ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 25, 1997 TAG: 9702250100
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
Virginia Tech President Paul Torgersen stood before a packed meeting room Monday and read the Hokies' headlines garnered in four papers from Philadelphia to Miami during the last three days of December.
"Games Won; Respect Lost," read one. "Hokies 21; Huskers 7" went another, telling how many athletes had been arrested.
"People tell me it's a national problem," Torgersen said. " what bothers me Virginia Tech is being cited as an example of a national problem."
With that, Torgersen and Tech athletic director Dave Braine unveiled a report designed to halt the string of arrests that plagued the highly ranked football team last year.
Chief among the changes is that coaches will cede discipline to Braine, and a standard for issuing sanctions for those who get arrested for felonies, gambling, or misdemeanors has been spelled out.
"I'm pleased to see sanctions being taken out of the hands of coaches," Torgersen said during a news conference after the meeting.
Sanctions include:
* Athletes arrested and charged with a felony, or any crime involving gambling or game fixing, will be automatically suspended from practice and playing until charges are resolved.
* Athletes convicted of a felony or game fixing will be dismissed from the team.
* Athletes arrested, charged or convicted of a misdemeanor will face a review process directed by the athletic director. A wide range of considerations must be made, but the sanctions range from a warning to dismissal.
The university also will no longer announce suspensions. University spokesman Larry Hincker said the school has redrawn its rules to include the athletic suspensions under the umbrella of the so-called Buckley amendment, which ensures privacy for all student records.
But the report, which Braine estimated could cost $300,000 to $500,000 if all of its recommendations are adopted, goes much further than just sanctions for criminal offenses.
The school is adopting the standard that "it is a privilege to play a sport at Virginia Tech," Braine said. To that end, athletes who are convicted will likely lose scholarships and all recruits and athletes, starting after spring break ends in mid-March, will be presented with a new code of conduct and student responsibilities, he said.
Mentoring and education programs are anticipated, and a sports psychologist and a director to oversee life skills development for student-athletes will be hired.
Athletes who want to move off campus after freshman year, as more than half of Tech's 20,000 undergraduates do, must get permission from their coach and the athletic director. Student athletes who serve as hosts to prospective players visiting Tech it "should be interviewed, or debriefed, and should be asked a short list of standard questions about their interaction with the prospect," the report says.
Random drug testing will be expanded. Currently, all athletes are subjected to random tests and up to 30 students per week are tested, but Braine said now freshmen specifically will be brought into the program to ensure they are tested at least once during their first year at Tech.
"I'm embarrassed I have to be here to go over this plan and I hope you understand where I'm coming from," Braine told the Board of Visitors. No official board action is required.
While board members applauded the 13-page report, rector Henry Dekker said alumni are impatient. He wondered why coaches are not being held responsible.
"They have more direct contact on a day-to-day basis than anybody else does," he said.
"I'm not sure we can hold the coach responsible," Torgersen said.
Coaches will be held responsible for following the new plan, Braine said.
Football Coach Frank Beamer did not attend the meeting. He did sit on the 11-member committee that formulated the recommendations. Braine said Beamer "is fully on board with this total plan."
Torgersen first discussed creating the plan with Braine in September. Braine said the school consulted the University of Nebraska, Penn State, North Carolina State University, Syracuse University and the University of Miami to see how they handled discipline for their athletes.
Bowl proceeds will cover most costs for the new program, although academic advising costs come out of the university academic budget, Braine said. Top administrators will sit down to decide which recommendations will be funded.
He and other Tech officials said Monday they believe theirs is the most comprehensive such plan in the country.
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON STAFF. Virginia Tech Athletic Director Daveby CNBBraine explains to the school's Board of Visitors the new measures
to prevent unlawful action by athletes. color.