ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, August 19, 1996 TAG: 9608190152
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LEXINGTON
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
By Sept.21, VMI figures to have its answer.
Not just on co-education, but on football, too. On the first subject, the institute has spent a lot of time and money trying not to consider the possibilities. On the other, it is considering something that hasn't been a real possibility for years.
That would be a winning season on the gridiron, something that hasn't happened on the post since 1981. The Keydets were boosted by a 4-7 finish last season, Bill Stewart's second as the never-say-can't head coach, and much of what made 1995 a positive experience is back this season.
On Sunday, the Keydets were unbeaten as they met the media, but they're certainly going to have to make believers out of Stewart's rival coaches in the Southern Conference. The sideline swamis were so impressed by what VMI did last season, they picked the Keydets to finish ninth - and last - in 1996.
This even with a redoubtable Thomas returning.
Thomas Haskins was a Division I-AA All-America running back last year as a junior. This year, he'll be asked to be more. The Richmond pinball has averaged 23 carries per game the last two seasons, producing 3,057 yards.
Stewart will ask Haskins for more carries this season. He'll also have more passes thrown his way, and he'll return punts, which he's never done. So far, he hasn't been asked to paint the lines on Alumni Memorial Field , but, it's early.
His place in the NCAA record books says something about VMI's recent football history, too. After back-to-back 1,500-yard seasons, Haskins ranks 33rd all-time among Division I-AA rushers. He's in the top 15 in per-game yardage, at 110.6. You won't find his name in either category in the 1996 NCAA records manual, however.
He was left out, although with 3,651 yards, he ranks second to Bucknell's Rich Lemon (3,944) among returning I-AA career rushers. The erstwhile 145-pounder who had one full scholarship offer is accustomed to such forgetfulness, however.
``You just have to silence doubters,'' Haskins said. ``We know a lot about that here.''
Stewart picked his own team fourth in that coaches' poll, after a sixth-place finish a year ago. VMI won three conference games, but even some of its successful teams in past decades haven't been able to win that many in consecutive years. The Keydets haven't won as many as three SC games in two straight seasons since 1962 and '63.
Stewart isn't unlike a real estate salesman is assessing his team's chances this season. The three most important things for the Keydets are location, location, location - as in Ole Miss at Jackson, at William & Mary and at East Tennessee State. VMI begins the season with three straight road dates for the first time since 1965.
``The biggest thing is whether we can keep our composure early,'' Stewart said of a program that has only five road wins in the past 10 years. ``We can't be rattled. We have to understand we have as much right to win under unfriendly circumstances as anyone else.''
Mississippi may be picked at the bottom of the Southeastern Conference, but VMI has picked a tough start with its only I-A foe. The Keydets haven't played an SEC team since being buried between Georgia's hedges, 41-3, in 1978. They haven't beaten an SEC team since winning 14-13 at Georgia Tech in 1950.
And how VMI starts will do more than set a tone for the football season. The date of the trip to ETSU is the same day the VMI Board of Visitors will decide whether to admit women or remain a male bastion by turning private. The psyche of an institution could turn dramatically that day.
``If we could have a winning season, it could be such a tremendous thing for the school,'' Stewart said. ``It's already been something of a trying year, with the Supreme Court stuff. The school has been in the limelight, and it will stay there. Because of that, I think it's a crucial year in all sports at VMI, in academics, in everything we do.''
Haskins is a history major, and in his three years at VMI he's grasped how ``the spirit of the entire school seems based around the football team. It's the start of the year. Football sets the pattern for the morale of the corps.''
Indeed. In his 1986 book, ``The Corps Roots the Loudest,'' VMI history professor and current faculty chairman of athletics Tom Davis quoted an earlier publication: ``Football has taken a very firm hold at this institution, and we must look to it that this hold shall not weaken.''
That quote was from the yearbook, ``The Bomb'' - in 1901.
And that was before they'd seen Haskins.
LENGTH: Medium: 84 linesby CNB