More to Lalich saga than meets the eye

Todd Lalich is a much better man than myself.
In case you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Todd Lalich, you’re missing out. He’s the last guy in the state of Virginia that would want to be in the news this week, but his hand has been forced.
He’s the father of Virginia quarterback Peter Lalich, who has been the center of controversy for the past couple of weeks in what seems like a never-ending saga. Pete hit the news for the wrong reasons on July 13 when he was given a summons for possession or purchase of alcohol while being underage.
The situation became further complicated last week when this newspaper learned that the sophomore quarterback was charged with failure to obey a court order while on probation. Since then, Pete Lalich has denied rumors and accusations that he may have used marijuana or drugs while on probation and apparently urine tests supported his statement.
Things got worse Wednesday night when the University of Virginia announced that Pete Lalich would not accompany the Cavaliers football team to Connecticut for this weekend’s game against the favored Huskies.
The timing of this decision stinks, not only for UVa’s football team, but for Lalich and his family.
After coach Al Groh defended Lalich throughout this process, we would be led to believe by the University of Virginia that it was Groh’s decision to suspend Lalich or leave him home for the game. In fact, we have copies of
e-mails from disgruntled fans from UVa administrators that say as much.
But that’s not the truth.
During a conversation with Todd Lalich late Wednesday night, he confirmed what he was told about the decision concerning his son.
“I was told that [the decision] came from on high,” Todd Lalich said. “Al has been covering Peter’s back.”
Hmmm.
Last time I checked, “on high” didn’t cover Groh’s job description.
Anyone who has ever been around football would clearly know that no head coach would ever give his expected starting quarterback (in this case, Lalich) all of the snaps in practice on Wednesday, then announce afterward that he would bench Lalich and instead start a kid (backup Marc Verica), who has not played in a real football game since he was a high school senior in 2005, save a series against Southern California.
Such a move would be unthinkable by a coach. It would be breaking every cardinal rule of football coaching.
This decision was clearly made by someone who doesn’t have a clue about football.
But here’s the best part and this is why Todd Lalich is a better man than I.
If this had been my kid, being jerked around like this, especially a kid who was recruited by practically every football powerhouse in the country, I would have pulled him out of UVa yesterday and he would be re-visiting some of those suitors over the next month.
When Todd Lalich called this columnist and said he had a statement that he wanted published, I was intrigued as to what he might say.
I have known Todd Lalich since traveling up to Springfield to spend a day doing the Pete Lalich story prior to the bluechipper’s senior season. I already knew what kind of guy Todd was, a solid, straight-shooter with a proud athletic heritage that goes back to the 1930s when his father, Pete Lalich, was the recipient of pro basketball’s first “no-look” over-the-shoulder passes from Press Maravich (yes, Pistol Pete’s father).
More importantly, Todd Lalich is a man of extremely strong faith, but a humble man who loves his family.
When Todd Lalich’s statement started out like this, then paused, I guessed at what would follow:
“The Lalich family would like to tell any family out there that if they have a son being recruited by the University of Virginia or by Al Groh ....”
Lalich paused and I anticipated the quarterback’s father would say that those families should look elsewhere and that he was pulling Pete out of UVa.
I was wrong.
Should have known better having gotten to know Todd Lalich over the past two years.
Instead, this is what Lalich said:
“The Lalich family would like to tell any family out there that if they have a son being recruited by the University of Virginia or by Al Groh ... they shouldn’t even consider looking at any other school,” Todd Lalich said.
“Going anywhere else would be a mistake, because Al Groh is concerned more about his players than anything else ... After all this [saga] is over, Al and Peter will have a lifelong relationship. I trust Peter’s judgment and Peter trusts Al.”
Todd Lalich didn’t stop there. While we’re not at liberty to reveal the entire conversation at Todd Lalich’s request, there’s a lot more to this story that has not been made public.
“I would tell any parents out there that has a football recruit that Virginia is interested in, that if they want their boy to turn into a man, they should send them to Al Groh,” Todd Lalich said. “Fans might not like [Groh’s] X’s and O’s, or the way he deals with the media sometimes, but I am incredibly impressed with the way Al handles his players.”
For Todd Lalich and the Lalich family to stand by Al Groh like this speaks volumes about this entire situation.
The shameful part of this is that Virginia is making a trip to UConn today with
No. 7 being left behind.
This just isn’t right.