Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 1, 1994 TAG: 9406010018
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
It didn't.
If the reason Canfield is "stepping down" isn't in the 11 lines W&L released three weeks ago, it's because the coach wasn't on the same page as athletic director Mike Walsh and the university administration. Those who know Canfield in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference know he didn't resignedly resign.
Walsh made the decision, a tough one, one that neither is discussing, at least publicly.
Walsh refused to comment on the coach. Canfield didn't return phone messages left in recent weeks. W&L director of communications Brian Shaw said President John D. Wilson "has no comment now, nor will he have one in the future."
Shaw did say that "the university supports the decision regarding Coach Canfield," and that Walsh made the move "in consultation with the university administration."
The reason for the decision can be stated in one sentence.
Verne Canfield is W&L basketball.
Canfield is ranked 11th among active Division III coaches in victories. When the Generals were successful - and over a 24-year span, 22 Canfield teams had winning records - his growing isolationism and toughness were tolerated by the school, an ODAC source said.
During the 1993-94 season, Canfield apparently told his team it was his last season, because some of the Generals told players on one ODAC opposing team that it would be Canfield's last game against that school. In a sometimes-emotional coaches' meeting at the ODAC Tournament, Canfield told his league peers and foes he was through.
Last month, W&L announced that Canfield will coach one more season, his 31st. He has agreed to remain at W&L, where he's a tenured professor, teaching physical education and directing the intramural program. An ODAC source said Canfield also is expected to take a year's leave of absence during the 1995-96 school year.
Apparently, this was to be Canfield's last year. Then he asked for another season, and got it. The Generals appear to have a chance at a decent season in 1994-95, with several key players returning in what should be a less-talented ODAC.
As much as anything, the direction of the W&L program in recent years heated any conflicts further. In 1988-89, Canfield guided a sophomore-dominated team to a 20-7 record, ODAC regular-season title and ODAC Tournament runner-up finish.
That gave Canfield 402 career wins. The Generals are 48-78 since, with only 21 wins in the last three seasons. They haven't played in the ODAC Tournament those years, due to three straight ninth-place finishes. W&L hasn't reached an ODAC tourney round at the Salem Civic Center since a 1990 semifinal loss.
There's no doubt Canfield is a masterful coach. He took over a program that had seven straight losing seasons. He's won eight championships in three different conferences at W&L and has coached in three NCAA regionals. He's the highest-paid coach in the ODAC - one league source said his salary is probably in the $60,000 range - and he's earned it.
The job hasn't gotten any easier. When W&L enrolled women, co-education brought more exclusivity to the recruiting pool and cut the number of men in each freshman class. The average SAT score for the incoming 1994-95 class is 1279.
Canfield has told that to friends in the ODAC, but in the 1993-94 school year, 14 of the school's 19 teams had winning records. W&L won six ODAC titles, a league high. However, the losing records were all in men's sports, including basketball, football and baseball.
Although it doesn't seem likely he would leave W&L until retirement in several years because of his salary, it wouldn't be surprising to see Canfield coaching elsewhere - perhaps in high school - in the area. That would be nice, because his appreciation of the game can't be eclipsed.
That's because basketball has been Canfield's life. He will be 61 later this month. He doesn't play golf or hob-nob with his fellow professors. The only junk he's into is junk defense.
His program, however, has generated little support on the W&L campus in recent years. It has been his program, too much Canfield's own program to W&L's liking, and the school made the right decision from an institutional standpoint. If Canfield is a victim, he's a victim of his own long-term success.
No one is talking because it hurts. Canfield is hurt. It's painful to W&L, too. Thirty years. Two paragraphs. Maybe more words would have explained, but it wouldn't have made anyone feel any better.
Write to Jack Bogaczyk at the Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, 24010.
by CNB