Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 14, 1995 TAG: 9502140123
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Virginia Tech has decided it will take two people to replace departing defensive coordinator Phil Elmassian.
Frank Beamer, Tech's head coach, announced Monday that assistants Bud Foster and Rod Sharpless will serve as co-defensive coordinators for the Hokies this season.
Beamer said Tech will hire another defensive assistant as soon as possible to help offset the loss of Elmassian, who resigned Friday to become secondary coach at Washington.
``I've got two guys [Foster and Sharpless] who are both deserving of the job of defensive coordinator,'' Beamer said.
``Both know our scheme and both have aspirations to move up. And I think their personalities will allow them to share the position successfully. I expect a smooth transition.''
When asked about the unusual setup, Beamer said ``it's been done before on different staffs.''
Foster, 35, has been at Tech eight seasons, coaching both inside and outside linebackers. Sharpless, 43, has been at Tech two seasons as the outside linebackers coach.
Beamer said he will decide what coaching responsibilities Foster and Sharpless will assume after he hires the new assistant.
Beamer said he hated to lose Elmassian, whose fiery style helped turn Tech's defense around in 9-3 and 8-4 seasons the past two years.
``We appreciate Phil's contributions to our program,'' Beamer said.
Elmassian, who officially was named Monday to replace Chris Tormey (hired as head coach at Idaho) on head coach Jim Lambright's staff, said the Washington job was ``an opportunity of a lifetime.''
``I'm going to a top-15 or a top-10 program whose goal is to go to the Rose Bowl and win a national championship,'' said Elmassian, ``and that presents other opportunities that are wider for me.
``When this came up, I asked myself, "what am I going to be doing five years from now? Will I be fired? Who knows where I will be?'''
Elmassian served two stints at Virginia Tech, as a secondary coach from 1985-86 under Bill Dooley, and the past two seasons as defensive coordinator under Beamer.
``When I left Minnesota to come to Virginia Tech, I took a $10,000 pay cut, and two years later I was out of here ... heck, let's face it, I got fired [when Dooley reached a settlement that included his resignation].
``That put a different perspective on this game for me. Not that I was thinking I was going to get fired here, but who knows about five years from now? So I didn't want to `what if' myself on this one.''
Elmassian said the fact that he's going from a coordinator's position to an assistant's post means nothing.
``I'm not a guy who gets wrapped up in having a title,'' he said. ``I've been a secondary coach at Syracuse and here, and you make 70 percent of the decisions anyway.
``If you go to the Rose Bowl, titles mean nothing, man. When this came up, I couldn't turn it down, titles or no titles.''
Washington will be the 10th stop on Elmassian's 21-year coaching caravan. He has been an assistant at William and Mary, Richmond, Ferrum, East Carolina, Minnesota, Virginia, Syracuse and Tech twice.
``People don't know what entitles a guy to move around,'' Elmassian said. ``There's not a place I left that I didn't feel I got the job done or they got their dollars worth out of me.''
Elmassian, who after a recent raise was making $85,000 at Tech, said money was not a factor.
``They [the Huskies] don't pay that well,'' he said. ``It's about the same as here.''
Elmassian, who said he felt ``I had a little bit to do with'' Tech's success the past two years, said the toughest part of moving was telling his wife, Diane, a Blacksburg native.
``I'm hoping she will still come,'' Elmassian said, laughing.
``Myself, I can live with it. Who knows? In five years, I might be back here hoping Tech will hire me again. Or I could be looking for a job at Franklin County High School.
``In this business you just don't know. All I know is that this was one chance I couldn't let pass by.''
Tech lost its offensive coordinator in December when Gary Tranquill resigned to take a similar post at Michigan State.
Tech has since rehired Ricky Bustle to replace Tranquill. Bustle, the Hokies' offensive coordinator in 1993, returns after a one-year stint as quarterbacks coach at South Carolina.
``We'll carry on,'' Beamer said. ``Bustle is back, and when he was here, we had our greatest offensive production ever.
``Bud and Rod have been here, too. Everything will work out. This is just part of the business.''
Keywords:
FOOTBALL
by CNB