ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 10, 1996 TAG: 9603110081
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C10 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: HIGH SCHOOLS
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM
Timesland boys' basketball coaches may play a game of musical chairs following this season, but don't look for any of them to land at William Fleming.
Expect interim coach Marshall Ashford, who took over the Colonels' program in the middle of the season when Burrall Paye resigned abruptly, to keep the job and give up the ``interim'' label..
``I'm leaning toward coming back as a head coach, but I can't say one way or another except that I'll be back in some capacity,'' said Ashford, whose team defeated J.E.B. Stuart of Falls Church 100-89 in Alexandria on Saturday in the Group AAA tournament.
When Ashford stepped in as head coach for the Colonels' first Cave Spring game Jan.19, the circumstances were, to say the least, difficult. The Fleming assistant took over a team that was expected to do well and replaced a coach who was approaching 500 career victories.
Had Fleming not won the Roanoke Valley District regular-season and tournament championships and advanced to the state tournament, Ashford would have been open to second-guessing. Now the pressure is off the former Virginia Tech player.
Roanoke schools officials have given Ashford, the former boys' and girls' head coach at Floyd County, the option of keeping the position at Fleming.
``It seems as if I'm keeping them on a string, but I want to finish the season out, wait a couple of days and let them know,'' Ashford said. ``My concerns are the time it takes in the off-season to head a program like this.''
Ashford says his wife, Linda, is leaving the decision to him. ``It's a problem trying to fit the time in with what I have to do with my own children,'' he added.
One misconception is that Ashford left Floyd County because he preferred not to be a head coach. He took a teaching job at Fleming and ultimately became an assistant to Paye.
``It wasn't that I didn't enjoy being a head coach,'' he said. ``I was going to give up one of the jobs [at Floyd], especially since I lived in Roanoke. I was hoping to find a job closer to where I was living, and that's why I came to Fleming. It was a case of going from driving 55 miles [round trip to Floyd County] to driving just one mile.''
STATE WRESTLING BACK: It appears wrestling coaches overwhelmingly support keeping the Group AA and A tournaments at the Salem Civic Center next year. They have voted to approve a measure that would move up the state tournaments two weeks to the final weekend before basketball tournaments begin.
The state's principals can either back the coaches or move the wrestling tournaments at next week's Virginia High School League meetings, but at this point, the principals will defer to the coaches.
This year's championships in Salem attracted 9,645 fans over two days and brought in a gate of $32,236. Both figures set records for the event's run in Salem, topping the 1995 numbers of 8,805 fans and a gate of $29,348.
As for the fall girls' state basketball tournaments, which also ran into a scheduling conflict at the Salem Civic Center they likely will leave Salem and might even be played at two sites.
Fall girls' basketball had built a strong following in Salem, so this is a major blow to the sport. It's also another example of why high school athletics in Virginia aren't followed as closely by fans as prep sports in other states.
GET Y0UR KICKS: Some of the better boys' soccer teams in Timesland will be involved in Cave Spring's fifth annual jamboree starting at 9 a.m. Saturday at Cave Spring Junior High School.
The opening segment sends the Knights, 1995 Roanoke Valley District champions, against Roanoke Catholic. Seven more contests will follow, kicking off on the our.
Patrick Henry plays Magna Vista at 10 a.m., followed by Roanoke Catholic against Heritage, Magna Vista taking on Lord Botetourt, Christiansburg meeting Patrick Henry, North Cross challenging Heritage and Lord Botetourt back-to-back and Christiansburg meeting Cave Spring in the finale at 4 p.m.
SOMETIMES ON SUNDAY: Gradually, high schools are starting to play some events on Sunday. In football, Bath County met Strasburg for the Group A Division 1 title after snow forced the postponement of a Saturday game.
It almost happened again this weekend when a Thursday night-Friday morning snowstorm hit Lynchburg and forced the postponement of the Group AA boys' basketball tournament game between Liberty and Gate City.
Gate City officials didn't want to play Sunday, so the game will be held Monday at Rustburg High School. Under VHSL rules, only state and regional events can be held on that day, and only if it is an emergency such as a weather-related postponement and both schools agree to play Sunday.
Gate City didn't want to play Sunday and couldn't play Saturday because the school was playing host to another first-round state tournament game between Virginia High School of Bristol and Northside.
All this might be avoided in the future if Region III and Region IV get together as Region C and Region D do in Group A, pick a neutral site such as Virginia Tech, Radford or the Salem Civic Center and have a first-round state doubleheader.
It likely would attract a bigger crowd, be played on a floor that is more neutral than in a high school gym in the area of one of the teams and would have more of a tournament atmosphere.
LENGTH: Medium: 96 linesby CNB