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

DATE: FRIDAY, May 27, 1994                   TAG: 9405270046
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DESTIN, FLA.                                LENGTH: Medium

METRO FOOTBALL FACES SEVERAL ROADBLOCKS

Some critical elements are needed before the Metro Conference can form a six-team football league, a consultant told conference officials at their spring meeting.

Dick Schultz, the former NCAA executive director who was hired by the Metro to help plan the league's future, said the conference needs Memphis and Cincinnati to form a football league.

Neither school is interested in leaving the Great Midwest Conference and rejoining the Metro for football, and one of the Metro's members, Louisville, doesn't like the idea of playing football in the conference.

Schultz said it is critical to get Memphis, Cincinnati and an additional school to join Metro schools Louisville, Tulane and Southern Mississippi to form a football league. The NCAA requires six teams for a conference to be recognized in a sport.

Metro member Virginia Tech plays football in the Big East and has not shown any inclination to leave that lucrative league. Virginia Commonwealth, UNC Charlotte and South Florida do not play football.

"We want Memphis and Cincinnati. They are very important players in this mix," Schultz said as he reported his findings and informed the Metro athletic directors of several scenarios during the league's spring meeting.

Cincinnati and Memphis left the Metro in 1990. Neither plans to return.

"We're not particularly open to any proposal from the Metro," said Cincinnati's athletic director, Gerald O'Dell, speaking at the Great Midwest meetings in West Palm Beach, Fla. "It's bigger than the football issue. We feel the Great Midwest is the premier basketball conference in the country, and we are establishing ourselves as a league. We plan on staying in the Great Midwest."

Memphis' athletic director, Charles Cavagnaro, couldn't be reached, but he has said the school is satisfied with the Great Midwest and isn't considering leaving.

Louisville's football coach, Howard Schnellenberger, is another stumbling block. The Cardinals are one of seven independent football teams in Division I-A, and Schnellenberger wants to stay independent.

"I haven't thought about football in the Metro," he said. "I want to be flexible and play football all across America. I want to play football at its highest level."

Despite the roadblocks, Schultz believes something is going to happen within a month. "Give us another 30 days and we'll be ready to tie the knot," said the one-time Virginia athletic director.

Schultz said he has talked to eight non-Metro football schools: Tulsa, Texas Christian, Memphis, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Houston, Southwestern Louisiana and Division I-AA Marshall, a Southern Conference member.

Tulsa and TCU are scheduled to join the Western Athletic Conference. Southwestern Louisiana and Marshall aren't high on the Metro's list. The key players are Memphis, Cincinnati, Houston and East Carolina. Houston plays in the fourth-largest market in the country, and Schultz said TV networks are very interested in East Carolina.

by CNB