
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 9, 1995                   TAG: 9502090090
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

VA. TECH TO MAKE ITS MOVE

Virginia Tech will announce today that it is joining the Atlantic 10 Conference for the 1995-96 school year, a high-ranking school official confirmed Wednesday.

The announcement will be made during a teleconference scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at Tech's Jamerson Athletic Center.

Linda Bruno, commissioner of the Atlantic 10, will participate in the teleconference, a Tech source who declined to be identified said Wednesday night.

Schools needed affirmative votes from seven of the nine current league members to be extended an invitation.

Tech officials originally had not planned on making an official announcement until after university President Paul Torgersen and athletic director Dave Braine notified the school's Board of Visitors on Sunday or Monday.

But because of growing speculation linking Tech and the A-10, Braine decided it would be best to make the announcement today.

Not only will Tech's membership be sealed today, the Associated Press reported Wednesday that Dayton and LaSalle also will be joining the conference.

Braine, who was unavailable for comment Wednesday night, informed all of the Hokies' coaches of the move Wednesday.

Tech will begin A-10 competition in all sports but football, in which the Hokies play in the Big East Conference, starting in the fall.

Including Dayton and LaSalle, the A-10 will be a 12-school league for 1995-96. The other schools are holdovers Duquesne, George Washington, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, St.Joseph's, St.Bonaventure and Temple and new members Xavier and Fordham. The conference loses two of Tech's football rivals, Rutgers and West Virginia, to all-sports membership in the Big East.

Dayton comes to the A-10 from the Great Midwest Conference, Xavier and LaSalle leave the Midwestern Collegiate Conference and Fordham departs the Patriot League.

The 12-team league will be divided into two six-team divisions. Speculation is that Tech will be in a division with Duquesne, Xavier, Dayton, LaSalle and either George Washington or St.Bonaventure.

Because of Tech's proximity to Washington, Hokies officials are hoping their division will include George Washington rather than St.Bonaventure, which is located in remote Olean, N.Y.

In men's and women's basketball, Tech will play a 16-game conference schedule, facing each school in its division twice and each school in the other division once.

Tech is competing in its 17th and final season in the Metro Conference. The Hokies were freed to join another league when the school agreed Feb.2 to a $1,135,000 settlement from the Metro to resign from the conference, effective June 30.

by CNB