Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 9, 1993 TAG: 9309100105
SECTION: HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS PAGE: NRV-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Consider that a coach of one team (Richlands) admitted cheating to win a state semifinal football game and that his squad, which ultimately won the state title, was allowed to keep its championship.
Consider that a basketball player violated the VHSL's amateur rule by accepting money for dunks. The district threw his team (Altavista) out of the tournament and the squad forfeited a regular-season title. Then the VHSL restored both the team and the player to the tournament. Welcome to the VBA (Virginia Basketball Association).
Also, consider that Earl Gillespie, the VHSL's longtime executive director, indicated this will be his last year. There is no word on a possible successor, or a search for one.
That was 1992-93.
Now it's 1993-94, and in the next month the VHSL faces some decisions that may forever alter high school sports in this state. Two of those decisions will be made at the October meeting of the VHSL's legislative council.
First, individual schools will be asked to surrender their authority to an executive council. Under the current system, each principal has a vote on all issues. If the change is approved, each school will be represented by members of the council much the way senators and house members represent U.S. citizens.
The principals don't want to give up their power to control high school athletics. But if they don't, VHSL officials have told them, some state legislators believe public school sports program will be placed under the control of the state department of education.
The second vote will be on a proposal to move Group A and AA girls' basketball from the fall to the winter. This newspaper devoted considerable time and space to a study of this issue in the spring, reporting that most area coaches are against such a move.
However, the principals through their boards of education, will be doing the voting. The boards of education must decide whether playing girls' basketball in the fall violates federal Title IX guidelines on gender equity.
The vote is too close to call the vote among Group AA schools, but it appears the proposal to move Group A girls' basketball to the winter will be defeated.
If the boards of education aren't worried about the threat of a Title IX suit, they should be. In Montana and Minnesota, the courts have awarded monetary damages in Title IX suits against school districts and/or superintendents. These cases were discussed during the summer in a seminar at the National Federation of High Schools meeting.
It promises to be an interesting October.
\ \ JOHNSON OUT: The VHSL also is having a tough time because its popular programs supervisor, Larry Johnson, has chronic hepatitis. The former coach at Patrick Henry has gone to Ohio, where he will be cared for by his sister.
Ken Tilley, Johnson's fellow programs supervisor, said he may return in two months. In the meantime, Gillespie, Tilley and the other programs supervisor, Claudia Dodson, will have to make up for Johnson's absence. The VHSL, which also handles high school forensics, theater and creative writing, has been understaffed for some time.
The VHSL staff will be stretched further at the state cross country meets, which Johnson ran. Even with Johnson, this was going to be a traumatic year with the event moving from Charlottesville to Blacksburg. Tilley says Steve Taylor, Virginia Tech's cross country coach, has taken up the slack in Johnson's absence.
\ RED HOT: Temperatures cooled during the weekend, and not a moment too soon for Salem football coach Willis White.
"It's so hot you can't get them in shape. You can't push the players hard enough," White said before the heat wave broke. "Normally I like it hot, but the kids are having a tough time pushing themselves hard enough to get in shape."
This is the first time the veteran coach can remember complaining about the heat. When Salem scrimmaged against Martinsville at 10 a.m. Friday, the temperature was in the 70s with 88 percent humidity.
\ STAYING CLOSE TO FLOYD: Floyd County girls' basketball star Lynette Nolley says she plans to sign a college letter of intent during the early period.
The 6-foot-1 forward, who would rather get an assist or a steal than a basket, has been visited by coaches from Virginia Tech, Radford and UNC-Greensboro. Nolley says Tech and Radford have offered her a scholarship, and she plans to sign with one of the three schools.
Nolley does so many things well with a basketball. She has unusual quickness and passing skills for a tall player. Nolley also is an accurate 3-point shooter.
\ ANOTHER STAR: Staunton River won a girls' basketball game at Altavista without 5-6 guard Tanya Nelms, who sprained an ankle in preseason workouts.
Nelms, who averaged 13 points a game in 1992, heads one of the Golden Eagles' strongest teams in years and is considered a college prospect because of her quickness.
Staunton River's victory at Altavista without Nelms shows the Golden Eagles will be a threat in Region III when she returns to the lineup.
\ MOVING: Don Brown, a former Roanoke College and Virginia Tech assistant basketball coach, has resigned as the athletic director at Woodbridge and is teaching at Potomac. He is not coaching this season. Brown went to Woodbridge as boys' basketball coach after leaving Tech and later became athletic director.
by CNB