It's not always following a legend, but Willard Coker's off to good start at Virginia Union.

Coker, the Panthers' first-year basketball coach, succeeded Dave Robbins, who won 713 games, 13 CIAA championships and three Division II national titles over 30 seasons. After starting 3-3, VUU's last two games have been big wins against No. 3 Augusta State and preseason CIAA West No. 1 Johnson C. Smith. The best part is the Panthers haven't played their first home game yet. "They've been playing hard and it seems like we had a couple of shots to go our way...which is important," Coker said. "We got a couple of breaks to go our way when we needed them and we've been in some tough games that didn't go our way, so it evens out." Coker, who played on VUU's 1980 national title squad, spent 23 years as Robbins' assistant.

The lessons learned at the side of the master have made Coker uniquely qualified to keep the Panthers among the CIAA elite.

"I think Coker's well-prepared for the job," said J.C. Smith coach Steve Joyner, a former VUU assistant who recruited Coker in the late 1970s. "He understands he has to go in and be his own man, so he's not trying to be Dave Robbins. He's taking the things he learned from Dave and using them very well. He's tweaked his own philosophy and the kids are buying in." It helps that the Panthers have good players. The backcourt duo of Braxton and Brandon Byerson and forward Gregg Thondique gives VUU an experienced nucleus, and the Panthers' extended road trip has put them in position to be a force in league play.

"It's always good that you can depend on kids who've been there," Coker said. "They've played in big games, the game at Madison Square Garden (a 52-51 win against Bowie State), and then we had the opportunity to play Duke this year (in a preseason scrimmage at Cameron Indoor Stadium).

Even though they beat us, but it was one of those situations that our guys gained experience playing against a crowd like that. That's the type of stuff we push. Once you've been in front of crowds like that, you should be able to handle anything. Guys who've been there, that's what you expect them to do." Count Coker among that group.

"It's been an adventure," he said. "It's been a game-to-game thing. My wife is here critiquing me on my behavior and all that stuff and being able to work under coach Robbins for 23 years was a blessing and I tried to watch everything he did and soak up all that knowledge. That's all I'm trying to do now - apply it."