left on his original four-year contract with Tech, has the position for as long as he wants it.
The decision was announced at a news conference today in the Jamerson Athletic Center in a room filled with several Tech athletic department employees and some Hokie boosters. Allen, one of Tech's more popular athletic figures, thanked those who showed up for their support.
The 1990-91 Hokies finished 13-16, making Allen's career mark 56-61 (19-33 in the Metro Conference). When Tech declined to add a year to Allen's contract after the Hokies' 13-18 finish last year, speculation began that Allen had to have a winning season this year to survive as coach.
Braine would not say if a winning season would have saved Allen his job.
"The term `fired' is wrong," Braine said. "I want to make sure that's understood.
"Frankie did everything within his own power except play the game to make the program better."
However, there was discontent among some Hokie boosters who claim Allen's players aren't fundamentally sound and that Allen hasn't recruited any big-time players.
Also, fan interest in the program seemed to fade and the Hokies' average attendance dropped for the fourth straight year to 5,888, just over half of Cassell Coliseum's capacity. The sub-par attendance produced an estimated $91,000 shortfall in Tech's projected basketball revenues, Tech assistant AD Jeff Bourne said. That is expected to cut into an estimated $170,000 overall budget surplus for the 1990-91 fiscal year.
Braine, while praising Allen as "my good friend," said of the attendance and the losing seasons: "All those things add up."
Allen's supporters contend he couldn't effectively recruit as an interim coach, then was hampered by two years of probation and uncertainty surrounding the future of the Metro Conference. Also, Tech's strict academic standards are often cited as recruiting obstacles.
Some Tech insiders have complained about the Hokies' schedule, saying it contained no "breathers" or easy wins.
"It is my feeling I did the best job possible considering the circumstances under which the program was inherited," Allen said. "All those things are factors in terms of success or lack of success, but I knew all those factors going in."
Allen said he's uncertain about whether he'll try to return to coaching.
"I had long-range goals of getting in athletic administration," he said. "Sometimes, you don't always do things on your own schedule. I'll probably leave all options open."
Allen succeeded Charlie Moir, who resigned following the 1986-87 season that included an NCAA probe into the program and the resulting probation. Allen was the 1987-88 Metro Conference coach of the year after his lightly regarded Hokies finished 19-10, but the probation kept Tech out of postseason play that year.
The next season, his first without the "interim" tag, Tech was 11-17. The next two teams went 13-18 and 13-16.
Allen said he felt the Hokies were improving, especially after they won five of their last seven games before losing in the Metro tournament.
This season, Tech twice beat Louisville and Memphis State - both of which had down years - making Allen only the third Metro coach to accomplish that feat. The Hokies also won a game in the Metro tournament for the first time since 1984.
But it was not enough.
"It is probably in my best interest as well as that of the basketball program that I accept a reassignment at this time," Allen said.
by CNB