Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 11, 1994 TAG: 9403110091
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BILOXI, MISS. LENGTH: Medium
When last seen late Wednesday night, Tech athletic director Dave Braine was headed to a waterfront casino, where he figured his luck would have to be better than it was during a Big East presidents' meeting in New York that afternoon.
Most Tech employees here reacted one of two ways.
Some were stunned with disbelief. Others spat the bitter opinion that if Syracuse, Boston College, Miami and Pittsburgh had refused to compromise with the six Big East basketball-playing schools, the non-football schools would have caved in and accepted a 14-team expansion that was to include Tech.
Coach Bill Foster, whose Tech men's basketball program would have benefited most from joining the Big East, mourned the loss of exposure.
All the sunlight in the world could shine on the Hokies, he indicated, but what Tech really needs is some more television lights.
"They just have had in the past a better TV package than we've had," Foster said, comparing the Big East with the Metro. "Our league's fine. What we've got to do is increase our saleability to TV."
Help may be on the way. Metro commissioner Ralph McFillen said Thursday the league's athletic directors have authorized the hiring of an assistant commissioner for external affairs who will concentrate on marketing and TV deals.
The Metro, in the third year of a four-year, $700,000 television contract with Raycom, is negotiating a new deal with the syndicator, McFillen said.
"Exposure was the thing," Foster said of Tech's near-miss with the Big East. "Anytime you improve your visibility, you have a chance to do better things."
McFillen said the Metro will try to increase corporate sponsorship, tying in some of Raycom's sponsors to marketing deals at member schools.
McFillen said Metro schools made 33 television appearances this season through Raycom (that includes Prime Network and ESPN games). That figure does not count Louisville's national network appearances.
The Metro is guaranteed a minimum of three ESPN appearances next season through the Raycom deal, McFillen said. The 33 appearances, he said, were in significant markets - not tiny regional areas.
"Those are quality exposures," he said.
Metro coaches and athletic directors are working together, McFillen added, "to maybe find a [television] niche [for the Metro] that's a little bit different from other people. We're not the SEC or the ACC, but we certainly have some great programs in quality markets."
Foster said the Hokies need to put themselves on TV, too. Tech is a probable National Invitation Tournament team, but can make the NCAA Tournament by winning the Metro title this weekend.
"We've just got to take care of business," he said. "A good step would be down here."
Foster said that although he and his staff had been telling recruits about what Tech thought was an impending conference switch, they never told youngsters it was a done deal.
He said he didn't think it would hurt this year's recruiting, and assistant coach Chris Ferguson agreed.
Ferguson said Tech's reputation among players is as "not being a school with a lot of credibility in athletics." Many players who take recruiting visits to Tech, he said, are surprised by the quality of the programs.
A Big East affiliation, Ferguson said, would have erased some of the skepticism.
"It would have given us a chance to recruit a different-level player and have instant credibility," he said. "But the days go on."
Foster said he felt the worst for Braine, who's "done so much work. For him, it would have been a real coup."
Foster, however, said he tried not to pay attention to the rumors surrounding the Big East's doings, and had no venom about the way Tech was shunned.
"Those gimme putts don't always go in," Foster said.
Tech's third-year coach soon will sign a three-year contract extension that will keep him in Blacksburg for another four years. He said the Big East possibilities weren't a factor in his decision to stay at Tech, and the Big East's exclusion of Tech won't affect his desire to coach the Hokies.
His contract extension will take him into his 31st year of coaching.
"When it's time [to quit]," Foster said, "it wouldn't matter what league we were in."
by CNB