ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 23, 1997 TAG: 9701230011
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: FLOYD
TYPE: HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
As boys basketball practice convened last fall at Floyd County High, a new assistant coach was introduced to the team by head coach Alan Cantrell.
Skip Bishop, the new guy, was no stranger to the boys who would comprise the Buffaloes varsity this season. Bishop for years had kept the clock at home games, perched on a riser at midcourt. He'd taught many of the players in physical education classes. He'd coached some of them in his capacity as both the golf and baseball coach.
Still, one of the players wanted to make sure Bishop's credentials were in order.
``Ah, coach, I know you know a lot about baseball and golf and you're a really good coach in those sports,'' the kid said. ``But coach, do you know anything about basketball?''
Having dealt with teen-agers every day of his 33 years in public education, Bishop was neither surprised nor offended.
``Not a whole lot,'' Bishop said. ``But what I don't know, coach Cantrell can fill me in on.''
Even though he may be a trifle rusty after being sidelined since 1988, Skip Bishop is coaching boys basketball again.
This is good news for Floyd County High, for whom he is again tooting a whistle, and turning out the lights in the locker room.
This is good news for those who love triumphant-return-from exile stories.
This is good news for Skip Bishop, the former Buffaloes head coach who was exiled against his wishes and quietly pined for a chance to coach one more time.
But first, he had to seek approval for his appointment. Mrs. Skip Bishop had an opinion on the matter.
``I didn't want to lose him again for Christmas vacations, but I think he really missed coaching,'' Marty Bishop said.
And by the way, the man does know a little something about basketball. You tend to absorb a lot of information in a career that starts in the Arizona desert at an Indian mission school and ends up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
Pardon some of the players on this year's team, who were too young to remember, but Bishop was once the head coach at Floyd County. Back in the late 1970s, Bishop took on an intense young man straight out of college as his junior varsity coach. The young fellow's name was Alan Cantrell.
``It's kind of ironic how things work out,'' said Bishop, 56.
Time was that it didn't look as though there would be a happy ending. Bishop had been coaching Buffaloes basketballers for 13 years and had produced two state Group A runners-up. At the end of the 1987-88 season, his previous four teams had won 80 games.
Hence, he was startled when his coaching contract was not renewed by the county School Board.
He was not given an explanation. That being the case, he filed a $2 million lawsuit. As much as anything else, he wanted his good name back, for people to know that there was never an impropriety. Most of the lawsuit was dismissed in 1991. Later, he and the School Board settled.
Bishop started coaching baseball and golf again, but it has been this long to get back to basketball.
``I guess there's something to be said for outlasting things,'' he said.
Bishop has outlasted them all. The members of the board, the high school principal and the county school superintendent are all different people than those who presided during the time of the lawsuit.
For Bishop's part, he just kept on keeping on.
``The suit and the other problems never had an effect on my teaching,'' he said. ``That's the reason I stayed around.''
People were glad he did. A more popular citizen of these parts would be hard to find. An elected member of Floyd Town Council, Bishop was appointed mayor when the incumbent, Gino Williams, was named commonwealth's attorney. Bishop has since been elected to the post and his term runs into 1998. He ran unopposed.
Still, he found time to come back to help Cantrell with the basketball program. Cantrell lobbied for an assistant coach if for no other reason than to help with one of the three teams (junior varsity and eighth-grade squad being the other two) should one of the three head coaches be unable to go.
``I wouldn't have come back for just anybody,'' Bishop said. ``Alan and I have a great relationship.''
As far as the coaching goes, it's a complementary relationship.
``We have the same philosophy,'' Cantrell said.
There is more to it than that, said Travis Cantrell, one of the players.
``With coach Bishop, there is always a lot of teaching,'' Travis Cantrell said. ``Coach Bishop puts stuff in a way that you can understand.''
Bishop and Alan Cantrell differ in other areas, approach being one.
``It's kind of like a good cop-bad cop routine,'' Alan Cantrell said.
``Coach Bishop keeps Dad under control on the bench,'' Travis Cantrell said.
Bishop hopes to work two more years then retire from the classroom. He'd like to stay on as a coach for a while longer after that. Meanwhile, he's looking forward to baseball season, especially with 10 of his top players back.
Basketball will keep him plenty busy until then.
``There is a different mindset for an assistant,'' he said. ``The focus is on the head coach, as it should be. I told Alan that he can take all the heat. I'll sit back and enjoy the coaching.''
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: RAY COX/Staff. Skip Bishop, the new guy, is no strangerby CNBto the boys who would comprise the Floyd County Buffaloes varsity
this season. color.