|
Virginia coach Al Groh |
BY TAFT COGHILL JR.
CHARLOTTESVILLE--
Whenever Virginia football coach Al Groh is confronted with a crisis, he thinks back to a sign in his office. It was given to him by mentor Bill Parcells, whom he worked under for three different teams in the NFL.The sign reads: "Just coach the team."
It's a reminder to Groh to ignore outside distractions, and it's come in handy a lot in his sometimes rocky nine-year tenure at Virginia.
This week, it's particularly motivational.
That's because the Cavaliers have lost nine of their past 12 games dating back to last season and many supporters think it's time for Groh to be fired.
Groh said the criticism hasn't fazed him because he coaches based on the gift from Parcells.
"I don't think that I'm a very hard book to read because I don't really try to do things with any pretensions," Groh said. "And I got this sign on my desk that says, 'Just coach the team.' That's what I like to do. That's my responsibility and I try to coach the team the best way I can every day."
HURRICANE WARNING
The Cavaliers (3-5, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) return to action with a trip to No. 16 Miami (6-2, 3-2) on Saturday at noon.
The last time Virginia visited the Hurricanes, they closed out the Orange Bowl with a 48-0 win. Groh said the 2007 victory was "a special night" because of the way his team handled the "dog and pony show."
It was the last game in a historic stadium and the Hurricanes brought in many of their all-time great players for an emotional ceremony.
"All the big guns were being brought in to make this quite a celebration," Groh said. "And that particular team really took that challenge and played about as well as we've ever played against a really quality opponent."
IDENTITY CRISIS
Virginia is coming off consecutive losses to Georgia Tech and Duke. The Yellow Jackets are known for their triple-option offense. Duke is a pass-heavy team that lives and dies with senior quarterback Thaddeus Lewis.
That begs the question: "What's Virginia's identity?"
Groh doesn't know. He admits an identity would be "beneficial" but said he can't force one on the team.
"What players can do best has a great deal to do with the establishment of an identity," Groh said. "To try to force an identity on an offense or defense without the skills to match it would be foolhardy."
BURN, BABY, BURN
Fourteen of the 23 first-year players at Virginia have burned their redshirts.
Many have had minor roles. On Saturday, Groh used linebacker Connor McCartin, a Fauquier High grad, and tight end Paul Freedman.
Groh said his philosophy has always been that when a player is capable of helping Virginia win a game, he's prepared to use him.
"Clearly it would be nice to be in a cycle where everybody could sit around for a year and kind of marinate, get ready to play a little bit next year, kind of a case that Texas or Alabama or those kind of places," Groh said. "But some of these players have done a nice job for us, especially on special teams."
WEAK COMPETITION
Groh had hoped that true freshman tackle Oday Aboushi and safety Corey Lillard (a Liberty High School graduate) would be further ahead than their classmates because they won gold medals with USA Football's Junior National Team in the IFAF Junior World Championships over the summer. That wasn't the case.
"Frankly, if we could get some of those teams on our schedule--if we could get to play France, probably the experience would have more value for them," Groh said with a laugh.
Taft Coghill Jr.: 540/374-5526
Email: tcoghill@freelancestar.com
| VIRGINIA (3-5) at MIAMI (6-2) WHEN: Saturday, noon WHERE: Landshark Stadium, Miami TV: Raycom (ch. 6, 20) RADIO: WGRQ-FM 95.9 |
