ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 28, 1996 TAG: 9611290079
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: N-2 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
THE ROANOKE VALLEY DISTRICT will have a different look in boys' basketball this season, with coaching changes at Cave Spring, Patrick Henry and William Fleming.
It is safe to say this season's Roanoke Valley District boys' basketball race will look nothing like those of the recent past in the five-team league.
In a tumultuous off-season, three-fifths of the head coaches retired or resigned their positions and took with them five state championships and nearly 700 victories.
First, it was Patrick Henry's Woody Deans, followed by his longtime rival, Burrall Paye of William Fleming.
They had been at their posts for years and each decided to retire. Paye, always unconventional, opted to leave in the middle of the season. Deans announced his retirement effective at the end of the season.
After the season, Chris Carr stepped down after two years as the Cave Spring head coach to accept a sales position.
The league's new head coaches are Roland Lovelace (William Fleming), Jack Esworthy (Patrick Henry) and Billy Hicks (Cave Spring).
Lovelace was the girls' coach at Fleming and remains the offensive coordinator for the Colonels' football team. He applied for the job only after interim coach Marshall Ashford, filling in for Paye, decided he didn't want to be the team's head coach. Ashford will be back as an assistant.
Hicks played at Cave Spring and was an assistant to Carr. He was an applicant for the Patrick Henry job and, had Glenvar coach Art Lawrence followed through with plans to retire, he might have gotten that job.
Esworthy is the out-of-towner. He was coaching at Central Dauphin East High School in Harrisburg, Pa., and applied for the Fleming job. Esworthy was the runner-up to Lovelace, but he so impressed the interview committee that its members suggested PH take a look at him. School officials talked to Esworthy about the job and, after a long wait, hired him.
Meanwhile, Franklin County coach Calvin Preston and Pulaski County's Pat Burns will have to adjust to the new coaches.
``It's going to be tough,'' Preston said. ``We don't know anything about them, their coaching styles, what they do and don't like to do. But I don't know if it can be any tougher than coaching against Woody and Burrall.''
``It's certainly going to be different,'' Burns said. ``Over the years, you get an idea what people like to do, their tendencies. Now three of the four, I don't know anything about them.''
It would seem Hicks is fortunate in not having to match wits with Paye and Deans, but he doesn't think that's necessarily a plus.
``Cave Spring has never had an advantage over William Fleming or Patrick Henry,'' he said. ``Those [other two new] guys have an advantage over me. We're all new, but they've both been head coaches before'' on the high school level.
But Hicks isn't intimidated by the prospect of stepping into a Group AAA job as his first head coaching assignment.
``I'm very much anticipating the season,'' he said. ``Head coaching is something I've always wanted to do. There will be three new styles [of play] coming into the district.''
Hicks says that if Carr had remained at Cave Spring, he wouldn't have applied for the PH job. ``For two reasons: I didn't want to coach against Chris; and I'm not sure I would have had a shot at that job. I would have applied at Glenvar because of my relationship with [principal] Al McLearn,'' for whom Hicks worked at Hidden Valley Junior High School in Roanoke County.
Lovelace had a chance to be the head football coach at Fleming, but when the job opened two years ago, he didn't apply for it. He didn't hesitate going for the boys' basketball job, however, once Ashford passed on the opportunity.
``It's been a good while since I coached boys' [basketball], but most of them are working hard,'' Lovelace said. ``I'll work my way into it as I go along.
``The boys might be a little quicker as athletes, but sometimes girls listen a little more. I won't change my philosophies. I don't coach boys or girls; I coach athletes.''
Jumping from football to basketball won't be a big change for Lovelace. He has done that for the past seven or eight years while coaching the Fleming girls' basketball team.
``It's just a matter of coming in and getting a different mind set,'' Lovelace said.
Esworthy also got a late start. He didn't move from Pennsylvania to the Roanoke Valley until just before school opened in September.
``I don't know much about what Coach Lovelace or Coach Hicks will do,'' Esworthy said. ``I don't know much about the other two except what I've seen on tape.'' Esworthy said. ``On the flip side, those coaches have no idea what my teams look like unless they go to Pennsylvania and pull tapes. They have no idea whether I play zone mostly or man-to-man'' defense.
The three new coaches put their teams on public display for the first time next week. The first time two of them tangle is Dec.17, when Patrick Henry meets William Fleming at the Salem Civic Center.
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: NHAT MEYER\Staff. New Roanoke Valley District coachesby CNBare (from left) Jack Esworthy, Patrick Henry; Billy Hicks, Cave
Spring; and Roland Lovelace, William Fleming. color (Ran on N-1).