Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 26, 1993 TAG: 9312260085
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The holiday was short but sweet for Beamer, whose 8-3 team heads to Shreveport, La., on Monday for his first bowl as head coach at his alma mater.
Beamer would be among the first to admit that a year ago he wasn't counting on a 1993 berth in the Independence Bowl - or any of the other 18 postseason games for Division I-A schools.
Now, the Hokies are a victory over Indiana on Friday away from finishing ranked in the Top 20, and 73 percent of Tech's two-deep roster returns next season.
With the Hokies coming off a 2-8-1 finish in '92, what the Tech program needed was some direction. Many of Beamer's fellow alumni thought that meant a new director, too. However, Tech's administration liked everything about Beamer's first six years except the won-lost record (24-40-2).
The preseason view from this press box seat saw Tech with a 5-6 finish, and that would have been plenty good for Beamer to keep his job. Even Beamer says 5-6 sounded like the right ballpark then.
"I knew things would have to go really well for us to be better than 5-6, and they did," Beamer said.
It didn't just happen. The maturity of Beamer's 8-3 team this season was reflected in the play of quarterback Maurice DeShazo, and the emergence of several players who grew up very quickly - such as defenders Cornell Brown and Antonio Banks.
The hiring of defensive coordinator Phil Elmassian was inspired and inspiring. The Hokies also toughened themselves by having their first units practice against each other, instead of running against a scout team. Elmassian and the Hokies' offensive coordinator, Rickey Bustle, not only endorsed such a move but encouraged it.
Beamer also put himself back in control, and that made a difference. Tech's senior-led 1991 team had better talent at the top than this year's club, but that team was a disappointing 5-6, partly because sometimes it was difficult to figure out who was in charge.
Now, there's one answer to that question. And Beamer is more at peace with himself, not only because the Hokies had a good season in a good conference, but because he's more himself.
"Usually, a guy comes into a situation after someone has been 1-10," said Beamer, who followed Bill Dooley's successful but NCAA probation-pocked years that ended in 1986 with a thrilling Peach Bowl triumph. "I spent too much time trying to keep things together instead of coaching the team.
"I did things a little differently than I had at Murray State. I was always worried about what would be the next step. I admit I was a little too relaxed on the whole thing, and that wasn't the way I played the game or learned to coach it."
Another positive this year was the Hokies' consistency. In past years, capped by last season's folding finishes - even dating to Dooley's seasons - Tech always had found a way to lose games it should have won.
This season, the Hokies didn't do that. Their losses at Miami, unbeaten West Virginia and Boston College - teams with a combined 28-5 record - weren't embarrassing. Tech's one-point defeat at WVU could have been a victory if the Hokies hadn't used an offensive game plan so conservative it must have been designed by Rush Limbaugh.
The Hokies knew they were on the right track before that, however. A second-week visit to Pitt was one of those winnable games that Tech had fumbled so often. Beamer's team had opened by beating Bowling Green. Pitt had recycled coach Johnny Majors and a first-game triumph at Southern Mississippi. Tech had to go to Miami the following week.
After a staff meeting, assistant head coach Billy Hite, whose Tech days started with Dooley in 1978, was sitting and talking with Beamer about the Pitt trip.
"Billy said, `You know, I think this might be the most critical football game ever played by Virginia Tech,' " Beamer said. "He was right."
It wasn't just that the Hokies won, it was how - 63-21, on the road, in the first game of the first Big East Football Conference round-robin season.
"The way we won that night maybe has as much as anything to do with us being 8-3," Beamer said.
So, where do the Hokies go from here?
Well, with a victory over the Hoosiers - Tech is a three-point favorite - and with DeShazo returning to run a versatile, big-play offense, the Hokies would be under serious consideration for one of two August openers in '94.
Tech has expressed interest through the Big East in playing in either the Kickoff Classic or the Pigskin Classic to start the '94 season. That interest is somewhat mutual, too.
With a victory, Beamer's program may not only get an early opener and a Sept. 22 appearance on ESPN's Thursday night schedule against West Virginia, but perhaps another CFA regional date in the first month of the season.
Would Beamer be interested in playing a 12th game, the Kickoff or Pigskin, to start next season?
"No question," he said.
Right now, however, he's most enthused about the 12th game to end this season - for obvious reasons.
by CNB