UVa’s Groh under fire

By Jeff White
Published: September 30, 2008

CHARLOTTESVILLE — By any measure, the Virginia Cavaliers are one of the worst teams in college football. And that’s not helping the approval rating of UVa’s beleaguered head coach.

Want proof? Check the message boards on Web sites devoted to UVa sports. Or tune in to the Cavalier Call-in, eighth-year coach Al Groh’s weekly radio show.

On Monday night — two days after Duke snapped a 25-game ACC losing streak by pounding UVa 31-3 — a caller offered this sarcastic comment to Groh:

“Coach, it’s unfortunate the way things have gone, but I just want to thank you for returning UVa football to the Dick Bestwick era officially. You’ve taken a well-respected program that George Welsh took 19 years to build and you’ve managed to completely tear it down.”

The caller also questioned the qualifications of UVa’s offensive coordinator, who happens to be Groh’s older son, Mike. In his third season as coordinator, Mike Groh oversees a unit that ranks last among Football Bowl Subdivision teams in scoring offense and second-to-last in total offense.

Al Groh declined to address the caller’s question, saying, “I think in this particular case that we’ve dealt with enough negativity on this call. I think we’ll move on.”

Virginia (0-1, 1-3) hosts ACC rival Maryland (1-0, 4-1) Saturday night at Scott Stadium. A loss would give UVa its worst record after five games since 1982, when it started 0-5 and finished 2-9.

Groh’s contract runs through the 2011 season, but he’s not a lock to return next year. The Cavaliers are 52-40 under Groh, but only once have they beaten Virginia Tech. Groh was named ACC coach of the year in 2007, when the Cavaliers won nine games, but that doesn’t seem to count for much these days. Not when his team has been outscored 128-36 in four games.

“It’s unfortunate to see,” Virginia quarterback Marc Verica said of the criticism. “You kind of wish people would have your back more, have your coach’s back, because this program’s done a lot of great things under Coach Groh here. And for things just to be down at this point, to turn your back or to get down on someone, that’s not the right way to handle it. It’s easy to assess blame and it’s easy to point fingers. But what I do know is that it’s hard to be accountable and to take ownership of things.

“Coach Groh does that. He’s accountable to us, he’s accountable to the coaches. He takes ownership in things.”

Junior wide receiver Kevin Ogletree said: “If there’s stuff circling around, we don’t live in holes. I’m pretty sure some kids hear about it. But like I said, our job is to play for our coaches and come every day trying to get better. We’re a family, and we’re going to stick together until we can’t anymore.”

At his weekly news conference Tuesday, Groh saidno one is more disappointed by the team’s start than the coaches.

“Every week there’s a tremendous amount put into this,” Groh said. “Every week between 90 and 100 hours, just to have the sense of satisfaction that comes from the accomplishment of the team playing well. So for anybody involved who puts in that amount of time, and if you don’t get any reward for it, that’s a difficult end of the week.”

Asked if the talk about his job security bothered him, Groh said, “I don’t think about my future. I just think about the next game. That’s for all you guys to write about.

“I try to respect the game .... and coach the team the way we think it needs to be coached and do for the players, whatever that might mean — encourage, admonish, direct, care for — the things that go with the title of being head coach in college football.”

White is a sports writer for the Richmond Times Dispatch.