What might have been for Virginia
You either love Al Groh or you don’t. You are proud that he’s Virginia’s head football coach or you want his head on a silver platter.
With turmoil swirling around Groh after the Cavaliers’ 1-3 start, fans are looking for reasons as to why the program is struggling in the coach’s eighth year on the job.
Those who don’t like Groh are playing the blame game, pinning all the problems on Al and his son, Mike, the team’s offensive coordinator. Those who defend Groh look deeper for the root of the problem.
During his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Al Groh was asked why the team is relying so heavily on seniors and freshmen, and what happened to the middle classes. UVa has only 16 seniors on its roster, compared to 72 freshmen and sophomores.
Off-field troubles
The coach was quick to point out that “some unexpected absences” depleted those classes if not the entire roster.
“Two guys are not on the team because of personal health issues that we expected to have a significant role on the team,” Groh said. “We have some guys not on the team because of academic issues who we expected to be on the team.
“We have a couple of guys not on the team because of medical injury situations,” he added. “A combination of those things have made some of these young players take on roles that those [absentee] players had been expected to take on.”
The coach didn’t mention a few more who were dismissed for misconduct, although the fan base is more than divided on whether or not the latest, sophomore quarterback Pete Lalich, should have been booted or suspended.
When you take the time to examine what has happened to the players who made unexpected or in perhaps a couple of cases, expected exits, it’s easier to see what this team could have looked like if everyone had taken care of business.
By our count, there are a dozen players missing that were anticipated to play key roles on this year’s football team.
Personal accountability
We’re not defending actions by those players, but we don’t believe Groh should be blamed for their shortcomings, which has set his program back. As many as eight of those players would have either started or played significant minutes — minutes and starts that are now given to inexperienced players.
In fact, 19 players have made their career debuts in the first four games.
A graphic accompanying today’s column gives you a visual idea of what Virginia’s football team would look like if things had gone as planned.
When you inspect that roster, that’s a pretty good football team — certainly one that wouldn’t be 1-3 at this point.
We’re not making excuses for Groh, but facts are facts. There’s not many college football programs that could withstand such a purge of talent without feeling negative affects.
While the defense took the brunt of the personnel losses with eight players, the offense may have been hit harder because of the positions in question.
For instance, the Cavaliers lost their top two quarterbacks, including Jameel Sewell, who would have been starting for his third year — the year in which most players begin to play their best football. Then there was Lalich, the player that Groh structured his entire offense around in the offseason.
Sewell is sitting out this season because of academics, but not your normal academic casualty. He is actually eligible by NCAA standards but not UVa’s standards. In other words, he could have played this season at just about any other FBS school in the country.
As a result, the Cavaliers were forced to thrust Marc Verica into the starting job before he was ready. Bless him, he’s giving it everything he’s got and Wahoo fans should applaud his grit and determination.
However, Virginia felt like Verica would come into his own during his fourth or fifth year in the program. He’s a redshirt sophomore playing for the first time and is going through the growing pains that Sewell experienced when he was similarly forced to play before he was ready back in 2006 when the two quarterbacks ahead of him didn’t meet expectations.
Take starting left guard Branden Albert, who turned pro a year early, and experienced tailback/receiver Andrew Pearman, add them to Sewell and Lalich and the offense improves dramatically.
Defensively, among those who would have started or played key minutes, include cornerback Chris Cook, cornerback Mike Brown, defensive end Jeffrey Fitzgerald, defensive end Sean Gottschalk, and end/linebacker Olu Hall, who was one of the top recruits in the state a few years ago. Hall and Fitzgerald transferred to Kansas State after having academic issues at UVa.
Then there are linebackers John Bivens (career-ending injury that sent him to the UVa baseball team), J’Courtney Williams (misconduct), and Darnell Carter (academics) that would have added depth to those spots.
Again, we don’t condone what these various players may have done to get themselves in hot water, but if you are a coaching staff that’s trying to fill those voids, it’s easy to see why Virginia is struggling.
The old coaches used to say that you could count a loss for every freshman that you start. Well, that speaks for itself.
Just for the moment, though, pretend you’re a member of the coaching staff and one by one, key players are dropping like flies. What would you do?
Now you know why coaches get Pepto-Bismol transfusions on a weekly basis and spend a lot of sleepless nights during football season.
At one point in my life, my goal was to become a football coach. Man, I’m glad I changed my mind.
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Reader Reactions
“Virginia’s requirements for keeping an athlete eligible are higher than most other universities, certainly higher than all “big-time” football schools.“
Not entirely true. Ever heard of Notre Dame? I think we can all agree that it’s a “bit-time” football school. Not only are their academic standards just as high, they don’t even allow their athletes to have a special dining hall.
It can be done, but it’s exceedingly difficult, and it requires recruiting the right kids. Something Groh, frankly, with few exceptions has had a problem doing.
... pleez! where’s Jason Fuller? Could be an Academic All-A but noGroh & his “all star” cast wont even put him on the field! First to be accepted to McIntyre since Tiki Barber, but the football “elite” have buried that little “goodie” & haven’t even wanted it to see the light of day! noGroh stay out of Hampton Roads!
I’m a UVA alum that lived through the Welsh days—more good than bad. Groh is not horrible. His early success here (with Welsh’s recruits!) attests to that. But he has to be held accountable for the academic/legal/etc. failures of his recruits. Plus, the decision to promote Mike to OC alone should cost him his job. Its maybe the single most cancerous decision he’s made.
Students—-show your displeasure and wear one of these. I know I will.
http://stores.ebay.com/Groh-Must-Goh
When George Welsh retired from UVA Football, I came up with a list of expectations I had for the new football coach.
1.Win the games we are expected to win.
2008- Loss to Duke!!!!!!!!!!!! Once you loose to Duke I don’t think you can expect to win any more games.
2007- Losses to Wyoming, NC State, Texas Tech
2006- Losses to Western Michigan, East Carolina, Pittsburg
2005- Losses to North Carolina, Maryland
2004- Loss to Fresno State. This is probably the most complete year Groh has ever had. Every team we lost to was ranked.
2003- Loss to Clemson if no one else. I was at the game and we blew it. Maybe the losses to Florida State and NC State, if we had not had snaps soaring into la la land.
2002- Probably none this was early in Groh’s career and we did not have a quarter back yet or great expectations for the program.
Analysis: Except for 2002 and 2008 when we flat out sucked. We have had major blow ups every year. For the last three seasons it looks like at least two per year if not three. The best year under Groh I think has to be 2004. The bowl game is the only one we should have won but didn’t and despite our record of 8-4. Three of the teams we played were ranked pretty high. Overall a good year if you aren’t expecting your coach to pull off any greatest of all time upsets. In Eight years of coaching Groh had one year where we seemed to win the games we should have won, assuming the bowl loss is ok with you.
Overall grade: D-.
2.Beat Virginia Tech!!!!!!!!!!!
Scores are 33-21, 17-0, 52-14, 24-10, 21-9, 21-35.
Analysis: Funny how Tech wins every time isn’t it? Oh wait there was that year in 2003 when VT actually wasn’t ranked. That year they lost to 4 unranked teams and #23 West Virginia. So one could say we should have one that game. However, it does not make up for us loosing to VT in 2004 when we were ranked #16 and they were only #11, or the 2005 whipping they gave us at home, or the 2007 loss they dealt us when we were again ranked #16. There were plenty of upsets waiting to happen and nothing. Not once did we beat VT when it would have really meant something for the rivalry.
Overall grade: F
3. Pull off the big upset.
2007: #24 Wake Forest. An upset against a ranked team but not that huge.
2006: None. We only played one ranked team #17 VT. It was a pretty crappy schedule really.
2005: #4 Florida State at home. Great game!!!!!!! Ranks right up there with 1995 FSU game. #24 Georgia Tech, again not that great considering we lost to UNC right after beating FSU and had a total of 5 losses for the year.
2003: #6 ranking in the country Yeah!! Oh wait we lost to #7, #17, #11, and #22 that year. This is probably the worst UVA crash since 1990. Oh and #7 FSU butchered us.
2002: Big year for upsets. Beat #13 WV, #18 MD, #17 NCS, but still lost to #19 VT. In terms of great upsets only #13 WV is memorable. Also that was 6 years ago with mostly players from another coach. The potential from 2002-2005 was so there, but what did we net from it? One great win. One pretty nice win and lot’s of disappointment.
Overall Grade: C
4. Stay Clean.
Don’t get athletes arrested or repeatedly have athletes get kicked out. Need I mention our last two quarter backs? Or the two line men who got arrested or the corner back who got arrested. How about all the players kicked out for grades or the shooting that occurred awhile back? This past off season just screams Pete Gillen and Jeff Jones right before they got the boot for losing all control of the team. By the way if Lalich got kicked out then why are the two line men still playing? What they did is far worse than Lalich.
Overall Grade: F
5. 10 win season.
Twice we had 9 wins and twice we had 8 wins. Would Duke love to have 8 or 9 wins. Obviously the answer is yes, but Welsh gave us 7 or more for how many years. The idea is to get better not become inconsistent where one year you win 9 and the next year you win 1 game?
Overall Grade: C
6. Win the ACC.
HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Competing for the title is not good enough. I expect the coach to bring one home at least once every 10 years. Yes I know Groh has not been here 10 years but do you really expect him to bring home the bacon next season. Come on the man may not even have a job. P.S. Shared titles are not good enough. It just means we screwed up a game we should have won.
Overall Grade: F
7. Win a National championship or at least look like we are in the competition.
HA HA HA just doesn’t even describe the feeling.
Overall Grade: F-.
I have read all of the comments with great interest. It appears that UVA should join the Ivy League. That would be more in line with the emphasis on athletics. That way, the coaches would not have to worry about recruiting marginal students. They apparently have trouble recruiting quality athletes, so get into a league that you can compete. This would mean no more high paid coaches who do not deliver a product that is worthy of their paycheck. How Craig Littlepage is an AD at a major university bewilders me. He has no experience and has not judgement. That is obvious when he extended Groh’s contract last year. I believe that Coach Groh would like to deliver a quality team, but I am not sure that he ever will. As a head coach, where has he been successful? Certainly not at Wake Forest or the Jets. He may be a great assistant and I believe that he left the Jets because he was going to be gone. I believe that Al Groh should ask for a paycut if he is sincere in his beliefs that he wants to make UVA a top flight program. People would see that he is really interested in building a program. How about lowering his annual salary to $400,000. I would believe that he can live on that much money. I know that I could. Also, I do believe that he needs to relieve his son as the OC. He appears to be as stubborn as his father and plays his recruits, not the best player. You will never convince me that Sewell is a big time Division I quarterback. It would also have been nice to see Al step up for Peter Lalich. I am not pleased to see how he handled himself, but if the judge did not increase the punishment, how does the athletic department have the right to do so. I have been a UVA fan for years, but to be quite honest, it is getting hard. It appears that when UVA gets new coaches, they are ususally one or two year wonders that fizzle out. It will be interesting to see what happens to men’s basketball this season. Thank goodness for women’s basketball. I read articles about UVA games being on ESPNU, but be honest, who wants to watch and what sponsor wants to pay money to show this product. As I said before, got to the Ivy League, go to I-AA or II. Belong to a conference where you can compete with the athletes and coaches.
Some of the writers here may be alumni of the University of Virginia, but most don’t appear to be. There is no recognition of the historically difficult time Virginia has had both recruiting and keeping student athletes eligible because of Virginia’s high academic standards. As Jerry inferred, there is no level playing field for Virginia when it comes to recruiting or retaining “student athletes”. Virginia’s requirements for keeping an athlete eligible are higher than most other universities, certainly higher than all “big-time” football schools. That eliminates many of the star players for consideration when recruiting and makes it difficult to keep the marginal students eligible that they do successfully recruit. These players are all easily recruited and kept eligible at other universities.
I see some criticize and analyze Virginia’s major sports like they are a business alone, with no regard for the academic elements involved. Personally, I don’t care how much the coach is paid, I’m not jealous and I expect excellence from whoever agrees to do the job, regardless of remuneration. Now, I would love to go 12-0 and play in the championship game every year, who wouldn’t? But I never lose my perspective and I never lose my pride of going to Virginia, or supporting Virginia. Every year that a “nearby university” one ups us in football, I just smile, and, while wishing we had a little better success, wouldn’t trade places with them in a million years.
George Welsh was probably one of the greatest college coaches in the history of the NCAA. Anyone who says otherwise certainly knows less about football and probably more about eating bratwursts and being a Monday morning quarterback. However, with one hundred and twenty years of Virginia football played, only one Cavalier team managed to win 10 games in a season: the 1989 squad. Groh has won nine games twice and went to a New Year’s Day bowl game last year for the first time since 1994. While we may have had some luck during the regular season, certainly only bad luck kept us from getting 10 wins during that bowl game that was played magnificently for most of the game.
If anyone out there thinks Virginia could be a football powerhouse with the right coach, they will always be an extremely frustrated fan. Whether we have a winning team for a period of time or an exceptional team for a few years, because of academic demands, Virginia will never be a football factory.
It is so easy to criticize, but certainly the measure of a university is not the wins and losses of the football team, but if it were, then the fact that we normally have a winning season at an academically challenging and nationally recognized university, with a coaching staff of irreproachable ethics and class (that do things “the right way” whether all athletes do or not), with beautiful grounds and one of the top football facilities in the country, leaves me both proud and happy to be from Virginia.
Mr. Ratcliffe Thank you for your article, but we have a stubborn self center head coach. He can say we don;t have players that we were suppose to have such is life in coaching, you lose players to injury as well you play with what you got. But other than Lalich and Gottschalk he new going into preson he did not have these players. If I am coaching I will make sure I prepare my top two quartbacks to play but not this staff. I am sick and tired of reading about Al’s ways. Simply put the team is un prepared week in week out, you know it as well. Players problems due to academics you can control somewhat, athlete get the most/ best available help possible. You should be checking with them everyday to make sure they are going to class as well. And when they get a second chance make sure the follow through instead of being stubborn, we know where that comes from the top down. Coach Groh has been truely blessed to have some exceptional talent over the years but continues to say we are rebuilding. It looks more to me that he is tearing down what George Welsh work hard to establish. Sometimes the coaches must take blame Al has not. I could care less if he works 2 or 200 hours a week results are what counts. He never should have gotten that new contract because he did not deserve it and his coaching ability has never shown that he should be the 14th higest paid coach in the country.
Correction. UVA managed to eke out 9 wins last season.
Jerry,
I appreciate that Al Groh—and any coach or individual—cannot be held solely accountable for the actions of another person (or lack thereof). However, coaches not only coach on game day—they prepare and motivate players and contribute to efforts to manage the team. Instead of focusing on what Groh, Littlepage, and company aren’t responsible for, I think many are wondering if enough is being done from top-down to manage the team. Are coaches stepping up their management efforts to mitigate additional losses?
Most teams go through bad years and growing pains. U.Va. is not immune. I’m just wondering when we’re going to be out of a “rebuilding year”.
I’m not buying that for a $1.00. UVA was a 5-7 team at best last year that was fortunate enough to have a couple of things break their way to get them to 8 wins (e.g., missed field goal, missed 2-point conversion, snap over QBs head in VA territory). With the exception of the Miami game, it wasn’t like they were getting the job done impressively last year. This team is awful. If the players you listed were on the current team, this is still a .500 ball club with the current coaching staff. To even intimate that UVA’s woes are the result of something other than an inept coaching staff is an insult to our intelligence. Bring me Al Groh’s head!
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