Virginia does its homework
Cavaliers turn back Tigers to give Leitao his first ACC victory
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 8, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE - With 8 minutes remaining, Virginia led 52-42. Three-and-a-half minutes later, Clemson led 53-52, and the Cavaliers appeared to be reeling.

No wonder U.Va.'s first-year U.VA. 64 CLEMSON 58coach, Dave Leitao, was as relieved as he was exhilarated when yesterday's matinee ended at University Hall.

"What I learned today is they don't come easy," Leitao said after his first ACC victory with the Cavaliers (1-1, 7-5).

Down 56-55 after Clemson guard Cliff Hammonds' three-point play with 1:33 left, Virginia regained the lead on an off-the-dribble jumper by sophomore point guard Sean Singletary. The Wahoos pulled away for a 64-58 win before a spirited crowd of 8,279.

The victory was U.Va.'s fifth consecutive over the Tigers (1-1, 12-3).

"I thought today there was an energy level that was sustained," Leitao said. "It wasn't just here and there."

The Cavaliers' conference home opener was their first game since last week's trip to Bowling Green, Ky., where they fell 78-68 to Western Kentucky.

In that game, swingman Adrian Joseph went to the line for two shots with 2:47 left and U.Va. behind 67-64. He missed both, and Virginia faded in the final 2 minutes. Joseph scored only two points against Western Kentucky.

Against Clemson, Joseph went to the line for a one-and-one with 51 seconds left and Virginia holding a 57-56 lead. He made both free throws. Those points proved to be crucial because Clemson guard K.C. Rivers scored on the next possession to cut U.Va.'s lead back to one.

"I wasn't going to miss," Joseph said.

The 6-7 sophomore from Trinidad didn't misfire much yesterday. He made 6 of 10 shots from the floor, including 3 of 5 from beyond the arc, and 4 of 4 from the line to finish with a game-high 19 points.

"He hurt us bad," Clemson coach Oliver Purnell said.

So did Virginia's emphasis on "gang rebounding," as 6-10 junior Jason Cain put it. Led by Cain, who pulled down nine boards, U.Va. outrebounded Clemson 39-21. Starting guards Singletary and J.R. Reynolds combined for 11 rebounds, and sophomore center Tunji Soroye had five, to go with his four blocked shots.

"We haven't been beaten like that on the boards all year long," Purnell said.

Hammonds led the Tigers with 14 points, and junior point guard Vernon Hamilton added 13. Hamilton, a Benedictine High graduate, also applied relentless pressure to U.Va.'s guards and finished with four steals. Two came in Clemson's 11-0 second-half run, during which Hamilton scored seven points.

"I think [Hamilton] played a hell of a game," said Singletary, who with 17 points was one of four Cavs to score in double figures.

Clemson played from behind most of the game. If not for a blunder by U.Va. freshman Mamadi Diane, the Tigers would have gone the final 7:35 of the first half without scoring and trailed by at least seven at intermission.

With the Cavaliers in possession - and the shot clock off at the end of the half - Diane threw an errant pass with about 4 seconds left. Clemson parlayed the turnover, which infuriated Leitao, into a breakaway dunk by center Akin Akingbala that made it 31-26 at the break.

 

Cavs earn first ACC victory
Singletary steps up down the stretch
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
January 8, 2006

A lot of people call the University of Virginia's Sean Singletary one of the best point guards in the ACC. But, about midway though the second half, he wasn't playing like it.
Singletary committed two crucial turnovers that allowed Clemson to go on a run and get back in the game.

However, with just more than a minute left and UVa trailing by a point, Singletary redeemed himself. The sophomore floor general did what all great players do - he demanded the ball at the game's most critical time.

Singletary toyed with his dribble about 30 feet from the basket, then exploded to his left past Clemson's Vernon Hamilton. Hamilton was able to recover, but just as he did, Singletary stopped on a dime. Hamilton went flying by and Singletary drilled a 15-foot jumper.

The shot paved the way for a 64-58 win - UVa's first in ACC play.

"That's a shot I take every day in practice," said Singletary, who finished with 17 points and six assists, "so it was just like clockwork when I got it."

Cavaliers coach Dave Leitao said the biggest thing that stuck out about his first career ACC win was his team's resiliency. Singletary, he said, was a prime example.

"He got a little sloppy in taking care of the ball," Leitao said, "but ? it speaks to who he is that he could be resilient enough and bounce back knowing the kind of game it was."

After a miserable outing in their first ACC game at Georgia Tech on Dec. 4, the Cavs (7-5, 1-1) played one of their best all-around games of the season. They came out with energy and focus that had been lacking in many of their games this season.

The Cavs did a good job defending the 3-point line. Using a man, and two types of zone defenses, they held the Tigers to 6 of 24 from behind the arc.

Meanwhile, the Cavs were 6 of 11 from 3-point range. Adrian Joseph, who was coming off a poor outing in the loss at Western Kentucky on Monday, led the team with 19 points, including three 3-pointers.

Joseph also hit two clutch free throws, atoning for two he missed down the stretch versus the Hilltoppers.

"I remembered the [Western Kentucky] game and thought about it for a second," Joseph said, "but I stepped up 100 percent confident, knowing I wasn't going to miss the free throws. I didn't want the same thing to happen that happened before."

Joseph, who got the start - just his second of the season - played well, according to Leitao. Leitao said Joseph coming through in the clutch at the charity stripe was another example of the team's resiliency.

"It was a specific indication of how you do your best not to repeat history," Leitao said.

Playing in front of the biggest - and most enthusiastic - crowd of the season, the Cavs had a seven-point lead with 28 seconds left in the first half. Coming out of a timeout, they had the chance to take the last shot of the half and head into the break feeling good.

However, as the clock dwindled to less than 10 seconds, Mamadi Diane forced a bounce pass to Tunji Soroye. It was intercepted by the Tigers' Akin Akingbala, who dribbled the length of the court for a buzzer-beating dunk.

Leitao went into a rage, the crowd was silent, and all the momentum the Cavs had built up seemed to be gone as the teams exited the court.

But Joseph came out gunning after the break, knocking down 3-pointers on the team's first two possessions.

About midway through the half, he nailed a baseline jumper off an inbounds pass for a 49-42 Cavs lead. Then, after a defensive stop, Singletary drilled a 3 to give the Cavs a 10-point lead.

Coming out of the timeout, University Hall was as loud as it's been all season. The Cavs could taste their first ACC win.

However, the Tigers - behind an intense full-court press and a lucky bank-shot 3-pointer with the shot-clock running down by Hamilton - went on an 11-0 to take a 53-52 lead with 7:32 left.

The Cavs (7-5, 1-1) responded by hunkering down on defense, getting big rebounds and hitting clutch free throws. Then, Singletary did his thing.

"I thought today there was an energy level that was sustained," Leitao said. "It wasn't just here or there."

How did Leitao's first conference win feel?

"You just cherish them," he said. "What I learned today is that they don't come easy."

Added Singletary: "[Clemson] was a good team that came in with a lot of confidence. I think we handled our business well today."

Especially when the game was on the line.

DUNKS: The attendance was 8,279. ...

The Cavs next host Florida State on Wednesday night.

Singletary took a hard spill in the game's opening minutes and had to leave the game briefly. He appeared to hit his neck, head and shoulders. Singletary said he wasn't sure what happened exactly. "I felt a little dizzy," Singletary said, "but then I just said, 'Suck it up.'"

The Cavs outrebounded the Tigers 39-21.

Soroye got the start in place of Laurynas Mikalauskas. He finished with four points, five rebounds and four blocks. "It was based on practice," said Leitao of his decision. "Tunji performed well over the last two days and earned the chance to start."

Leitao berated Diane after his first-half turnover, but seemed to console him later. "It was a teaching moment," Leitao said. "He got himself trapped and wasn't aggressive. I just told him, 'This is what I was asking for.'"

 

Challenges lie ahead for Virginia
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
January 8, 2006

They come from the corners of the Earth, inexperienced and imperfect. They are less offensive-minded than they need to be. But Virginia's much-maligned frontcourt players are giving it the old college try.
For now, that's good enough.

In Saturday's ACC home-opening win over Clemson (64-58), Jason Cain, Tunji Soroye and Laurynas Mikalauskas made a difference. Collectively, they accounted for 18 points, 18 rebounds, hit 5 of 12 field goal attempts, were 8 of 10 from the free-throw line and blocked four shots.

That might have been a good linescore for legendary Virginia center Ralph Sampson alone back in the day, but had you asked coach Dave Leitao back in April when he took over the program, if he would have accepted those numbers to start the New Year, there likely wouldn't have been any hesitation.

No one is ready to anoint the Cavaliers' frontline as ACC ready. Clearly, the challenge lies ahead. Clemson came to town with perhaps the smallest lineup in the league. But we're talking baby steps here.

Rebounding is a start

Mention Virginia's big men and coaches struggle to come up with a lot of compliments. Those are reserved for the Wahoos' backcourt, which ranks among the strongest in the league. But the big guys?

"They're serviceable," said Clemson coach Oliver Purnell, who was trying to be nice. "If your big guys will screen, play post defense, rebound the heck out of the ball and block shots, they're doing a good job for you. They did the job against us."

Leitao's No. 1 key to beating Clemson was to protect the backboards. His orders were simple: crash the offensive boards. His frontcourt, all three of 'em, responded in style.

In fact, Purnell commented that UVa's 39-21 rebounding margin was the worst his team (now 12-3, 1-1) has been beaten on the boards this season. He complained about how his team didn't block out, particularly on the weakside.

That's something that Leitao has harped on since Day One. Rebounding is all about boxing out. If you attend one of his practices, it is apparent how much he emphasizes that phase of the game.

The Big Three

Soroye, the 6-foot-11 sophomore who hails from Nigeria, where he used to play barefoot on the outside courts of Dugbe Ibadan, earned a starting spot for the game because he has stepped it up in practice. He responded with five rebounds, four points (all from the line) and blocked four shots.

Cain, a 6-10 junior from the mean streets of Philadelphia, delivered one of his best performances as a Cavalier, working 33 minutes as he barely missed producing a double-double. He had 12 points, nine rebounds and made 4 of 9 field goal attempts from inside the paint.

Mikalauskas, a wide-bodied, 6-8 freshman from Lithuania, made a field goal and added four rebounds in 10 minutes of action.

"They're big and they made it tough on our inside guys ... they hurt us," Purnell said. "They set real good screens for [Sean] Singletary and [J.R.] Reynolds."

Those are not the things that are going to leap off a boxscore or make SportsCenter's highlights. But they are the things that coaches love and are often the difference in an L or a W.

Cain, who up until now has been more famous or maybe even infamous for his mustachioed upper lip than for his game, showed a true pulse against the Tigers.

So much so, in fact, that Leitao went against the book when Cain picked up a second foul only four-and-a-half minutes into the game and remained on the court.

"I told the staff that I didn't want to do it, but that [Cain] was the only guy who was rebounding and battling," Leitao explained later. "I gambled a little bit. We were up and usually when we're up I don't do that ... but he earned it. If he had gotten his third [foul] I might have regretted it."

Instead, Virginia used more zone defense to try to protect Cain, while he tried to avoid another whistle. He said he wasn't surprised that Leitao left him on the court.

"Well, there's only three of us," Cain said about the situation. "Coach told me to play smart and to not get any ticky-tack, stupid fouls. There was no room for error."

Still, Leitao also wanted him to play hard, challenge shooters and not allow anyone to drive by him. Not an easy assignment, but Cain finished the game with only three fouls.

For now, the coach is getting all that can be expected, maybe even more, from his big men. As he points out, it's not an overnight process.

"All we ask of them is to come to practice every day with a willingness to get taught," Leitao said.

With Soroye, it's finishing his shot. For Cain, it's to physically and mentally understand that he has a lot more to give to this game (he was after all, first-team All-City in basketball-crazed Philly). With Mikalauskas (you can call him Lars, everybody else does), Leitao said it's all about learning about playing hoops at this level so he can best take advantage of his abilities.

"The guys are incrementally getting better and better, but we still have a lot of work to do," the coach said.

Singletary sees it every day.

"Jason gets extra [shooting] reps in practice, plus he's getting in the weight room and working, doing extra just to make himself better," UVa's point guard said. "Tunji is shooting a lot in practice. As you can see, he has a nice touch at the free-throw line (4 for 4 against Clemson). He can shoot jump shots, he just hasn't been able to get them in the flow of the game."

Leitao knows that by giving these guys extra work in practice that it will build confidence and erase weaknesses. That's important because many ACC teams, such as Georgia Tech did last month, are going to take away UVa's backcourt strengths.

Baby steps. There's a few thrills and spills along the way.

 

Joseph defies his recent history
Adrian Joseph forgets a previous game and makes a pair of late free throws to seal the win.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Dave Leitao couldn't escape it. Neither could Adrian Joseph.

As Joseph stepped to the free-throw line for a one-and-one Saturday, the memory of a Monday loss at Western Kentucky hung over him.

In that game, Joseph missed two late free throws that could have cut a three-point Hilltoppers' lead to one. On Saturday, a pair of Joseph free throws with 51.3 seconds gave Virginia a much-needed cushion in a 64-58 victory over Clemson.

"His mind went right back to [Monday night] and he said, 'No way; it's not going to happen again,' " said Leitao, the Cavaliers' first-year coach. "He knew it. I was thinking about it, too.

"Mind-sets are what makes a team be good. Sometimes, you learn from failure, as he did. That was a specific example of doing your best not to repeat history."

Joseph, a 6-foot-7, 195-pound sophomore, was eager to forget the trip to Western Kentucky, where he was 1-for-6 from the field and finished with two points in 26 minutes.

"After that game, I tried to come back and practice that same night," Joseph said. "The gym was closed. I came early the next morning to shoot free throws."

Joseph was part of a lineup change Saturday that included 6-11 sophomore Tunji Soroye, who made his first start since Dec. 17.

Leitao said the move was based on practice performance, but the Cavaliers became taller with the changes, and the result was apparent on the backboards.

The Cavaliers outrebounded the Tigers 39-21, with Jason Cain barely missing his fifth double-double of the season on a 12-point, nine-rebound afternoon.

"We haven't been beaten like that on the boards all year," said Clemson coach Oliver Purnell, who regularly starts three guards.

It was the first conference home game and the first conference victory for Leitao.

"I'm going to cherish it," Leitao said, "and, what I learned today is, they don't come easy. That team was 12-2 and coming in here understanding that they were going to get a win."

The Tigers (12-3, 1-1 ACC), off to their best start since 1996-97, have gone 2-15 in ACC road games under Purnell.

Virginia (7-5, 1-1) threatened to blow the game open when it took a 52-42 lead midway through the second half, but the Tigers cut the deficit to 52-48 without turnover-prone Virginia taking a shot. The Tigers completed an 11-0 run on a Cliff Hammonds runner that gave Clemson its first lead of the second half, 53-52, with 4:35 left.

UVa regained the lead on two Cain free throws; then Hammonds converted a three-point play with 1:33 left to put the Tigers ahead for the last time, 56-55.

A Sean Singletary jumper with 1:12 remaining gave the Cavaliers the lead for good and they pulled away with the kind of late-game performance that might have netted them a few earlier wins. UVa scored on each of its final six possessions, hitting 10 its last 11 free throws.

The Cavaliers had four double-figure scorers, led by Joseph with a game-high 19 points. That included three 3-pointers on five attempts, giving him 19 for the season.

"He hurt us bad," Purnell said. "He hit at least three open jump shots that really hurt us. He's a tremendous third option for them."

Clemson got 14 points from Hammonds and 13 from Vince Hamilton, who continued his rivalry with UVa shooting guard J.R. Reynolds. Hamilton played for Benedictine in Richmond when Reynolds starred at Roanoke Catholic.

Dreams live on for U.Va. senior
Billy Campbell finds a home and some solace on the basketball court as Virginia's only senior.
BY MELINDA WALDROP
247-4634
January 7, 2006

It's the dream of many aspiring college students: an acceptance letter from Harvard waiting in the mailbox.

But it was another dream that made Billy Campbell cast that letter aside.

Campbell's name is noticeable on the Virginia men's basketball roster because he's the lone senior in a lineup sprinkled with freshmen and sophomores. But the 6-foot, 184-pound point guard stands out for other reasons as well.

Campbell was recruited by Harvard and Penn after he wrapped up a three-sport career at the Paideia School in Atlanta, where he scored more than 1,000 points while also lettering in baseball and soccer. Campbell was tempted by the academics of the Ivy League, but couldn't get something else out of his mind.

"I wanted to play ACC basketball since I was like 4 or 5 years old when I was watching Georgia Tech teams," Campbell said. "I couldn't pass up that opportunity."

During a visit to Virginia, Campbell chatted with the coaching staff about trying out for the Cavaliers' basketball team. His decision was sealed when U.Va. awarded him an academic scholarship - something that wasn't going to happen at an Ivy League school where there are no athletic dollars to help pay a tuition that costs $50,000 a year.

Campbell opted for Charlottesville, where he tried out for and made the 2002-03 Cavs squad. He played in seven games as a walk-on, scoring 12 points.

Since then, his participation has increased, even if his walk-on status hasn't changed. He played a career-high 22 minutes against Fordham on Dec. 7 because new Cavs coach Dave Leitao often uses him to run the Cavs' offense when sophomore star Sean Singletary in on the bench.

"If I wasn't on academic scholarship, I'm hoping at some point that I would have earned a spot," Campbell said.

Leitao said Campbell reminds him of E.J. Harrison, a non-scholarship player at UConn, where Leitao was a long-time assistant coach. Harrison played for the Huskies in the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons, once logging more than 30 minutes in a first-round NCAA tournament game.

"I'm comfortable with giving guys like that an opportunity as long as they earn it," Leitao said. "Billy just happens to be a guy who has a tremendous understanding of what coaches are asking of him. He has a tremendous intelligence, not just in school but overall, (and) he has a work ethic. ... He's a guy that's thinking, 'I know I'm probably not gonna be in the NBA, so let me make this, my last year, my best shot at being the best I can possibly be.'"

The Cavaliers play their home ACC opener today at noon against Clemson.

Though his minutes have been limited, there are no limits to Campbell's excitement over playing college basketball. That was especially true when U.Va. traveled to Georgia Tech on Feb. 1, 2003, for Campbell's first game in a Cavs uniform in his hometown.

"It was just the biggest thrill to be on the court," said Campbell, 22, whose earliest basketball memories are of the Yellow Jackets' Lethal Weapon 3 teams featuring Kenny Anderson, Brian Oliver and Dennis Scott. "I can just remember the days when I used to watch, thinking that was going to be me. All I wanted to do was play for Coach (Bobby) Cremmins."

Georgia Tech showed mild interest in him in high school, Campbell said, before reality hit in the form of another recruit.

"Once they signed (current Portland Trail Blazer) Jarrett Jack, I kind of fell off the radar," Campbell said.

Campbell didn't spend a lot of time incognito in Atlanta. His father, William Campbell, served as mayor of the city of 4 million from 1994 to 2002.

"I always felt like there were eyes on me growing up," Campbell said. " ... At times there were great things that came out (of being the spotlight), that I got to see the Olympics up close, and all the Atlanta sporting events, but at the same time, it was just very tough to sort of be under a magnifying glass."

That scrutiny only intensified when William Campbell was indicted on charges of racketeering, bribery and fraud in August of 2004. He was accused of taking cash payments in exchange for city contracts and accepting illegal campaign contributions.

William Campbell has maintained his innocence. Jury selection for his trail, delayed from its original start date of Sept. 26, starts Jan. 17.

"It's definitely something difficult to deal with, especially knowing how amazing a father and (what) an incredible guy that he's been - a mentor my whole life, someone I've always looked up to," Billy Campbell said. "I've wanted to be like him my whole life."

That hasn't changed, although Campbell has grown even warier of all those outside eyes.

"It's tough to see your family and the people that you love blasted like that," Campbell said. "... I respect what politicians do and the duties they have and public service all the way around, but I don't think it's for me."

Instead, Campbell - who is majoring in economics - thinks he may follow in the footsteps of another family member. His uncle, Ed Tapscott, a former head coach at American University, went on to serve as general manager of the New York Knicks and is now president of the Charlotte Bobcats.

"I've joked with him that I have to stay close to him because I'm probably going to work for him one day," Leitao said. "He's going to be immensely successful in his life. I've benefited from his presence, and hopefully he benefits from mine. I get a tremendous amount of satisfaction from being around him."

Campbell knows the feeling - and where to find it.

"Basketball, for me, has always sort of been a catharsis for anything else that's going on," Campbell said. "Even if it's just coming into the gym late at night and shooting, you're able to clear your mind for a little while and relax and just focus on something that you love doing."«

 

Clemson can’t rebound from poor post play against UVA
Boards, scoreless stretches keep Tigers from second ACC win
By PATRICK OBLEY
Staff Writer

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Clemson was erased from the backboards Saturday in a manner similar to a sand blaster removing graffiti from a wall.

The wanderlust Tigers, ever in search of a rhythm in these post-James Mays days, will keep looking after a disappointing 64-58 loss at Virginia.

Virginia outrebounded the Tigers 39-21. The 21 rebounds were by far a season low, as were the Tigers’ 10 second-chance points.

“I thought the major reason we struggled all day from the opening tip was the backboards,” Clemson coach Oliver Purnell said. “Part of it was we were so small out there, but the other part is we just weren’t blocking out on the weak side.”

Faced with the challenge of stopping Virginia’s potent guards — Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds — Purnell opted to go with a small lineup, routinely using four guards with Akin Akingbala or Steve Allen in the post.

Virginia countered with its largest lineup of the season, replacing 6-foot-8 Laurynas Mikalauskas with 6-11 Tunji Soroye, who, along with 6-10 Jason Cain, dominated the Tigers in the paint.

But the game never devolved into a rout thanks in large part to some plucky play by the Tigers midway through the second half.

When Singletary buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key for a 52-42 Cavaliers lead, Clemson responded with 11 consecutive points for just their second lead of the day, 53-52, with 4:33 left.

“It felt good to get a run going and get started; we were right there,” said Vernon Hamilton, who accounted for 7 of the 11 points. “We put ourselves in position to win the basketball game. We had momentum.”

But with the game’s momentum within their grasp, the Tigers let it slip through their fingers.

Frustrated with his team’s play, Virginia coach Dave Leitao called a timeout and very animatedly called on his team make a final stand.

“I told them, ‘The buck stops here,’ and for the first time, I saw that same response back from them,” Leitao said. “Finally, they were the ones saying, ‘The buck stops here.’ ”

Virginia scored 7 of the game’s next 10 points to wrestle the lead back for good.

“It just boiled down to us getting stops and we didn’t get critical stops in the end,” Hamilton said.

The Tigers managed just two baskets the rest of the way. It was the second such dry spell of the game for Clemson, which went scoreless for more than seven minutes at the end of the first half before Akingbala’s buzzer-beating dunk.

“We’re the type of team that will struggle offensively at times,” Purnell said. “That’s why we harp so much on defense and rebounding. You look at the rebounding margin and clearly, that’s why we were chasing all day.”

Cliff Hammonds led the Tigers with 14 points, and was responsible for both of Clemson’s brief second-half leads. He hit a baseline jumper at 4:33 to cap Clemson’s 11-point run, then converted an three-point play for a 56-55 lead three minutes later.

Hamilton, a Richmond native, scored 13 points as the Tigers fell to 12-3 overall and 1-1 in ACC play.

Virginia had three players reach double figures, none were as unexpected as Adrian Joseph, who led all scorers with 19 points after scoring just two in Virginia’s last game.

“He hurt us bad,” Purnell said. “He hit at least three open jump shots that really hurt us.”

Clemson did a serviceable job on the Cavaliers’ dynamic guard duo. Singletary managed 17 points, but Reynolds, who entered the game averaging 15 points, finished with eight.

Cain added 12 points for the Cavaliers, who improved to 7-5 overall and 1-1 in the conference.

Clemson returns home this week for games against perennial conference powers Wake Forest and Duke.

“We definitely want to make noise in the conference,” Hamilton said. “We’re looking forward to playing them. Right now, I feel as if our next two games are two games we’re capable of winning. We just have to go out and execute.”

Reach Obley at (803) 771-8473 or pobley@thestate.com
 

Tech needs someone to lay down the law
Aaron McFarling
The Roanoke Times

BLACKSBURG -- Maybe now we can see why Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer always holds out for raises for his assistants.

On every football staff, somebody's got to play the role of bad cop. And Beamer, despite a quarter-century as a head coach, just doesn't have it in him.

All the evidence you needed was at that press conference Saturday. At times, when talking about the dismissal of quarterback Marcus Vick, Beamer looked like he was close to tears. Just like Vick, Beamer repeatedly said, he was "hurt" by all that happened.

That's perfectly understandable. Nobody wanted it to turn out this way, least of all a man who's known the Vick family for years. Least of all a man who goes into homes and makes promises to parents about things turning out right.

Talk about his $2 million salary all you want. But Beamer remains a compassionate man with a small-towner's faith in people, and that is admirable.

But as the Hokies look to the future, somebody on this staff is going to need to bust some heads.

Beamer acknowledged as much Saturday. Asked about the growing perception that his team is undisciplined, Beamer agreed with it to a point.

"I'm deeply disappointed in how we played six of the last eight quarters of this season," Beamer said, referring to the Florida State game and the first half of the Gator Bowl against Louisville. "It bothers me, and we're going to get this corrected.

"I've talked to a couple [players] and I'm going to visit a couple more before they come back to school, but we're going to get this corrected. We've got too much pride in this program and we've done too many good things for us to not play the game the right way."

The right way. That means cutting out personal fouls, cutting out taunting, cutting out ejections, cutting out mindless penalties.

In short, it means making the story football again.

Such a reformation has been achieved here before, by this very staff, as much as some in the national media want to tell you otherwise. Anybody who says Tech has been spiraling out of control for the past few years obviously didn't watch a single game in 2004.

In fact, that season should be the blueprint for the 2006 Hokies, because the similarities are hard to miss.

Just like then, the team will be coming off a highly publicized Vick incident.

Just like then, the team will be expected to slide back to the pack in the ACC.

Just like then, the quarterback will be a question mark. In 2004, it was Bryan Randall, a rising senior with experience but physical flaws. In '06, it will be one of four quarterbacks, none of whom has experience outside of mop-up duty.

And just like then, the tone was set before the offseason even began.

Remember the end of '03? Defensive coordinator Bud Foster, amidst a rash of undisciplined play that led to season-ending losing streak, called out a faction of the team for being selfish and vowed to rectify it.

"It has been addressed with the individuals and it has been addressed with the football team," Foster said then. "It's been on all sides of the ball and in all phases of the game. Obviously, we're not coaching that stuff. It's a lot of little things, and those little things can turn into big things."

Sound familiar? Here's what Beamer said Saturday:

"Whether it involves people not being here or people acting differently, we're going to get it corrected," he said.

The 2004 Hokies were ACC champions and one of the most pleasurable teams to watch in program history. The played hard, they played cleanly, but if they caught you, they punished you.

It's up to the bad cop -- or group of bad cops -- to find that again.
 

Tech, Vick say they're moving on
The now-former Hokie quarterback says he's going pro; his former coach calls the school's decision "difficult."
By Randy King
981-3126
The Roanoke Times

BLACKSBURG -- Scrambling quickly after learning Friday he had been permanently dismissed from Virginia Tech's football team, troubled quarterback Marcus Vick officially announced Saturday that he will turn pro.

In a statement released by his lawyers, Vick said he will declare himself eligible for April's NFL Draft. With only one year of college eligibility left, Vick's only other choice to continue his football career was to transfer to a Division I-AA or a lower-level program, where he would have been eligible to play this fall.

"I have decided to enter the NFL Draft," Vick said in the three-paragraph statement. "I'm very excited about this opportunity and look forward to proving my athletic ability at the professional level. I believe I am ready for this challenge and the next chapter of my life."

Vick, 21, said he appreciated all the consideration and trust that Hokies coach Frank Beamer had placed in him during his tumultuous career at Tech. He also expressed contrition for his unsportsmanlike conduct in Tech's 35-24 victory over Louisville in Monday's Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla.

"I deeply regret that I allowed my competitive emotion to take control," said Vick, referring to his blatant stomp to the left leg of Cardinals All-American defensive end Elvis Dumervil following a tackle.

"To all of the Virginia Tech community, I sincerely apologize."

Shortly before Vick released his statement, Tech President Charles Steger, Hokies athletic director Jim Weaver and Beamer explained the basis behind their decision to banish Vick from the school's football team in a news conference in Blacksburg. The cumulative effects of Vick's litany of legal woes off the field, combined with the ugly Gator Bowl incident, was "sufficient to do what we did," Steger said.

"I think I will share with coach Beamer and Jim Weaver that we are all saddened by what happened to Marcus, and we wish the outcome could have been much different," Steger said.

"We've received literally hundreds of letters and e-mails from fans all over the United States. We felt it was something, as representatives of the university, we have the responsibility to consider all the opinions and consider what is fair, and at the end of the day what is the right thing to do. And that is the course of action we took."

Still, until early Friday afternoon, the trio of judges had agreed Vick's penalty would be a two-game suspension that would be served at the beginning of next season.

A fax sent to Steger's office disclosed that Vick had been stopped Dec. 17 for driving 38 mph in a 25 mph zone and driving with a revoked or suspended license. Vick told Beamer about the ticket for driving on a suspended license on Dec. 19, Beamer said, but did not mention that he'd also been caught speeding.

Vick's license had been taken away in August 2004 when he was cited for reckless driving and marijuana possession, but it had been reinstated until a friend driving a car owned by Vick was pulled over and found to not have insurance, Beamer said.

Vick received a citation as the car owner, but an investigation by the school indicated that getting his license reinstated was merely a formality, Beamer was told. Beamer, who had Tech director of football operations John Ballein look into the issue, said he never thought the matter was serious.

"When John came in and said this was a formality, it never occurred to me that this went against the Comprehensive Action Plan," said Beamer, referring to guidelines set by the school for the behavior of student-athletes. "I thought it was just a matter of Marcus going in and signing a paper and paying some money. If I should have [let Weaver know], I apologize."

Weaver said Beamer had no responsibility to tell either him or Steger under such circumstances.

"If coach Beamer had thought I needed to know, he would have come to me," Weaver said. "Let me add, none of us were aware of the speeding ticket, either."

At that point, the two-game suspension penalty was taken off the board and replaced by permanent eviction from the squad. Beamer flew to Hampton Roads, where he met and informed Vick and his mother, Brenda Boddie, of the school's decision late Friday afternoon.

"It wasn't any fun. It was difficult," Beamer said. "I hate it when there's disappointment ... when you wish maybe you could have done something more, better. Looking at Brenda, I was terribly hurt. Looking at Marcus, I was terribly hurt. That's the way it is."

Now Vick can only hope he will eventually join his older brother, Michael, in the NFL. Michael Vick was paramount in putting Tech football on the national map in 1999-2000 before he left school early. He was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft, earning a then-record $64 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons.

Marcus Vick, who didn't start a college game at quarterback until leading Tech to an 11-2 record and No. 7 final national ranking this season, won't draw anywhere near the attention in the draft that his famous brother did.

Noted NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper said Saturday on ESPN Radio that Marcus Vick likely is a second-day draft pick, likely to be selected somewhere between the fourth and seventh rounds. Kiper said Vick would be better off transferring to a Division I-AA program and playing another season to gain much-needed experience.

"If I was advising Marcus Vick, that would be my advice," Kiper said.

Beamer said he told Vick that he would do anything he could to help him at the next level. In 24 career games at Tech, Vick threw for 2,868 yards and 19 touchdowns, with 15 interceptions. He was named first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference this past season.

"Still, we had a decision to make here," Beamer said. "We three did exactly what we thought was right for Virginia Tech and what's right for Marcus Vick.

"I've said many times that I wanted this thing to have a great ending. It's not the ending that I envisioned."

 

A needed first step to restore an image
The Virginian-Pilot
© January 7, 2006
Last updated: 3:46 AM

Low-down and dirty as it was, “the stomp” alone might not have ended Marcus Vick’s football career at Virginia Tech.

The delayed reaction out of Blacksburg, including coach Frank Beamer’s typical lack of comment when the fur is flying, smelled like another suspension on the way. One final rap on the knuckles — and Tech would absolutely mean it this time! — for the Hokies’ All-ACC quarterback with a knack for making all sorts of news.

We’ll never know, of course. Friday’s revelation that Vick was cited for speeding and driving with a suspended license last month, in the post-midnight hours the young man so favors, piggy-backed with Vick’s Gator Bowl disgrace, doomed him.

Beamer could no more step to a microphone today in Blacksburg and suspend Vick from spring practice, a game or two next season, etc., than jet to Jupiter. As he’s done so often, Vick forced Beamer and Tech into a humiliating corner — humiliating on a national scale — from which there was but one escape.

That was to cut his losses and basically wish Marcus Vick a nice life.

You can understand how this must just be crushing Beamer, considering his deep personal and professional ties to the Vick family. If the coach doesn’t exactly owe his $2 million salary to the Vicks, he owes maybe half of it.

Michael Vick thrust the Hokies from a solid, fairly anonymous program — when the players weren’t getting arrested, at least — into the 1999 national title game. He led Tech to victories in 20 of his 21 games there. Beamer wept at Vick’s going-pro news conference. Vick was the NFL’s No. 1 draft pick, and donated gobs of money to the school and got a building named for him.

Naturally, Marcus came along, as if it were ordained, and ultimately forgot to remember the scrutiny attached to his famous last name. Yet, after his stunning string of misadventures, court appearances and suspensions, Vick still wound up posting 11 victories — the coin of the realm — in 13 games as a starter.

Add that up real quick: Tech is 31-3 with a Vick at quarterback.

You bet this is torturing Beamer. The trouble, of course, is that this is the bed that the coach and the school have made.

They cleaned up after themselves pretty well after a run of serious off-the-field thuggery a decade ago rained similar national ridicule upon their heads, installing a written code of conduct for student-athletes.

Now they have a lot of sweeping up to do again, and in a hurry, to dispel the spreading perception that they have sold out integrity and sportsmanship to win games and fill their ever-expanding stadium.

Jettisoning Marcus Vick is the first and most necessary step toward that end. But looking long and hard at the annoying arrogance that has crept into Tech’s program has to come next.

The Big 12 referee who worked the Gator Bowl was quoted this week as being “really disappointed” in Tech’s “brutal” behavior during the victory over Louisville. Tech drew four personal fouls in the first half alone, not including Vick’s stomping on Elvis Dumervil’s knee, which somehow went undetected.

“Those kids were just completely out of control,” the referee, Steve Usecheck, said of the Hokies.

Lovely.

So who’s not controlling the kids? Who’s condoning the obnoxious skipping, preening, gyrating, arm-waving, trash-talking and late hitting that too many Hokies have incorporated into their game?

Who at Tech is demanding that the extraneous nonsense that’s reflecting so poorly upon the team and the school stop immediately? And that the players get back to playing the straight-up, hard-nosed, lunch-bucket type of football the Hokies like to think they represent?

Nobody.

Sure, Beamer is rid of the problem child he never could tame. Enforcing an attitude adjustment upon the players and the coaches who remain, and gaining back a ton of lost respect, needs to be his next project.

Reach Tom at 757-446-2518 or tom.robinson@pilotonline.com

 

Vick turns to draft
Beamer knew of license violation before bowl, not last-straw speeding ticket
BY MIKE HARRIS
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 8, 2006

BLACKSBURG -- Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer knew quarterback Marcus Vick had a problem with a suspended driver's license before the Hokies played in the Gator Bowl. But he said yesterday he did not know Vick also was given a speeding ticket in December, and it was the knowledge of that ticket that ultimately led to Vick's dismissal from the team.
Vick, who announced yesterday he plans to turn professional rather than transfer to a lower division school, was dismissed Friday for what Tech President Charles Steger called "a cumulative effect of legal infractions and unsportsmanlike play."

The latest was the speeding ticket, of which Steger, Beamer and Tech Athletic Director Jim Weaver became aware Friday. That summons and a citation for driving with a suspended license were issued in Hampton on Dec. 17 but not reported on the Hampton General District Court Web site until Thursday.

Tech re-admitted Vick in January 2005 after a one-semester suspension for a variety of legal problems. He was taken back with the understanding that any more off-field trouble would spell the end of his playing career. "Even a speeding ticket is sufficient given the cumulative effect of all the other things that have gone on," Steger said.

Beamer and Weaver said they agreed it was the right decision.

Steger and Weaver learned of the latest violations Friday as Beamer was headed to the Vick home in Suffolk to meet with Vick and his mother, Brenda Boddie.

That discussion was necessitated by a play in the Hokies' 35-24 victory over Louisville in the Gator Bowl last Monday.

After a second-quarter play, Vick rose and stomped on the leg of a prone Elvis Dumervil. No flag was thrown, but Steger, Weaver and Beamer said yesterday they thought the action was intentional and unsportsmanlike.

Vick was going to be hit with a two-game suspension for that move if he chose to return to the team. When news of the December violations surfaced, the decision was made to give him no choice. He has not been expelled from school.

"I cried a lot yesterday," Boddie told The Associated Press. "But we're just going to move on and make something positive out of this, and Marcus is going to show everybody that he's not the person a lot of people claim he is."

She agreed her son "did the wrong thing" and said she understood why Tech had to do what it did, but said she resents seeing her son portrayed as a "monster."

Vick was suspended from school for the fall 2004 semester. He was arrested earlier that year on charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and in July on charges of reckless driving and possession of marijuana.

He was fined $100, put on probation for 12 months and given a 30-day suspended jail sentence after pleading no contest on the contributing charges. He lost his license for six months and paid a $300 fine for the marijuana and reckless driving charges.

Beamer and John Ballein, the associate athletic director for football operations, admitted yesterday they knew learned about the suspended license on Dec. 19. Steger and Weaver said they did not know about that until Friday.

Vick explained to them that his license was suspended because a friend was driving a car he owned and the friend hadn't paid for insurance. Ballein verified the story. Vick later paid it, and his license was reinstated.

Beamer said "it never occurred to me" that the suspended license went against the guidelines set forth when Vick was reinstated.

"It never entered my mind. I thought it was a matter of him going and signing a paper and paying some money," Beamer said. "It never, never came across to me that way. If it should have, I apologize. To me and through John, I didn't consider it that type of issue."

Said Weaver, "None of us were aware of the speeding ticket." He indicated he was not angry that he hadn't been informed of the license issue. "If Coach Beamer thought I needed to know, he would have come to me," Weaver said.

Vick, the younger brother of former Tech star and current Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, had a successful 2005 season. He was all-ACC and runner-up in the league player-of-the-year voting. His 2,393 yards were the third-best single-season total in Tech history.

But he had a problem on the field Oct. 1 at West Virginia when he directed an obscene gesture toward the stands.

Then came the incident with Dumervil.

Then the news of the latest violations.

"While this is a sad day, I hope that Marcus Vick is able to learn a lesson about life from this unfortunate turn of events," Steger said.

About the same time Steger was saying that, a bookstore manager said he had canceled an order of No. 5 jerseys. Beamer appeared near tears yesterday, Weaver and Steger solemn as they met the press to discuss the Vick situation.

Steger said he'd received many letters and e-mails and the "vast majority were very supportive of our decision. I get the full range of commentary on this."

Beamer defended Vick as someone "who sometimes is portrayed differently from what I think he really is and that's disappointing." He also said he's disturbed by other sportsmanship issues in his team's final two games the Gator Bowl and the ACC championship game loss to Florida State on Dec. 3. He said he has spoken to other players about cleaning up their acts or leaving the program and will speak to more of them. He did not identify the players.

"I think it's a small element of our football team that's spread a little bit. Six of the last eight quarters were not fun," he said. "It bothers me, and we're going to get this corrected. We have too much pride in this program and we've done too many good things for us to not play the game the right way and do the right things on the field. Rest assured that's going to happen."

Ballein said he's spoken to Vick and has encouraged him to return to school and finish work on his degree. Vick is an apparel, housing and resource management major in good academic standing.

"He told me he was sorry, and he appreciated everything we had done for him," Ballein said.

 

Choosing Tech first bad move made by Vick?
BOB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Jan 8, 2006

In the end, Doing the Right Thing met Doing the Only Thing at the same intersection, and Marcus Vick was a goner.
Virginia Tech's public relations nightmare has been downgraded from high boil to simmer. The prodigal brother has been banished forever. The starting quarterback's job is wide open.

The shame is that it had to come to this, but that's on Marcus Vick, not Tech. The school gave him more chances than a lottery clerk, and he shredded them like worthless Powerball tickets.

His body of work finally left his indulgent keepers with no recourse. As board of visitors rector Ben Davenport told the Roanoke Times, "He really backed us in the corner."

Tech's honchos threw in the towel Friday and ended the relationship, and amen to that. The decision was two years late in the making but no less meaningful and proper. One 28,000-enrollment university and its reputation are larger than one mischief-making athlete and his lengthening rap sheet. Or so you would hope.

What ultimately tipped the balance was Vick's breaking of the covenant both sides established in August 2004. "If there is any more trouble, his Virginia Tech career is effectively ended," Charles Steger, the school's president, said at the time.

"I wish the outcome could have been different," Steger observed yesterday at a somber news conference held to discuss Vick's dismissal.

Somewhere in between, much opportunity and goodwill was squandered.

Vick probably should've gone to another college from the beginning. It's not just that he'd always be compared at Tech to his more talented, more electric, less entitled brother. It's that somewhere else he would've been treated as something other than the second coming and maybe held accountable to a higher degree.

He might've been shaped up, in other words, not enabled. In Blacksburg, where Michael hung the moon and Michael donates wads of cash and Michael's sighting by TV cameras along Tech's sideline is always good for a bump on the recruiting index, everyone wanted the kid brother to make it big.

Wanted it too much.

Did backflips for the guy.

Let him skate.

Whether this was done one last time in the run-up to the Gator Bowl is the only murky thread dangling from this tapestry. Frank Beamer conceded yesterday he was told two weeks before the game against Louisville that Vick's license had been suspended for an insurance lapse, but he judged it a paperwork issue that didn't rise to the level of a firing offense.

That the license problem was accompanied by a charged speeding violation is a fact Beamer says he learned only on Thursday. That Vick would've informed coaches of the license matter but not the speeding ticket isn't hard to imagine.

That Tech emerged from the bowl game with a win but tarnished image were byproducts of Vick's participation -- although over-the-top misconduct in Jacksonville wasn't restricted to one player, an item Beamer addressed yesterday.

"I can assure you it bothers me, and we're going to get this corrected," he said. "We've got too much pride in this program and done too many good things for us not to play the game the right way."

Marcus Vick preferred to play by his own rules. Yeah, he has talent -- nice arm, good feet, speed, quickness -- but it's tough to get from here to the finish line when you're lugging so much baggage and have a tendency to steer into the shadows. Tech stuck with him longer than it should. At least Vick's first public statement expressed appreciation for that.

"I said many times, I wanted this to have a great ending," Beamer said. "It's not the ending I envisioned."

But one he sadly could've expected.