Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 9, 1994 TAG: 9406100020
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Doug Doughty
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Wainwright, introduced this week as the head coach at North Carolina-Wilmington, was serving as an assistant with a traveling ACC all-star team when school officials contacted him to set up an interview.
Wainwright, then an assistant coach at Wake Forest, was to have taken over the ACC all-star team because trip supervisor Dave Odom, the Deacons' head coach, had made prior arrangements to speak Sunday at the Roanoke Times & World-News' all-sports banquet.
Instead, it was Wainwright who had to leave early on a trip that lasted 40 hours and Virginia Commonwealth basketball coach Sonny Smith who will step in for Odom at the banquet.
Odom said he would have taken another assistant, Ricky Stokes, if he had known the extent of UNC Wilmington's interest in Wainwright. Duke assistant Mike Brey was considered the front-runner for the Seahawks job until negotiations broke down over contract terms.
``They initially brought in some people for interviews and, when I left, I was not in that grouping,'' Wainwright said Wednesday. ``When I got the call, I had to do some checking to make sure there was a legitimate interest because there was some significant expense involved in changing my tickets.''
Wainwright, 47, a member of the Wake Forest staff for nine years and under two head coaches, will have Group AA player of the year Mark Byington of Salem in his freshman class. Wainwright is a respected teacher who served as head coach of the Five-Star Basketball Camp when it was at Radford University.
STAFF STUFF: Look for Ernie Nestor, a one-time Bassett High School coach, to move into the full-time position on Wake's staff. Nestor served as the Deacons' restricted-earnings coach during the 1993-94 season after three years as head coach at George Mason. ... Chuck Swenson, out after five seasons as William and Mary's head coach, has taken a non-coaching position as director of basketball operations at Duke, where he was an assistant during the 1980s. ... Former Maryland basketball stars Tom McMillen and Len Elmore are among those said to be interested in filling the athletic director's vacancy in College Park.
A JACKET NO MORE: Martice Moore, the ACC's rookie of the year in 1992-93, has become the 10th conference player to announce plans to transfer. Moore, who started 22 of 28 games and averaged 9.9 points for the Yellow Jackets last season, indicated he was too easily distracted in his hometown of Atlanta. Colorado is a likely destination for Moore, who spent his senior year of high school at Oak Hill Academy in Grayson County.
THE TRANSFER BEAT: North Carolina State, which has reached the 13-scholarship NCAA limit, has added 6-11 Steve Norton, who averaged 1.9 points and 1.9 rebounds at Furman last season. Norton and junior college transfer John Grissett must pay their way until grants become available.
RECRUITING: William and Mary has signed 6-10 Terry Fitzgibbons from The Nichols School in Buffalo, N.Y., alma mater of former Duke standout Christian Laettner. Fitzgibbons' brother, Bob, is leaving Wake Forest after two seasons. ... Virginia Commonwealth women's basketball coach Susan Walvius, who played at Virginia Tech, has signed three players from Sweden.
CAVS MEMORABILIA: Virginia hopes to raise at least $200,000 when it holds its first athletic auction Saturday at the Hyatt Hotel in Richmond. Barry Parkhill, one of five Virginia men's basketball players whose numbers have been retired, is chairman for the event.
Items available at the auction, which starts at 5:30 p.m., will include a trip to Georgia Tech with the football team, a Baltimore Orioles weekend package, various vacation packages and each of UVa's retired men's basketball jerseys. There will be a silent auction for smaller items from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. that will be open to the public.
All of Virginia's coaches are scheduled to attend, as well as past Cavaliers standouts, including Terry Kirby and Barry Word from the NFL. Proceeds will go toward filling a ``wish list'' submitted by the various UVa teams and will not be controlled by the Virginia Student Aid Foundation.
IN THE CONFERENCES: The Old Dominion Athletic Conference has decided to hold its men's and women's basketball tournaments on different weekends next year in an effort to have all of its teams playing during prime time, commissioner Dan Wooldridge said. The tournaments were held on the same days this year at the Salem Civic Center.
HIGHLANDERS HURLERS?: Radford University baseball signee J.W. ``Dub'' Salyers of Pound was selected in the 33rd round of major-league baseball's free-agent draft by Atlanta, and Highlanders recruiting target Denny Wagner of Castlewood went to the New York in the 18th round. Both are pitchers.
California has signed 25th-round pick Denny Van Pelt, a one-time Kansas football signee who hit a team-high 11 home runs and batted .331 for Radford this year. Van Pelt, a first baseman for the Highlanders, will begin his career with Boise, Idaho, of the Class A Northwest League.
NON-REVENUE: Chantilly High School's Kevin Johnson, named Washington metro wrestler of the year by The Washington Post, has signed with VMI. Johnson is a two-time Group AAA champion at 160 pounds and posted a 24-4-1 overall record. ... Of the seven Division I men's lacrosse tournament games after the quarterfinals, five were decided by one goal, four in overtime. ...
by CNB