Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 12, 1991 TAG: 9104120046
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Beamer's new contract, a copy of which was obtained by the Roanoke Times & World-News through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, includes automatic pay raises of 5 percent each of the next four years. That means Beamer's salary, should he choose to accept it, will grow from $111,078 this year to $135,016 in 1995.
Beamer now is being paid $100,980 annually - his salary before the new contract took effect - until he decides to accept the raise that came with his new contract.
Beamer also will receive one month's pay as a bonus if the Hokies receive a bowl bid during the term of the five-year contract. If the 1991 Hokies reach a bowl, the bonus will be worth more than $9,000 to Beamer in recognition, the contract reads, "of the additional work required of Beamer."
The contract allows Beamer to leave Tech for "a job in any capacity with a professional football team" or a job with three colleges or universities that Beamer must identify by the end of June. If Beamer leaves for any other job before this fall, he must pay Tech $350,000; if he leaves before 1992, he owes Tech $227,000; before 1993, $111,000. If he leaves Tech for any job after the 1993 season, there is no buyout.
Tech athletic director Dave Braine said new basketball coach Bill Foster's contract is "essentially the same" as Beamer's, but Braine would not reveal the details because he said Foster has not yet signed the deal.
\ Not even Foster knows what would have happened had Kansas assistant Jerry Green called Tech athletic director Dave Braine last weekend and said he wanted to be the Hokies' head basketball coach.
Foster, hired as Tech's coach last weekend, said Braine had given him the impression that he was the front-runner for the job. Meanwhile, Green returned to Lawrence, Kan., he has said, to decide whether or not to take the job.
"They might have given it to him," Foster said Monday. "I don't have a clue. Dave did a good job of making both of us feel like [we were No. 1 on the list].
"If I felt all along that I'm No. 2, it might not sit well [with me]. He made both of us feel like we were wanted. He felt comfortable that he could get either one of us."
When asked Monday what he would have done if Green hadn't withdrawn, Braine would not comment.
\ The position at which Tech's football team least can afford to sustain a serious injury: Defensive end. The position at which Tech has sustained its first serious injury: Defensive end.
Senior James Hargrove, a candidate to fill one of two spots vacated by Jimmy Whitten and Al Chamblee, broke his left leg near the ankle last week in a practice drill. Trainer Eddie Ferrell said the Hokies hope Hargrove can return to the team in August.
Offensive lineman Calvert Jones, who has rejoined the Hokies after quitting last August, sprained his right knee Monday and will miss the rest of spring practice, Ferrell said. Jones had gotten in only five days of drills.
\ The Hokies have 20 of their 26 basketball games already scheduled for next year, associate athletic director Danny Monk said.
Tech will play 12 Metro Conference games; two games in the season-opening Central Fidelity Classic in Richmond (Richmond, California and LaSalle are in the field); two in the Red Lobster Classic in Orlando (Florida, Michigan and Brigham Young are included); and a game each against William and Mary, Virginia, West Virginia and George Washington.
Monk said Tech officials are talking with Old Dominion because Tech wants to play at least once a year on Virginia's Eastern Shore. Monk also said the Hokies have chatted with Penn State, James Madison and George Mason.
\ Monk said traditional rival West Virginia is the only Big East football league opponent definitely on Tech's 1992 schedule, but, he added, there is a "good chance" that Syracuse, Temple and Miami will be added for that year. Braine added that the Hokies are talking with Pittsburgh for a 1992 game.
Tech, according to a Big East agreement, must have all seven league opponents scheduled by 1993.
Monk said the Hokies have scheduled dates and sites with Syracuse through the year 2012.
"That game will be played by people that aren't even born yet," Monk said.
by CNB