Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 14, 1994 TAG: 9412140099
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
It wouldn't be fair to describe Copeland as ``embattled'' as UVa's athletic director. While he did infuriate a number of his fellow alumni, he also did much good in his seven-plus years as the athletic chief at his hometown school, particularly in the areas of gender equity and facilities improvement. His integrity in the job also cannot be questioned.
There's no question Copeland's career is taking a step south to Southern Methodist. He's going from the Atlantic Coast Conference to the Western Athletic Conference. SMU still hasn't recovered from football's death penalty. If Copeland thinks he had an alumni problem at UVa, he should be reminded who ponied up the most a decade ago to kill the Mustangs' program.
Copeland will be paid more - $145,000 annually in a five-year contract - than he was at UVa. That's one of only two ways the SMU job is better than the one he's leaving. The other is that the pressure to succeed won't be as great. The Mustangs, in the lame-duck Southwest Conference, can't go any lower than the dead they've previously been declared.
How good is this job? SWC commissioner Steve Hatchell - the former Metro Conference boss whose job is history next year - turned it down before Copeland was wooed. The Mustangs are raising only $1 million annually for athletics, considerably less than Virginia. They haven't been to a bowl since 1984. Copeland said his major concern is getting enough exposure for the program in the Dallas media. It is a Texas-sized problem.
So, where does Virginia's search begin? Terry Holland, the athletic director at Davidson, seems an obvious choice. But where does the former basketball coach who took the Cavaliers to a pair of Final Fours stand with John Casteen, UVa's president?
It was Holland's pushing for renovation and improvements at University Hall that seemed to initiate the grousing about Copeland. When Holland looked out his office window, he saw a pile of construction dirt - often derisively labeled ``Mount Copeland'' - during UVa's football facilities upgrade.
Copeland, a former NFL player, was known as a ``football guy.'' He also obviously was Casteen's guy. The UVa president was impressed with the way Copeland halted the illegal Virginia Student Aid Foundation loans and helped wipe up that mess. Although two years of loans came during Copeland's watch, he wasn't dumped. He was given a five-year contract extension.
Would Casteen perceive Holland as someone who began the undermining of Copeland? Another possibility with basketball roots is Craig Littlepage, an associate athletic director at UVa, whose candidacy is enhanced because he's in-house. He also would be the first black athletic director in ACC history.
The best guy for the job? That would be Copeland's predecessor, Dick Schultz. However, Schultz - who hired football coach George Welsh and left UVa to become executive director of the NCAA - may be viewed as tainted by the VSAF loans and subsequent NCAA probation. He resigned his NCAA post because of those perceptions. Casteen likely wouldn't take his own reputation so close to the edge by recycling Schultz.
How about Dave Braine? He's brought integrity, interest and improvement to a Virginia Tech program still playing catch-up financially. He's gotten the Hokies into the Big East Football Conference. Would the Tech athletic director, a former UVa assistant coach and administrator, change state allegiances?
It's unlikely. He would be recognized as a bigger party-deserter in Virginia than John Warner. Braine knows if he left Tech, he would be viewed by the Hokies as Benedict Braine. Then, with the first decision the Wahoos didn't like, Braine would have two schools of alumni thought bashing him.
Among others with UVa histories, North Carolina State athletic director Todd Turner doesn't appear to be the man - or want to be the man. However, he is viewed by UVa alumni as the sharp guy who outmaneuvered Copeland in bowl schmoozing the past two autumns. Lee Moon, Marshall's athletic director, has to want the job. If anyone could talk his way into the job, the Roanoke native and VMI alumnus could. Doug Elgin, the Missouri Valley Conference commissioner, is another name to consider.
The person who gets the job not only will be the front man in UVa's impending $32 million capital campaign for athletics, but also is likely to hire Welsh's successor. The man who has put the word ``bowl'' in Virginia's vocabulary will turn 62 before next football season.
It always has quietly been assumed that the front-runner to be Welsh's follower would be Jimmye Laycock, because of his ties to Copeland during their days at William and Mary. Copeland's exit perhaps changes that, but not the pressure in picking the successor to a success story.
Following Copeland will be difficult, just as following Schultz became a no-win situation for Copeland. Among the factions to please is the group of well-heeled 'Hoos who purchased 4,000 Carquest Bowl tickets last year and have bought 550 tickets for an Independence Bowl two weeks away.
They have, however, done their part to give Copeland the keys to some rebuilt Mustangs.
by CNB