ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, June 15, 1996 TAG: 9606180016
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DAMON WILLIAMS, a former William Fleming and VMI star, steps down as the Wildcats' basketball coach after three seasons.
Damon Williams, a former All-Timesland and All-Southern Conference basketball player, has stepped down as coach of the Rockbridge County High School boys' team.
Williams submitted his resignation after three years as the Wildcats' coach. He and his twin brother, Ramon, starred first for William Fleming, then went on to earn All-Southern Conference honors at VMI before graduating in 1990. Ramon Williams has gone on to become an assistant coach at VMI.
Ruth Fuhrman, assistant principal at Rockbridge County, confirmed Damon Williams had resigned as boys' basketball coach, but not as a special education teacher.
``I'm looking at other options,'' Williams said. ``I don't want to say anything before that. I'm still positive. If it's not back in Rockbridge County, that'll be the case and I'll leave it at that.''
A source close to the situation who declined to be identified said one option for Damon Williams might be an assistant coach's position at Western Carolina, one of VMI's Southern Conference rivals. If Damon is hired by the Catamounts, it would set up some interesting matchups with Ramon and the Keydets.
While Fleming never won a state title with the Williams brothers and VMI failed to take a Southern crown, the two made those teams very competitive and drew a lot of attention to their schools.
In three years at Rockbridge County, Damon Williams' teams have gone 10-50 in the Blue Ridge District, which might be the toughest Group AA league in the state. In that span, Salem has won a state title and Northside has been a finalist once and a semifinalist two other times in the past three years.
Rockbridge County was a new Group AA school four years ago, formed by the consolidation of three Group A schools - Natural Bridge, Lexington and Rockbridge. None of those three schools had a strong basketball tradition.
Williams was Rockbridge County's second coach. Dan Lyons, a former Lexington coach and now the Wildcats' athletic director, guided the program to an 8-14 record in the school's first year.
Despite his record, Williams was well-liked and appeared set to return as Rockbridge County's coach.
One of Williams' assistant coaches, David ``Weenie'' Miller, appears to be the leading candidate for the job, which likely will be filled in July. If not Miller, other potential candidates include Bath County's Richard McElwee, Altavista's Mike Cartolaro and William Campbell's Pat Paye.
Miller is another member of a legendary family in the Timesland area. His father, L.F. ``Weenie'' Miller, coached VMI's basketball teams from 1959-63, compiling a 40-85 record.
In other coaching news, Cynthia Brown has been named acting girls' basketball coach at William Fleming. Brown replaces Roland Lovelace, who was named to head the boys' program for the Colonels last week.
Brown was Lovelace's top assistant and steps up as acting coach so that Fleming can assess the situation without having to wait until late in the summer to replace Lovelace.
At William Campbell, H.S. Ingo, a former All-Timesland center at George Wythe High school, has been named head football coach. He succeeds former Radford player Kevin Saunders, who resigned to take a job as head coach at Osbourn in Manassas.
Ingo played for the 1983 Maroons squad that went unbeaten until losing the Group AA championship game to Courtland 14-7.
As previously reported, Kelvin Jackson has moved from Eau Claire High School in Columbia, S.C., to replace Bobby Martin as boys' basketball coach at Bassett. Jackson previously was an assistant coach at Drewry Mason and Magna Vista High Schools in Henry County.
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: D. Williams (headshot).by CNB