Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 25, 1993 TAG: 9309250079
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The former Virginia Tech linebacker knew he would be the Bassett boys' basketball coach this year. He didn't know he also would be the Bengals' football coach.
It's not an easy assignment, being head coach of those two sports.
Officially, Martin is listed as interim football coach. He was thrust into the position in July when Mike Myers resigned to move into administration at another school.
Leon Gunter, Bassett's principal, decided it was too late to look outside the school for a football coach. Advertising the position would have meant not hiring a coach until August, and trying to attract a head coach from another school would have been difficult because coaches already had contracts for this school year.
"I had to do a lot of soul searching," Martin says. "The biggest decision was that I had to make sure they wouldn't make me give up basketball."
Give up basketball?
Here's Martin, a former member of a Virginia Tech defense that ranked third in the nation, saying he'd rather coach basketball than football. The fact is that Martin is a basketball man trapped in the body of a former football player.
Martin was the Piedmont District player of the year in basketball at Laurel Park, just after Frank Scott moved there to coach after establishing the program at Dan River.
"I was trying to get a basketball scholarship and I had some small-school offers. But I took the offer of Division I football [at Tech]," says Martin, who played all five positions in basketball for the Lancers.
Under Martin, Bassett football got off to a flying start, though early on it appeared the first-year football coach might have a problem. The trouble began when Art Wade, who was one of Timesland's leading passers last year, gave up football.
Martin didn't mind losing his quarterback, though. Wade wanted to concentrate on basketball after leading Timesland in scoring as a junior.
With a low turnout for football in terms of numbers, the Bengals appeared to be a bit toothless. Then they upset William Byrd 20-13 in their opener.
"So far, things have gone well, no complaints," Gunter says of his double-duty coach.
But the jury is out. "Bobby's the exception, though, and not the rule," Gunter says. "The thing we have to see is if he can keep that kind of pace [coaching two sports]. I think it's a very difficult job and it takes a special person. Not many people are qualified to do both.
"You find a lot of people who play several sports in high school, but they favor one over the other and choose one to become a student of that game over any others."
Says Martin: "I haven't thought about football for next year, but I hope they don't make me a make a choice. If I can handle it, still have my health and my wife's in favor of it, I'd like to try both next year."
Martin was forced to make a quick choice when he got the football job. Under Myers, Bassett was one of the few high schools in the state to use the run-and-shoot offense. That made for a lot of offensive fireworks, but it didn't translate into victories.
Martin ditched the offense. "I believe in playing sound football, not necessarily smash-face football," Martin says.
"We didn't have the personnel for [the run-and-shoot]. In high school, it's easier to run-block than pass-block. The other reason we gave it up is a shortage of people."
The Bengals have only 40 players on the varsity and junior varsity. Because of those numbers, "You want to have ball-control offense to eat up some of the clock so the defense doesn't have to play a whole lot of the game," Martin says.
Martin didn't have much time to prepare, but he proved he still knows the game of football. He'll have even less time to prepare for basketball.
\ NO STAPLES: How did this happen?
Reidel's Roundball Review, a publication that bills itself as "your leading source for who's who in high school hoops" came out with its list of the top 100 players in the class of 1994 (seniors) and the next-best 100 in the class of '94.
Perusing those two lists for the name of Curtis Staples, the former Timesland Sizzlin Sophomore (1992), proves fruitless.
"Your right, it's not on there, but it should be," John Reidel says of the ommission of the Oak Hill Academy guard.
Reidel says the oversight will be corrected and Staples, who helped lead Patrick Henry to the Group AAA title as a sophomore, will be in the top 40. Staples spent last season at Prospect Hall in Frederick, Md.
Also missing was Salem's Mark Byington. It's hard for me to imagine 200 seniors in the country who are better prospects than Byington.
Allen Iverson, the Group AAA player of the year as a junior at Bethel who last week was given a jail sentence for his part in a brawl at a bowling alley, is listed No. 2. Reidel doesn't know whether to delete Iverson, since the Hampton native's athletic future is in doubt.
Personally, I'd leave him there because you just have the feeling that Iverson will somehow wind up playing somewhere some day.
\ VETTER RE-UPDATE: Last week, Frankie Johnson, the state's best Group AA boys' basketball player, bolted Robert E. Lee High School in Staunton to join coach Stu Vetter at Prospect Hall.
Now, Johnson is back at Lee. Johnson told coach Paul Hatcher he had made a mistake and wanted to return.
by CNB