ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 12, 1996 TAG: 9610150009
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
A few days ago, VMI football coach Bill Stewart said it didn't matter if the Keydets played Marshall today ``in a cornfield, on a blacktop parking lot or at Three Rivers Stadium.''
Actually, the best place for VMI to meet the Thundering Herd is where they will meet, at Alumni Memorial Field in Lexington. That's because Marshall not only is the nation's top-ranked Division I-AA team. It's also VMI's No.1 gate attraction.
There should be mixed emotions when Marshall moves from the Southern Conference to Division I-A and the Mid-American Conference after this season. Competitively, VMI and its conference brethren will find it easier to play Wofford - the league's new football entrant for 1997 - than the Thundering Herd. Marshall, however, is a tough act to follow financially.
This is especially true for VMI, which geographically, is the closest conference rival for the Huntington, W.Va., school. Marshall has beaten the Keydets 13 straight times by an average score of 40-10 and has played for the I-AA championship four of the past five years.
Not only is ``The Herd'' Marshall's nickname, it also describes the school's fan following.
It is Parents' Weekend at VMI, which will boost attendance, but the green-clad Marshall contingent will use much of its allotment of 2,000 tickets. The record crowd in Alumni Memorial history was 10,000 for Navy's visit in 1973. The next two biggest turnstile turners are 9,800 and 9,538 - for Marshall's visits in 1992 and '94, respectively.
``Those are the two biggest gates financially, certainly in the last 10 years anyway,'' said VMI athletic director Davis Babb. ``Revenue-wise, no one is like Marshall for us. There's no one close. And it's not just here. It's the same way for other schools in the league, too.''
Today's crowd will be in excess of 8,000, and that doesn't figure in what could be a Herd of a walk-up. By comparison, VMI's average home attendance last year was 6,995.
Babb estimated that the gate for today's 1p.m. kickoff will be in the $60,000 range. When Furman visited for VMI's homecoming two weeks ago, Babb said the gate receipts were slightly more than $30,000. Without the Thundering Herd visiting every other year, VMI will need to find a I-A team to visit yearly for a guarantee like the $225,000 it pocketed for starting this season at Ole Miss.
The eight-team I-AA football league floated conceptually again this week would be an improvement for the Keydets competitively and financially. What's not to like in a conference of VMI, Richmond, William and Mary, James Madison, The Citadel, Furman, Delaware and Villanova for the Keydets?
First, VMI would have a better chance at success than in the Southern Conference and against the type of schedule Stewart is playing this year. The NCAA's computer ranks VMI's slate fifth-toughest in Division I-AA, behind only Indiana State, Northeastern, McNeese State and Connecticut. Besides Ole Miss, the first four I-AA foes for the Keydets this season are a combined 20-6, and three of those losses have been to I-A teams.
Next year, VMI plays eight conference foes, Richmond, W&M and has its I-A date at Navy. Army is the trip in '98 and '99. Those service academies, however, only pay $100,000 guarantees. Virginia, which will begin playing at least an occasional I-AA foe next season, pays $200,000 for those dates.
``Our schedule next year, philosophically, is ideal,'' Babb said. ``The financial reality of it is another matter. That schedule is the best we've had, competitively [with Wofford replacing Marshall] in many years. Financially, it isn't the same.''
So, VMI will miss playing Marshall, although the numbers on the scoreboard almost have been as astounding as those on the financial ledgers.
LENGTH: Medium: 70 linesby CNB