Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 2, 1994 TAG: 9402020043
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
It was what he didn't do.
"If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't change anything," said Shuck, who was canned after five seasons with 14 wins, and - most stunningly - only four months after he had been given a two-year contract extension. "If I changed, I wouldn't have been honest with myself and others."
Recently, Shuck sat down for his first and only interview since his firing, but his notions and opinions were hardly exclusive. He said what he's been telling his superiors and alumni at VMI for several years. He was telling them what they didn't want to hear.
Since his hiring as Shuck's successor almost a month ago, Bill Stewart has been nothing except a Mount St. Helen's of exuberance. Shuck remembers when he arrived at the Lexington school in 1989. His attitude was much the same, if not a worn-on-the-sleeve enthusiasm as Stewart has demonstrated.
"Five years ago, I thought I could make a difference," Shuck said. "I was 34 and it was my first head coaching job. After five years, I realized it wasn't just me and my staff and the team. It was going to take the coach, the athletic director, the superintendent and the commandant of cadets, working together, then sticking to what they said, to turn it around.
"And I wanted to be the guy to do that. I was as disappointed as anybody that we didn't do better, didn't progress faster. Where I'm angry is that I stuck with VMI through some tough times. Budgets were tight. We went through the period when they did the financial study on the future of athletics at VMI. I don't think they can deny these last few years have been tough."
Shuck isn't whining because he wants sympathy. He's just trying to explain why his predecessor, Eddie Williamson, didn't win, why he didn't win, and why Stewart's program will struggle unless changes are made. The problem at VMI isn't its people, most of whom are fiercely loyal, warm and proud. It isn't the alumni, although Shuck says they unrealistically still "think Terry Kirby should go to VMI."
The problem is the VMI system, and when cadets begin to feel caught in its military trappings. Shuck came to VMI from Army. Stewart moved from Air Force.
"I was never in the military service," said Shuck, an Indiana graduate and former center. "But after being at West Point [as an assistant coach for six years] I think I know how the military goes. West Point is close to that. VMI is far away from that, and I think the ROTC people at VMI will agree."
The attrition rate in the VMI corps is the biggest detriment to athletic success, particularly the freshman experience in the rat line. In his five seasons, Shuck said only three players left because of the football program.
"After being at VMI a year, I couldn't understand how people treated each other the way they did," Shuck said. "There's a fine line between discipline and harassment, and that line should be observed. There's not enough of a reward system there. There needs to be more to make the cadets in the rat class feel good about themselves."
The rap on Shuck wasn't only that his run-dominated wishbone offense left the Keydets in no position to play catch-up, a position they found themselves in almost weekly. He also was told that he needed to recruit more in-state, and not just to stretch scholarship money farther. There are some Virginia high schools his staff simply didn't contact in recent years.
"With our budget, that wasn't realistic," Shuck said unflinchingly. "When your recruiting budget is limited, you can't afford to go into every school in the state. That costs money. You can't be on the road spinning your wheels. You have to go where you can get prospects you think might be interested in VMI. It's not for everybody."
VMI is paying Shuck almost $117,000 for the two-year buyout. He's waiting to hear back on some Division I assistant jobs. He also said he's considering leaving coaching, although "I love working with kids and I'd really miss the association you have with assistant coaches, the closeness you get."
That's one reason why Shuck chose not to comment when he was fired in December.
"I was angry, I was mad," he said. "And, I've always believed that airing things publicly wasn't always the right way. You keep in house what needs to be kept in house. Besides, there were members of my staff I wanted to try and help stay [only Mike Clark has been retained among the full-timers]. There were families involved, too."
His own career wasn't a priority at the time, either. Shuck had gone back to his native Ohio, where his father was hospitalized with pneumonia. After more tests, it was diagnosed that the coach's dad also had a type of leukemia. Shuck was called back to Lexington and fired.
"When I first got to VMI, I know people felt this was an interim job," Shuck said. "After I was there a little while, I said to myself that if we could do some things, it wouldn't be a bad job at all.
"There's the environment with discipline, and that's a positive thing if handled properly. VMI has good academics and that's something you can sell in recruiting. There's not a lot there you should have to apologize for.
"There are some things at VMI that may seem very small, things that can be done that would make an unbelievable impact, a positive impact to the cadets. And I'm not just talking about the athletes. I'm talking about all cadets.
"For that to happen, it's going to take people having some fortitude. It's going to take people stepping in and saying, `Hey, some things are wrong here.' "
If that happens, it's too late for Shuck. For Stewart, it can't happen soon enough.
by CNB