THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 15, 1995 TAG: 9504150423
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
Booker T. Washington coach Barry Hamler and Norfolk State assistant Mel Coleman are among the candidates who have interviewed for the men's basketball coaching job at Elizabeth City State, sources say.
A search committee had narrowed the field to four candidates. Also interviewed were Western Michigan assistant Anthony Jones and former North Carolina State assistant Ray Martin, according to sources.
Elizabeth City is expected to name a coach early next week. The Vikings were 8-19 last season, and former coach Claudie Mackey resigned to take a job as assistant athletic director.
Hamler, one of the area's high-profile high school coaches, has been at Booker T. since 1987. He led the Bookers to the Group AAA title game in 1992 and founded the Tidewater Basketball Classic, a tournament that annually brings some of the nation's top high school teams to Norfolk. He declined comment Friday.
Coleman has been the top assistant at Norfolk State for four years. Prior to that, he spent 23 years as a high school coach in West Virginia and Ohio, 18 as a head coach. He was chosen Ohio's District 5 AAA coach of the year five times.
``I have no qualms with the situation (at Norfolk State),'' Coleman said Friday. ``But I'm not content. You always like to run your own program.''
Jones has been an assistant to Western Michigan coach Bob Donewald for 11 years, six at Western Michigan and five while Donewald was at Illinois State.
Martin was an assistant under Jim Valvano at N.C. State and has also been an assistant at Southern Methodist and Tennessee. He was most recently an assistant at Shaw University in Raleigh. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Barry Hamler has coached at Booker T. Washington since 1987.
by CNB