Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 14, 1991 TAG: 9103140386
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
It seemed, however, that he knew what was coming.
"Most coaches who lose [for] three straight seasons don't get the chance for a fourth season," Allen said. "That's a fact of life."
On Wednesday, Dave Braine, Tech athletic director, said Allen has been reassigned within the Tech athletic department, ending Allen's 15-year run as either assistant or head coach with the Hokies.
Braine said Allen was neither asked nor advised to step down, instead saying Allen had asked to be reassigned after the Hokies finished 13-16. Braine said a search for Allen's successor will begin immediately, and he said there is no timetable for bringing the new coach on board.
Braine said he will be chairman of the search committee, to be announced next week, and he vowed to keep the list of candidates secret from the public "because it's very difficult to hire a coach if they see their name in the paper every day."
Allen, 41, a native of Charlottesville who is a member of the Roanoke College Hall of Fame, will work under Don Perry, Tech assistant athletic director, in the areas of facilities and facility management and 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 in the Jamerson Athletic Center in a room filled with several Tech athletic department employees and some Hokies boosters. Allen, one of Tech's more popular athletic figures, thanked those who showed up for their support.
With the 1990-91 season, Allen's career record was 56-61 overall and 19-33 in the Metro Conference. After Tech declined to add a year to Allen's contract after the Hokies' 13-18 finish in 1989-90, 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 Hokies 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 faded 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 athletic director Jeff Bourne said, and that is expected to cut into an estimated $170,000 overall budget surplus for the 1990-91 fiscal year.
Allen met Monday with Tech President James McComas and Executive Vice President/Chief Business Officer Minnis Ridenour.
A Tech source said Allen was told the school needed a program that generated more enthusiasm and drew a parallel to the job Rick Pitino has done at Kentucky. Kentucky, the second-winningest program in college basketball history and winner of five national championships, was on probation when Pitino replaced Eddie Sutton and rejuvenated the program.
Braine, while praising Allen as "my very 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 victories.
"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 is uncertain about whether he will 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."
Braine said Allen's assistants are under contract until the end of June, and he said the new coach will have his choice of assistants. Braine, however, said he would recommend that the new coach interview Tic Price and Jim Baker.
Allen succeeded Charlie Moir, his boss for 11 years, who resigned after the 1986-87 season that included an NCAA investigation into the program and 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, Allen's 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 beat Louisville and Memphis State - both of which had down years - twice, 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. Before Tech's last regular-season game at Memphis State on March 2, Allen said he still wanted to coach the Hokies and said, "I haven't come to work one day and wished I was doing something else." By Tuesday, that apparently had changed.
"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