Groh's job has been rumored to be in jeopardy throughout the season, and the crescendo for his firing reached its nadir following the school's eight loss in nine games under Groh to in-state rival Virginia Tech yesterday.
"There is not a coach in the college game who has worked harder than Al Groh
in trying to build a football program. Football is his life and he
dedicated himself to the University and to our football team," athletic director Craig Littlepage
said in a statement. "We are grateful for his service and for his commitment to his players
and his coaching staff.
"Our goals for the UVa football program will remain the same. We will pursue
winning and excellence in all facets of the University experience for our
student-athletes, both on the field and in the classroom. There are a number
of excellent coaches whose backgrounds and styles align with our goals and
values. When you combine our aspirations with the
institutional commitment to athletic facilities and resources, I believe
that the job of head football coach at UVa will be attractive to some
outstanding candidates."
Groh, a UVa alumnus, was named Virginia's head coach on Dec. 30, 2000. His
nine Virginia teams compiled an overall record of 59-53 and participated in
five bowl games, winning three of them. Groh was named the Atlantic Coast
Conference Coach of the Year in 2002 and 2007, and the American Football
Coaches Association Regional Coach of the Year in 2004. The Cavaliers have
had losing records three of the last four seasons and were 3-9 in 2009.
Groh will receive a buyout of approximately $4.33 million, the release stated.
We can blame Groh but as long as academics are a priority, it is harder to recruit. Groh had eight potential recruits that did not meet the academic standards. For football players (2008), UVa players had the fourth highest SAT scores with Florida being at the bottom.
There are more problems than just the coach.
Schools need to make a choice, you either relax the academic standards to get the top players or you will be mediocre to bad forever. ND still doesn't get this and no brand name coach is going to fix that.
The academic excuse is getting old. Groh has lost the last two years to William and Mary and Duke. Where's the higher academic standards in those losses? Plus the excuse of higher academic standards assumes football players lack intelligence. This is not the case. Groh just can't recruit enough of them that meet the higher academic standards. Groh's failure is not a lack of talent as evidenced by the players he's put in the NFL.
Groh's failure is that he's not a good game day coach. He never was a head coach before UVA hired him and his lack of game day skill was repeatedly exposed.
He never was a head coach before UVA hired him and his lack of game day skill was repeatedly exposed.
False.
From his own bio:
He joined Parcells at Air Force in 1978 as defensive coordinator before moving to Texas Tech in 1980 and becoming head coach at Wake Forest in 1981.
While at Wake Forest, Groh guided the program to only its second winning season in 13 years with a 6-5 record in 1984. During his tenure, the school produced one first-team All-American, 12 first-team All-ACC selections, 15 All-ACC Academic selections, one ACC Rookie of the Year and one Jacobs Blocking Trophy recipient. Groh also helped develop 14 players who would later go on to play in the NFL, the most concentrated group of pro players produced in Demon Deacon history to that point.
He was 26-40 at Wake Forest, 8-32 in ACC play.
That alone should have been enough of a red flag.
Groh also was a head coach for the NY Jets and led them to a respectable record in his one season there... (9-7 I think).
I think Groh's biggest problem was maintaining consistency. He changed offenses and offensive coordinators numerous times at UVa and he played a type of defense that needs top recruits to be successful
He should have been running a tampa 2 type 4-3 defense where the DE's were basically big LBs and the DTs were big DEs. His LBs should have been big safeties and the Safeties big CBs. This would have placed a greater emphasis on speed and not bulk. It just too hard to recruit for Groh's Pat/Parcells-style defense, especially with much tougher academic standards than VTech who lets in every dummy that can write their own names (as long as they run fast or can throw a football... or in the Vick brothers' cases, both).
To answer the question about William and Mary and Duke - they do not use the same standards as UVA. You need to do your research on college athletes. A school may have very high standards for the regular student body and only require the NCAA standards for athletes.
I agree that Groh losing coaches did not help him. He did an excellent job getting his staff promoted. Let's think about this for a minute....will anyone ever promote Bud Foster?