UVa Insider, the column: ACC numbers favor UVa
Dirk Katstra, chief fundraiser for Virginia athletics, highlighted some interesting numbers in a recent gathering of UVa supporters at Roanoke Country Club.
It had been 10 years since Virginia set a series of strategic goals in 2002 and, over that time, the Cavaliers had won 49 ACC championships.
That number subsequently grew to 51 with the addition of titles last weekend in men’s tennis and rowing. Not only does that lead the ACC over the past 10 years, but it isn’t close. Florida State is second with 39.
Virginia has to be happy with those numbers, although the strategic plan set a goal of 70 ACC championships and 12 national championships over a 10-year span.
UVa has won six national championships in the past 10 years, including three in men’s lacrosse and one apiece in women’s lacrosse, men’s soccer and rowing.
(Duke and North Carolina are tops in the ACC in that category with nine apiece).
Katstra indicated that Virginia might tweak its goals when it comes up with a new 10-year plan, but my understanding is that the number of ACC and NCAA championships will remain the same.
Here’s a goal I would recommend: win a championship in each sport at least once during a 10-year period.
Virginia’s numbers are impressive, but consider this. Of the 51 ACC championships, more than half, 33, come from four teams: rowing (nine), men’s tennis (9), men’s swimming (eight) and women’s swimming (seven).
The UVa men’s basketball team hasn’t won a title since 1976.
Virginia’s football team hasn’t won a title since its co-championship in 1995.
Women’s basketball hasn’t won a title since 1992.
Football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball are the sports into which Virginia sinks the most money, although baseball is ahead of women’s basketball in terms of revenue produced.
This is the argument UVa fans have with their Virginia Tech rivals all of the time. In their eight years as an ACC member, the Hokies have won four football championships, but only 13 ACC championships. Virginia has 41 conference championships over that time.
Think Tech would trade those four football championships for UVa’s 41 titles?
Virginia fans might argue that the Hokies are inordinately consumed by football. But, if the shoe were on the other foot, would the Cavaliers be any different?
They’d still take heart in men’s lacrosse and more recently baseball, but there’s another issue with the four teams accounting for 38 of the 51 titles since 2002-2003.
Virginia sponsors 25 athletic teams and more than half of them, 13, have not won an ACC championship in the past decade.
UVa has had a men’s golf team since 1955 and has yet to win a title in 58 years, although the Cavaliers came close this year and boasted the individual champion in Swiss-bred senior Ben Rusch.
Other programs going on 30 years without an ACC title are women’s tennis (1978-2012), volleyball (1981-2011) and field hockey (1983-2011).
If Virginia could become unbeatable in men’s tennis virtually overnight, it’s not unreasonable to think the women could become contenders and they have moved in that direction.
Volleyball is a sport more commonly identified with the West Coast, but last I looked, there were no ACC teams on the West Coast. Same with softball, a sport in which UVa has been abysmal, basically since failing to pursue Angela Tincher.
But, hey, things could be much worse. Boston College has won one ACC title in its seven years an ACC member, the men’s soccer crown in 2007. Miami has five championships in eight years; Wake Forest has eight titles in 10.
The point is, Virginia can be proud of all the ACC titles it has won, particularly in the Olympic sports, but the Cavaliers know there is room for improvement.
April 26, 2012 - 2:46 PM
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Since VPI joined the ACC:
UVA: 41 ACC Titles and 4 National Titles
VPI: 13 ACC Titles and 0 National Titles
That looks a lot worse than I thought it was, and I even knew about the whole no national titles thing (hard not to – it’s none EVER and they haven’t even been ranked #1 in the country in anything).
http://www.virginiatechnationalchampionships.com
Hey, Tim, as DD says do you think the Hokies want to trade the football championships with the hoos for a rowing trophy ????? Also, DD, how many championships have the hoos won where not all ACC schools participate ?? Based on competing within a conference established for over 50 years with very established schools in the conference and the Hokies having only been in for 8 years, they have accomplished much more than most Hokies would have thought. Unfortunatly, Tim’s comments are typical hoo speak even though they have NO football or basketball national Titles to show for their efforts, only minor sports titles that most sports fans in the state do not know much about or really do not care much about.
And yet the sport everyone looks at – the sport that allows the others, expect maybe men’s basketball, to even exist financially – is the one the Hokies are the most dominant in when comparing the two schools.
Win a national title in a revenue sport, something neither school has done, or start winning ACC titles in revenue sports and beat the Hokies in football and then you can talk, Tim.
You obviously didnt catch the sarcasm from Doug.Compete in one of Americas favorite sports and earn respect. I bet the attendance for all of your titles dont add up to the Spring game attendance last week in BlacksBurg.
Pretty pathetic that a few UVA fans are so sore about being dominated in football tat all they can do is compare national championships in sports that less than one percent of people care about.
I generally try to root for UVA as a state school but a handful of pathetic pansie fans (eg Tim) make it difficult.
I agree that one of the goals should be at least one ACC championship in each sport in ten years. In fact, not reaching that goal should result in a close look at whether or not that coach gets a contract extension or a raise, or even keeps their job. I’ve learned in business that you get the best results when you have challenging goals and hold people accountable.
That’s fine with me – I will take the football wins, bowl game money, Wha Whos can have the others!
Seems to me the Hokies won a few WeightLifting Championships in years past!
38-0
Virginia Tech – 38 : Virginia – 0
Thirty-eight points for the Hokies. ZERO for the Cavaliers
It’s all about money and what have you done lately. Football rules. Money rules. VT wins, for now.
All true and UVa is a great school and is to be commended for that accomplishment. When VT hired Jim Weaver as AD he promised to elevate the performance of the non revenue sports and that has simply not happened. Though his hire of Seth Greenberg was a good one, there have been more mis-fires (hires?) than not. Many VT fans, myself included, believe he should have gone along with Seth…
I am very proud of the numbers and congratulations to UVA!!!
However, as a “die-hard” UVA fan and a Radford University alumnus, I’m sure “Wahoo Nation” would trade a rowing, swimming or tennis championship for a ACC Football Championship anyday!!!
Hopefully, Mike London has his team on the right path toward this goal – We will have to wait and see!!
Go, Cavaliers!!!
LOL @ all the butt hurt VPI fans. I would not trade UVa’s overall athletic success from football, basketball, baseball, lacrosse, tennis, rowing, and etc just to be a one-trick pony like VPI.
Only Doug Doughty could write an article about UVA being the best overall sports program in arguably the premier conference in the country over the past decade and still try to make a graduate feel inadequate. I might trade some Olympic sport titles for a natl title in a major sport, but would never trade the overall excellence of the athletic program for four conference only football titles. If a graduate of a school would trade 50+ conference championships for one natl title in football, that says all you need to know about that fan and that school. That’s not what college is about – that’s a semi-pro football team; taking all the revenue from the school for one sport.
VPI is an undisputed Corn Hole champion.