Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 13, 1994 TAG: 9401120092
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
The unusual thing about the whole process is that, according to one testimony, the transition is going as soothingly as a midsummer pond voyage in a rowboat.
First-year coach Rick Cormany, who has coached at two high schools and been an assistant in college, says he is the model of serenity, even after the the Bobcats dropped six of their first nine.
"These kids are making it so easy to coach that it doesn't feel like a losing season," he said.
Easy to coach? Doesn't feel like a losing season? Wait a minute, here. Who the heck is this, Alan Alda or the same guy with the sparks coming out of his ears at Rocky Gap or the one whose eyebrows looked as though they were about to burst into flames at Grayson County?
The self-professed newly mellow Cormany assures us that he is that same competitive gentleman.
"But it's been different here," he said. "When you go into a new situation, that first year, you have to go in there and be the complete nastiest guy in the world. At Grayson County my first year, you couldn't even joke with them. If I let up for one second, they'd be taking me for a ride."
Come now, Coach, sure you aren't taking us for a ride?
Bobcats senior guard Casey Underwood gazed with arched brow at a questioner who suggested that the coach may have indeed baked into a creampuff since coming to Radford.
"Ah, he's very intense," Underwood allowed.
But wait, this is supposedly Mr. Nice, not the dude who almost imploded as a result of a three-game losing streak that terminated his last Grayson County campaign.
"He does not like turnovers and he does not like mistakes, especially on defense," said senior Ryan Brittle, who's had to spend his first year of organized ball since ninth grade on his toes. "He'll set you down on the bench and give you a little look. You'll know what you've done."
Ah, the evil eye. But that can't be the new, politically correct, Coach Cormany.
"Same old Rick," said another coach, who saw him in a preseason scrimmage. "At one point, he took out all five of his starters and said, `Now give me somebody who wants to play.' "
Cormany shrugged vaguely.
"Don't remember that," he said. "I tend to forget the bad quickly."
He hasn't and won't forget that 3-6 start. But he's better able to deal with it because he could see at least three of the "L's" going the other way.
For example, Tazewell beat the Bobcats 81-80 in triple overtime when the Bulldogs sank a 3-pointer at the horn after Radford had missed the back end of a one-and-one.
Northwood got them 53-51 when it hit a shot with six seconds left and withstood a couple of failed gimmes by Radford at the close.
Then Radford lost 58-54 to Grayson County in overtime.
"That was a tough one for me," Cormany said.
They'll all be tough for Radford, no doubt about that. Nobody is very tall. Five guys have never played before. There is no real inside game.
So Cormany has devised other strategies.
"We try to take advantage of our speed and quickness," junior Matt Linkous said. "And we are in good shape. We hope that we can wear people down and win it in the fourth quarter."
Underwood is scoring about 15 points per game. Point guards C.C. Chapman and Ricky Clark have kept the 'Cats jetting up the floor. Brittle and Linkous and a bunch of others have contributed.
And the coach is turning into the mellow man.
Linkous, who transferred two years ago from Gateway Christian, snickered at that notion.
"He's a hard-nosed coach, the way a coach should be," Linkous said. "I'm used to that. One time at Gateway, the coach there [Jeff Akins] got mad at us at halftime and threw a chair."
Threw a chair? At Gateway?
"I liked that," Linkous said.
Looks like these Radford boys may be able to cotton to Cormany yet.
by CNB