"There's really a great mystery about VMI and the education here," Reid said Thursday morning by phone from the Lexington campus. "I really wanted to be a part of this education process and find out for myself."

What has Reid found? At a place where there hasn't been a winning season since 1981, Reid sees success on the horizon. He doesn't hesitate when asked if he can win at VMI.

"Absolutely," said Reid, whose team is 1-3 and faces James Madison (2-1) on Saturday in Lexington.

Still, the 55-year-old Medford, Mass., native doesn't deny there are challenges at VMI that are unique in college football.

Madison offensive coordinator Jeff Durden spent two seasons with the Keydets before joining the Dukes.

"You have to recruit a specific type of kid," Durden said, "because that place is not for everybody. You have to find a match."

VMI's rigid military discipline - combined with its famed freshman rat line - isn't always that attractive to high school seniors ready to go out on their own for college.

"The VMI experience isn't your typical college experience," said Bridgewater College coach Michael Clark, who spent two years as a Keydet assistant. "Some of the great things about VMI are longer term. As a coach, you're having to sell short-term sacrifice. Sometimes, that's not an easy sell."

Clark turned down a chance to interview for the VMI job when Cal McCombs was fired after last year's 3-8 season. Although he said it wasn't because of the challenges VMI poses for a football coach, Clark admitted he is among those who wonder just how successful the Keydets can be year after year.

"I think at VMI, you will get windows for success," Clark said. "I thought a year ago, Cal McCombs had a window for success. He had 28 seniors. He had a schedule that was semi-favorable. And it didn't turn out for whatever reason."

Clark and Durden both agree that one key to winning at the institute is retaining players. That's not an easy thing when your scholarship freshmen must endure the rat line, designed to weed out cadets who can't cope with an in-your-face military lifestyle.

Former Harrisonburg High School standout Wes Lokey, a redshirt freshman who will play nose tackle Saturday after starting the year at right guard, said more than half of his freshmen classmates have left the team. What will make VMI win?

"Tough guys, that's the only answer really," Lokey said. "We came in with 26. We're down to 11 now. Guys couldn't stick it out."

Reid, however, believes he has a good handle on that. Of the 19 scholarship players McCombs signed in his final recruiting class, nine have left the program.

Of the 20 Reid signed for his inaugural season, all but one remain on the roster.

"You have to cut through a lot of rumors about the rat line," Reid said. "Once you can get them here on campus and tell them what happens, and have the players tell them in an honest fashion what happens, you have a great chance to get them here."

Reid hopes that trend continues, allowing him to expand the program's numbers. He hopes to have the NCAA Division I-AA maximum of 63 scholarships doled out "probably in the next two years." He has the full allotment of scholarships available to him now, but said it's important to balance out the classes, signing 15-20 players a year.

Another issue at VMI had been the facilities, but with a $15 million project being completed to renovate the stadium, football building and practice facility, Reid and VMI athletic director Donny White said that's no longer a question.

New seats, aisles, portals, restrooms, concession stands, entry ways and ticket booths have been installed at Alumni Memorial Field, which was built in 1962 and will be re-dedicated Saturday. There also is a new video scoreboard, and the locker room and training rooms have been more than doubled in size.

"It's just a total facelift of the stadium proper," White said. "It's never looked anything like this."

The school also amended its daily schedule, eliminating the final hour of classes - in part - to help athletes get to practice earlier and move VMI closer to the 20 practice hours the NCAA allows for I-AA football. Reid, who signed a five-year contract worth about $130,000 a year, said his team is practicing about 17 1/2 hours a week, and he feels that is adequate. He said it's about the same schedule he had his Spiders on at Richmond, where he won two conference titles.

But perhaps the biggest challenge to success at the institute is the tension between the corps of cadets and the athletes. At a place where privileges are earned, athletes are sometimes viewed as being given special treatment.

White said that is the area Reid has made arguably his most significant impact.

"We feel that we're making that relationship a better one," White said. "There was a definite need to build a culture in the corps that we're all brothers and sisters, and that's really more evident now."

Of course, the 1,300 cadets of the corps are required to attend football games - rain or shine. To truly change the culture, Reid may first have to solve the mystery of how to win at VMI.
Copyright (c) 2006, Byrd Newspapers, All Rights Reserved.
Author: MIKE BARBER, Daily News-Record
Section: Sports
Copyright (c) 2006, Byrd Newspapers, All Rights Reserved.