ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 30, 1996 TAG: 9612020098
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
Virginia Tech assistant head coach Billy Hite confirmed Friday he is a candidate for the Maryland coaching job.
Hite said he was contacted by a member of the Maryland search committee Wednesday, just one day after Mark Duffner was fired as the Terrapins coach.
Morgan Wootten, the legendary high school basketball coach at DeMatha in Hyattsville, Md., also called Hite this week to tell him he had spoken to Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow about Hite possibly being a candidate. Hite played high school basketball for Wootten.
The member of the search committee told Hite ``I'm on their short list,'' he said. ``He told me I'd probably be getting an interview.'' He expects to hear from Maryland next week.
There has been speculation about Hokies head coach Frank Beamer being a candidate for the Alabama job vacated last week by Gene Stallings, who resigned.
``I've got a good situation and a good contract here at Virginia Tech,'' Beamer said.
SHORT HOLIDAY
The rare Friday game gave Tech less than a week to prepare for the Cavaliers, who had not played since Nov.16. Center Billy Conaty said that's why the Hokies may have looked shaky early, when quarterback Jim Druckenmiller was sacked twice by Virginia's Duane Ashman.
The short week ``was kind of tough,'' said Conaty. ``There was not as much time to prepare for their blitzing. Going against Ashman and [Jamie] Sharper is a lot different than going against the scout team. We did a good job later. We just had to hope Jim wasn't killed on those first two sacks.''
KIBBLE BITS
A month ago, Jimmy Kibble was handling only the kickoffs for the Hokies after he lost a battle for the starting place-kicking job to Shayne Graham. On Saturday, Kibble had to handle all the Tech kicking duties.
He became the punter last month after John I. Thomas was suspended from the team before the Pittsburgh game. Saturday, he filled in as place-kicker after Graham was sidelined with a lower back strain.
Although he missed an extra point and a field-goal attempt, he averaged 43 yards on his five punts.
INJURY REPORT
Tech played most of the game without senior left tackle Jay Hagood, who sprained his right ankle with 3:58 left in the second quarter. He was replaced by Derek Smith. Hagood was on crutches after the game, but Tech director of information Jack Williams said Hagood wasn't seriously injured.
THE BOWL GAME
The Hokies won't know who their next opponent is until today at the earliest. If Syracuse beats Miami to win the Big East title, the Orangemen will go into the Bowl Alliance and Tech will go to the Gator Bowl to play North Carolina. If Miami wins, Tech could be the Bowl Alliance pick from the Big East and could wind up in the Orange Bowl.
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines KEYWORDS: FOOTBALLby CNB