ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 10, 1997 TAG: 9704100013
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM THE ROANOKE TIMES
Norm Lineburg is going strong as a football coach, track and field coach and athletic director.
Norm Lineburg retire?
As coaches come and go in Timesland, there is one constant - Lineburg coaching football at Radford.
Lineburg has been the Bobcats' head coach since 1970 and is a member of the Virginia High School Coaches' Association Hall of Fame. He is the fifth-winningest active football coach in the state.
Retire? No way.
``To me, coaching has been a hobby,'' Lineburg said. ``I love my time on the field or on the track. Really, I've coached all these years and never had a season off.''
Lineburg, 61, is athletic director, football coach and track and field coach at Radford. He no longer teaches.
Four of his sons are in coaching. His wife, Joann, never misses one of her husband's games, and they both attend any games in which their sons coach whenever possible.
``For me, coaching has always been more of a treat,'' Lineburg said. ``I enjoy the actual time I've coached. I could never imagine myself not coaching. I don't play golf. I don't watch television. I never have time to read. The only thing I read is the newspaper. My wife is always reading, at least a book or more a week.''
Lineburg notices the changes in high school athletics when he goes to a coaching function.
``This past weekend I was at the Virginia Tech coaching clinic,'' he said. ``I looked around. I'm gray-haired and everyone else is young, full of pep and energy. They have those huge arms. They look good.
``I walk into things like this and I do ask myself, `Have you stayed with it too long?' I would like to keep on coaching as long as I can. In my case, I really enjoy coaching track and being athletic director, too, as well as being able to see all the sports collectively.
``I don't know what else I could do with my life. I don't have any other direction to go. I know [retirement is] inevitable. It's the cliche, for every beginning there's an end. It's a matter of time before that decision will need to happen.''
LENGTH: Short : 49 linesby CNB