Tech’s Beamer shares ‘special’ part of game

Monday, Feb. 10, 2003 | 9:35 a.m.

To the rapt attention of hundreds of mostly prep coaches at a Nike clinic inside a Palace Station ballroom, Frank Beamer of Virginia Tech detailed his meticulous approach to special teams Sunday morning.

He showed optimum angles when blocking punts, highlighted rushing stunts and revealed how he fits special-team drills into a normal week of practice, and how he makes those teams truly special.

Members of those units, the majority of which are comprised of the team's best athletes, get to leave practice while a series of eight sprints signifies the end of the session for everyone else.

While the running backs coach leads tailbacks and fullbacks to their pre-game warm-up spots on the field, and the wide receivers coach leads the flankers and split ends, Beamer himself charges out with the kickers.

He seeks assistants with experience in special teams when filling a hole on his staff.

"We wouldn't do all of that if it wasn't thought of in a special way at Virginia Tech," Beamer said. "We use the best people we possibly can use on special teams. You have to be skilled. You can't be a slug and expect things to get done."

Beamer, 56, admitted that it is still a novelty for him to address such a large group of aspiring coaches.

Not so long ago, he and current Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen were up-and-comers on the staff at The Citadel, and they'd stare in awe during coaches' conventions whenever Johnny Majors, Joe Paterno, Darryl Royal or Bobby or Terry Bowden walked by.

"Great coaches coming through the hallways," Beamer said. "We'd see a bunch of guys, and you'd want to be like them. Now, you're on that side of the podium. It's amazing, to think that now I'm kind of in a position that some of those speakers were.

"People actually want to hear what I have to say. That's pretty amazing."

Beamer found extra time Sunday to chat about his success in Blacksburg, Va., the shortcomings of Title IX and Michael Vick, Beamer's former quarterback who was electric for the Atlanta Falcons last season.

Alabama and North Carolina were the latest to try to woo him. Virginia Tech athletic director Jim Weaver, who formerly held that post at UNLV, responded by bumping his salary to more than $1 million a year and boosting incentives for him and his assistants.

Before Beamer arrived in 1987, Virginia Tech had played in six bowls, going 1-5. In December, it played in a postseason game for the 10th consecutive season, beating Air Force in the San Francisco Bowl.

After the 1999 season, Vick and Virginia Tech lost to Florida State in the national championship game in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. Overall, the Hokies are 117-69-2, including 5-5 in bowls, under Beamer.

"I've had good fortune at Virginia Tech and have had some opportunities to leave," he said. "I've chosen to stay, but I've been very flattered. Growing up, if I'd had a chance to be the head coach of 'so and so' university ... it's just hard to believe sometimes.

"We're expanding the football stadium, we sell more season tickets every year and we just recruited three of the top five players in Virginia. So I think we're going to continue to get better players and put more people in the stands. I think our best days are ahead of us."

The same could be said for Title IX if, according to Beamer, it weren't written to the detriment of minor men's sports across the land.

Since it was enacted in 1972, Title IX has prohibited gender discrimination in public and private schools that receive federal funding. There's no women's football, so that's the major participation imbalance.

How football, easily most athletic departments' major source of revenue, isn't considered mutually exclusive to the big Title IX picture continues to flummox Beamer.

"Everyone is for what Title IX stands for, giving women equal opportunities in sports," he said. "I don't know if anyone is against that. But football ... is a special deal. It kind of gets everything out of whack. It's almost like good common sense would tell you to take football out of it.

"That's the sport that's funding a lot of other female and male sports. (Leave) football in there, all of a sudden your male 'rasslin' programs are going to suffer. It's hard to ever get equal after that."

Few are Michael Vick's equal, Falcons coach Dan Reeves has learned. When Reeves pondered drafting Vick, Beamer told him nobody would work harder than Vick. Reeves took Vick and has not been disappointed.

Beamer compares Vick to elite athletes such as Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird.

"Some people, when it gets time, they like the pressure of the situation," Beamer said. "Now, there are a lot of people who don't, all right. Mike Vick doesn't say, 'What if I fail?' His thoughts are, 'I'm going to get this done.' He's such a positive guy."

After talking to the mass of coaches and assistants for more than an hour, Beamer outlined blocking patterns and diagrammed other schemes in impromptu one-on-one sessions for more than a half hour.

Today, he is headed to Key West, Fla., where he will join Michigan coach Lloyd Carr in an executive rules-committee meeting. Unlike the "halo" rule that was updated a year ago, Beamer foresees no major changes this year.

The former defensive back for the Hokies also reiterated that Virginia Tech's best days are ahead of it.

"We're making a difference at that university, just in how people think about us," Beamer said. "When I first started out, I wanted to get it to where when people name the top 10 programs, year in and year, Virginia Tech would be in there.

"Now, whether we can get to that point or if we are there right now, I'm not sure. But that's kind of our goal."