Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 10, 1994 TAG: 9408110021
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
That said, the Hokies' coaching alumnus isn't on his high horse, either. After all, Beamer is only 365 days removed from the end of his longest off-season.
``What's really been proven to me - and I knew it before but then it really sunk in - is that about the time you think things are just about right, if you're not careful, you can fall off the horse,'' Beamer said Tuesday.
His sixth Tech team was supposed to be very good in 1992. It set the school record for season-ticket sales at 11,700, then went 2-8-1. Beamer got little more than sleepless nights and an ultimatum from athletic director Dave Braine.
Last season, Tech got its first bowl bid in seven years and did something with it, finishing a 9-3 season by whipping through Indiana like the game's sponsor in the Poulan/Weed Eater Independence Bowl.
So, the Hokies return to campus today to begin workouts as a likely preseason-ranked team for the first time. They'll be trying to reach another Never-Never Land - a bowl berth in two straight seasons.
Even before Tech's Titanic effort of two years ago, Beamer forecast that it wouldn't be '92 but 1993 that would be a make-or-break year for his program. He was right.
So, where do he and the Hokies go from here, besides to a more flexible and multiple offensive scheme introduced by new coordinator Gary Tranquill?
``This is an important year in this program's life, in my life, in our lives as a coaching staff,'' said Beamer, 48. ``This is the year we could really change the outlook of Virginia Tech football.''
He's talking about more than getting an extension of his contract that runs through 1995. One year does not a program make. It's been a struggle. If the Hokies start 10-0, Beamer finally reaches .500. at his alma mater.
He has changed systems and coaches - the latter personnel movement bringing his most agonizing moments - but if he changed himself, it's mostly evident in the slight multiplication in gray hairs on the head of a one-time Hillsville High hero.
``People said we were doing the right things, everything except winning,'' Beamer said. ``What last season finally confirmed was that we were doing things the right way. I'm just thankful we got enough wins for people to agree with that.''
There are alumni everywhere who maintain close ties to athletics at their alma maters, but Beamer and Tech find themselves intertwined like the laces on a football.
With another impressive season, Beamer really could become a BMOC - on his own campus or elsewhere. The Hokies, once satisfied with just being part of Big East football, could challenge for the conference title.
Beamer sees Tech in a unique situation. He correctly views that most Division I-A programs are locked into a particular status nationally - the polls don't often change names - and within conferences.
Tech, in a fledgling, high-profile league, has gotten good at a good time. Beamer sees season-ticket sales rising, but perhaps not as fast as he'd like to see a new football facilities building climb from behind one end zone of Lane Stadium.
There are three coaching theories on preseason prognostications. One is to say the team's overrated, as viewed through Lou Holtz's glasses. Another is to want to be a legitimate underdog and play your way to success. The third is to expect to be somewhere except trying to remember the Alamo Bowl pairings at season's end.
``That's us right now,'' Beamer said. ``I'd rather be in a situation and have some players and try to prove we're as good as we are rather than have only a few players and trying to find a way to win.''
The way Beamer sees it, there's no turning back for the Hokies. His program is where he once thought it could be, only now he thinks it can be even better.
``In this business, you need a certain stability,'' Beamer said. ``You can't get too high or too low, and that part, I'll admit it, hasn't always been easy for me.''
A year ago, Beamer was the Division I-A major-conference coach with the longest tenure without a bowl bid. He got more than a monkey off his back last season.
So, as Tech embarks on what should be a pleasure cruise, pointed toward those perennial Hurricane warnings in Miami, the skipper is just trying to maintain an even keel.
``I'm surviving,'' Beamer said.
Frankly speaking, that's life in the coldest profession.
Write to Jack Bogaczyk at the Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, 24010.
by CNB