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

DATE: SUNDAY, February 27, 1994                   TAG: 9402270076
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: D-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BEAMER HAS PLAN FOR TECH FOOTBALL FACILITY

Coach Frank Beamer, with help from Tech benefactor and businessman Wes Worsham, is drawing plans for the building, which would sit between Lane Stadium and the Jamerson Athletic Center, just behind the north end zone.

Dave Braine, Tech's athletic director, said the plan is in the "talking stages," and Worsham stressed that necessary university approval has not been sought.

Worsham, who has experience in the construction business, said he and Beamer are close to finishing a wish list that could be presented to Tech's administration. At present, Tech's football team uses facilities throughout Jamerson Athletic Center and Cassell Coliseum.

"It's something that's needed," said Beamer, who has been scouting other schools' facilities and believes Tech is falling behind.

Worsham estimated the building would cost $4 million and that the revenue generated by private boxes could end up paying for most of it. Braine stressed, however, that "we've got to have all the money in hand" before construction starts.

Worsham, whose $1 million donation to Tech athletics in 1991 prompted the school to name the football field after him, said he could not be the main financier of this project.

Don Perry, a Tech assistant athletic director, said a university plan for athletic and recreational facilities, approved last year, calls for the football practice field to be adjacent to Jamerson - where the Tech soccer field is. The proposed new building would be next to the practice field, creating what Beamer calls a football "complex."

Tech has some capital projects money left from its three-year fund-raising campaign. Braine said that, after Tech's conference affiliation is settled, the projects priority list is a baseball press box first, track/soccer complex second and football facilities third.

"But those all three can be done at the same time," he said.

Worsham said the Virginia Tech Foundation - the university's fund-raising organization - may be able to help.

"I may mention to them they can do it," Worsham said. "I'm a member of the foundation. It's something we've got to get done. It's a question of how and when."

Worsham has mulled whether the project could be done privately to relieve Tech of state regulations governing construction. He and Braine each said it might be possible for Tech to lease land to a developer, who would build the building and donate it back to the school.

A privately built project could save $25 per square foot, Worsham estimated. But he admits getting a private contractor is a long shot.

Worsham said his and Beamer's plans include a lounge area for players and training and medical facilities. They envision about 38 private boxes, including 14 on the top floor, from which donors could watch Tech games.

"With some planning, we can figure a way to make income [from the private rooms]," Worsham said.

The new building may or may not become the new home of Tech's football offices. If it did, Braine said, it would free office space in Jamerson for Tech's other sports.

Moving football out of Jamerson wouldn't affect Tech's Title IX compliance efforts, Braine said, because he said the Hokies have achieved equity in terms of locker rooms and other facilities.

"What it would do is alleviate a lot of pressure you have for the weight room," Braine said. "[Football] takes the most time."