Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 4, 1991 TAG: 9104040266
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
That scenario, however, is OK with VCU athletic director Dick Sander.
"If that's true," he said, "it's just like anything else: When the opportunity presents itself and you're in the position to take advantage of that opportunity . . ."
The Metro formally added Sun Belt Conference schools VCU, South Florida and UNC Charlotte on Wednesday, bringing the Metro's membership to seven - one more than the minimum necessary for an automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
South Florida and UNCC had been Metro targets since last winter; Sander acknowledged that serious discussions about his school joining the Metro began only about a month ago - about when Metro member Tulane began seriously flirting with the Southwest Conference.
The additions give Virginia Tech two new rivals - VCU and UNC Charlotte - within close proximity, about four hours by car.
And it gives the Metro a greater presence in Virginia.
The move also ends almost a year of frustrated Metro expansion attempts and will enable the league to survive despite the defection of four members.
Under NCAA rules, the Metro will have no automatic bid to the basketball tournament in '91-92; it will regain its bid, however, in '92-93.
Tech athletic director Dave Braine could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Metro commissioner Ralph McFillen, who attended VCU's on-campus news conference, said Tulane will remain in the Metro at least for the 1991-92 school year. The Green Wave's long-term future, McFillen said, will be determined within a month.
McFillen said Tulane's reluctance to make a five-year, $500,000 commitment to the Metro spurred talk of adding a seventh member. Before that, the Metro's plan was to add South Florida and UNCC, compete as a six-team league for a year and consider further expansion later.
But, he said, he doesn't consider VCU simply an insurance policy.
"We knew six was not the number we were going to sit on," he said. "We said, `Let's go beyond the survival number. Let's not create another problem for ourselves. Let's move beyond that immediately.'
"In my mind, VCU was going to be in the Metro Conference; it was just a matter of timing as to when that was going to occur."
McFillen said all schools except Tulane have agreed to the financial commitment, which would force a school to pay the league a half-million dollars if it leaves within five years. Tulane, he said, would be required to make the commitment if it does not leave for the SWC. It is unclear what would happen if Tulane decides to join the SWC after next school year.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," McFillen said.
Sander said he thinks media interest in Tech and the Rams will increase because the programs, which are regular rivals, now will be conference rivals.
McFillen said the three additions fit the Metro in several ways, especially geographically and academically. McFillen said VCU, which is rarely mentioned among the state's elite academic institutions, is better academically than it's given credit for. Sander said one reason Tech president James McComas supported VCU's inclusion was its commitment to research.
Sander said VCU's president, Eugene Trani, actively lobbied the other Metro member presidents on his school's behalf, and McFillen said that played an important role in getting VCU in the league.
McFillen touted the TV markets brought in with South Florida, located in Tampa, and UNCC as beneficial to the Metro.
"It's in keeping with what we've tried to do with the Metro, in going into good markets and getting good basketball programs," said Louisville coach Denny Crum in a statement released by the league.
Each of the three additions has won at least one Sun Belt title, and VCU brings with it a high-profile coach in Sonny Smith. But the question remains as to whether three schools from a conference generally rated below the Metro can compensate for the loss of Memphis State, Cincinnati, Florida State and South Carolina.
"The level of basketball is a little bit better," Sander said. "In other programs, I'm not so sure it is a step up."
UNCC began looking for a new conference home when two other Sun Belt members left the fold earlier - Alabama-Birmingham to the Great Midwestern and Old Dominion to the Colonial Athletic Association.
"It kind of woke us up," Mark Colone, UNCC's assistant athletic director, said of the earlier Sun Belt departures. "We decided it was in our best interest to move."
In the past year, the Metro tried and failed to form a 16-team superconference, tried and failed to get West Virginia, Rutgers and Temple to join, and even tried to get Richmond interested in the league. McFillen, who said he thinks the Metro got three of the better Sun Belt programs, was asked if he felt the Metro had simply survived and not prospered.
"We were on the brink of disaster as a conference, and we certainly had to do something to get our feet back on the ground," McFillen said. "I think we did more than that."
And there's little question that Virginia Commonwealth is thrilled with its athletic future.
"You're judged by who you keep company with," Sander said. "That pretty well states what we feel about it."
Some of the information for this story was provided by The Associated Press.
by CNB