NYT bearish on Virginia

Yes, Virginia, The New York Times cares about college sports.  Even college football.  Quite a bit, in fact.  The Quad is the NYT’s college sports blog, and is in the middle of an in-depth countdown of all 120 Division I (FBS) teams.

Al Groh’s Cavaliers check in at spot #81 for 2009, ahead of only Duke (#96) in the ACC.  The Times points out the obvious in stating that “if Virginia is to improve in 2009, the offense must begin to carry its weight.”  The hiring of Gregg Brandon as OC is called “a very good start” and “a wise move by Groh.”  However, Brandon inherits “likely the A.C.C.’s worst group of skill players,” the result of Virginia’s “inability over the past handful of recruiting cycles to sign and enroll top recruits.”

At QB, Vic Hall is “not the type of passer you’d hope for in Brandon’s offense,” but “is the favorite to start the season opener.”  Jameel Sewell is seen as “likely to “eventually reclaim his starting spot” from 2007’s 9-win team.  The OC will “implement a pass-first version of the spread offense” but be “without the services of its [top] five pass catchers from a season ago; no returning player had more than 15 receptions last fall, and no returning receiver had more than 12.”  Perhaps as a result, offensive strengths listed by the NYT include “a solid, experienced line, albeit one that lacks the star power of recent years” and a potentially “improved performance from the Virginia running game,” given a healthy Mikell Simpson. 

Interestingly Brandon’s old team (Bowling Green) is ranked five spots lower at #86, as his successor – former Richmond HC and Tennessee OC Dave Clawson – goes about “implementing new schemes” and attempting “to run more than his predecessor did.”

On the other side of the ball, there is rebuilding at LB – “an integral unit in Virginia’s 3-4 defense” – where “the Cavaliers must find three new starters.”  The defense is called “strong on the line and in the secondary, where its cornerback depth is as good as any in the A.C.C.”  On the DL, “seven of its top eight” return, “making the unit the most experienced on the defense.”  The Times is “excited about the potential of the secondary, which returns two starters from 2008 — the talented junior Ras-I Dowling and the sophomore Chase Minnifield — and a third past starter, Chris Cook, who missed all of last fall.”   Safety may finally be a strength as well, with Rodney McLeod moving over from CB to team with Corey Mosley.  As DC, Groh (“very much on the hot seat” as HC) has “shown the ability to keep his teams in games with an inept offensive coordinator.”

Regarding the schedule, the NYT calls the Indiana, @Maryland, Georgia Tech, Duke, @Miami six-game (in six weeks) portion “a big stretch for the Cavaliers. Go 4-2, and the team will likely get to .500 and reach a bowl game. Anything less, and Virginia will need to get an upset or two to improve upon last year’s finish.”  Optimistically, if the “defense is stellar and the offense not terrible” nine wins are possible.  However, if the offense continues to sputter and “the defense takes a step back… sounds like a 4-8 season.”  The ultimate prediction is closer to the latter…

“Perhaps simply adding Brandon will be good enough to see the team fight for the top spot in the Coastal division. Yes, perhaps. But not likely. I see the Cavaliers repeating the 5-7 record of a season ago; if that is the case, the university may opt to go in a new direction at head coach.”

 

O’Connor/Mainieri press (lots of it)

No fewer than ten articles on this subject Tuesday… here are some highlights:

• The AP’s Hank Kurz (and everyone else) informs that Virginia coach Brian O’Connor grew up “just a few miles from Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha,” and attended “games there with his father and brother every year from the time he was 4 years old.”
• O’Connor played in the 1991 Series for Creighton, “absorbing a 12th-inning loss in his only appearance when a chopper up the middle bounced just out of his reach,” and coached in the 2002 series as an assistant to then-Notre Dame (and current LSU) coach Paul Mainieri.
• The two coaches talk 3-4 times a week in-season, and BOC says they agreed “that we would never play each other until the NCAA said that we need to play each other, and now it happened and it just so happens to be in Omaha. We’ll be friends up to the game, through the game and after the game.”

• The RTD’s Jeff White adds a 2007 quote from Mainieri: “I told Craig Littlepage he could search the world and never find a better young coach than Brian, and I think he’s proven I was correct.”
• Mainieri – the 2008 national COY – also channeled R.E. Lee during the conversation with the RTD, stating that “When he left, it was like I lost my right arm.”
• Back in 2003, he told The Observer that O’Connor’s departure generated “a tremendous sense of loss” and was “almost like a death in your family.”

 

• Sean Ryan of collegebaseballinsider.com relays a quote from BAC the fan on the CWS: “It’s more the experience of going to the game…taking your glove to the game and trying to catch a foul ball.”
• O’Connor and Mainieri “agreed to meet for a steak dinner when they arrive in Omaha and that the 1991 game O’Connor pitched in was ranked as the “third-best game in CWS history” according to the Omaha World Herald and at the time called the “best college game in history” according to O’Connor.

• Steven Pivovar of the World Herald focuses on the connection between the two coaches, current Chicago Cubs GM Paul Hendry.  He was the Creighton coach in 1991, later “recommended that best friend Mainieri hire O’Connor to be the pitching coach at Notre Dame,” but got his start as an assistant to Mainieri’s father in the Cape Cod League for a team that included the younger Mainieri on its roster.
• Hendry on BOC: “In anything you do, you run across certain people that stand out. Brian O’Connor is one of those guys. After the first year I was with him, I knew that no matter what he did in life, he was going to be good at it. He had ‘it.’ He was a total team guy, an overachiever who wanted to compete at the highest level. He pitched in discomfort and never complained about it. He was an integral part of that ‘91 team. Character-wise, he was way beyond his years. Even at 19 and 20 years old, you knew he was special.”
• Henry: “Paul didn’t know if he could do it… He said, ‘He’s awfully young, and I’m young myself.’ I told Paul to bring Brian in, and that once he met him, he’d feel differently.”
• Mainieri: “Jim said he had the perfect guy for me. I invited Brian over to South Bend, and I knew five minutes into dinner that Brian was the right guy… It was absolutely the best relationship possible. We were so on the same page. We had the same philosophy. We thought the same way. I don’t know if we ever had a disagreement the nine years we were together.”
• PM on the Virginia-Ole Miss rubber match: “When Virginia got the final out, I jumped off the couch, threw both fists into the air and yelled, ‘Yes!!!’ My next thought was, ‘Oh, no, we have to play them.”
• Hendry, on playing Mainieri’s Air Force team many years ago: “That was not a fun thing to do. When I coached against Paul’s team, I tried to forget that he was even on the field. That’s about the only way you can handle something like this. It’s going to be a tremendously emotional experience for both of them.”

 

• The Daily Press’ Norm Wood quotes O’Connor as getting just “two hours of sleep Sunday night… because I could not stop thinking about Saturday and that they do the lineups for the first game of the College World Series and it’s like the all-star lineups. Everybody lines up on the baseline. Well, I will be the last one introduced for our program. Then, they’ll introduce LSU, and coach Mainieri will be the last one introduced, and then those two managers shake hands at home plate. I just can’t imagine the emotion that I’m going to have.”
• BOC “told his team what to expect in Omaha — fans taking more than a week off from work so they can go to every game, standing ovations when players walk into restaurants, greeters at the airport, constant autographs.”
• BOC: “Did I learn a lot about him from a manager’s style as a coach? No question — from an inside-the-game standpoint. What I’m grateful for learning from him is nobody does it classier than this guy. I think he’s the best in college baseball… What I learned from him was how to deal with players the right way. How to treat them like men. How to handle them. How to develop them. I was fortunate for nine years to be able to witness it and work right alongside him. So, is it going to be emotional? No question. The guy is my best friend.”

• Doug Doughty of the Roanoke Times adds yet another BOC quote: “I’ve had multiple conversations with a good friend of mine that I lived with back in Omaha. He kept saying, ‘This is the year, Brian. This is the year. You’ve got to coach a team in that stadium before they demolish it.’”
• And still another, this one about the 1991 loss: “It was the biggest crowd in the history of the game. We had beaten Clemson in the first round and I gave up the third run to lose the ballgame. I wish I could have it back. Jim Hendry tells me that, if I’d caught that chopper, we’d still be playing today,” O’Connor said. “I think, if I would have caught it, that we would have had a chance to win the national championship. Sure, you’re disappointed about the loss, but that was a long time ago.”

 

• Ken Trahan of neworleans.com is a bit more poetic, calling the game “a classic battle between teacher and pupil” and “to say that they know each other well would be an understatement.”
• He also notes that “LSU third base coach Javi Sanchez knows O’ Connor well, having played for Mainieri and O’ Connor at Notre Dame.”

 

• Glenn Guilbeau of the Shreveport Times also breaks out the teacher/pupil metaphor and quotes the former on the latter: “He’s really like a younger brother to me. I don’t like coaching against friends.”

 

• Randy Rosetta of The Advocate points out that “in the last two seasons at LSU, Mainieri has faced Michigan State head coach and former Notre Dame assistant David Grewe and Central Florida, coached by Terry Rooney and Cliff Godwin — the Tigers’ top two assistants last season, when they returned to the CWS. Grewe left Michigan State to join Mainieri’s LSU staff last June after Rooney took the head-coaching job at UCF. In those two showdowns against his former coaches, Mainieri is 5-0.
• PM on Omaha: “Make no mistake: Last year, when we went to Omaha, we went to win. Reality is, the first time you’re there, it’s an awe-inspiring place. …. Nothing feels normal. It’s hard to prepare for something like that. Now we have a lot of guys who have been there already, and I expect us to go there with a lot more comfort and confidence.”

 

• Jim Kleinpeter of The Times-Picayune provides insight into a recent electronic exchange from Mainieri: “I said (in text) ‘Remember, I taught you everything you know but not everything I know.’ I had to keep a few secrets back for this inevitable day. I was so ecstatic for him to get in because it validates his career. I’ve been telling everyone for six years he’s one of the best coaches in the country.”
• In addition to Sanchez, LSU assistant David Grewe is also “good friends with O’Connor, who stood in Grewe’s wedding and pushed him toward Mainieri at Notre Dame.”  Grewe is quoted as saying “you hate playing a close friend. After the game, you feel like. … crap. He deserves to go to Omaha for all that he’s done and how he’s turned that program around. He walked into a good situation and made it better. He is getting rewarded. It’s going to be fun to see him.”

Quantifying the Drought

Let me take you on a trip down memory lane, Redskins fans, back in the day when you were young (you’re not a kid anymore)… 

While starting the 1991 season 11-0, local radio station WPGC debuted weekly raps with lyrics about the most recent triumph over music from the Geto Boy’s “Mind Playing Tricks on Me”… chorus of course changed to “aw yeah, the Skins can’t lose homie!”  Only a Week 13 home loss to Dallas (chorus changed to “aw year, we won’t lose again homie!”) and a defeat at Philly in final week – with home field advantage already secure – kept Washington from a perfect season.  Life was good.

On January 4, 1992 the home team defeated the Atlanta Falcons 24-7 in front of the RFK faithful to advance to the NFC Championship Game.  The 17-point margin of victory was smaller than the regular season meeting between the teams when the Skins prevailed 56-17 in a rainy RFK in early November, but still wide enough.  A week later the Lions – beaten 45-0 in Week 1 – would also suffer their second RFK defeat, losing 41-10.

Heading into that Championship Game – the team’s fifth appearance in 10 seasons – it would pretty hard for any fan to fathom what lay ahead.  The Redskins have not made an appearance in the game since, while woeful teams from that year such as the Packers (4-12), Charges (4-12), Cardinals (4-12), Rams (3-13), Buccaneers (3-13), and Colts (1-15) have all made the NFL’s final four since then.

After making 50% of all NFC championship games over the span of a decade, Washington now owns the third-longest active Conference Championship Game appearance drought.  At 17 seasons, the Redskins are tied with 1991 foe Detroit, and behind only Cincinnati (20) and Cleveland (19).  Old DC also own the fifth-longest division title drought (9 seasons) and ninth-longest Super Bowl appearance drought (17).

The team that finished 14-2 in 1991 and won the NFC East by three games has won only one division crown (1999) since.  After not finishing outside the top three in the division for ten straight seasons, the Redskins have done exactly that six times since.  After winning 16 playoff games (including Super Bowls XVII, XXII, and XXVI) and appearing in 22 from 1982-1992, Washington has won just two and appeared in just five since.  After winning 66% of all regular seasons games from 1972-1991 and 70% from 1982-91, Washington has won just 44% since.

Worst Year Ever?

It’s been noted by local media that Virginia’s men’s basketball program just suffered its worst season in terms of winning percentage since 1966-67, its fewest wins since 1967-68, and its worst two-year run by one coach since 1972-74.  The result was head coach Dave Leitao’s “resignation” following a 4-year reign – the shortest for the position in nearly 80 years.

 

This comes on the heels of a 5-7 football campaign – the worst in… wait for it… two years.  But two years ago, the men’s basketball team was winning a share of the regular season conference title and advancing to the round of 32 in March.  Ultimately, how bad is this academic year in terms of Virginia athletics?

 

Like the American economic engine, is it the worst in recent memory?  Like calendar year 2008 for Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, the music business, the housing industry, and so many others was it the “worst year ever” ?

 

We all know AD Craig Littlepage’s program continues to churn out ACC winners and national title contenders in other sports, but in terms of the two big dogs generating the most revenue and fan interest (both waning?), 2008-09 ranks as his worst on the job and near the all-time nadir.  2008-09 offered:

 

• The fewest combined football & men’s basketball wins (15) since 1976-77, when football went 2-9 and basketball followed with a 12-17 campaign
• The fewest combined regular-season ACC wins (7) since 1984-85 (6)
• The lowest combined winning percentage (.375) since 1976-77 (.350)
• The lowest combined regular-season ACC winning percentage (.292) since 1976-77 (.176)
• The first year with no postseason in either sport since 1997-98 (football did finish 7-4 that year)

 

 

Year	Football			Men’s Basketball			Combined Wins		Combined Win Pct
	ACC	Overall	Postseason	ACC	Overall	Postseason	ACC	Overall	ACC	Overall
1970-71	0-6	5-6		6-8	15-11		6	20	0.300	0.541
1971-72	2-3	3-8		8-4	21-7	NIT (1st round)	10	24	0.588	0.615
1972-73	1-5	4-7		4-8	13-12		5	17	0.278	0.472
1973-74	3-3	4-7		4-8	11-16		7	15	0.389	0.395
1974-75	1-5	4-7		4-8	12-13		5	16	0.278	0.444
1975-76	0-5	1-10		4-8	18-12	NCAA (1st round)	4	19	0.235	0.463
1976-77	1-4	2-9		2-10	12-17		3	14	0.176	0.350
1977-78	1-5	1-9		6-6	20-8		7	21	0.389	0.553
1978-79	0-6	2-9		7-5	19-10	NIT (2nd round)	7	21	0.389	0.525
1979-80	2-4	6-5		7-7	24-10	NIT (Champ)	9	30	0.450	0.667
1980-81	2-4	4-7		13-1	29-4	NCAA (Final 4)	15	33	0.750	0.750
1981-82	0-6	1-10		12-2	30-4	NCAA (Sweet 16)	12	31	0.600	0.689
1982-83	1-5	2-9		12-2	29-5	NCAA (Elite 8 )	13	31	0.650	0.689
1983-84	3-3	6-5		6-8	21-12	NCAA (Final 4)	9	27	0.450	0.614
1984-85	3-1-2	8-2-2	Peach (win)	3-11	17-16	NIT (3rd round)	6	25	0.300	0.556
1985-86	4-3	6-5		7-7	19-11	NCAA (1st round)	11	25	0.524	0.610
1986-87	3-8	2-5		8-6	21-10	NCAA (1st round)	11	23	0.440	0.605
1987-88	5-2	8-4	All-American (win)	5-9	13-18		10	21	0.476	0.488
1988-89	5-2	7-4		9-5	22-11	NCAA (Elite 8 )	14	29	0.667	0.659
1989-90	6-1	10-3	Citrus (loss)	6-8	20-12	NCAA (2nd round)	12	30	0.571	0.667
1990-91	5-2	8-4	Sugar (loss)	6-8	21-12	NCAA (1st round)	11	29	0.524	0.644
1991-92	4-2-1	8-3-1	Gator (loss)	8-8	20-13	NIT (Champ)	12	28	0.522	0.622
1992-93	4-4	7-4		9-7	21-10	NCAA (Sweet 16)	13	28	0.542	0.667
1993-94	5-3	7-5	Carquest (loss)	8-8	18-13	NCAA (2nd round)	13	25	0.542	0.581
1994-95	5-3	9-3	Independence (win)	12-4	25-9	NCAA (Elite 8 )	17	34	0.708	0.739
1995-96	7-1	9-4	Peach (win)	6-10	12-15		13	21	0.542	0.525
1996-97	5-3	7-5	Carquest (loss)	7-9	18-13	NCAA (1st round)	12	25	0.500	0.581
1997-98	5-3	7-4		3-13	11-19		8	18	0.333	0.439
1998-99	6-2	9-3	Peach (win)	4-12	14-16		10	23	0.417	0.548
1999-00	5-3	7-5	Micronpc.com (loss)	9-7	19-12	NIT (1st round)	14	26	0.583	0.605
2000-01	5-3	6-6		9-7	20-9	NCAA (1st round)	14	26	0.583	0.634
2001-02	3-5	5-7		7-9	17-12	NIT (1st round)	10	22	0.417	0.537
2002-03	6-2	9-5	Continental Tire (win)	6-10	16-16	NIT (2nd round)	12	25	0.500	0.543
2003-04	4-4	8-5	Continental Tire (win)	6-10	18-13	NIT (2nd round)	10	26	0.417	0.591
2004-05	5-3	8-4	MPC Computers (loss)	4-12	14-15		9	22	0.375	0.537
2005-06	3-5	7-5	Music City (win)	7-9	15-15	NIT (1st round)	10	22	0.417	0.524
2006-07	4-4	5-7		11-5	21-11	NCAA (2nd round)	15	26	0.625	0.591
2007-08	6-2	9-4	Gator (loss)	5-11	17-16	CBI (3rd round)	11	26	0.458	0.565
2008-09	3-5	5-7		4-12	10-18		7	15	0.292	0.375

Al Groh: Full Disclosure 12 Months Later

Wide Kevin Ogletree once called Virginia HC Al Groh “a real up front guy, very honest.”  During his brief tenure in charge of the NFL’s Jets, The New York Times referred to him as “tight-lipped.”  Doug Doughty of the Roanoke Times said “he’s never shown an eagerness to admit, ‘I was wrong.’”

 

In today’s Daily Progress, Groh aficionado Jerry Ratcliffe relates that according to the head man “plans were in place last spring to add Vic Hall to the offensive mix.”

 

Ratcliffe goes on speculate about formations that would include both Hall and fellow mobile QB Jameel Sewell in the same backfield.  Groh is typically noncommittal on the idea, answering a question with a question: “Shall we say they are both versatile players?”  That’s normally par for the course when it comes to responses from big Al, who this year has kept all practices closed for the first time in his nine springs in order to “provide maximum opportunity for focus and concentration for the players.”

 

To be sure, no one expects Groh to be completely open & forthcoming in answering questions from his favorite group of people – the media.  But what of honesty, honor, and at least not contradicting one’s self when a detailed answer is given?  Remember Groh’s comments about Vic Hall last season?

 

Hall nearly single-handedly led Virginia to a road upset in Blacksburg over eventual ACC & Orange Bowl champion Virginia Tech.  After the game, Groh answered what-if questions about playing Hall earlier with an icy “That’s not the way I live.”

 

Just days earlier, Norm Wood of the Daily Press noted that Groh “exercised a pretty good poker face” when in the week leading up to the game he offered the following:

 

“Actually, we first just began to acquaint him with just some rudimentary phases of the offense back before the Connecticut game, when we were only going to have two active quarterbacks [Marc Verica and Scott Deke] for the game.  If there was ever a circumstance in the previous games where we’d been down to the third quarterback, then he probably could’ve gotten in and played two or three plays.”

 

Certainly, Groh didn’t want to tip off Frank Beamer and the LPD, but did he have to be that specific about details that may not have been 100% factual?  Than again, maybe it was a just a case of mistaken circumstances…

Is Quiet a Good Thing?

Highlights from spring football in Charlottesville…

 

Vic Hall under center

Hall will work “will work at quarterback exclusively” during the spring according to HC Al Groh, and will be “the first person up” at the position where three returnees (Hall, Jameel Sewell, and Marc Verica) have all started games.  Groh says Verica will come in second, as he is “the next person who started at quarterback here.”  Not that Groh wouldn’t state something like that without a caveat… “as with all positions, that will change with competition over 15 days of practices.

 

Secondary depth

Even if Hall does not play another down at corner (where he has “plenty of background”), new secondary coach Anthony Poindexter has four other players who have started at that position: Chris Cook, Chase Minnifield, Mike Parker, and Ras-I Dowling.  Cook, who along with Sewell served an academic suspension last season, will start on the second team but was “one of our better players two seasons ago” according to Groh.  Rodney McLeod – the Bill Dudley Award recipient as last season’s most outstanding first-year player – has been moved to safety, where he will likely team with fellow sophomore Corey Mosley – who was recently found not guilty of misdemeanor charges stemming from an incident at a Student Activities Building dance in February.

 

Teams can’t get worse

In pointing out the obvious and/or taking a shot at the departed Bob Diaco, Groh stated this month that “the area where our team can make the greatest leap forward is with special teams.”  Ron Prince inherits a unit that Virginia finsihed 92^nd nationally in punt returns and 70^th in kickoff returns.  Placekicker will feature a familiar battle as former soccer player Yannick Reyering (6-11 last season), former walk-on Robert Randolph (3-4) and former Chris Gould heir apparent Chris Hinkebein (briefly handled kickoffs).

 

Next in line on the line

With Eugene Monroe set to join former Cavs D’Brickashaw Ferguson, Branden Albert, Brad Butler, and Elton Brown in the NFL, Landon Bradley will step into the left tackle role as a redshirt sophomore with only one game of experience.  Bradley, who doesn’t “feel like [he’s] so far behind Eugene,” will join four returning starters in RT Will Barker, RG BJ Cabbell (sitting out the spring recovering from knee surgery), C Jack Shields, and LG Austin Pasztor.

 

Position moves

Andrew Devlin has been moved from TE to DE and may have a shot at the starting spot vacated by Alex Field.  Groh says Devlin “grew out of tight end,” weighs “267 now and will be 275 before you know it,” and wasn’t moved “”not to play him.”  Still, one has to wonder if the switch to new OC Greggg Brandon’s spread offense had anything to do with it.  Devlin appeared to be a promising backup to John Phillips last season, and Brandon stated upon being hired that he would “play the best players. If the tight ends are some of our best players, then we’ll find a place for them. At Bowling Green, we used a tight end quite a bit when we had one that’s a pretty good player.”

 

Spread impact

Speaking of the new offense, The Roanoke Times’ Doug Doughty relayed from Groh that after watching film of last season Brandon “said we were efficient, but efficiency doesn’t always translate into touchdowns. You need explosiveness.”  If 300 yards/game (105^th nationally in total offense) is efficient, Groh and Brandon might want to beware of real-estate agents pitching acreage.  If Virginia really was efficient last year and just couldn’t score, there might have been a larger gap between their scoring offense ranking (114) and their total offense ranking (105).

 

Vinny Two-Times

Vinny Cerrato has long been known to stretch the truth, keep information from his audience, and generally attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of his fanbase and the DC media.

 

Perhaps no incident illustrated this more than last year’s trade for DE Jason Taylor.  As detailed by Redskin Insider Jason La Canfora, Vinny “implicitly concede[d] that he was lying through his teeth to every media entity that covers the Redskins on a daily basis. Yet somehow he still wonders why people don’t take him seriously? (This is also the guy who claims the team misquoted him in its own press release in 2005. I’ll never quite fathom that one.”

 

Fast forward eight months and Taylor is no longer on the team after playing in the fewest games of his career (13) and posting career lows in tackles (29) & sacks (3.5).  Toward the end of the season, Taylor himself even admitted “I’m not worth 8 million dollars.”

 

 

But to this day Cerrato (naturally) says he would still do the “Jason Taylor thing” (2^nd & 6^th round picks for an overpaid DTWS contestant who no other NFL team wanted at that price) if it “were the same thing right now.”  Taylor, after all, gave “the guys some confidence” after Phillip Daniels went down.

 

Vinny’s latest step into the hypocritical has centered working out, and more specifically, mandatory working out.  After cutting Taylor for refusing to add a 75%-attenednce-at-offseason-conditioning-program-at-Redskin-Park clause to his contract, he offered:

 

“I don’t think it’s fair to the rest of the team…  when he’s just gonna stay home and not work out. And to me, as you get older, you need to work out and be in a structured environment where you have strength coaches, you have people pushing to get the best.”

 

Seems fair, but consider that last year Cerrato told Doc Walker the following when justifying CB Shawn Springs’ absence during OTA’s:

 

“I know he’s in town and he works out with the boxing guy, and he was out in Arizona… You know, he’s a mature guy. When he shows up, he’s going to be in as good a shape as anybody on the football team.”

 

I’m gonna go get the papers, get the papers.

 

The Ram Connection

It’s probably obvious to most following the men’s basketball coaching search at Virginia that Jeff Capel is only 34.  After all, he was still playing in the ACC as recently as 1997.  Certainly that qualifies him as a young coach.  But is it obvious that Anthony Grant is eight years older at 42?  Obviously Grant is still a young coach by any standard, but unlike Capel he looks like he could easily run to the locker room, throw on a jersey, and become a player/coach if needed.

Capel does play regularly against country star Toby Keith, for whatever that’s worth, and “drives a trendy, black Cadillac Escalade, listens to Jay Z, orders movies from NetFlix and prefers a hoodies and jeans over collared shirts and khakis.”  He also strengthened his already-strong bond with his players last offseason when he turned down the South Carolina job (after getting a raise).

A quick look at their bios provides some interesting facts.  Grant started as a math teacher and assistant high school coach at a powerhouse in his native Miami before getting a head HS job across town.  After only one season in charge, he became an assistant at Stetson University in central Florida.  Following one season there, he moved to Marshall and then Florida under Billy Donovan, under whom he apprenticed for ten years.

 

Grant inherited a VCU program from the younger Capel that had averaged 20 wins/year in the four seasons under the latter with one NCAA appearance.  In Grant’s three seasons, they’ve averaged 25 wins/year and made the NCAAs twice (with some of Capel’s players).  Capel came to the job in Richmond with far less experience, having served as an assistant to his father for a year at ODU and on the VCU staff for just a year.  He famously became the youngest head coach in D-1 at 27 when promoted.

 

At Oklahoma, Capel inherited a team that averaged 28 wins/year under Kelvin Sampson, and made the NCAAs in nine of the latter’s ten seasons in Norman.  The run included three Sweet 16s, two Elite 8s, and a Final 4 trip in 2002.  Capel proceeded to go 16-15 in year one after Kelvin Sampson headed to Indiana.  Sampson left behind a scandal that led to probation as well as an empty cupboard thanks to recruits Scottie Reynolds & Damion James commiting elsewhere.  Capel’s 12 losses in year two (23-12) were also more than Sampson ever lost at OU, but at least they came after a 2^nd round loss in the NCAA tournament.  Before long, Capel had signed blue-chip recruits Blake Griffin & Willie Warren, and will coach tonight against Syracuse for an Elite 8 birth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Takeaways and Next Steps

The final chapter of the page-turner that was the 2008-09 Virginia basketball season has finally been written…  Worst winning percentage since 1966-67, fewest wins since 1969-70, worst ACC finish under Dave Leitao, and the first during his tenure with no postseason whatsoever (not the National Initiation Tournament, not the College Basketball Invitation, not the Collegeinsider.com Postseason Torment).  11^th in the ACC in wins and scoring offense & defense, 12^th in 3-point percentage and FG percentage made & allowed.

 

Questions remain for the future of the program and the coach’s job security may now be among them.  Leitao has a 63-60 conference record but has not even come close to equaling his “perfect storm” season of 2006-07.  That year, Leitao’s charges won 11 ACC games to finish as regular season co-champs.  He benefited from a new gym, a down conference talent-wise and to experienced Gillen-recruits in his backcourt scoring nearly 40 points per game.  Since, the 2007 ACC COY has won just 9 ACC games – the worst two-year regular season conference stretch since 1997-99 when Jeff Jones’ last team won 3 ACC games and Gillen’s initial unit tallied 4 victories.

 

Jones only posted one season of fewer than 6 conference wins – his last.  Gillen was fired after his second – in year 7 – but was famously on the hot season after going 6-10 in each of the previous two years.  Virginia currently ranks 109^th in RPI, which is actually an increase over last year’s final position, but attendance fell at a similar rate to home record (9-8 this year, 13-7 last).  What’s worse, Leitao appears to be a worse-than-advertised recruiter as the talent level has clearly dropped off.  His in-game coaching “is what it is” but that leaves much to be desired, especially on the offensive end and in terms of substitution patterns.  At best he is a fiery coach, but at worst he makes Al Groh look cheerful.  Unlike Groh, his abrasiveness at times finds its mark among his players as often as it does among fans & the media.

 

Like Groh, Leitao’s name is now beginning to pop up on the wrong lists in the national press.  An unexpected source – The Wall Street Journal – recently had DL listed as second-worst among the 25 (of 343) D-1 coaches identified as making more than $1 million with at least four years of tenure at their schools.  The WSJ ranked the 25 according to a three-year average of its Elite Value Score, “the amount of salary each school paid for every RPI point above 50.”  Leitao ($1.2mil) was behind Oliver Purnell ($1.0), Roy Williams ($2.0), Mike Krzyzewski ($2.2), and Gary Williams ($1.8), but ahead of Paul Hewitt ($1.3).

 

Still, the popular opinion for most of the season was that Leitao would be back next year, especially given the team’s youth and the money reaming on his contract in light of the current national & state economy.  However, speculation began to ramp up during last week’s Acc Tournament in Atlanta:

 

• Over the weekend, Doug Doughty of the Roanoke Times suggested that Leitao may no longer be “safe” and is “not convinced the case is closed” on his return.
• Similarly, Jeff White of The Richmond Times would “no longer be shocked” if a change were made this offseason.  He relayed an email from AD Craig Littlepage stating “Dave’s our coach” but not specifically referring to his future (as he had with Groh a few months prior).  White also reported on Sunday that “many influential donors, as well as some powerful people at U.Va., question whether he’s the man for the job.”
• Just a day earlier, White stated that a 2009-10 team coached by Leitao would “likely” have a different staff of assistants and it is “uncertain” if all players with eligibility will be back.
• In Friday morning’s Daily Progress, Jerry Ratcliffe indicated “sources have confirmed that the likes of Minnesota’s Tubby Smith would be attracted to an opening.”

NFL Talent on a 5-7 Team

Of the five Virginia players invited to the 2009 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis – OT Eugene Monroe, WR Kevin Ogletree, RB Cedric Peerman, TE John Phillips and LB Clint Sintim – four worked out over the weekend and were listed among the “top performers” at their positions for various drills by nfl.com:

 

Monroe posted the third best broad jump mark (9’2”) among offensive linemen at Lucas Oil Stadium.  His arm- and hand-span measurements were impressive according those who chart such minutia, and he’s listed as the #2 tackle by NFL Network’s Mike Mayock.  Most experts have him going in the first 15 picks. 

 

Ogletree posted the top 20-yard shuttle time (4.08) among receivers, beating the likes of Percy Harvin, Darrius Heyward-Bey, and the eight others who ran sub-4.45 40’s.  KO was also 4^th in the 3-cone drill (6.67), and 9^th in the broad jump (10’2”).  In addition, he “looked good adjusting to the ball” in receiver drills, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.  Less than two weeks ago draftnick Mel Kiper, Jr. summed up the consensus feeling among Virginia fans when he said “he’s not a first-round pick. So, I think he should have stayed.“

 

Peerman posted the best 40 time (4.45) among running backs who ran in Indy, besting – among others – Mayock’s #1, #2, and #3 backs Knowshon Moreno (4.62), Donald Brown (4.51), and Beanie Wells (4.59).  Peerman also came in 2^nd at his position in vertical jump (40.0), 4^th in bench press (225 pounds 27 times), and 9^th in 20-yard shuttle (4.29) and made a little noise among hard-core draft followers online.  Definitely didn’t hurt his chances…

 

Phillips came in first among tight ends in the 3-cone drill (6.84), beating all of the projected high picks at the position.  He also finished 4^th in vertical jump (33.5), and 3^rd in 20-yard (4.27) & 60-yard shuttle (11.77).  Draft stock notwithstanding, it comes as no surprise that Phillips has had contact with the Patriots according to Patriots Football Weekly.  Both Peerman & Phillips were mentioned in a weekend article on the Parisi Speed School, which also tutored Chris Long in preparation for last year’s Combine.

 

Sintim and the linebackers will work out today.

 

Some explanations:

 

• 40-yard dash: The 40-yard dash is the marquee event at the combine. It’s kind of like the 100-meters at the Olympics: It’s all about speed, explosion and watching skilled athletes run great times. These athletes are timed at 10, 20 and 40-yard intervals. What the scouts are looking for is an explosion from a static start.
• Bench press: The bench press is a test of strength — 225 pounds, as many reps as the athlete can get. What the NFL scouts are also looking for is endurance. Anybody can do a max one time, but what the bench press tells the pro scouts is how often the athlete frequented his college weight room for the last 3-5 years.
• Vertical jump: The vertical jump is all about lower-body explosion and power. The athlete stands flat-footed and they measure his reach. It is important to accurately measure the reach, because the differential between the reach and the flag the athlete touches is his vertical jump measurement.
• Broad jump: The broad jump is like being in gym class back in junior high school. Basically, it is testing an athlete’s lower-body explosion and lower-body strength. The athlete starts out with a stance balanced and then he explodes out as far as he can. It tests explosion and balance, because he has to land without moving.
• 3 cone drill: The 3 cone drill tests an athlete’s ability to change directions at a high speed. Three cones in an L-shape. He starts from the starting line, goes 5 yards to the first cone and back. Then, he turns, runs around the second cone, runs a weave around the third cone, which is the high point of the L, changes directions, comes back around that second cone and finishes.
• Shuttle run: The short shuttle is the first of the cone drills. It is known as the 5-10-5. What it tests is the athlete’s lateral quickness and explosion in short areas. The athlete starts in the three-point stance, explodes out 5 yards to his right, touches the line, goes back 10 yards to his left, left hand touches the line, pivot, and he turns 5 more yards and finishes.