ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 30, 1996 TAG: 9605300065
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
When management representatives left for this week's East Coast Hockey League meetings in Biloxi, Miss., they left a proposal on the table to extend head coach Frank Anzalone's contract.
Anzalone's attorney, Tony Anderson, said the proposal was a ``conditional offer,'' one Anzalone is reviewing.
``I want to stress that this is clearly a conditional offer,'' Anderson said. ``It's an offer that says, `We'll do this if you do X, Y and Z.'''
Anderson would not elaborate on the details of the offer.
``The plan is not to negotiate in the newspaper,'' he said.
The fact that Anzalone has retained an attorney to discuss a contract extension reveals the strain that has developed in his relationship with some in the team's management since minority owners took over the team in April. Those owners voted out president John Gagnon and secretary/general manager Pierre Paiement as officers of the club.
Anzalone, who deferred comment to Anderson, is entering the final year of his contract, which was extended by one year following the 1994-95 season.
After signing a two-year deal when he joined the expansion Express in 1993, Anzalone has received a one-year extension following each of his three seasons as Roanoke's coach. Anderson confirmed there is a clause in Anzalone's contract that states the club must tell Anzalone whether or not he will receive an extension within a few weeks of the season's conclusion.
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