Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 11, 1995 TAG: 9505110118
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The announcement could come as early as Friday, although it would require some changes in travel plans.
Holland, athletic director at Davidson College for the past five years, could not be reached for comment. He was in Florida on Wednesday on a fishing trip with Davidson donors.
This weekend, Holland will be in Winston-Salem, N.C., for ceremonies connected with the Monday graduation of his oldest daughter, Kate, from Wake Forest.
Although contract details have not been discussed, Holland has been contacted this week by school officials and led to believe he is the choice to succeed Jim Copeland.
``I can't imagine him not going,'' a source close to Holland said.
Holland, 53, is the apparent survivor of a five-month search that began shortly after Copeland resigned Dec.9 to become the athletic director at Southern Methodist.
Other finalists recommended to Virginia president John Casteen were Arizona State athletic director Charles Harris, Idaho athletic director Pete Liske and UVa interim athletic director Craig Littlepage.
Littlepage, formerly an associate athletic director, said at the time of his appointment as interim athletic director that he would not be a candidate for the full-time position. He was recommended to Casteen by a 17-member search committee headed by dean of students William Harmon.
``I still don't know whether I could be called a candidate,'' Littlepage said Wednesday night in Roanoke. ``I consulted with the committee to give them my spin on the situation. A consultant; I guess that's what you could call me.''
Littlepage joined UVa football coach George Welsh, men's basketball coach Jeff Jones and women's basketball coach Debbie Ryan at a Virginia Student Aid Foundation social at the Shenandoah Club.
John Rader, co-chairman of the local VSAF chapter, said he could have taken as many as 350 reservations but was limited to 250 by room size. The same event drew 130 last year.
``A lot of these are sold out,'' Ryan said. ``What that tells me is, the athletic director is important, but it's the teams that draw the people.''
Ryan, the only UVa coach on the search committee, said she did not feel comfortable discussing the process.
``I'll probably have a lot of stuff to say afterwards - a long time afterwards,'' Ryan said.
Clearly, Holland has not been hurt by his affiliation with Jones and Welsh, both of whom made their feelings known to Casteen.
``I wrote him a letter,'' said Welsh, the Cavaliers' football coach for Holland's last seven years in Charlottesville. ``I wouldn't have done it, but [Casteen] asked for it. He didn't have to do that. He wrote me a typed one-paragraph note and said he wanted my input.
``What panicked me was, they sent it to my old address. I didn't get it till a week later. He said he wanted my response within a week. I said, `Oh, my God! It's too late.' So, I called his chief of staff, who told me the president was on the West Coast.''
Jones, who asked for a meeting with Casteen, said some of his comments about the search had been misinterpreted.
``I did not say I didn't have a voice,'' said Jones, who played under Holland from 1978-82 and later served on his staff for eight years. ``What I said was, I wasn't going to comment publicly, but I was going to make my feelings known at the appropriate time. That was assuming I was given the opportunity, which I was. There were some personal opinions I wanted to address and there were some issues that I wanted to make sure everyone was aware of in terms of the basketball programs needs and how those related to the capital campaign.''
It was announced in October 1993 that UVa's capital campaign had earmarked $22 million for athletics, including $10 million for a rebuilt University Hall.
``I saw [former UVa president] Bob O'Neil the other day, and he said he did it in 60 days,'' said Welsh, referring to Copeland's hiring in 1987, ``[but] I was not impatient. I've learned you've just got to let some things flow.
``Littlepage did a great job, but I think it's time,'' Welsh said. ``There's a lot of work to be done in the athletic department. I don't think we're rudderless, but we don't have our mainsheet up so we can go full-speed.''
by CNB