As we roll into week 6 of the college football season, everything is not exactly hunky-dory in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Yes, Virginia got their first win of the season in Chapel Hill this past Saturday, but a storm is blowing in just as one UVA guy sails off into retirement.
What I am talking about is Virginia has a lame-duck President possibly having to fire an alumnus coach, and then having to turn around and hire a brand new coach in his place. I have heard it mentioned around Charlottesville that it might be January, or even March, before the Board of Visitors of UVA and Rector John Wynne find the new person who will be the next President of the University.
Most likely, President John Casteen, who is in nearly his 20th year at the helm, would rather be sailing, traveling with his wife and family, reading a good book, or just about anything instead of dealing with irate Virginia alumni and football message-board fanatics. I’m quite certain that in this very tough economic climate the last thing Casteen would want to do is pay someone (Al Groh) a very large amount of money to not work here anymore.
Virginia is already still paying Dave Leitao a tidy sum of moolah to not do his job. So, the way I see it is in a few more months the Hoos are going to be paying four coaches to do two jobs. This is exactly why I think they need to let coach Groh go earlier in our season as opposed to later.
It’s going to happen eventually anyway, isn’t it? There is no way in hell that Virginia is going to give Groh an extension and a new deal, is it? Even if Groh wins 6-7 games the grim-reaper is still at the door.
As Casteen retires, he is either going to have keep Al Groh around for another year so the new president has to deal with it, or he is going to have to fire him at some point this season. Another item further complicating the situation is though Coach Groh’s contract expires at the end of the season in 2011, it is structured so that the week after the last game of the season against Virginia Tech, UVA has to either give Groh an add-on year to his deal, or to contractually decline to do so.
This complicates recruiting since other coaches around the ACC might tell recruits that Groh is not going to be around there much longer, so you might as well just not go there. Systems change when coaches get canned and high school players are looking for the right scheme and system that matches their talent and skill set. The system and style of play is as important to a recruit as almost anything in the college decision process.
When North Carolina fired their alumnus coach John Bunting, they did so in late October of 2006. This was about one month before the end of the regular season in college football. This makes perfect sense to me as it allows the University to have the maximum amount of time to hire the right person to run this program. UNC also let Bunting stay on to coach out the year. I like this also, and think it was extremely commendable for Bunting to finish out the year. Coach Bunting was going to get his cash regardless of whether he stayed on or not, yet he chose to keep trying to win. You just gotta respect the intestinal fortitude he displayed coaching out the year.
I say we try the Carolina approach and remove Groh from the job in late October, and then ask him to stay on and finish out the year. There is certainly the risk that he tells UVA to stick it where the sun don’t shine, but that is a chance I will gladly take given the potential upside.
Sorry Mr. Casteen, we need you to make one more HUGE decision before you sail off to Maine and into your golden years. Find us a new coach that will fix what is wrong in Scott Stadium. Mike London, anyone? Tommy Tuberville? Chris Peterson? Readers, how would you handle this complex situation?
