ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 20, 1996 TAG: 9601210007
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
This figured to be Burrall Paye's last season as the boys' basketball coach at William Fleming High School. The end just came a little bit sooner than expected.
The Colonels' longtime coach resigned Friday in a surprise move only for its timing. Paye, 57, apparently moved up his timetable by a couple of months when he had another run-in with the school's administration over his conduct during practice.
Alyce Szathmary, the principal at William Fleming, said only that Paye had decided to resign, that he would remain a mathematics teacher at the Roanoke school and that assistant coach Marshall Ashford would serve as interim coach for the rest of the season.
Paye, one of the winningest coaches in the state, had set a goal of 500 victories before he retired. He stepped down as William Fleming's coach with a 486-172 mark.
``I wouldn't have resigned if there hadn't been a problem,'' Paye said. ``I don't make them [Fleming administrators] happy. I'm not very happy. I'm tired of the controversy going on year after year. So, the only recourse was to resign.''
Two years ago, Paye and Szathmary were at odds over his language during a practice. However, Paye took Fleming to a Group AAA runner-up finish and there appeared to be a truce between the two. Last season, Paye coached Fleming without incident.
This winter, Paye was ejected from a game during a Christmas tournament at the Salem Civic Center when he received two technical fouls against Northside. However, little was made of the incident at the time.
Paye said he actually resigned two days ago, when the latest controversy arose. However, his formal letter of resignation wasn't delivered until Friday.
A source at Fleming who declined to be identified said a parent of a Colonels player told school officials Paye had used inappropriate language during a practice. The Fleming coach denied doing so, but resigned when he didn't receive what he considered proper backing from Szathmary in the incident.
``I love William Fleming and the kids,'' said Paye, who has written nine instructional books on basketball and is under contract for another in the fall. ``There's no problem getting 500 victories, because I've already had two phone calls with offers to coach basketball.
``If there wasn't a problem, I wouldn't have done anything. I might have quit at the end of the season.''
Paye started his boys' varsity coaching career at Powell Valley, where he won his only state championship in 1974. He moved to Fleming 19 years ago, and his teams have qualified for the past 16 Northwest Region tournaments.
The Colonels, who were 8-4 when Paye resigned, were favored to win the Roanoke Valley District. Two of Fleming's losses have been to unbeaten GW-Danville, one of the state's top Group AAA teams.
Fleming beat Cave Spring 58-46 in a battle between the district leaders Friday a few hours after the team learned of Paye's resignation.
``We were speechless,'' said junior forward Charles Burnette. ``Now he's gone and we're going to miss him. But we have to move on. It was a whole different environment on the bench.''
Ashford, the head coach at Floyd County before coming to Fleming, said there was no pressure taking over for one of the state's winningest coaches. He had coached the Colonels when Paye was ejected and had to sit out the next game under state rules.
``This is my sixth year of working with Burrall and I knew what he had in mind for tonight,'' Ashford said.
Paye's resignation leaves the two public high schools in the City of Roanoke looking for new boys' basketball coaches for next season. Earlier this month, Patrick Henry's Woody Deans announced his retirement effective at the end of the season.
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Paye. color.by CNB