Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 22, 1994 TAG: 9404220046
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
\ Ron Bradley, Radford University's basketball coach, reportedly has been interviewed for the vacancy at Old Dominion and appears to be one of the finalists.
Sources say Bradley was seen with ODU's athletic director, Jim Jarrett, in the Monarchs' gym Wednesday night. It is unclear whether Bradley met with the search committee then or Thursday for a formal interview for the position vacated when Oliver Purnell left to become head coach at Dayton.
Bradley was expected back in Radford on Thursday afternoon. He did not return phone calls to his office or to his home.
"He's in transit right now," a Radford source said Thursday afternoon. "I don't think he'll be back until tonight."
After Bradley spoke with Jarrett last week and was told he would be interviewed, he didn't hear from ODU officials again until this week. As recently as Monday, Bradley said he'd heard nothing.
On Tuesday, Bradley could not be reached at his office or at his home. The Highlanders' coach remained incommunicado through Wednesday.
Short notice is nothing new when Jarrett interviews applicants for a job. When Purnell moved from Radford to Old Dominion in 1991 Jarrett called him one night and asked him to be there the next day for an interview.
A couple of new names surfaced this week in connection with the ODU job: South Carolina State coach Cy Alexander and Montana coach Blaine Taylor.
Souces say Alexander was interviewed Thursday. Taylor reportedly talked to ODU's president, James Koch, to recommend another candidate and a mutual interest developed.
Also being mentioned in connection with the ODU opening are: Bowling Green coach Jim Larranaga, a former Virginia aide; former Auburn University assistant Tic Price, who played and coached at Virginia Tech and also was an assistant at ODU; and Monarchs assistant Pete Strickland, a former VMI aide.
Price and Strickland met with the ODU search committee during the weekend; Larranaga on Wednesday.
Larranaga is 146-135 in 10 years as a head coach at American International and Bowling Green. Alexander, the second known minority candidate along with Price, has a 113-93 record in seven seasons at South Carolina State.
Elsewhere, Colorado coach Joe Harrington has withdrawn from consideration. Harrington, the former head coach at George Mason, reportedly had been in Virginia, but there were conflicting stories on whether or not he interviewed for the job.
" . . . The timing wasn't right for me at Old Dominion," he told the Virginian-Pilot and Ledger-Star of Norfolk. "Seven years ago, but not right now. Being at CU and in the Big Eight [Conference] is a bigger challenge."
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.