A closer inspection

BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Nov 13, 2002

In April, the College of Charleston chose Virginia assistant Tommy Herrion to succeed John Kresse as its men's basketball coach. Before he got the job, Herrion fielded several questions from officials at the South Carolina school about his credentials.

Athletic Director "Jerry Baker asked me on at least one occasion if everything on my resume was correct and accurate," said Herrion, who worked under Pete Gillen at Providence and U.Va.

As he assembled his staff, Herrion asked that same question of his new assistants.

"The last thing I want is that to pop up, especially my first year here," he said.

Such is life in college athletics in the wake of the George O'Leary debacle at Notre Dame last winter. Before he had a chance to unpack in South Bend, O'Leary resigned as the Fighting Irish's football coach after admitting he'd lied about his academic and athletic credentials.

"You want to make the assumption that people are honest," said Jim Weaver, Virginia Tech's athletic director. The fact that they're not is a sad commentary on people trying to get employment."

O'Leary wasn't unique. Since he left Notre Dame in disgrace, resume embellishment has cost numerous coaches and administrators their jobs. The group includes Sandra Baldwin, president of the U.S. Olympic Committee; Charles Harris, who stepped down the day before he was to be introduced as Dartmouth's athletic director; UCLA men's soccer coach Todd Saldana; Allegheny College football coach Blair Hrovat; Fayetteville State men's basketball coach Mike Bernard; Georgia Tech football assistant Rick Smith; and University of Richmond men's basketball assistant Mike Wilson.

"I think there's a lot more out there," Herrion said, "and there's guys who've had the erasers out - or at least should have the erasers out."

At universities in this state, administrators noted the mounting toll.

"With all the heightened awareness of what's going on," UR Athletic Director Jim Miller said, "we're going to have to make sure we fully investigate the individual's past, to make sure what's being provided to us is the whole story. . . . In the future, we might have to do more hiring of search firms that do background checks."

Time was, few universities would have considered such a thing when hiring athletic-department personnel.

"People didn't check resumes," said Dick Sander, athletic director at Virginia Commonwealth University. "They talked to one or two references, and that's it."

Before O'Leary's resume enhancements brought the issue to the fore, Virginia Athletic Director Craig Littlepage said, U.Va. was probably "doing much like most everybody else around the country was doing, which was to accept at face value credentials and confirmation about achievements and not doing very much with regard to reading bios that were in media guides and other publications."

And now?

"Nobody wants to be in a position - whether it's the employer or the employee - of going through a lot of heartache and misunderstanding and adverse publicity over something that could easily be avoided: easily avoided in terms of correcting the record, easily avoided in terms of doing due diligence," Littlepage said.

UR found that pitfalls aren't always so easy to avoid. On the resume Wilson gave to Richmond, Miller said, the information was accurate.

"We have never hired anyone here where we've known of inaccuracies or overlooked them," he said.

What Richmond didn't know, until the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette contacted Miller in late June, was that many pieces of biographical information about Wilson in media guides at schools where he'd previously worked were inaccurate, including his year of birth and college alma mater.

In his bio at Auburn last season, Wilson claimed to have graduated from Bethel Park High in 1977. He actually graduated from the Pittsburgh-area school in'73. His bio also said he was Bethel Park's head basketball coach from 1979-81. Red Ryan, the school's head coach from 1975-98, told the Post-Gazette that Wilson never coached or played basketball there.

A day after learning of Wilson's paper trail, UR dismissed him. He'd been on Spiders coach Jerry Wainwright's staff about six weeks.

"It was a sad situation for all parties involved, the greatest for Coach Wilson," Miller said.

In the aftermath of Wilson's firing, Miller said, "we talked to all our coaches and all our staff people and said you need to go back and make sure everything that's written about you, and not only your resume, is accurate, and from that point forward everyone's going to be held strictly responsible for what's written about them."

At Virginia Tech, new hires already were required to submit the transcripts of their highest degrees, Weaver said. Since July, applicants also have been asked to meet with Tech's coordinator of human resources during the interview process "and verify the accuracy of their biographical data on their resume or letter of application," Weaver said.

"If we find that there's something wrong, then they've lied twice. They've lied on the biographical data sheet or resume, and they lied when they signed it, and they'll be relieved of their duties immediately."

Tech officials will continue to check references as they always have, Weaver said, "but we're not going to go and check every little detail. We're going to ask them to indicate that it is accurate when they come in for an interview."

For years, Sander said, Virginia Commonwealth has checked the academic credentials of people it has hired. "We call the schools," he said.

After the incidents with O'Leary and others, VCU took steps to ensure its coaches' and staffers' athletic credentials were accurately represented, too.

"We gave them all back their resumes and told them, 'We want you to submit a new resume,' " Sander said.

VCU didn't compare the new versions to the former ones, Sander said. "We just took the new ones."

At U.Va., Littlepage said, coaches and staffers whose bios appear in media guides are asked to verify and, when necessary, update their information each year.

Candidates for jobs seem to understand that the landscape has change. At U.Va., Littlepage said, it's increasingly common for candidates to be asked to provide transcripts or other proof of their academic credentials. In some situations, he said, candidates have offered to bring degrees with them to interviews.

Researching bios may be more problematic.

"Where do you begin the search in terms of what somebody has done?" Littlepage said. "Do you go back 20 years and check every bio that has been done, or do you check the last bio that's been done?

"What we have done with our head coaches is ask them to go to their staffs just to confirm that what it is that is produced from this point forward is accurate."


 

VIRGINIA NOTES

Nov 12, 2002

ADDED INCENTIVE: After beating North Carolina on Oct. 19, Virginia had five chances left to post a seventh victory and thus become eligible for a bowl. U.Va. (4-2, 6-4) failed to convert on its first two opportunities, losing to Georgia Tech and Penn State, but gets another shot Saturday when 22nd-ranked N.C. State (4-2, 9-2) visits Scott Stadium for an ACC game.

"I'd like it for the players to be able to say that they went out and earned something like that," Cavaliers coach Al Groh said yesterday. "To do that, I think, would be something that this team would have really earned, considering in many quarters what was expected of it to start with."

In the media's preseason poll, Virginia was picked to finish eighth in the nine-team ACC.

"For the players, I'd really like to see" their hard work rewarded with a postseason appearance, Groh said. "They've tried to respond to the nth degree to everything that's been asked of them, every challenge put in front of them . . . In our case, it would be tangible evidence of a very successful season."

Outside linebacker Darryl Blackstock said the Wahoos, should they qualify for a bowl, would not be picky.

"Everybody would love to go to the Rose Bowl, the Peach Bowl, whatever," Blackstock said. "We'll just take what they give us. We would play in the daggone Cavalier Inn Bowl."

SECOND THOUGHTS: At his weekly news conference, Groh told reporters that he hadn't learned the results of the MRI on Alvin Pearman's right knee. But the sophomore tailback later was spotted in the McCue Center locker room on crutches and probably will miss the rest of the regular season.

Pearman hurt his knee early in the first quarter Saturday against PSU. He sat out the rest of the half but returned early in the third quarter. He re-injured the knee on his first carry and missed the rest of the game.

"I was mad at myself over the thing," Groh said. "The medical people told me that he was fine, he was clear to go. I talked to Alvin: 'How are you doing? Coach, I'm fine. Can you play well? Yes, sir, I can play well. Is this exactly the deal? Yep.'

"I trust him when he says that to me, but I kind of in my heart knew that when a guy has that type of thing, that they're not fine, despite the fact that I was getting both medical and personal testimony to the fact that he was."

QUESTIONABLE: Groh disclosed that offensive guard Elton Brown has a stress fracture in his right foot. The mammoth sophomore from Hampton, who missed the Penn State game, originally was thought to have simply sprained his ankle against Georgia Tech last month.

The stress fracture "wasn't discovered until some time after that," Groh said.

Brown said his ankle "hurt a little bit, but it's a painful game, so you got to play with a little pain. It didn't seem serious at the time." He's still on crutches, but Brown said he hopes to play Saturday against the Wolfpack.

GROH-ING PAINS: Groh spoke Saturday night at Beaver Stadium about Penn State's superior strength and power. He said yesterday that the Cavaliers should improve in both areas next season.

"I know those guys are either here now or they're coming," Groh said. "I know what a lot of those [Penn State] players probably looked when they were, say, Brad Butler's age. He's 6-7, 270. Well, one of these days we're going to trot him out and he's going to be 6-7, 300, and he's still going to be able to bend and run."

Butler, a true freshman from Lynchburg, is a second-team offensive lineman. U.Va. has commitments for 2003 from such players as Marshall Ausberry (6-6, 335), Gordie Sammis (6-5, 295), Eddie Pinigis (6-7, 285), Keenan Carter (6-1, 350) and Robert Armstrong (6-3, 305).

FASHION STATEMENT: N.C. State coach Chuck Amato is known for the sunglasses he wears on the sideline. Don't expect to see Groh in shades Saturday.

"My wife told me, 'Don't get any of those,'" he said, smiling. "I told her I think I need a pair of those. She said, 'You don't need anything like that.'"

KEY LOSSES: Amato's club took a pounding in its loss Saturday at Maryland. Linebacker Avery Gibson (ankle) and offensive guard Shane Riggs (knee) are likely to miss the rest of the season, and tailback T.A. McLendon (tailback) and wideout Jerricho Cotchery (ankle) are doubtful for this weekend.

McLendon, a true freshman, is the ACC's second-leading rusher and has scored 15 touchdowns. Cotchery had a career-high 12 catches for 144 yards against Maryland. Fifteen of his 48 receptions this season have gone for at least 20 yards.

ON THE DEUCE: Virginia's final home game, Nov. 23 against defending ACC champion Maryland, will start at 5:30 p.m. ESPN2 will televise it. Tickets remain for the N.C. State and Maryland games. - Jeff White

 

No longer just for kicks
Ex-Magna Vista player Alex Seals is making the most of his fifth season at UVa, serving as a safety in Virginia's "dime" package vs. Penn State.

By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Alex Seals probably could have lived with the reputation he has carved out as a special-teams player for Virginia in his final two football seasons.
Seals' skills had gained him a scholarship, earned him the George Welsh Special Teams Award and given him the satisfaction of hearing his name announced after nearly two dozen tackles.

What he might not have envisioned was the scene Saturday at Penn State, where he took the field in front of more than 108,000 spectators as a safety in UVa's "dime" package.

UVa's consummate special-teams player had become a defensive back.

"Honestly, I didn't think that would ever happen," said Seals, a fifth-year senior from Magna Vista High School in Henry County. "I've tried to prepare myself just in case it might happen, but I didn't get my hopes up."

Seals' first appearance in a non-kicking situation occurred when he was placed on UVa's short-yardage defense against Clemson. Two weeks later, he was given credit for the stop when UVa forced Georgia Tech to punt late in the game the Yellow Jackets held on to win 23-15.

"This isn't a guy who just runs down the field," Groh said Monday. "The things he has done on special teams ... these have been real football plays. He's a real football player who happens to play on special teams.

"He comes in, he studies tape, he attempts to do things in practice situations that he's going to do in the game. He has a real good idea about the opponent. He knows the techniques."

So, why did it take 4 1/2 years for the Cavaliers to use Seals in meaningful defensive situations?

"Last spring, when there was an opportunity for a lot of playing time, as a veteran safety [and] a guy who had been in the system, I was surprised at some of the difficulties he was having," Groh said.

"I thought it would come a lot easier to him last spring. Now, that I'm on the other side, I'm not surprised by it. This is kind of what I thought he would be able to do last March."

By last March, Seals knew he would be returning for a fifth year, but he hadn't known for long.

"With the way the scholarships were working out, I thought I was done after my fourth year," he said. "I missed three or four weeks of the off-season weightlifting program because I didn't know that I was coming back."

Seals had been awarded a scholarship prior to the 2001 season and Groh was on record as saying he wanted him back for 2002, but, for a time, scholarships were tight.

Seals is the younger son of George Seals, a former Roanoke College basketball player and administrator who has watched three of his children go to UVa.

George Seals Jr. was a scholarship recruit who lettered two years as an offensive tackle for the Cavaliers in 1998-99. Older daughter Leslie is a junior at Virginia and younger daughter Abby is a senior at Magna Vista who is seeking early admission to UVa.

"She's the smartest of the group," Alex said proudly.

At 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds, Seals did not have his brother's size, but he had quickness and agility and would have played soccer for Roanoke College if he had not gone to UVa as a walk-on football player.

Despite the expansion of his role, Seals remains best known as part of a UVa kickoff-coverage unit that routinely pins opponents inside their 20-yard line.

Of Seals' 15 tackles, 11 have come on special teams, ranking him among the leaders in a point system devised by special-teams coach Corwin Brown.

"We joke back and forth about it," deep snapper Ryan Childress said. "We want to make sure coach Brown doesn't count those other tackles he makes."

If that's even a question, then Seals must be doing something right.

 

What’s in a Name? At U.Va. it's two athletes
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© November 13, 2002

CHARLOTTESVILLE — More than 13 feet and nearly 600 pounds of Elton Browns — or is that Eltons Brown? — bestride the University of Virginia campus, a couple of colossuses on scholarship.
Believe it or not, that’s not as much Elton as there used to be.

In a boon for their respective teams and a blow to the Charlottesville fast-food industry, the cousins Brown — football-playing Elton G. and basketball-playing Elton E. — have sworn off hamburgers, hot dogs and 1 a.m. pizzas.

It took some prodding on the part of their coaches, and some willpower on the part of the Browns — known far and naturally, wide, as Big E and Cousin E.

A little rivalry between the cousins didn’t hurt, either.


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“We’re each other’s toughest critics,” Elton G. said. “I told him, ‘Hey, if you’d lose some pounds, you’ll play better.’ And he said back to me, ‘If you lose a few pounds, you’ll play better, too.’\u2009’’

“We took each other’s advice.”

Elton G., a starting offensive guard, is now a svelte 6-foot-6, 320 pounds, down from a jiggly 347. He answers to Big E.

Elton E., a power forward, checks in at 6-9, 260, down from 280. Friends call him Cousin E.

In both cases, less has resulted in more. With center Kevin Bailey lost for the season with a knee injury, Elton G. has emerged as the team’s best offensive lineman, capable of clear-cutting a secondary on pulling plays.

“It’s like running behind a steamroller,” tailback Alvin Pearman said. “You’ve got 330 pounds moving like a Porsche out there.”

Perhaps the biggest indication of Brown’s value is the way the Cavaliers running game has struggled without him the last two games. Brown missed most of the Georgia Tech game and all of the Penn State contest with a stress fracture in his right foot.

Brown, still on crutches Monday, said he hopes to return for Saturday’s game against N.C. State.

Through four weeks of pre-season basketball practice, meanwhile, Elton E., has impressed with his newfound ability to scoot up and down the court. He scored 23 points in an exhibition win Sunday.

“I feel much better carrying around 260 than I was at 280,” he said.

The Browns have attracted attention since first setting foot on campus 15 months ago. They’ve also caused more than a little confusion.

Some casual fans thought they were one person, a two-sport Super Elton.

“Last year, in the dining hall, some guy asked me, ‘How you going to handle basketball season?’\u2009” Elton G. said.

Gradually, the Browns forged their own identities. Elton G. was thrust into the starting lineup after eight games. Elton E. scored 16 points in his first college game and had 20 points and 10 rebounds in a win at Georgia Tech.

Now, there’s football Elton and basketball Elton. Still, occasionally, the Browns will be out together — you rarely see one on campus without the other — and they’ll have an encounter like this:

Stranger: “What’s your name?”

“Elton.”

“And what’s your name?

“Elton.”

“What’s your last name?”

“Brown.”

“Brown.”

Some people take the Browns for a pair of super-sized wise guys.

“It got to the point where we had to start showing IDs,” Elton E. said.

Identity confusion is something they’ve dealt with since grade school, when they briefly attended the same school in Newport News.

When one Elton would be called to the principal’s office, both would go.

They went their separate ways after that year. Basketball Elton played at Warwick High, where he was a runner-up McDonald’s All-American. Football Elton attended Heritage, but left after he was arrested following a fight. He finished his career at Hampton High.

The Browns converged again at Virginia, where initially, they were partners in overindulgence. They’d hang out in each other’s rooms, and when hunger pangs hit, they’d pick up the phone.

“We’d be ordering Papa John’s at 1 a.m.,” Elton E. said. “We’d both have a large pizza ourselves and go right to sleep.”

Now, they eat fish, chicken, salads and turkey.

But even before the diet change, being an Elton was about much more than just brute power. Both are uncommonly nimble for their size. At football practice one day, coach Al Groh had Elton G. catching punts.

“He catches the ball well,” Groh said. “Who knows, one of these days maybe we’ll find out who wants to tackle him.”

Pearman said Brown’s greatest talent is his ability to adjust on the move, and pick off defenders as they appear.

As for basketball Elton, coach Pete Gillen says Brown is his best low-post scorer. But he can also stray from the basket and can 3-pointers. He was 3 for 3 against Florida State last season.

“He’s a tremendous offensive player, but he needs to be a little more diversified,” Gillen said. “If he can continue to get stronger, he’ll rebound a little better, defend a little better.

“I’d like to see him play at 252, 253. I don’t know if it’s possible.”

Why not? What’s a few pounds between Eltons?