Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 10, 1991 TAG: 9104100150
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Although all sorts of names emerged as pretenders to the Radford University basketball coaching job vacated when Oliver Purnell left to take over as the Old Dominion coach, Bradley apparently was the choice from the start.
That was verified Tuesday when Bradley, 40, was hired as the Highlanders' fourth head coach. No other candidates were interviewed and apparently none but he was taken seriously.
Bradley and athletic director Chuck Taylor declined comment on the matter until this afternoon, when the new coach will be introduced at a formal news conference.
"That's great to hear," said Doug Day, who led Radford in scoring this past season with an average of more than 20 points per game. "I was hoping that they would realize that Coach Bradley was a major part of the success we had last year. He worked with us a lot last year and a lot of what we did were his ideas. He's definitely a good coach."
Bradley joined the staff before the 1990-91 season, when Radford made the most dramatic turnaround in Division I. The Highlanders had floundered to a 7-22 record in 1989-90 before recovering to finish 22-7 last season. The Highlanders were the Big South Conference regular-season runners-up.
Radford lost only one senior, Ron Shelburne, off that team.
Among those who said that they hoped to discuss the job with Radford officials or were known to have interested Taylor included Southwestern Louisiana head coach Marty Fletcher; VMI coach Joe Cantafio; former Virginia Tech, Tennessee and Florida coach Don DeVoe; former VCU and Tulsa coach J.D. Barnett; Virginia Union coach Dave Robbins; Virginia assistant Tom Perrin; Virginia Tech assistant Jim Baker; VCU assistant Eddie Webb; and Nevada-Las Vegas assistant Ronnie Ganulin.
None was persuasive enough to be granted an interview. Bradley was known to have met twice with Taylor last week. The second time, university president Donald N. Dedmon played host to the meeting in his office.
Afterward, Bradley denied that it was a formal interview, characterizing it instead as a friendly chat, an exchange of views.
The final stage of the process was Tuesday afternoon, when Taylor met with the search committee to prepare the recommendation of Bradley to Dedmon. The meeting was brief, Dedmon took little time to arrive at a decision and Bradley was offered the job about 4:30 p.m., a university spokesman said.
From the start, Bradley had been endorsed by Purnell and top recruit Jamie Warren of West Springfield High. Day said that when Bradley and Taylor met with team members last week, the players had presented a petition on Bradley's behalf to Taylor.
They were told that their input was appreciated but that there would be no promises, Day said.
Bradley played for his father Carroll at Eastern Nazarene College, an NAIA school in Massachusetts. In four years, he scored 2,649 points, averaging 24.8 for his career.
Later, he returned to coach the team, running up a five-year record of 96-51. Bradley joined Lefty Driesell's staff at Maryland as a graduate assistant and was elevated to a full-time assistant in 1983. It was at Maryland that he got to know Purnell, another assistant there at the time.
Bradley stayed on as top assistant when Bob Wade took over the program.
Bradley worked as an assistant to the athletic director at Maryland the year before he came to Radford.
He is married to the former Denise Smith, and they have two children - Brad, 13, and Katlin, 6.
by CNB