ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 13, 1996 TAG: 9609130122
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LEXINGTON
There will be lots of mind reading and few secrets on the sidelines Saturday when VMI meets William and Mary in Williamsburg.
If familiarity doesn't breed contempt, it breeds comfort. And these football coaching staffs are mighty cozy.
Starting at the top, VMI coach Bill Stewart was an assistant under William and Mary coach Jimmye Laycock from 1981 through 1983. One of Stewart's players then was Bob Solderitch, an offensive lineman. Solderitch coached VMI's offensive line for Stewart's first two seasons in Lexington. Now he coaches William and Mary's line.
Stewart wasn't left empty-handed when Solderitch left. He went out and hired Don McCaulley, who coached William and Mary's defense from 1980 to 1990, to work with VMI's linebackers.
Stewart knows William and Mary men are good part-time workers, too. He hired Dan Quinn in 1995 after Quinn worked at the Williamsburg school for one season, and the same year he grabbed Mike Tomlin to coach his wide receivers. Tomlin graduated from William and Mary in 1995 after a bright career as a wide receiver. Quinn and Tomlin have gone on to full-time work.
``It's just a compliment to the way the two programs get along,'' Stewart said. ``Not to be corny, but Jimmye and I are good friends.''
PAINTBALL: Former Keydets guard Brian Gliba, now working as a student assistant coach, showed he was a man of many skills in the off-season. Gliba painted murals in VMI's Cocke Hall weight room and on the walls and stairwells of Clarkson-McKenna Hall, the Keydets' football building.
``I went through Coach [Jimmy] Coale,'' VMI's strength coach, Gliba said. ``I asked him if he needed any work done, and he told me he could use someone to clean up the weight room. I guess I got carried away.''
Gliba said he discovered his artistic side shortly after his mother's death in 1983. He spent $500 on the murals - $200 of his own money - which feature caricatures and slogans related to VMI. He plans to recreate a design of a kangaroo eating a football for T-shirts that will be sold to benefit the weight room.
FIELD TRIP: Imagine going to school and having an assignment of attending a football game. That's what the VMI corps will do Saturday when more than 1,100 cadets embark on a school-organized trip to Williamsburg.
Attendance for this corps trip to see the Keydets face William and Mary is mandatory for all VMI cadets. It's the first trip of this type since VMI met Virginia Tech at Victory Stadium in Roanoke on Thanksgiving Day in 1969.
COACHSPEAK: Stewart's weekly 10-minute segments on the Southern Conference media teleconference rarely are limited to 10 minutes. Stewart always has lots to say, and it generally pushes into the next coach's time slot. Not that Steve Hodgin, the man who follows him, minds.
``I enjoy listening to that rascal,'' said Hodgin, the coach at Western Carolina. ``As I've said 150 times, he inspires me. He fires us all up.''
BOOT CAMP: The Roanoke Chapter of the VMI Alumni Association and the Roanoke City Parks and Recreation Department are sponsoring a soccer match between VMI and Virginia Tech on Wednesday, Oct.2, at the River's Edge Sports Complex. Game time is 7 p.m. and admission is free.
KEY NOTES: Sophomore Jordan Clark has gone ahead of senior Terry Minor on the depth chart at right defensive end. Clark had three tackles, one for a 16-yard loss, in VMI's opener last Saturday at Ole Miss. Senior tailback Thomas Haskins broke the school's career record for points last Saturday when he scored the 222nd of his career on a 3-yard touchdown run against the Rebels.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DANIEL UTHMAN. Staff Student assistant coach Brianby CNBGliba, an ex-VMI player, painted murals in the weight room at Cocke
Hall during the off-season.