Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 20, 1994                   TAG: 9401200076
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BIG SOUTH WON'T GIVE CAMPBELL ITS BLESSING

The conference presidents, save for Campbell's Norman Wiggins, met Tuesday by conference call and "expressed grave concern" that Campbell had not adhered to conference bylaws requiring that two years' notice be given of any intent to leave the league, according to a release from the Big South office.

"The stability of the conference was our main concern when we inserted that amendment into the constitution, and it was agreed to unanimously," Big South Conference Commissioner Buddy Sasser said. "The non-adherence to the constitution is not acceptable."

The conference presidents agreed that the league should consult lawyers before it decides what it should do next, Sasser said.

Neither Wiggins nor Campbell athletic director Tom Collins could be reached. Wiggins was in meetings, his secretary said. Collins was attending a funeral, his secretary reported.

Campbell's departure "disregards the students and constitutes a slap at the Big South Conference as well as each of its member institutions," Radford University President Donald N. Dedmon said.

Campbell announced this week that it intends to join the Trans America Athletic Conference on July 1. Campbell said last week that its departure from the Big South would be effective June 30.

Should Campbell leave, the move is expected to cost the conference its automatic bid to the NCAA men's basketball tournament. The NCAA requires that a conference have a core of membership of six schools that have been members for five years. Campbell's departure would leave the league with five - Radford, Coastal Carolina, Winthrop, North Carolina-Asheville, and Charleston Southern. Liberty, Maryland-Baltimore County, Towson State and North Carolina-Greensboro joined more recently.

Radford athletic director Chuck Taylor, who is on the league basketball committee, said hope remains for an appeal to the NCAA to keep the bid to the 1995 tournament.

"The Big South's growth the last few years shows we are a strong and solvent entity off the court, and our success this season shows what we are capable of on the court," he said. "I think the NCAA will take these factors into account."

The automatic bid, should it be lost, could be reinstated after a one-year "probationary period," an NCAA official has said.

It is unclear what the Big South could do legally to prevent Campbell's departure. But the seriousness of the league's intent was illustrated by Sasser, who was quoted this week as saying, "When someone hits you with a rock, the initial reaction is to throw a bigger rock at them."

Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.