Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 30, 1994 TAG: 9401300105
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
But Hall won't say whether he will return to coach the Martinsville Bulldogs in boys' basketball for another year or retire to the golf course. Hall gave up teaching a year ago, but he has continued to coach.
Is Hall too old to relate to young people and continue coaching? Not judging by his record the past five seasons. During that span, Hall has the best boys' record by percentage in Timesland (102-27, .791).
That shouldn't be surprising? Hall is the state's winningest public schools coach, with a 584-169 (.776) record. He's improving with age.
Hall beats out his biggest current rival, Laurel Park's Frank Scott, who has the most victories (104-29, .782) in the past five years.
This year, the two again are locked in a battle for the top spot in the Piedmont District along with Magna Vista, which is coached by Jim Young, who is seventh on the list.
Hall and Scott rank ahead of Northside's Billy Pope, who is considered by many to be Timesland's best young coach. Pope is 96-30 (.762), and his team this year, one of Timesland's most inexperienced, is 13-1 after beating Lord Botetourt on Friday.
After the top three come Blacksburg's Bob Trear, George Wythe's Al Copenhaver, William Fleming's Burrall Paye, Young, Fort Chiswell's Danny Jonas, Bland's Rich Hankins and North Cross' Jim Muscaro.
Conspicuously absent is Patrick Henry's Woody Deans, who has won two Group AAA state titles in the past six years. Deans is 76-45 (.628) for five years and misses the top 10 only because of his 1989 team, which went 7-14 after he had to discipline a couple of his best players and last season's team that went 4-17 after two of Deans' best players - Curtis Staples and Timmy Basham - defected to St. John's at Prospect Hall in Frederick, Md.
"I think it's great. I feel like sometimes you have the better kids and the assistant coaches to help make this possible," Hall said. "It's something I don't look at. I just look at each game as we approach it on the schedule."
Hall says he doesn't know what he will do next year - stay or retire. If he hopes to reach the 600-victory plateau, though, Hall will ask to stay on as coach for another season.
Scott might have ranked higher, except for an 11-11 record in 1989. Since then, Laurel Park has averaged better than 23 victories a season and last season surprised many by going 25-2 the year after the departure of Odell Hodge, the Group AA state and Timesland player of the year.
Two of the coaches - Jonas and Muscaro - perform double duties. Jonas is the only coach on the list who directs winter boys' and fall girls' basketball teams back-to-back.
Muscaro coaches football in the fall and then turns his attention to boys' basketball in the winter. He has one state championship squad (1993) and a state semifinalist (1989) in basketball to help him overcome losing seasons of 13-14 and 5-19 in the past five winters.
\ CHECK SCHEDULES: It wasn't very funny to Paye, Patrick Henry assistant Mike Andrews and Gar-Field coach Andy Gray when they showed up Jan. 22 at Franklin County to scout the Eagles' game against Pulaski County.
It was a game that was postponed twice and rescheduled for Jan. 26. No one had informed the newspaper of the second postponement, and the three coaches arrived to find a dark gym.
At least Gray, who is from Vinton, didn't waste a trip from Northern Virginia. He was in town to visit his family and figured he would see a couple of Roanoke Valley District teams in case his once-beaten Indians make the Northwestern Region tournament in March.
Paye, whose Fleming team played Pulaski County on Friday, went back to Franklin County on Wednesday. This time the game was to start at 6 p.m. instead of at 7:30 because of exams.
The paper's schedule listed the correct time, but Paye didn't check as he had done before the first trip. So he showed up to scout when the Franklin County-Pulaski County game was in the third quarter.
\ CRAZY CHANGES: First, the Salem-at-Magna Vista game that was postponed Jan. 19 was listed as canceled with no room for a makeup.
Then Blacksburg, which had a change in exams, said it couldn't make up a game against the Spartans that also was postponed because of bad weather.
So now Salem's game at Magna Vista is back on the schedule for Feb. 19, the last date of the regular season. The same two teams will play at the Salem Civic Center on Feb. 9.
When Christiansburg's game against Radford was called off Friday because of exams, it was rescheduled for Feb. 18. That means the teams will play back-to-back games because they already were scheduled to meet Feb. 16.
Pulaski County and Cave Spring, the two powers in the Roanoke Valley District girls' race, won't meet back-to-back. They will play two of their three regularly scheduled games this Tuesday and Friday, though, after one was postponed last week.
The Cougars must play on the Knights' court both times. In the first meeting, Pulaski County beat Cave Spring 63-46 on Jan. 14 in Dublin.
That seems like so long ago.
\ STATE CROSS COUNTRY: The Virginia High School League is accepting bids for its 1994 state cross country meet.
The meet was held at Virginia Tech in 1993 and drew compliments from coaches and participants.
"This is not to say the meet won't be back at Tech," said Larry Johnson, the VHSL programs supervisor. "It was never said that Virginia Tech would be a permanent site. They wanted an opportunity to host the meet.
"The only group we've heard from so far is Albemarle High School, which would hold the meet in conjunction with the Charlottesville Track Club at Rivanna Park.
Charlottesville was the meet's site until the course at Piedmont Community College was torn up a year ago.
Johnson said the VHSL will contact Tech if it doesn't put in a proposal.
"We just wanted people to know that it's [the site] not a closed book," Johnson said.
by CNB