ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 30, 1996 TAG: 9612310043
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MIAMI
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
Had Virginia Tech not reached the Orange Bowl, chances are the Hokies would be searching for an offensive coordinator.
Rickey Bustle, in his second stint on coach Frank Beamer's staff, was the candidate Southern Methodist athletic director Jim Copeland wanted as the Mustangs' head coach.
Copeland, the former Virginia AD, met with Bustle on Dec.14 in a Blacksburg Marriott hotel room. Each was so serious about the possibilities, Bustle was scheduled to visit the Dallas school with his wife, Lynn, and son, Brad, a few days later.
When Copeland had to push Bustle's interview back to Dec.19, the coordinator for 10th-ranked Tech told Copeland he couldn't make the trip.
``It was our first day of practice for the bowl game,'' Bustle said Sunday at Pro Player Stadium, where the Hokies (10-1) will meet No.6 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl on Tuesday night. ``I couldn't do that. I couldn't leave just like that.
``I didn't want our kids wondering where I was, concentrating on and talking about that. I couldn't do it to Frank. This is too big.''
Bustle said Copeland had talked to ``a couple of other candidates'' about replacing Tom Rossley, who was fired, but indicated to the Tech coordinator and former Clemson receiver that if the interview went as expected, he would be hired on the spot.
When Bustle didn't go to Dallas, Copeland turned to Mike Cavan, hiring the East Tennessee State head coach within three days.
``They had to change the interview because Jim said he couldn't get all of the [search] committee together. We were going on Tuesday and were coming back Wednesday, and that would have worked.
``Thursday was our first workout. I figured if Jim liked me that much, maybe he'd wait until I could get there. He said he couldn't do that.
``How interested was I? Interested enough to take my family and check it out.''
Bustle, 42, was hired by Beamer when the head coach became his alma mater's football boss in 1987. Bustle advanced to the offensive coordinator's job in 1993, then left to become offensive coordinator at South Carolina. He returned to Tech a year later.
He has been praised for his development of Tech quarterback Jim Druckenmiller. In Bustle's three years as Beamer's offensive leader, the Hokies have averaged 32.6 points and 411 yards per game. In those 35 games, Tech has 134 touchdowns.
``Hopefully, I'll have that kind of opportunity again some day,'' Bustle said. ``I think all of us in this business would like to be considered for an opportunity to be a head coach.
``I like Tech. I came back to Blacksburg, but the kind of opportunity Jim was talking about, you have to consider it.''
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Bustleby CNB