THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9512310217
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB MOLINARO
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Because everybody loves a party, Virginia Tech's basketball players are joining the football team for a unique New Year's Eve bash in the Crescent City.
Speaking of sports, there is a lot for Virginia Tech to celebrate. In 1995, the school became a somebody once again, or for the first time, depending on your point of reference.
So as the year winds down to the two-minute warning, the Big Easy becomes the site of a Hokies group hug. Tech's matinee basketball game today against Wright State at the Lakefront Arena is an appetizer to the evening's Sugar Bowl with Texas.
``There's never been a time when there's been more pride in Virginia Tech,'' Frank Beamer, the football coach, said Saturday.
``I saw Bill Foster, our great basketball coach, and I asked when was the last time our football coach and basketball coach were in the same room, and both our last wins were against Virginia.''
No question, Virginia Tech athletics are on a roll. You can see how Hokies fans could believe that their teams have eclipsed U.Va.'s.
This is Tech's time. This is its town.
For his part, Beamer has glanced up from the game film and press conferences long enough to note that, wherever he looks, he sees ``a sea of maroon and orange.''
His hope, he added, is that ``half of the crowd will be ours, maybe more.''
Stop him if you've heard this before, but, for Beamer, the Sugar Bowl is about credibility.
``It's credibility all the time,'' is the way he puts it.
The Sugar Bowl is money. And exposure. Not to mention, a good time. But for Beamer, the game provides ``an opportunity to take another step.
``The more times you get to a bowl game, the more times you win, the more top 10 rankings you get, the more glamorous you are. We might be more glamorous next year if we do well in this game.''
Maybe so. In any case, a coach must think this way. Must talk this way.
Still, in the larger scheme of things, it's difficult to see why a loss to Texas should seriously alter opinions of Virginia Tech's football program.
The money - $4 million - is all but spent. The reams of newspaper copy and miles of video tape praising the Hokies - or introducing them to an unaware public - have been consumed and absorbed.
Like all bowls but the one determining the No. 1 team, the Sugar will come and go very quickly. Memories of the game won't last as long as some of the hangovers earned on Bourbon Street. The bigger priority for Beamer is ``consistency over the years.''
With that in mind, he said Saturday that ``Texas is where we want to get to.''
It is the politically correct thing to say. But a year ago, the Texas prairie almost turned to quicksand under the feet of coach John Mackovic after an 8-4 season that included a bowl appearance. So which program really is the more stable?
Public perception is the game within the bowl game. With that in mind, Beamer is comfortable sticking to a script that reads, ``If we could figure out a way to beat Texas, people would think we're more legit.''
Perhaps he's right.
Saturday, Beamer said, ``We've got a lot riding on this thing.'' But moments later, he mused, ``When you're 0-2 and playing Miami, that's when you have the jitters. This is fun.''
For Tech alumni and fans - for their basketball and football teams - fun is the fallout from credibility. by CNB