2009.11.19
UVa Insider, The Column
In the early years of Al Groh’s Virginia coaching tenure, no other ACC team had a greater disparity between home and road performance.
Starting with a 34-21 victory over then-No. 22 South Carolina in 2002, Groh’s teams won 16 of their next 17 home games, twice winning eight straight home games during that span.
Now, the Cavaliers are working on another streak at home. They’ve lost their last five ACC home games and seven of the last eight home games overall.
So, what the difference?
“Talent,” Groh said in the shortest answer during his Monday news conference. “The most talented team wins most of the time.
There was an obvious follow-up question, “What happened to the talent?”
Skeptical of the answer I would receive at that point, I decided to wait until later in the week. Thursdays are generally a good time, when there are fewer reporters on Groh’s conference call.
Readers of this column will know that I blame poor recruiting for many of Virginia’s current problems. My esteemed colleague from the Charlottesville Daily Progress, sports editor Jerry Ratcliffe, says that Groh hasn’t gotten enough support from the school in the area of academics.
I’ve told Ratcliffe on several occasions, most recently on WINA’s “Best Seat in the House,” that I don’t agree with him.
But, as I was driving home at 1 a.m. Friday after attending my mother’s 85th birthday in Washington, D.C., the name “Mike Brown” popped into my head.
Mike Brown, a SuperPrep All-American from New Jersey, would have been a senior on this year’s UVa team. So would defensive end Jeffrey Fitzgerald, who has 8 1/2 tackles for loss and six sacks for Kansas State.
Quarterback Peter Lalich would have been a junior and linebacker J’Courtney Williams would have been a redshirt sophomore.
Brown and Fitzgerald were two of UVa’s top signees in 2005. Lalich and Williams were two of UVa’s top signees in 2007.
Fitzgerald was dismissed from school for an academic offense (everybody knows what that was) and the other three were arrested and subsequently dismissed from the team.
Fitzgerald was one of Virginia’s best players at the time of his departure and Brown was the Cavaliers’ punt returner. It’s hard to say how good Lalich and Williams would have been, although Lalich was UVa’s starting quarterback at the beginning of last season.
It was widely reported that Williams was transferring to Hampton, but I’ve never been able to find him on the Pirates roster and wonder if he would have amounted to anything at Virginia. (Amateur sleuths out there are welcome to investigate his whereabouts).
People have told me there were red flags with Lalich, but I didn’t hear a whole lot of people questioning UVa’s decision to recruit him at the time. The same with Brown, Fitzgerald and Williams. Groh didn’t have a history of recruiting derelicts prior to the dismissals of 2007-2008 and he hasn’t had that reputation since then.
My impression is that the current talent disparity comes from a combination of factors (and, again, I’m not giving Groh a free pass on the recruiting).
Here’s what he had to say Thursday:
“Football, in general, is a talent-driven game,” he said, “and, in college football, even moreso. There’s two things on the top list of what it takes to be successful year after year on a college and professional level, and that’s the acquisition and development of talent. Those count a lot more than tactics.”
“The position where that is most significant is at quarterback, When the player who was designated as the quarterback of the future was not available to us, it put us on a different course.”
Nobody will ever know how good Lalich would have been at Virginia. He’s currently listed as a junior for 20th-ranked Oregon State but has not played for the Ducks since enrolling at the start of the 2008 fall term, at which point he already played in two games for UVa.
The last time I inquired, Oregon State was waiting to hear from the NCAA if Lalich had grounds for a hardship appeal and he continues to be listed as the Beavers’ No. 3 quarterback, but he hasn’t been needed with senior QB Sean Canfield having a record-setting year. Chances are that he will not play and have two years remaining in 2010.
If Lalich grows up and gets the starting nod at Oregon State, maybe the Cavaliers will learn what kind of player he would have been for Virginia. With Groh’s tenure likely to end in the next 10 days, that’s something he could be considering for a long time.
I am not buying much of this column, Doug. He has not developed a quarterback since he has been there. He had one show up four years ago and didn't even give him a chance. Good riddance to this guy...big talker, no results.
Comment by Niles — November 19, 2009 @ 4:51 pm
Hey Doug,
You're not going to find him playing for the Oregon St. Ducks. No such team. ( I know typo, but not going to let that one slide).
Comment by cws260 — November 19, 2009 @ 5:12 pm
Niles,
I assume you are referring to Hall and I can tell you that while he is an outstanding young man, he is not a BCS quarterback. Groh's failure with Hall was not allowing him to develop his offensive skills as a receiver/runner.
I agree with Doug that UVA can get most kids they want to recruit in school. The real problem is keeping them in school and the reputation UVA has acquired for letting football players become ineligble and flunk out. Top quality players, particularly those in state, don't want to take a chance on being able to stay academically eligible at Virginia. Why go to Virginia and flunk out when you can go somewhere else and get by with minimal effort on the academic side.
Comment by Joe — November 19, 2009 @ 5:14 pm
I agree about the quarterback situation. We haven't had an elite quarterback since Matt Schaub! When UVA won, there was a decent quarterback behind center. Don Majkowski, Shawn Moore, Aaron Brooks, Mike Groh, and Schaub just to name a few. Though I like Sewell, injuries have taken a toll this year, and it's most of the blame goes to the offensive line. Sewell was much better a couple years ago, and I believe it mostly had to do with an offensive line that jelled as a unit and had some great players that play in the NFL today. I will stop. I can write a whole book on what it feels like being a UVA fan, but must not go on or I'll just remind myself how terrible this year has felt in football.
Okay. Enough rambling! I did some sleuthing Doug, and J'Courtney Williams plays for El Camino College (I'm assuming it's a JUCO) in California.
http://www.elcamino.edu/athletics/football/fbrost.asp
Comment by Dan — November 20, 2009 @ 1:39 am
I must be uninformed on the academic situation at Virginia. I didn't realize the university raised their standards and requirements for football players since the Welsh era. I just thought Groh was a poor coach and recruiter.
Comment by Niles — November 20, 2009 @ 7:02 am
A few other notes on Al the Idiot for you
- he recruited eight guys in one class who were not admitted to the University.
- he passed on Russell Wilson, the class president at Collegiate, who wanted to come to Virginia. All ACC QB last year, set the NCAA record for attemts w/o an INT, has almost 30 TD passes for a horrible NC State team this year. So Al rectuited a thug over a great kid who could play. and Wilson would have come even with Lalich here.
- don't forget Ahmad Bradshaw, who couldn;e even get through preseason practice before getting sown the door.
Comment by Tom — November 20, 2009 @ 9:41 am
At UVa, if you don't make the required grade points you will not suit up for the team. It's a tough but necessary rule they claim and you really can't argue their point since the atheletes are getting a near cost free prestigous education. That being said, there are still lots of intelligent high schoolers out there who also happen to be good atheletes. Somehow, some way, UVa is going to have to lure them and it all starts with good recruiting personnel which, obviously, has been lacking for a few years. Perhaps this laxity is due to the university's rigid acceptance policies and, if so, that too should be visited and relaxed where necessary. Lots of high academic colleges have good athletic programs so UVa can't use that excuse entirely.
Comment by Wampum — November 20, 2009 @ 9:59 am
I think that the biggest reason recruiting has suffered under Al Groh is the constant turnover with his assistant coaches. It is the assistant coaches who are out there visiting the high schools around the state and hopefully establishing relationships with these coaches. The continuing turnover of UVa assistants hurts their credibility and with both players and coaches.
Comment by Terrence — November 20, 2009 @ 12:59 pm
Olsen was better than McCabe ??????????????????????????????
Comment by Chester — November 20, 2009 @ 1:23 pm
ahhhhhh - Ahmad Bradsahw....
I'm sorry, I still laugh out loud every time I see him on TV now. I think how defensive coordinators could best neutralize him these days would be to sign the Albemarle County officer who ran him down from behind.....
The state of the program has gotten so bad that I have to look hard for ridiculous things to laugh at anymore....
sigh....
10-4
Comment by Chester — November 21, 2009 @ 9:40 am
Football players throughout Virginia and beyond the Commonwealth dream of playing at Virginia Tech one day. One can not say the same for UVa.
Frank Beamer and his staff have established solid relationships with high school coaches. They are not going to get every recruit, but they manage to get most of the best.
When Al Groh (whose technical skills I do admire) became head coach at UVa, he went to Roanoke and said it was UVa territory. While there are many Hoos in the Star City, it is too close to Blacksburg to make that claim. His credibilty suffered as a result.
So much for "uncompromised excellence in athletics."
Comment by Hokie Bart — November 21, 2009 @ 7:24 pm