Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 28, 1993 TAG: 9312280165
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SHREVEPORT, LA. LENGTH: Long
At Beamer's suggestion, his nine full-time assistants, who have no bonus clauses in their letters of appointment, are expected to get bonuses of $4,500. In some cases, that's more than a month's salary.
And Tech's seventh-year head coach also has asked for bonuses ranging from $500 to $2,000 for head trainer Eddie Ferrell, strength coach Mike Gentry and equipment manager Lester Karlin.
The bonus money will come from Tech's $700,000 payoff from the Independence Bowl, athletic director Dave Braine said.
Beamer's proposal, Braine said, should be approved in February by Tech's board of visitors.
Beamer said a bonus for his assistant, John Ballein, will come from revenue from two Independence Bowl television specials to be aired by WSLS Channel 10.
"It's the right thing to do," Beamer said after a late-afternoon practice Monday, Tech's first in Shreveport since arriving Monday morning. "The assistant coaches are the ones who have done the work."
Beamer said staff bonuses are standard fare, but not necessarily so for trainers, equipment managers and strength coaches. Ferrell, Karlin and Gentry have been with Beamer since the Tech alumnus took the job in 1987.
"Everyone's been through some tough times," said Beamer, at his first bowl game with the Hokies. "I just want them to be rewarded for some of the good times."
Last year at this time, Beamer was pondering staff changes instead of staff rewards after Tech's 2-8-1 season. He fired Mike Clark, Tommy Groom and Keith Jones and lost Steve Marshall to Tennessee. Phil Elmassian, J.B. Grimes, Rod Sharpless and Bryan Stinespring were the replacements.
The new staff helped guide No. 22 Tech to an 8-3 record and a date with No. 21 Indiana on Friday at Independence Stadium.
"[They] have all brought some good ideas as far as setting up practice," Beamer said.
Beamer, who took some heat for promoting graduate assistants to full-time positions in consecutive years, on Monday said Todd Grantham and Stinespring are "excellent coaches" who blended well with the veterans Beamer hired during the winter.
"Sometimes it's just that things don't jell," Beamer said, taking pains to say he wasn't criticizing his four departed aides. "I hired what I thought were good people. They did a nice job, and things just jelled."
\ DRAKEFORD WATCH: All-Big East Conference cornerback Tyronne Drakeford watched the last half-hour of Monday's practice sitting on a sideline bench at Caddo Parish High School's field with an ice bag on his sore right ankle, the one he broke during a game against Rutgers on Oct. 23.
Drakeford said he expects to play Friday, but not at 100 percent. Beamer said this week's practices will determine how Tech uses Drakeford against Indiana.
\ QUOTE-UNQUOTE: Clip this and read it again after Friday's game. At Monday's practice, Beamer was asked what concerned him most about Indiana.
"Regardless of how we get it, if we're not in second-and-six, second-and-five, I think we're in trouble," Beamer said. "You can't live against Indiana [without doing that]."
\ FRATERNIZING: The Independence Bowl has scheduled a couple of events, centered around meals, that bring together players from both teams. Last year, one of those get-togethers resulted in a brief but well-publicized shoving match between players from Wake Forest and Oregon.
Beamer said he isn't worried about a repeat.
"When it's out here on the field, it's hit 'em to the whistle," Beamer said. "Off the field, it's another matter.
"They're responsible for their actions," he said of the Hokies. "They know how to act."
\ TICKETS: Pat Booras, the Independence Bowl marketing and media relations director, said about 17,000 bowl tickets have been sold locally, and estimated a game-day crowd of close to 40,000. The bowl has discovered that many area businesses are giving their employees a New Year's holiday Jan. 3 instead of Dec. 31 - the date of the bowl.
"We're losing out on those people," he said.
Booras estimated 5,000 to 7,000 tickets would have been sold locally had Dec. 31 been a holiday or had the game, scheduled for an 11:30 a.m. (Central time) kickoff, been played at night.
Booras said the bowl does not plan to give away any of the $30 tickets to fill the seats.
\ COMING BACK: Shreveport is not unfamiliar to some Hokies. Equipment manager Lester Karlin was assistant equipment manager in 1974-75 for the Shreveport Steamers of the World Football League. Those teams at one time or another featured former Hokies tight end Mike Burnop (now Tech's radio color announcer), offensive lineman Bill Ellenbogen (now owner of Bogen's restaurant in Blacksburg), wide receiver Ricky Scales and kicker Dave Strock.
J.B. Grimes, Tech's offensive line coach, was an Arkansas aide when the Razorbacks played in the 1991 Independence Bowl, losing to Georgia.
Former Tech assistant coach Marshall Taylor (1972-73) was head coach of the Steamers for half the '74 season (after they moved from Houston) and all of the '75 season.
by CNB