Jimmye Laycock coached with Frank Beamer at The Citadel.

W&M at Tech

Today | 1:30 p.m.

• W&M 2-1,
• Tech 2-1

For the first time since their annual trip to play golf at Augusta National last spring, Jimmye Laycock and Frank Beamer will meet and exchange a handshake before today's William and Mary-Virginia Tech football game at Lane Stadium.

If the two head coaches had their druthers, it's a meeting that wouldn't necessarily occur.

"I'd rather be playing golf with Jimmye, not coaching against him," said Beamer, of facing his old buddy as head coaches for the first time.

In 1973-74, Laycock and Beamer both were assistants under head coach Bobby Ross at The Citadel. Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen was also on Ross' staff.

"I don't like coaching against Ralph, either," said Beamer, whose Hokies have played and beaten Friedgen's Terrapins twice since Tech entered the ACC in 2004. "Ralph and Jimmy ... I was on the same staff with them, so that's a little bit different."

So that's the two guys you really hate playing, coach?

"Yeah, that's about it. I've got two friends!" said Beamer, sparking a roar of laughter from the media at his Tuesday news conference.

Laycock's teams are 0-6 against Tech in his 28 seasons as the Tribe's head coach. The two schools haven't met in football since 1985, two years before Beamer was hired as Tech's coach.

When asked if was hard to coach against Beamer, Laycock said: "It's hard going against Virginia Tech. It wouldn't be nearly as hard if his team wasn't so good, to be honest with you."

While the demands of their jobs keep them from getting together socially as much as they would prefer, Laycock and Beamer have set aside time to play golf at famed Augusta every spring for the past several years.

They are joined in the foursome by Augusta member Frank Easterly of Richmond and Steve Isaacs, an attorney from Richmond.

"Jimmye and I are on opposite teams," Beamer said.

"He's a better golfer than I am. But if I can get enough strokes, I can get him. I get a couple off him. Actually, I think we got him this past year.

"I'll tell you the deal there. Before I went down there, I pulled a muscle or hamstring or something. I tried to walk the first day, but I just couldn't do it. So I got a cart.

"So it's me and all the real old, old guys in carts ... and everybody else is walking," said Beamer, laughing.

"But the cart helped out. They told me when I left, that they're either going to take the strokes back or the cart back [next year]."

With today's contest being a I-AA vs. I-A matchup, Las Vegas bookies won't handicap the game.

So forget the cart, Laycock. And you won't be getting a couple of strokes, either.

Shoot, a 30-point spot on the scoreboard might not be enough, quite frankly.

"[Frank's] team is very, very good. That's what makes it really hard," Laycock said.

For 17th-ranked Tech (2-1), this contest figures to be a mere tuneup as its preps to begin ACC play next Saturday against North Carolina in Lane.

The Hokies' offense, which finally got some things done last week against Ohio, should run up some big numbers against a young, undersized W&M defense.

Tech's defense, however, will be tested a bit by a Tribe offense led by Bath County product Jacob Phillips that tops the nation's 116 I-AA schools in scoring (47.3 points) and averages a robust 530 yards.

Hokies senior safety D.J. Parker doesn't sound too nervous, however.

"I hear they like to air it out, so I think it's an opportunity to get our hands on some balls," Parker said.

"We've only had one pick this year. We've been talking in the DB [defensive backs] room about how we've got to make something happen, make a play, spark it, take one back to the house and get the momentum going as we get ready for this ACC stretch.

"Plus, it gives our front a chance to get some more sacks, so it's going to be a good game for us."