VMI Cyber Corps

Alumni and Friends of VMI:

Cyber Corps Numbers: 491

VMI Football: Ouch!!

Tribe's Cook roasts Keydets / Ali churns out 105 yards in romp
W&M 49 VMI 0

Sunday, September 13, 1998

BY VIC DORR JR.
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

WILLIAMSBURG -- Significant strides by William and Mary football players
Mike Cook and Hameen Ali left large footprints on Virginia Military Institute's white away-from-home jerseys. Cook, W&M's senior quarterback, passed for 246 yards and three touchdowns; and Ali, the Tribe's sophomore starter at tailback, rushed
for 105 yards and one TD as 13th-ranked W&M flattened the Keydets 49-0
yesterday at Zable Stadium.

Both sets of numbers were notable. Cook is attempting to return to
All-American form after missing the final eight games of 1997 with a
knee injury. Ali, who was on the field for only three plays last year,
is regarded as one of the Tribe's most significant question marks on
offense.

Yesterday both had answers. Cook completed 12 of 16 passes and threw for
at least three touchdowns in a game for the eighth time in his career.

"There's still work to be done," he said. "I think I can improve in
every aspect of my game. Satisfied? You should never be satisfied. Your
approach should always be: I'm never going to stop striving to get
better."

Room for improvement notwithstanding, Cook said he was encouraged by his
performance in the third quarter. W&M, which led 21-0 at halftime,
buried the Keydets beneath a 21-point third-quarter avalanche. Cook's
contribution: six completions in six attempts for 160 yards and two
touchdowns. Included in that harvest was a short swing pass that H-back
Mike Leach turned into a 78-yard touchdown.

"The thing we wanted to do coming out of halftime was really explode and
dominate," said Cook. "Last week [in a 21-13 victory over Rhode Island],
we jumped out to a 21-3 lead but couldn't put [the Rams] away. We didn't
want to let the same thing happen again."

Ali, who rushed for only 58 yards last week, collected his first
100-yard game as a collegian and his first rushing touchdown at VMI's
expense.

"Last week I was . . . "Ali frowned and shook his head. "I don't know if
it was a lack of confidence, exactly, but I was really, really nervous.
As the game progressed, I started to feel more comfortable.

"[Yesterday], I didn't feel nervous at all. I was able to relax and
concentrate on running hard and making sure I got every yard I could
get."

Ali's inexperience makes him something of an unknown quantity, but he
appears to have enhanced his standing in the still-up-for-grabs scramble
for the No.1 tailback's position.

"It's hard to say at this point how good he's going to be or even what
kind of back he's going to be," said W&M coach Jimmye Laycock. "What I
looked for [yesterday] was to see if he'd get better -- and that's
exactly what I saw. In the second half, especially, I thought he ran the
ball pretty well."

VMI, which has lost its past six games against W&M by an average of 33
points, hoped to defuse the Tribe's offense by consuming big chunks of
the clock. That strategy was spoiled by a fumble that was returned 46
yards for a touchdown on VMI's first possession, two unsuccessful
field-goal attempts and an inability to sustain drives once they
penetrated W&M territory. VMI (1-1) failed to score against the Tribe
for the first time since 1948.

"At times, we executed very well on the offensive side of the ball,"
said Keydets coach Ted Cain. "We just didn't do it often enough, or
consistently enough, to drive it down there and get points."

Keydets quarterback Robbie Chenault, a sophomore from Lee-Davis, labored
to complete 14 of 29 passes for 118 yards on a bright, hot afternoon. He
was treated for dehydration after the game.

WM -- Beverly 46 fumble recovery (Sterba kick), 11:44

WM -- Nesmith 5 run (Sterba kick), 6:19

Second Quarter

WM -- Leach 26 pass from Cook (Sterba kick), 9:03

Third Quarter

WM -- Rosier 8 pass from Cook (Sterba kick), 10:35

WM -- Leach 78 pass from Cook (Sterba kick), 9:00

WM -- Ali 5 run (Sterba kick), 0:19

Fourth Quarter

WM -- Baker 14 pass from Pope (Sterba kick), 4:16

A -- 9,598.

RUSHING VMI -- Cauthen 14-48, Funches 4-30, White 8-18, Hunt 5-16, Frost 1-9, Parker 1-4, Mitchell 2-2, Chenault 9-(minus 6). William & Mary -- Ali 20-105, Baker 5-45, Nesmith 7-29, Harris 3-26, Cook 3-5, Pope 2-(minus 1).


PASSING VMI -- Chenault 14-29-1-118, Mitchell 1-1-0-11. William & Mary -- Cook 12-16-0-246, Pope 2-2-0-25.


RECEIVING VMI -- Frost 5-43, Yarbough 4-43, Parker 2-(minus 1), White 1-17, Garcia 1-11, Hunt 1-9, Knapper 1-7. William & Mary -- Leach 3-112, Conklin 3-41, Rosier 3-35, Nesmith 2-49, Baker 1-14, Partlow 1-11, Osborne 1-9.


TACKLES


VMI -- Curtis 16, Mubangu 9, Jarrett 7, Wigfall 6, Clark 5, Douglas 3, Cates 3, Prillaman 3, McPherson 3, Winfield 3, Prokop 2, Whitman 2, Browne, Harris, Lafferty, Jackson, Herrin, Gibson, Neely, Clark, Burris, Armstead, McDowell, Washington. W&M -- Beverly 6, Bowler 6, Felder 6, Stahl 6, Greineder 5, Youssofi 5, Walker 5, Cerminaro 5, Engel 5, Solomon 5, Lonergan 4, Alexander 4, Sisto 4, Braithwaite 4, Zaptin 4, Mills 3, Toal 3, Cunningham 3, Farrell 2, Schwalm 2, Liston 2, Cameron, Bell.

SACKS

VMI -- Cates. W&M -- Bowler, Felder, Walker, Bengaard.

INTERCEPTIONS

W&M -- Cameron.

FUMBLE RECOVERIES

VMI -- Prillaman. W&M -- Beverly, Greineder.

VMI's Future Football Schedule: Over the years much has been said and written about VMI's football schedule. The following article addresses some upcoming changes.

VMI already has lost a football date with Maryland
Rescheduling could be key to Keydets' success

By MARK BERMAN
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   The plug has been pulled on a football showdown between VMI and
Maryland, and the Keydets' annual games with William and Mary and
Richmond are on the critical list.

    The Division I-AA Keydets were going to reap $150,000 for visiting
I-A Maryland in 1999. But the game, which would have been the first
between the schools since 1972, has been scrapped because VMI can't help
Maryland qualify for a bowl.

    Once every four years, a I-A school can count a victory over a I-AA
team toward the six it needs to be eligible for a bowl. But the hitch in
the NCAA rule -- passed in 1997 -- is the I-AA school must average at
least 60 full scholarships a year in the three seasons before the game.

    VMI's average for 1996-98 turned out to be 58. VMI funded 59 grants
this year, short of the I-AA maximum of 63.

    Since beating VMI wouldn't help the Terrapins qualify for a bowl,
Maryland wanted to drop the game. VMI athletic director Donny White
didn't object because VMI could only have pocketed the $150,000 if it
had met the scholarship average.

    White hopes to pass out 63 grants next year, which not only would
make the Keydets more competitive against I-AA foes but also enable them
to meet the scholarship average in the future.

    "I would love for our football program to be able to meet the
guidelines so we could play I-A schools," White said Thursday.

    White, who has yet to replace Maryland, may have some more
non-league holes to fill. Pining for a less demanding schedule, VMI
second-year coach Ted Cain doesn't want to play William and Mary and
Richmond every year. He would rather alternate between the longtime
rivals, playing the Tribe one year and the Spiders the next. Cain wants
to make room for a "more realistic" foe that his Keydets have a better
chance of beating.

    "All the Southern Conference schools are very tough, and to play
William and Mary and Richmond and a Division I-A school, that's a tough
number," said Cain, whose 1-0 team visits 1-0 William and Mary at 1 p.m.
Saturday. "I think it would be realistic to play William and Mary or
Richmond every other year. That would be a very good scenario. Then put
another opponent in there that you would have a good chance against and
then maybe keep your I-A opponent for a money game."

    Cain's wishes aren't the only threat to the two series. The Atlantic
10 Football Conference, which includes William and Mary and Richmond,
voted this past May to expand its league schedule from eight games to 10
beginning in 2001. That means the Tribe and the Spiders will have just
one non-league opening each year. VMI could be squeezed out if either
school would rather play someone else, such as a lucrative date with a
I-A team.

    "I would really like to play a Division I-A game every year," said
Jim Reid, Richmond's coach. "But I also know one of the great interest
games in my career ... is Richmond-VMI. I really would love to play that
game. You're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place."

    Said Terry Driscoll, William and Mary's athletic director: "It's not
an ideal situation for us. It might make more sense for us to continue a
series with a VMI ... [but] the I-A games are attractive."

    If the A-10 doesn't change its mind, VMI won't shed too many tears.
The Keydets, who play three non-league games each year, haven't enjoyed
a winning season since 1981. VMI sees alternating between Richmond and
William and Mary as a possible cure.

    "While I recognize the traditional significance of being able to
play against them, I also recognize that our football team needs to have
some success," said White, in his first year as AD. "I certainly
understand [Cain's] philosophy, and based on where we are in our
program, that's probably a smart philosophy."

    Perennial power William and Mary, ranked 13th in the Sports Network
I-AA poll, has beaten VMI 12 straight times. But Richmond hasn't made
the I-AA playoffs since 1987, and lost to VMI two years ago.

    The Tribe and the Spiders have been constants on the VMI schedule.
VMI has played William and Mary 75 times, including every year since
1944. The Keydets have faced Richmond 79 times.

    But for the first time since 1990, Richmond isn't on this year's
schedule. VMI lightened its slate by replacing Richmond and I-A Navy
with Division II Lenoir-Rhyne, which fell to the Keydets 26-7 on
Saturday, and Morehead State, a nonscholarship I-AA team. VMI is
scheduled to play both Richmond and William and Mary in 1999 and 2000.

    VMI may shop around for more Division II foes. Scheduling
Lenoir-Rhyne, after all, enabled VMI to snap a 12-game losing streak.

    "Our team needs to see some success," White said.


Views From Stephen Ambrose: Don't know about anyone else, but I've become an Ambrose junkie as of late. His books are excellent reading. He spoke at VMI recently and the following article provides some insights.

- Publisher's Journal -

Some Thoughts On The Business Of Life

We Shall Not Forget Them

Steven Ambrose's talk was interrupted by several standing ovations, as
the noted author talked about World War II last Friday at VMI. Rightly
so.

When the author asked those in the audience who were World War II
veterans to stand, a poignant moment of applause occurred.

Despite not having served in the military, few authors have captured the
essence of combat during World War II as well as he. Is this a fellow
who goes out of his way for publicity? No, quite the opposite. Mr.
Ambrose reportedly indicated to VMI officials that participating in a
press conference was the least of his wishes.

Ambrose later journeyed to Roanoke to meet with former members of the
29th Division, the army group which landed on Normandy's Omaha beach on
D-day. A multi-million dollar monument to those who died on the beach
that fateful day in June, 1944 will soon be erected in Bedford, funded
in part by a million dollar donation by Charles Shultz (of Peanuts
fame).

With the release this summer of Saving Private Ryan, a whole generation
of young Americans got the chance to see what kind of incredible hell
D-day participants went through. The event is mentioned in most U.S.
history books, but the way I see it, is not dealt with detail equal to
its significance. The logistical mistakes made at the time created a
military nightmare for those whose job it was to storm the beaches. Many
did not believe that the Germans would be occupying the beach hilltops
with machine guns, according to Ambrose. The advance naval shelling and
air bombing raids were supposed to eliminate such a possibility. But
that didn't happen. What did happen was that all hell broken loose with
our soldiers encountering a shower of bullets on the beaches.

Ambrose advised Stephen Spielberg on details, ranging from tank traps to
items as sensitive as a story about a guy who really did bend down and
grab a portion of his arm which had been blown off.

I've heard several youngsters talk about the film. They were amazed at
the gore and winced repeatedly at the horrors of combat. My youngest
son, despite having heard this story from his father several times,
nearly had to cover his eyes as the onslaught of bullets and dead bodies
rushed to the screen.

I'm delighted that the 29th Division will have a monument all its own in
Bedford. It was an honor for Ambrose to come to Lexington to talk about
that great day, when the Allies stopped planning and finally started a
key phase of the effort to finish off the Nazis.

Steven Ambrose conducted a book signing at the Marshall Museum Saturday
morning as hundreds lined up for the honor of meeting him. What a great
opportunity it was for local people to meet a great man.
--------------
VWIL Is Alive and Well: There are those who thought VWIL would die on the vine...not so.

Women's leadership program thriving at Mary Baldwin,
officials say

Tuesday, September 8, 1998

By BILL BASKERVILL
Associated Press Writer

STAUNTON, Va. (AP) -- The women's leadership training program
established at Mary Baldwin College in an effort to keep Virginia
Military Institute off-limits to women is alive and well even as the
second class of women enroll at VMI.

And the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership will prosper even
after subsidies from the VMI Foundation Inc. run out, officials of the
private women's college insist.

"There's no chance VWIL will disappear when the VMI financial connection
does,'' said Mary Baldwin president Cynthia H. Tyson.

VWIL, which will graduate its first class next May, has 125 students and
hopes to increase enrollment to 150.

Four years ago, the private, alumni-supported VMI Foundation helped Mary
Baldwin set up VWIL as an alternative to enrolling women at VMI. The
foundation contracted to pay VWIL $273,125 per year until the first
class graduates in 2000.

The VMI Foundation helped Mary Baldwin set up VWIL four years ago as
part of its unsuccessful six-year legal battle to remain all-male. VMI
argued that the creation of VWIL gave women who wanted a military-style
education a comparable alternative to attending VMI.

The General Assembly provided an additional enticement of $7,400 per
Virginia student in VWIL, lowering tuition to about what it costs to
attend VMI, and the subsidy is in the state budget through the 1999-2000
school year.

But in 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the state-supported
school could not exclude women. In May, 23 women finished their freshman
year at VMI as part of the first coed class in the school's 158 years,
and 34 women enrolled last month as part of VMI's second coed class.

With women integrated into VMI, it is unclear whether the state will
continue its subsidies to VWIL after 2000.

"It is our assumption that it will,'' said Mary Baldwin spokeswoman
Christa R. Cabe.

Regardless, VWIL expects to find other funding sources by the time VMI
Foundation or state money run out, Ms. Tyson said. "Mary Baldwin is in
the process now of seeking private funding, which we seek for all our
programs,'' she said.

VWIL will continue because its mission is different from that of VMI,
said VWIL director Brenda L. Bryant.

"We don't tear them down and then build them up,'' she said of the harsh
discipline and torment of VMI's "Rat Line'' and similar programs at
other traditional military schools. "We let them grow from where they
are. We stress individuality.''

Since VMI admitted its first women in August 1997, only one woman has
applied to both VMI and VWIL, Ms. Bryant said. "We are not an
alternative to VMI. We're not attracting the same students.''

VWIL teaches traditional military leadership, including ROTC, but it
also stresses non-hierarchal leadership that moves power away from a
central leader. Ms. Bryant said software giant Microsoft is an example
of a company that uses the non-hierarchal technique.

"Our primary objective isn't (military) commissioning but to prepare
women for positions of leadership in the public and private sector, or
the military,'' she said.

Ms. Bryant said VWIL students have embraced the program and taken a
proprietary interest in it by recruiting new students.

"These women will do significant things'' during their lives, Ms. Bryant
predicted.

VWIL cadets say Mary Baldwin and VWIL offer the single-sex environment
they sought. VMI doesn't.

"I chose the program because it is the only all-female corps in the
country,'' said cadet commander Trimble Bailey of Roanoke.

Ms. Bailey, 21, was in the first VWIL class. She will graduate in May
and receive a commission as a second lieutenant in the Air Force. She is
applying to medical school and hopes for a career as an aerospace
physician in the Air Force.

Speaking of Female Cadets: Someone recently asked me how many female exchange students are at VMI this year. I did some checking around and found out that there are only two female exchange students this year. Both are from
Texas A & M.

Hey that's it for this week. Next up for VMI in football is East Tennessee State (away) on Sept. 19 at 2 P.M.

Yours in the Spirit,
RB Lane '75

Back to Cyber Corps Page

Back to the Main Page

Last Updated: October 11, 2009

Site Created by: Richard L. Neff II, '90 - Network Technologies Group