Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 8, 1994 TAG: 9412090005
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
``We're just trying to find a way to get more than three next year,'' said Tom Mickle, the conference's associate commissioner.
An agreement expires this year between the ACC and the Hall of Fame Bowl, which has the fourth choice of ACC teams.
The Independence Bowl agreed to take fifth choice of ACC teams, but that was an 11th-month deal that only became attractive to the bowl when it appeared five ACC teams might win at least eight games.
``If not for the agreement with the Independence Bowl, I'm not sure that there would have been a bowl available for Virginia,'' Mickle said. ``The Aloha was a possibility for a while, but they always said there preference was Syracuse or [eventual choice] Boston College.
``One of the big problems we face is a shortage of bowls on the East Coast.''
There was some talk that the Peach Bowl, with the third choice of ACC teams, might look elsewhere when its deal expires after this season. However, the Peach is likely to renew its agreement and the Gator has decided to take the second choice of ACC teams.
The ACC is waiting on official word from the Peach, before pushing for an agreement with the Carquest Bowl for the fourth ACC team, which could hinge on Carquest's continued sponsorship of the Miami-based bowl.
TURNER HOT: Todd Turner, North Carolina State's athletic director, is disturbed by suggestions he violated a gentlemen's agreement between ACC directors that they would not guarantee tickets and not bid against each other.
``I wrote a letter to the Peach Bowl and pointed out that we had sold a total of 66,000 tickets in our last three appearances,'' Turner said. ``I listed 10 things we were going to do this year, but guarantee tickets, absolutely not.
``That's what the Peach Bowl wanted me to do, but I wouldn't.''
The Wolfpack is the lowest-ranked of five ACC teams in the Top 25, but they finished second behind Florida State in the conference. The Peach Bowl, with the third choice of ACC teams, took N.C. State to play Mississippi State, the fourth choice among Southeastern Conference teams.
``My background is in marketing,'' Turner said in a phone call to the Roanoke Times & World-News, ``but to intimate I went against the agreement is what really upsets me. I was mortified to hear it. I wouldn't do anything to undermine my good friend, [athletic director] Jim Copeland at Virginia.''
Turner wanted the Peach Bowl from the start, although the Wolfpack was one of the finalists for the Gator Bowl bid that went to Virginia Tech.
``This what I told the Gator Bowl: `Fellas, we will be thrilled to go to the Gator Bowl. Take us, please. But, honestly, the Peach Bowl is better for us because we will take more people,''' Turner said.
HOUSECLEANING: Newly named Georgia Tech football coach George O'Leary elected not to retain most of the Yellow Jackets' offensive staff, including co-coordinators Gary Crowton and Steve Shankweiler.
Crowton and O'Leary received two-year contracts last year when they were hired as offensive and defensive coordinator, respectively. It was a sudden fall for Crowton, who previously was the quarterbacks coach at Boston College, where Tom Coughlin resigned after the 1993 season to join the Jacksonville, Fla., expansion franchise in the National Football League.
TAR HEELS TESTED: North Carolina has announced its 1994 football schedule, which includes non-conference games with Syracuse and Louisville, as well as Ohio University. The Tar Heels played Texas Christian, SMU and Tulane this year.
RECRUITING: Sources say 6-foot-3, 260-pound defensive lineman Maurice Anderson has made the required score on the Scholastic Assessment Test and intends to play for Virginia, with which he signed last winter.
Anderson was an All-Group AA selection at Nottoway High School before spending the 1993-94 school year at Fork Union Military Academy. He sat out the fall semester this year while preparing for the SAT and technically could enroll at UVa for the spring semester.
Anderson is at least the fourth player to have committed to the Cavaliers and joins 6-6, 280-pound offensive lineman Mark Lindsey from Richmond by way of Fork Union. Lindsey, a qualifier out of Hermitage High School, is the brother of former North Carolina lineman Brian Lindsey.
ALLEN THRIVING: Former Roanoke College basketball standout Frankie Allen, formerly the head coach at Virginia Tech, was a front-row spectator at the Vanderbilt-Virginia game Tuesday night in Nashville, Tenn.
Allen coaches at the other Division I program in Nashville, Tennessee State, which is off to a 3-0 start despite the loss of center and first-round NBA draft pick Carlos Rogers. The Tigers got a big victory Monday night over Tennessee-Chattanooga and one-time Tech aide Mack McCarthy, 86-75.
RUDE AWAKENING: UVa senior Junior Burrough may have uttered a self-fulfilling prophecy when asked last week about UVa's first road games of the season, this week at Vanderbilt and Rice.
``If we lose both games, it's not something I'm going to be worried about,'' Burrough said. ``So be it. Even if we go out and win those games, it's no big deal because the ACC is where it really counts.''
by CNB