THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 6, 1997 TAG: 9701040028
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 34 lines
Twelve starters for the Virginia Tech football team that played in the Orange Bowl on New Year's Eve won't be returning to Hokieland in September.
That's creating some angst. Fans wonder whether the school's recent stellar performance on the field is a one-time fluke or the beginning of an era.
But replacing Tech's finest is a second-string problem compared to the football program's toughest challenge.
That job is to end immediately the sordid record of alleged mayhem involving team members off the field. In the past 13 months, 19 Tech football players have been accused of crimes ranging from abduction to malicious wounding to rape to involuntary manslaughter. Several have been convicted.
To parrot former Gov. Gerald Baliles, who lectured Hokie sports' enthusiasts on excesses that prompted NCAA sanctions a decade ago: ``I expect problems to be solved, not prolonged. I expect action, not paralysis. I expect extracurricular activities to have a place - and to be kept in their place.''
Speaking at the June 1987 graduation, Baliles warned: ``I will decline future reappointment of board members unless they can clearly demonstrate a redirection of this university to its essential purpose.''
It was a threat on which the governor later made good.
No one knows how many of the recent indictments and charges will result in actual convictions. But there is no doubt that events have damaged both the university's and the state's reputation. That is too high a price, even if another byproduct is a winning football team.
If this situation cannot be curbed, and now, it would be appropriate for another governor to step forward and demand that heads roll.