Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 15, 1993 TAG: 9312150094
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
VMI shouldn't have to look far for a successor to fired football coach Jim Shuck. One good man is right down the hall from Shuck's old office. Another is a one-hour drive away.
Mike Clark, the Keydets' defensive coordinator, has the kind of toughness it takes to survive in the VMI system. His knowledge, patience and teaching ability would be pluses in a program that won't have the athletes of its competitors, too.
Another very solid candidate is Danny Wilmer, a Rockbridge County native completing his 10th year as an assistant on George Welsh's staff at Virginia. Wilmer has recruited the region very successfully for UVa and, before that, for James Madison. With VMI's diminished funds, finding in-state talent is more of a necessity than ever for the Keydets.
If Virginia alumni want to help the Cavaliers add to their bowl history in the future, ticket sales for the Jan. 1 Carquest Bowl don't display it. UVa has sold fewer than 2,750 of the 15,000 seats it guaranteed for the bid to the game at Miami's Joe Robbie Stadium.
UVa had a difficult time getting travel packages for its alumni because of the crush of holiday travelers to South Florida, a group that includes Nebraska and Florida State fans headed for the national championship game down I-95 at the Orange Bowl. Most UVa alums received bowl brochures only recently.
Between Boston College and UVa, the Carquest may not have 10,000 visiting spectators. Apparently, Virginia also is taking a $9 loss on every student ticket it sells. The Carquest's cheapest ticket is $29, with other seats $35 and $43. UVa is selling a $20 end-zone seat to its students.
Now that the Charlotte Hornets have made the move coach Allan Bristow wanted - dealing former Richmond player Johnny Newman to the New Jersey Nets to free playing time at small forward for rookie Scott Burrell - the pressure on Bristow to contend increases.
If the Hornets don't begin playing better - and they've underachieved to date - owner George Shinn may have a new coach two months from now. A candidate? How about ex-Chicago boss Doug Collins, who talks a good game on cable's TNT.
Thanks to the standing-room only attendance of 7,304 at Salem Stadium last Saturday for the 21st annual Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, the NCAA's Division I-AA, II and III football championships are sellouts in the same year for the first time since all three games were played in 1978.
The 16th annual I-AA final this Saturday - Youngstown State at Marshall - and last weekend's Indiana (Pa.) loss at North Alabama in Division II were home-field crowds. Salem's sellout was most impressive, considering Mount Union (Ohio) and Rowan (N.J.) gave the Division III Stagg Bowl a truly neutral site.
Coach Don Nehlen's appeals for more respect for his 11-0 West Virginia football team are taking a beating in Las Vegas. The Mountaineers are 6 1/2-point underdogs to Florida in the Sugar Bowl. Among the four Big East teams in bowls, WVU is the the only underdog.
Former UVa running back Terry Kirby has proven to be what the Miami Dolphins said he would be - the biggest steal of last April's NFL draft. Kirby, taken in the third round, was the 78th player picked, and he may be voted the AFC rookie of the year.
When Virginia Tech center Jim Pyne finished his All-America sweep last week, he became only the second unanimous All-American in state college football history. No, Bullet Bill Dudley wasn't the other. It was another Virginia star, offensive tackle Jim Dombrowski, in 1985.
by CNB