THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 15, 1996 TAG: 9610150407
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Tom Robinson
LENGTH: 63 lines
Until he was fired by University of Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams last spring, career assistant coach Art Perry had defied the odds by always taking his next job on his own terms.
That is, for 24 years in a business where ``rent, don't own'' is worthy advice, Perry had never been dismissed by his boss or university.
That was special to Perry, and apparently it meant something to the people at Delaware State when they searched for their third head coach in four years. So when they handed Perry their job in late August, they allowed the former Old Dominion assistant to buck more odds.
Rather than pluck somebody's whippersnapper assistant, Delaware State gave a 49-year-old with graying hair and a grayer mustache his first chance to direct - beginning with the start of practice today.
``Each year that I didn't get a head coaching job, especially in the last five years, yes, I wondered if anybody would give me the opportunity,'' Perry said at a recent gathering of his new league, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, in Norfolk.
``I always thought I'd done a good job and been recognized for it. But there's a new confidence when someone says, `You're the guy.' ''
Perry was Tom Young's main man from 1978 to '85 at Rutgers, and then at ODU till '90. That's when he left to join his old friend, Williams, and earned praise for targeting Joe Smith early and bagging the Maury High School star for the Terrapins.
Smith carried Maryland into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament two years ago. But when Smith left for the NBA and the Terps didn't match that success last year, while losing some important recruiting wars, Perry took the hit he said he never saw coming.
``I don't agree with it, but I don't condemn him for it,'' Perry said of Williams. ``It was a business decision that goes beyond friendship. You have to do what's best for the program when you're a head coach, and that's what I'm going to do, also.''
As he faces more long odds. Perennially, the MEAC is one of the lowest-rated Division I conferences. Other caveats come with his coveted title, too. Gone are the big budgets, big talent and big paychecks of the ACC - Perry said he took a 25 percent cut to move to Dover. Plus, any packed arenas now will have the bad-vibes feel of a Christians vs. lions thing.
Delaware State, 18-38 the last two years, not only has a losing tradition, like most MEAC teams it annually prostrates itself on the road for necessary financial gain. The terrible schedule Perry assumed from ex-coach Fred Goodman is loaded this way: six of the first seven games are at Illinois, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Dayton, Georgetown and Houston.
The Hornets, in fact, play just one home game before Jan. 22. Correcting this area, among others, will call for all Perry's experience and contacts.
``There are ways to play three of those games instead of six and get the same money,'' Perry said.
To even be discussing it, he admitted, is humbling, but that's life in the small time. You accept your tradeoffs like a man because of the magic that two little words have worked upon your life.
``Head coach is a power trip,'' Perry said. ``You're looked at so much differently by everybody. It's amazing what a title can do, as opposed to 24 years of experience.'' ILLUSTRATION: Career assistant Art Perry lands on his feet as head
coach at Delaware State. by CNB