THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 31, 1994 TAG: 9412300583
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 303 lines
It was a year of motion in the local sports scene. Coaches departed - new leaders came in. There was the perfect arc of an Aaron Sparrow touchdown pass - and the flight of the 3-point swish that smashed Old Dominion's NCAA basketball tournament hopes.
In 1994, the big picture emerged with an almost comfortable ebb and flow, as evidenced by the story voted No. 1 by the sports staff of The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star. The concern that surfaced when Old Dominion lost basketball coach Oliver Purnell to Dayton was soothed by the choice of Jeff Capel as his replacement.
ODU basketball was the focus in three of the area's top stories for '94 - although the other two were negative. The Monarchs' stunning loss to James Madison in the CAA final was voted No. 5, and the loss of star center Odell Hodge to a knee injury was No. 8.
Norfolk State was the subject of three top-10 stories also, headed up by its football coaching switch at No. 3. It could easily be argued that Archie ``Gunslinger'' Cooley's departure and Darnell Moore's hire were both positive moves.
The Spartans' other two entries also were success stories. No. 7 was Sparrow's record-setting year at quarterback in leading the football team to a 7-3 record, and No. 10 was the men's & women's basketball teams reaching the Elite Eight of the national tournaments. THE TOP STORY: Monarchs get their man - Capel replaces Dayton-bound Purnell
If we didn't know before how far up the college basketball food chain Dayton was from Old Dominion, we found out last spring.
Flyers athletic director Ted Kissell thought he had a new basketball coach last April, but Siena's Mike Deane spurned him at the last minute for the Marquette job. Kissell had no Plan B, so he rushed to the Final Four in Charlotte and began drumming up candidates at the hotel where coaches were staying.
Tulane's Perry Clark told Kissell thanks, but no thanks. Then Clark mentioned another possible candidate - Oliver Purnell of Old Dominion. Clark introduced them, and for the next six days Kissell courted Purnell.
Obstacles abounded for both sides, but in the end Dayton offered a six-year package worth $325,000 per year.
Purnell, an ODU alum, had always been true to his school, but better money, a better conference and better fan support lured him 600 miles west of where he had spent much of his 40 years.
On April 8, Purnell was introduced as Dayton's new coach. Eighteen days later, it was ODU athletic director Jim Jarrett's turn to introduce a new coach.
Jeff Capel emerged from a pack of more than 100 candidates. Known for rebuilding, Capel's coaching resume included one season as the head coach at North Carolina A&T and four at Division II Fayetteville State.
``This is the first job that I've had that I don't feel like I have to go in and rebuild or restructure,'' Capel said. ``The foundation is already there. The tradition is already there.''
- Steve Carlson 2. Smith Top Freshman
Joe, we hardly knew ye.
We thought we did. We thought Joe Smith, a quiet, 6-foot-9 graduate of Maury High School would make a solid ACC player at Maryland. In time, maybe he would be a star, but there was no sense mentioning him in the same breath with local schoolboy legends J.R. Reid and Alonzo Mourning, who came straight out of South Hampton Roads and became instant hits at the college level.
But Just Plain Joe outdid both of them. He dropped 26 points on Georgetown in his college debut and didn't slow down all season, winning national college freshman of the year honors and the acclaim of nearly everyone who saw him play.
Smith averaged 19.4 points and 10.7 rebounds, just a hair below the numbers he put up during his senior season at Maury. His transition to college ball was as smooth as his low-post moves, which he used with surprising effectiveness against some of the best players in the country.
Smith almost single-handedly resurrected excitement in Maryland basketball, which had been on life support for several seasons. His phone number was in the book, so students called to thank him for coming. He led the Terps to the Sweet 16. He became the darling of Dick Vitale and Billy Packer as well as of NBA scouts, who say he'll be a lottery pick when he comes out.
This winter, Smith was the second-leading vote-getter on The Associated Press' preseason All-American team. Smith says he's not in a hurry to turn pro. When he does, it'll be no surprise - this time, anyway - if he's an instant star.
- Ed Miller 3. Cooley out, Moore in
The New Sheriff wasn't in town long.
Archie ``Gunslinger'' Cooley, the hired gun who came to town to turn around the Norfolk State football program, was out of a job after one season, resigning under pressure.
Cooley's problems went beyond Norfolk State's 3-7-1 record in the 1993 season. Players accused him of verbal abuse. Players said they were suspended without being given a reason.
The final straw seemed to come when two groups of players fought in front of the student union building on April 27. Sources said the fight was between a group of holdover players and a group of newcomers Cooley was attempting to replace them with.
After a couple of days of negotiating with administrators, Cooley announced his resignation. ``I'm tired. I'm wore out,'' he said. ``I just need a rest.''
Cooley's hiring in December 1992 had been controversial from the start. His last head coaching job had been at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, where rules violations during his tenure resulted in the program being shut down for a year.
By contrast, Cooley's replacement, Darnell Moore, was a popular pick. Moore, who had led Portsmouth's Wilson High to a pair of state titles, was on Cooley's staff but was unsullied by the controversy surrounding Cooley.
Moore was named interim coach, but won the permanent job before season's end.
- ED MILLER 4. Sweetpea vs. McGirt
They say talk is cheap, but James ``Buddy'' McGirt discovered you sometimes pay a price for mouthing off.
McGirt promised to come to Norfolk and slap around the ``punk'' Pernell Whitaker before his hometown fans Oct. 1. Instead, Sweetpea did the slapping, and threw in the jabs, uppercuts and flurries needed to retain his World Boxing Council welterweight title with an easy, unanimous decision. The fight at Scope was witnessed by 9,158 - the largest crowd ever to attend a live boxing event in Virginia.
``I ain't one to brag on myself, but tonight I showed I was the best, pound-for-pound,'' Whitaker said.
Sports Illustrated agreed. The magazine's cover pictured Whitaker with the headline ``The Best.''
It was the rematch of a bout 19 months earlier, and McGirt vowed the outcome would be different than his loss in Madison Square Garden. McGirt was damaged goods that night, requiring rotator cuff surgery after the fight.
With two good arms, he still wasn't good enough. Despite a second-round flash knockdown, Whitaker (34-1-1) was in command.
``He was the better man,'' McGirt said. ``He did what he had to do. As the fight wore on, I found myself trying to knock him out.''
- STEVE CARLSON 5. ODU loses shocker in CAA final
Time marches on, but for members of Old Dominion's 1993-94 basketball team, one moment will be forever burned into their minds.
Time out. Time enough for one James Madison play, one shot.
The Monarchs led JMU by two points in the Colonial Athletic Association championship game at the Richmond Coliseum when ODU's Odell Hodge blocked a shot out of bounds with 1.1 seconds left. Monarchs coach Oliver Purnell called time to set his defense.
But the time out set up the Dukes, who ran a play designed to get Kent Culuko open for a 3-point shot. Culuko caught the ball in the corner and fired up a shot before the buzzer sounded. The shot was perfect, and ODU was left out of the NCAA tournament.
Norfolk native Lefty Driesell's long NCAA tournament dry spell with the Dukes had ended. Driesell had to be talked into going for the 3-point shot by his players in the huddle.
``I covered my eyes and the thing went in,'' Driesell said.
Then the Monarchs, who had led by 19 points with 13 minutes remaining, covered their eyes in disbelief. They were off to the NIT instead of the NCAA.
``There's a lot of learning to come from this sometime,'' senior guard Kevin Larkin said in a somber ODU locker room. ``I'm not sure when that will come out. Right now it's . . . awful.''
- STEVE CARLSON 6. Redskins slump again
The Washington Redskins began the 1994 season with a new coach and three new quarterbacks. They ended it with their worst record -
3-13 - since 1961. There were no wins at a home stadium that once intimidated NFL rivals. No wins against NFC East rivals they had dominated.
The Redskins defeated only New Orleans, Indianapolis and the Los Angeles Rams during Norv Turner's debut as head coach. Ironically, each of the quarterbacks could claim one win each.
The first victory was engineered by veteran John Friesz. The second came courtesy of rookie Gus Frerotte, a seventh-round draft pick whose unexpectedly inspired play for two weeks provided Redskins fans with almost all of what they had to cheer about.
The third, and final, triumph was led by Heath Shuler, the third player selected in the '94 draft. The Tennessee star eventually signed a contract worth $19 million, the largest ever offered by the Redskins. But negotiations were ugly and Shuler wound up staying out of training camp for 19 days before agreeing to terms.
The holdout left Shuler far behind the other two quarterbacks and made him a target for abuse from every side. But by the end of the season, Shuler had regained his starting spot and was showing signs that he might realize his vast potential.
- JIM DUCIBELLA 7. Sparrow sparks Spartans
It was the best air show this side of the Blue Angels.
With no running game to speak of, and with a former high school All-American at quarterback, Norfolk State coach Darnell Moore decided early that the Spartans were going to throw the ball.
And throw it they did. Quarterback Aaron - make that Airin' - Sparrow put it up 43 times against Winston-Salem State, 54 times against Hampton, a school-record 361 times in a 10-game season.
The result was an offense that was potent enough to offset a horrible defense and propel the Spartans to a 7-3 finish, their best in three years and a reversal of the previous year's 3-7-1 mark.
Sparrow, who played for Moore at Wilson High, finished the season with 216 completions for 3,212 yards and 31 touchdowns, all school records. His favorite target, receiver James Roe, caught 77 passes for 1,454 yards and 17 touchdowns and was voted a first-team All-American.
For Spartan fans, the best news is that the combination, call them Airin' Spar-Roe, will be back with Norfolk State for one more season.
- ED MILLER 8. ODU's Hodge injured
When center Odell Hodge went down clutching his left knee Dec. 3 against Southern Illinois, he was not the only one in pain. The entire Old Dominion basketball program felt the hurt.
Four days later, a magnetic resonance imaging test revealed Hodge had torn his anterior cruciate ligament and would be lost for the season. The 6-foot-9, 260-pound Hodge was the CAA Player of the Year as a sophomore.
Without him, the Monarchs have a big hole in the middle they have not found a way to fill. ODU's toughest non-conference schedule in recent years has become even more imposing for the Monarchs without their best player.
The good news for Old Dominion was that Hodge's injury occurred early enough in the season that he will not lose a year of eligibility. He will have two seasons remaining when he returns in the fall as a redshirt junior.
``Odell shouldn't have any problem being back for the beginning of next season,'' ODU trainer Scott Johnson said.
Hodge underwent surgery to repair his knee Wednesday.
``God has a reason for everything,'' Hodge said. ``This may be a blessing in disguise for my future.''
- STEVE CARLSON 9. Admirals-Greensboro brawl
It was exactly the sort of thing that gives minor-league hockey a bad name.
The Jan. 7 game was supposed to be just another chapter in a heated rivalry between the Hampton Roads Admirals and Greensboro Monarchs. Apparently, the rivalry had reached the boiling point.
Seconds after the opening faceoff, Greensboro's Jamie Nicolls was unloading punch after punch on unsuspecting Brendan Curley of the Admirals. Fists flew all over the ice. Even the goalies got into it, with the Admirals' Mark Michaud opening a gash under the right eye of Greenboro's Patrick Labrecque.
Twenty minutes later, 249 minutes in penalties were assessed and six players from each team were tossed. The game, won, 5-4, by Greensboro, was an afterthought. Suspensions and fines rolled in. The melee left a few black eyes on the players, but the biggest black eye was on the East Coast Hockey League.
``I've played hockey for a long time,'' said the Admirals' Shawn Wheeler. ``I've been to four NHL camps and played in the International Hockey League. But I've never seen anything like this.
``It was pure bush league.''
The entire scene smelled of premeditation, but Greensboro coach Jeff Brubaker pled innocent.
``The brawl was not my idea,'' he said.
Still, he pulled a press clipping from his pocket afterward and read Admirals coach John Brophy's quote following Hampton Roads' 6-1 victory nine days prior - a game in which the Monarchs showed up late after being slowed by a traffic accident.
Brubaker read Brophy's quote: ``They probably weren't hung up in traffic at all. They probably sat out in the parking lot debating whether they wanted to come in and get a beating.''
Brubaker said it was bad enough that the Monarchs had a tough night. ``Then,'' he said, ``John Brophy opened his great, big, huge, enormous, giant, fat mouth.''
- RICH RADFORD 10. Norfolk State basketball
How many schools play Division II basketball?
More than you might think - there are 253 men's teams and 244 women's teams, including schools you probably never heard of, like Olivet-Nazarene, Missouri-Rolla and Converse College.
Out of all those schools, Norfolk State was the only one last season to place its men's and women's teams in the Division II Elite Eight.
The men, picked fourth in the CIAA North, went 27-6, knocking off perennial kingpin Virginia Union to win the South Atlantic Regional title. The Spartans advanced to Springfield, Mass., where they fell to Washburn, 69-58, in the NCAA quarterfinals.
The women, expected to win the CIAA, did just that. Although the Spartanettes were upset in the conference tournament, they won the South Atlantic Regional and then went on to Fargo, N.D., where they lost to Bellamarine, 92-80, in the NCAA quarterfinals.
The NSU men and women combined to win 54 games, losing only 10. They also boasted some of the nation's top players. Corey Williams, a 6-8 transfer from Essex County Community College, sat out four years before returning to college basketball last season. He did it with a vengeance, averaging 23 points and eight rebounds.
For the women, forward Kristi Greene transferred in from Miami-Dade Community College and was voted a first-team All-American.
Both are back this season. In fact, the men have four starters returning, the women all five.
- ED MILLER ILLUSTRATION: Color file photos
Color photo
Jeff Capel...
Photo by CHRISTOPHER REDDICK, Staff
Joe Smith scored as well for Maryland as he did for Maury,
rekindling the Terps' basketball program along the way.
Photo by PAUL AIKEN, Staff
Odell Hodge can only watch the rest of ODU's season. Last season's
CAA player of the year still has two years of eligibility left,
though.
Photo by PAUL AIKEN, Staff
Heath Shuler and the Redskins took plenty of lumps in 1994.
The much-hyped rookie QB did play well at a bad season's end.
STAFF FILE
With 13 minutes left, ODU led by 19 in the Colonial final. But after
Kent Culuko's last-second bomb, it was JMU that cut down the nets.
KEYWORDS: 1994 by CNB