THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 23, 1994 TAG: 9406230142
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 21 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Mike Kernels
DATELINE: 940623 LENGTH: Medium
He'll still have a commute this fall - but the drive will be a lot shorter.
Austin last week accepted the head football coaching job at Windsor.
He takes over the job vacated by Joe Jones.
{REST} Jones, 31, announced a little more than a month ago that he would be leaving for the head coaching position at Franklin.
Austin, 34, coached from 1987 to '94 at Isle of Wight Academy, where he compiled a 27-37 record. An Austin-coached team won a Virginia Commonwealth Conference title in '91 and that same year, advanced to the Division I state private school playoffs.
Austin's career took a turn when his contract was up for renewal in February of '93. He was asked to take a $5,000 pay cut or face termination.
Instead, he left for Ravenscroft School in Raleigh, a private school with a 1,000 students. There he was an assistant athletic director.
For months, he was long rumored to be one of the top candidates for the head coaching position at Nansemond-Suffolk Academy. There was even speculation in some corners that he would assist his close friend Jones at Franklin.
Then came the Windsor vacancy.
``The Windsor job is obviously very attractive because of what's been in place,'' Austin said last week. ``The players are there. The program is in place. It's going to be a big challenge for me trying to fill Joe's shoes.''
He couldn't be walking into a more perfect situation. Windsor hasn't had a losing season in five years and have advanced to the playoffs the last four.
What's more, the Dukes will be outfitted with spanking new facilities when the new Windsor opens its doors in the fall of '94.
But the biggest thing is something you can't see or point a finger at. It's tradition - Windsor finally believes it can win.
It took Jones five years of building (3-7 in '89; 6-5 in '90; 7-5 in '91; 6-5 in '92; 9-3 in '93) to convince the Dukes.
Now it's up to Austin.
``My job is to find a way,'' Austin said ``I don't know how, but somehow improve on what Joe's done. I don't know if it's possible.''
Outta here: Smithfield's Tory Batten will be attending Hargrave Military Academy, a prepatory school located in Chatham, Va., next fall.
Batten, a bruising 6-1, 220-pound running back, was the third leading rusher in the Bay Rivers District with 877 yards.
He led the district as a junior.
He will be joined in the backfield by another bruiser - Bobbie Cotten, a 6-3, 213-pound all-everything running back and Tidewater district Player of the Year from Windsor who has been a 1,000-yard rusher the last two seasons.
Think about those two being in the same backfield and shudder.
Tightening the reins: The academic reins are getting tighter for Suffolk athletes.
The city's school board had required athletes to carry a minimum 2.0 grade point average to participate in extracurricular activities.
Under the old plan, put into effect in the 1990-91 school year, an athlete that fell short and whose GPA was at least 1.87, had a six-week grace period to make a 2.0.
The rigid standards were seen in a Group AA state runner-up Nansemond River football team that was only 33-deep last season.
Now the grace period is gone.
And so is that many more athletes.
Suffolk is one of only eight cities in the state that uses the 2.0 requirement. Virginia High School League rules require only that a student pass at least five classes the previous semester to be eligible.
Portsmouth schools have adopted a similar standard for next year with the minimum being 1.3.
Like father like son: Stanley Barto Jr., who lives on the Western Branch Reservoir, has been awarded a Master Angler patch from the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
To qualify for the award, an angler must catch a citation-sized fish for five different species.
His dad, Stanley Sr., already has gotten one.
Little known fact: Playing for a team out of Williamsburg in the 17-under division, Nansemond River players Montoria Valentine, a 6-foot-2 forward, James Parker, a 6-8 centerand Steven Motley, a 6-6 forward, came back to Suffolk with a gold medal recently in the Virginia State Games.
by CNB