THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 20, 1996 TAG: 9604200525
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Tom Robinson
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
Whatever you think, this column is not about Old Dominion baseball coach Tony Guzzo, the Norfolk guy so at home in his dream job.
If it were, Guzzo might have a conniption. So the fact that Guzzo, 47, starts toward his second 500 victories today, when George Mason visits for a big weekend series, will be duly noted, then dropped.
``Five hundred wins is not about anything that's important to the players or me. I'm very uncomfortable talking about it,'' Guzzo said - about 500 times with a frown - during an interview in his office.
``Sam Esposito, who coached at North Carolina State a long time, put it best - if you take a bunch of guys who can't play, you can coach them 24 hours a day, you can coach your little heart out, it'll have nothing to do with the outcome.''
Which is Guzzo's way of deflecting the accolades that have come since he became the 69th active coach to reach that certain, unmentionable milestone last Tuesday.
In the spirit of cooperation, then, we'll toot a horn for another worthy subject - this ODU team, Guzzo's second after four seasons at North Carolina Wesleyan and 12 at Virginia Commonwealth, that is somehow 30-10 and in first place in the Colonial Athletic Association.
It is a freshman-filled team that defends well, hits just enough and, considering its 4.53 ERA, pitches unusually average for an ODU team.
ODU starts three freshman infielders, one freshman outfielder and has just three potent bats in Matt Quatraro, Ron Walker and Brian Fiumara. That trio has scored 41 percent of ODU's runs, driven in 52 percent and produced 61 percent of its extra-base hits.
The Monarchs have played 14, and won 10, games decided by one or two runs. But in short, though a dip seemed inevitable, they have carried on ODU's baseball tradition surprisingly well.
``Nobody expected us to be 30-10, but that doesn't get you anything,'' said Quatraro, a .419-hitting senior catcher and probable CAA player of the year. ``We have to keep our focus on what's ahead of us.''
Talk of the future, and enriching ODU's tradition, is what really gets Guzzo going.
At the risk of elevating his blood pressure, it's worth pointing out that Guzzo established the high standards that exist today at North Carolina Wesleyan, which went to two Division III World Series under him, and VCU, which was a game away from the College World Series in 1992.
ODU had the tradition, though, built by Bud Metheny and stoked by Mark Newman and Pat McMahon. Guzzo's clubs have upheld it despite their disparate composition.
Last year's team, featuring all-star talent, was slowed by injuries in the regular season, but was more its self at tournament time. ODU took the CAA title and won two NCAA regional games, a first for ODU.
But after huge turnover, ``I was afraid the older guys wouldn't believe they could win with so many freshmen playing,'' Guzzo said.
Three victories in three early February days in Charleston, S.C., including a come-from-behind win over The Citadel, turned a lightbulb on for everybody.
``That's when I thought maybe we'll be all right,'' said Guzzo. ODU began CAA play 15-5, but promptly lost to cellar-dweller William and Mary once and nearly twice.
``That shows there's a very thin line between us being very good and struggling at times. We've gotten a lot of breaks.''
Guzzo has always put himself in the good-breaks category. Didn't local connections from his alma mater Norfolk Catholic, for whom Guzzo later coached, with North Carolina Wesleyan help him get that job in 1979?
Didn't VCU call him in 1983, though Division III coaches never jump to Division I? Didn't the friendship of VCU athletic director Dick Sander and ODU's Jim Jarrett grease Guzzo's return to Norfolk?
And doesn't he hold this coveted place only by the grace of so many great former assistants and players?
Yes, Guzzo tells you.
``I thought about this job for a long time,'' Guzzo said. ``If I didn't get it this time, I was worried that the guy who got it might not leave.''
Oops, sorry about all this about you here at the end, Tony. Enough.
See you after 500 more. ILLUSTRATION: Tony Guzzo
by CNB