THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 18, 1996 TAG: 9602170143
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: Kevin Armstrong
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Dear Dr. Tim Jenney:
Welcome to Virginia Beach and what I hope will be the most satisfying tenure of your academic career. I'm certain that it will be the most challenging. Considering where you've been - Michigan, Oklahoma and South Carolina - I hope that on a more personal note you may share a little of my interest in college football. Afterall, you've lived and served in communities that are home to some of college football's most fanatical supporters, from the Wolverines to the Sooners and Tigers.
I mention that because the situation you've chosen for yourself brings to mind some lessons I've learned from watching - never participating - in the game.
I'm sure you have your own coaching style, but you should know that you're following in the shadow of a Bear Bryant. Ed Brickell served as schools chief in this city for 18 years, retiring in 1987. Since then, three others have tried to take over this team we call the Virginia Beach school system. Each failed to find a winning formula, much like those who followed the Bear at 'Bama. Not until Gene Stallings arrived did the Crimson Tide faithful return to the top of the mountain. Ray Perkins and Bill Curry couldn't survive. We're hoping you turn out to be our Stallings.
Also, you're painfully aware that your bosses - the equivalent of university presidents and boards of trustees in the football ranks - aren't exactly skilled at keeping this team financially strong or well stocked with administrative talent that's willing to stick it out. I hope you'll look over your squad of assistants and keep the ones you like and send the others packing. Those vacancies, I assume, will be filled with some of your own leaders, the ones you've groomed over the years in other places. We welcome that change.
Be aware that we're a proud bunch. You're coming into a community that for many years owned the bragging rights to top-notch education in Hampton Roads. Our morale is sagging these days. We've been on a losing streak the last two seasons. You can't afford to repeat that. We'll give you two years to get us back to our winning ways. We know that we can't go undefeated in one season.
If you want our support, you'll need to keep us up to date on your plans. Tell us where we're lacking and be a cheerleader for our strengths. We want the good with the bad. We believe that a strong leader must identify both and not con us into believing we're better than we are.
And don't even think about short-changing academics. That's what this is all about. Be a Tom Osborne. Nebraska earned back-to-back national championships AND produced more academic All-Americans than most other universities.
We recognize that you're not coming here to earn state titles in varsity sports, but you could easily short-change us by adopting a philosophy that's more focused on how you play the game than whether you win or lose. In the academic world, I believe they call that ``outcome-based education,'' OBE for short. We'll have no part of that, coach. Building self-esteem in students is important, but it's not the top goal. We believe that turning out winning players who can be drafted into the pros (higher institutions of learning, in this case) is the way to making students feel good about themselves.
We expect you to put these folks through some tough workouts. We expect you to challenge the best and brightest of our students through magnet schools and gifted programs. We expect you to develop the fundamentals in those who need attention in other ways. But let's be sure to start with the basics of tackling and catching - reading, writing and arithmetic. Then build from there.
Finally, our team needs a pep talk. Our teachers need some encouragement. I suggest you borrow a page out of former coach Brickell's playbook: rent out the Pavilion (our home field) and give 'em a speech. Fire 'em up and tell 'em what you expect. They're ready to follow. You need to lead.
Sincerely,
W. Kevin Armstrong by CNB