ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 12, 1997 TAG: 9703120053
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: RANDY KING THE ROANOKE TIMES
His first Virginia Tech men's basketball team will be full of question marks, but that doesn't bother new Hokies coach Bobby Hussey.
He hasn't moved into the big office yet, but rest assured Bobby Hussey is monitoring the pulse of the Virginia Tech men's basketball program.
Retiring Bill Foster may still be in the house, but the deed to the Hokies has been officially transferred to Hussey's hands.
Tech hoops belongs to Hussey now. And the new coach is ready to run after a quick change on the fly.
"I'm really excited and looking forward to it,'' Hussey said Tuesday. "Everyday there's always thoughts running through my mind about something we need to do, should do or can do.
"Shoot, I wish we were starting practice tomorrow.''
Hussey will have to wait until Oct.15 for that. In the meantime, Foster's hand-picked successor has plenty of chores to keep him busy.
"People say, `Now that the season is over, what are you going to do until next season? You got the remainder of the year off, right?''' noted Hussey, laughing.
"I say, `Yeah, right.' I'm telling you, there are always things to do every single day.''
Especially in this job. While Foster brought Tech basketball back to respectability, Hussey's task will be to keep it there.
It won't be easy. Not at first. Hussey inherits a squad that not only went 15-16 this season, but lost star Ace Custis and its other top four scorers to graduation.
Besides guard Brendan Dunlop and forward-center Russ Wheeler, both promising as freshmen, Hussey's 1997-98 grab bag is full of usable - he hopes - parts of incoming recruits, transfers, redshirts and holdovers who have played sparingly.
Obviously, nobody can ever accuse Hussey of sitting down at the poker table while holding a handful of aces.
There have been better deals. But at age 55, Bobby Hussey is just glad to be in the game.
"I never thought I'd get a head coaching opportunity like this, not at my age,'' said Hussey last September, when Tech athletic director Dave Braine appointed him as Foster's successor.
"This is a real opportunity for me to do what I really enjoy doing most at a place I enjoy being at. A lot of people are talking about how we're going to be young, how we don't have the players and how we don't have this and this.
"Well, the way I look at it, there are probably 500 guys out there who would like to have the same opportunity. So I'm a lucky man.''
He's a hard-working man, too. Hussey, who as a Foster assistant virtually slept with a VCR and game film the past six seasons, won't be beat in the hours-worked column. This guy absolutely eats, sleeps and dreams basketball.
"I don't have a lot of whole lot of other things that's going to occupy my time,'' Hussey said. "My wife [Sandra] works ... she's about as dedicated to her job as I am to mine. We understand that. As a result there will be no conflicts in terms of me spending too much time at work. It will be nothing for her for me to be up at 5 o'clock in the morning going to work.''
After Tech's season ended last week in the Atlantic 10 tournament, Hussey has spent all his waking hours pondering next season.
"I'm doing a lot of analysis as to what our shortcomings were and why some things didn't work out the way we thought they would or the way they should,'' Hussey said.
"Plus, I'm trying to evaluate our league, the A-10. I think you've got to think about what you have to do in order to win your league. And our league is probably going to be tougher next year than it was this year.
"I think we do have some guys who have a chance to be good in the A-10. I know what they need to do, I know what I want them to do and can get them where I think they need to be.
"Then comes what is sometimes a hard sell - to get the kid to want it as much as I want it for them.''
The general consensus in the Tech camp is that Hussey will be more demanding than Foster, especially in regards to off-season work and practice drills.
"When a guy comes here, he's got a double major - one in academics, one in basketball and everything else will have to come around that,'' Hussey said.
"I'd really like to get this group to develop as strong a passion for the game as I have. That might be a chore. That might not exist in anyone else.''
Hussey's biggest task in the next couple of weeks will be to hire an assistant coach to fill his vacancy.
"We'll have one by the week of April 1,'' he said. "We've got a heavy influx of interest the last few days. I have some people in mind.''
Then, just maybe, he'll have time to move into the big office occupied the past six seasons by Foster.
"People keep asking me about that,'' Hussey said. "That's not a big deal to me.''
Not near so much as his job. Besides, Hussey knows all about the big seat. He's been there before, winning 287 games in 18 seasons as head coach, 10 at Belmont Abbey (N.C.) College (1971-81) and eight at Davidson (1981-89).
"The only thing I know is nobody will ever put any more pressure on me than I'll put on myself,'' Hussey said.
"Therefore, I don't feel any of [the pressure]. I know what I need to do. I know what I have to do.''
Now it's time to do it.
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM THE ROANOKE TIMES. Bobby Hussey, who has wonby CNB287 games in 18 seasons as a head coach at Belmont Abbey and
Davidson, is focused on the job at hand at Virginia Tech. "I don't
have a lot of whole lot of other things that's going to occupy my
time,'' Hussey said.