ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 22, 1996 TAG: 9602220014
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Jack Bogaczyk
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
Chuck Taylor didn't just have the right name for an athletic director. At a fledgling program like the one at Radford University, he had the right idea.
His name is the same as the man for whom those canvas Converse hoops shoes were named. As Radford's first and only AD, Taylor has fit as comfortably as a pair of those low-cuts. After 22 years, he's leaving the Highlanders' helm and a job that pays $64,000 annually, but staying at RU as a teacher, a move endorsed by Radford's Board of Visitors on Wednesday.
There's a lot to learn in where Taylor has been and where the athletic program might be going. Dr. Douglas Covington, Radford's first-year president, has a huge call to make in hiring Taylor's replacement. That's because it was strong administrative leadership that boosted Radford athletics in the '80s.
Taylor has taken the RU program from nowhere to Division I. His low-key style meshed well with former president Donald Dedmon, whose visibility with Highlander sports before his 1994 resignation was significant in building more than a wonderful basketball arena and multi-purpose athletics facility named for him.
Dedmon's exit has left Radford athletics in limbo. The school has lost enrollment, too, down about 700 in two years to 8,700, and athletic budgets have been slashed. Too many times in recent years, Taylor had to tell coaches no. To be sure, that shoehorn situation is part of the reason he's leaving.
He also knows Covington will be able to bring in his own choice, someone who no doubt will have clout with the new boss. That can only help the program.
Radford's recent history shows that, and voices on campus say Covington has been impressed with his brief exposure to Radford athletics. What the Highlanders need is someone in the university administration with the clout - and knowledge - to advance a stagnating program.
Taylor's program has been what a low-major Division I program should be about. The former women's college has its sports rooted in gender equity. Radford's 16 sports - men's gymnastics, sponsored by only 29 NCAA schools anyway, is being dropped - display gender balance. Radford does not have athletic dorms, either. Taylor has hired quality coaches and let them do their jobs.
Radford has kept its student activity fees to fuel athletics low, and while that's commendable, it has left athletics with diminished funding. The fund-raising RU Athletic Association has produced three straight years of more than $300,000, the biggest dollars in the Big South Conference.
However, no longer is Radford the flagship program in the Big South. Next to former member Towson State, Radford once had the largest athletic budget in the league. Now, with its $2 million budget for salaries and operations, the Highlanders rank only about where they are in most Big South standings - the middle of the pack.
When Radford went Division I in 1984-85, the Highlanders' goal was to be identified with their state peer institutions, like James Madison, Old Dominion and George Mason. If Radford got there, it has since slipped, but the Big South is where the Highlanders belong now. What Radford must do now, with a new regime, is realize what athletics can do for a program, then help it get there.
Taylor has warmly guided Radford athletics to a crossroads. There is no mandate for the Highlanders to leave Division I, and Taylor's exit as athletic director should not be interpreted that he's just chucking the program. He still thinks the Highlanders can get there.
It's up to others, however, to determine just where ``there'' is. The Highlanders won't be looking just for an athletic director. They seem to be in search of a direction in athletics, too.
LENGTH: Medium: 69 linesby CNB