- January 20th, 2007, 8:07 am
#54446
this would be a heckuva pickup for the highlanders.
Radford may have candidate
Hokies associate head coach Brad Greenberg has been mentioned as a man the Highlanders like.
By Ray Cox and Mark Berman
The Roanoke Times
RADFORD -- As the Radford University's men's basketball team plays on in the last season of the regime of coach Byron Samuels, there appears to be no formal plan for a succession.
At the same time, the Radford coaching staff is focused solely on the team with no effort being made to recruit players.
Meanwhile, rumors are circulating in the coaching community that Radford officials are working behind the scenes to reach an agreement with Virginia Tech associate head coach Brad Greenberg to be the next Highlanders coach.
"That's what we're hearing; that's accurate," said one coach who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Greenberg is charged with scheduling, scouting and game preparation for the Hokies. He has a role in recruiting, particularly with international prospects. He works with perimeter players during practice.
Tech head coach Seth Greenberg, Brad Greenberg's brother, said he doesn't think Brad has talked with Radford.
"I know he's very interested. I do know that," Seth Greenberg said.
Brad Greenberg could not be reached for comment.
Seth Greenberg said Radford has not spoken to him about Brad. The Tech coach said he would be fine with Brad Greenberg talking to Radford during the season.
Brad Greenberg, who has been in coaching and related endeavors for 30 years, also has NBA ties. He served as general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers for one season and drafted Allen Iverson, who was recently traded to the Denver Nuggets.
When Samuels announced last fall that he intended to serve out this, the last year of his contract (it expires June 30) before leaving the university, Radford athletic director Greig Denny said that there would be a national search for a successor.
But as of this week, there has been no search committee formed, no advertisement for the job posted, and no plan for how the university will go about finding the sixth coach in the history of the men's program.
"Not to my knowledge," Denny said. "The university will initiate that process when it feels as though it will be appropriate."
As it stands now, Denny said there have been a number of formal applications and inquiries for the basketball job. Those have been filed for future reference, he said.
That has left potential candidates in the dark. One of them is Maryland-Baltimore County assistant coach Frankie Allen. An assistant on Samuels' staff last season, Allen was asked if he would be interested in the Radford job.
"Maybe," he said. "But let me say that it is always been my philosophy to worry about the job I have instead of the one I don't. I have a good situation here. Before I look into Radford, I'm going to have to know what they're looking for, what their parameters are going to be."
Allen is a former head coach at Virginia Tech, Tennessee State and Howard. He served on Samuels' staff for the 2005-06 season before leaving for the UMBC job last spring. Allen said at the time that he wanted to be with his wife, who continued to live in work in the Washington area after her husband moved to Radford.
Back in Radford, everything but this basketball season seems to be on hold, including recruiting.
"I have made my priority and my focus this team," Samuels said. "I haven't done any recruiting since last fall."
According to a source familiar with the situation, Michael Blaine, one of Radford's assistants, asked earlier this season if he could take a recruiting trip but was told not to by Chuck Hayes, a Radford theater professor who is the special assistant to Radford president Penelope Kyle for athletics.
Seth Greenberg endorsed his brother's candidacy for the Radford job.
"We know the people there [at Radford] so well," Seth Greenberg said. "I know Penny Kyle very well. I think he's the perfect fit for that job. ... You don't know what they're looking for, but I think it's a great opportunity."
Recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons said last November that Tech had the 17th-best fall recruiting class in the country, second only to Duke in the ACC.
Seth Greenberg said his brother was part of the effort to assemble that class, and also played a role in the signing of freshman Lewis Witcher, a Franklin County High graduate.
"Do I think he would be a great addition as a head coach?" Seth Greenberg said. "Without a doubt. He's overqualified, It's not like he doesn't have a [recruiting] network. It's not like we haven't had success recruiting. It's not like our campus isn't the biggest in the area. ... Here, he's involved in everything we do recruiting day to day."
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