Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 12, 1992 TAG: 9202120065
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
BRADLEY ADAPTS, WINS AT RADFORD
After several years of hell at Maryland, Ron Bradley's vision of basketball heaven is blurred. If he continues to win at Radford University, however, his stay with the Highlanders might be as short as his lineup."I remember when I was little, I thought heaven was a place where you'd play basketball all the time and get all the food you could eat," Bradley said.
Hoops always are food for thought with Bradley, 41, who learned the game at home in Quincy, Mass. He was coached by his father at Eastern Nazarene, and later succeeded his dad on the school's sideline.
Carroll Bradley used to diagram plays at the kitchen table. If he'd have moved the salt and pepper shaker-men as far from the basket as his son has them on the floor, they'd have been on the stove.
"I sent my dad a tape," Bradley said. "He looked at it and almost had a heart attack. . . . It was a tape of our Liberty game at home. We won, but we played awful. He told me, `Gee, you don't use much low-post [offense] do you?' "
Radford is 15-7, primarily running a four-guard attack. The lineup Bradley has on the floor most often averages 6 feet 2 1/2. The biggest reason the Highlanders continue to stand tall is Bradley, whose Big South leaders have won 10 of their past 11.
"I waited 15 years to be a head coach at the Division I level," Bradley said. "All those years of scouting and watching, thinking I'd have a normal team. The first three weeks of practice, we tried to run straight-up stuff. Then [forward] Pete Reece broke his hand, and I knew we had to try something else."
Reece returned by the start of the season, but center Tyrone Travis was off the team to work on his books and later was declared academically ineligible by the school. Bradley and his staff still are tinkering. Their "Schmall Lineup" - with transfer point man Brian Schmall coming off the bench - finds three players spotting up behind the 3-point arc.
The distant shooting and Bradley's substitutions have saved Radford. The Highlanders have made at least 50 percent only four times, but who expects great marksmanship with 20-footers? Radford's trapping and pressure are constants for a team with as good a chance of buying a rebound from Pat and Vanna as getting one off the glass.
Radford's 22-7 finish for Oliver Purnell a year ago was stunning, but no more so than Bradley's adapting with this year's talent. However, few at Radford seem surprised by Bradley's X-and-Oh! work in his $55,000 job.
Bradley and Purnell were Maryland assistants, together in turmoil. Purnell brought Bradley to Radford last season, and when the former moved to Old Dominion, Bradley got to coach Purnell's recruits. Bradley didn't get the job just because he was in town. He impressed Radford's brass with his quiet, business-like work ethic.
Then, when Bradley put together a staff, he didn't go with the cronyism that builds some benches. He hired aides who were complete strangers. He hired based on recommendations.
"The way I'd describe Coach is that he's kind, but he's straightforward," Radford senior Chris Hawkins said. "It's my impression that most NCAA coaches are in it for the business. I think he's in it for the enjoyment. I think he's happy just coaching."
Bradley came to Radford "just trying to save my career," after the mess at Maryland. In his last year at College Park, he was an assistant athletic director for the ticket office. He went to Kentucky to talk tickets and spent a couple of days with Rick Pitino. He visited Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski. Gary Williams, trying to guide the Terps back to prominence, spent time with Bradley, too.
"Like Gary Williams needs to come to Ron Bradley's office to talk basketball," Bradley said. "I guess he saw I was hurting."
Asked his coaching goal, Bradley said, "I just want to win the next game."
Chances are, he'll do much more.