Gillen: 'We Have to Win More'
After a Promising Start, Coach Has Been Unable to Turn Cavs Around
By Barry Svrluga
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 11, 2004; Page D01

CHARLOTTESVILLE

The scenes haven't changed over the past five years. Pete Gillen still kneels on the sideline, still waves his arms as sweat pours from his red hair and soaks through his dark suit. He still turns to his bench frantically, still calls timeouts early and often, still coaches his team in the same frenetic style that brought him success at Xavier and Providence.

Once, all those were signs of hope at Virginia, where Gillen, the wise-cracking New Yorker with a one-liner for every situation, took over the basketball program in 1998. Back in those first few years, "Things seemed to be very much on the upswing," Athletic Director Craig Littlepage said.

Wednesday night, though, Gillen will take his sixth Virginia team to Durham, N.C., where top-ranked Duke awaits. The Cavaliers (12-8, 2-7 ACC) are tied with perennial doormat Clemson for last place in the ACC. With 34 losses in their last 65 games and a 1-9 record in postseason play, the upswing is long since over, and the discussion in Charlottesville has turned away from Gillen's style, and directly to his substance.

"We have to win more," Gillen said. "I know that."

In the ACC, where four of the nine schools have changed coaches since Gillen took over, there is much talk about whether Gillen will be the next to go. He has seven years remaining on a 10-year contract, the bulk of which he said is guaranteed. But when asked whether that deal provides security, Gillen said, "Just the opposite."

"They could get rid of me tomorrow," he said last week, sitting in his small office at University Hall. "In the back of your mind, you know your family will be taken care of if they throw you into the river, which anybody can do. But I feel worse than anybody that we're not doing as well as we want. I'd love to coach here for a long time, and I feel terrible. But some things, you can't control."

Let It Roll

The list of factors Gillen believes were out of his control is long, and is, he believes, the reason the Virginia program is "rebuilding again." In Gillen's first year after replacing Jeff Jones, who resigned after eight seasons, Virginia went 14-16 with only six scholarship players, and he was greeted enthusiastically. Gillen's second and third teams each went 9-7 in the ACC, the first back-to-back winning seasons in conference play since Ralph Sampson led Virginia to national prominence in 1982 and '83.

"That first year, we were playing with house money," said Tom Herrion, a former assistant to Gillen who is the head coach at the College of Charleston. "There were absolutely no expectations. Sometimes, it's easier to just go out and play when there's no pressure, no expectations. We rolled up our sleeves and let it all hang out."

But in January 2002 -- after Virginia began the season 9-0 and was ranked fourth in the nation, which Gillen now calls "fool's gold" -- the program turned the other way, and swiftly. Gillen can tick off what he considers the factors.

Majestic Mapp, whom Gillen had considered a prime point guard prospect, missed two seasons altogether after suffering knee injuries that required six surgeries. Adam Hall, a senior wingman and defensive standout, suffered a foot injury that kept him out of 10 games and limited him in several others. Virginia lost eight of its final 11 regular season games, lost in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament, missed the NCAA tournament, and then lost in the NIT. Roger Mason, the star guard and a junior on that team, left for the NBA that spring.

"Duke or Maryland, who's up there at the top, they can lose a great player and absorb it," Gillen said. "But at Virginia, we're not at that level. Maybe in the future, but not now."

What Gillen considers the crux of the problems, though, came last year, when guard Jermaine Harper was arrested for drunk driving and suspended for five games. In February, point guard Keith Jenifer was charged with assault following a confrontation in downtown Charlottesville. The charges were dropped, but Jenifer never played another game for the Cavs and has since transferred to Murray State.

Gillen is careful not to disparage those players. But at Providence and Xavier -- where he went to eight NCAA tournaments in 13 seasons -- he "made a living" off kids who were "rough around the edges," he said. At Virginia, he said, "it's a higher standard."
 

"That's a good thing," Gillen said. "We brought in a couple of kids, and I still don't think they're bad kids, but they weren't good fits at Virginia. In the recruiting, we didn't do enough homework. But it's tough, sometimes, to do that in the middle of the year.

"Keith Jenifer, he had some problems here, but he went to military school for a year. I thought he'd be all right. But we didn't do enough research on him. I take the blame for that. Nobody else. Me."

Gillen still has a tough time pinpointing exactly what is a "good fit" at Virginia.

"That's something that is probably as hard to define as pornography," former U-Va. coach and athletic director Terry Holland wrote in an e-mail this week. "You really can't describe it, but you know it when you see it. And in the case of 'fitting' at Virginia, it is hard to know until you see that person in the actual U-Va. environment."

Funny Man

Whether Gillen still fits will be determined in the next two months. An hour before practice last week, he sat in his U-Hall office, tiny by ACC standards, and tried to smile some. Smiling and joking used to be his shtick. On the day he arrived at Virginia, and prognosticators said his team would be lucky to win an ACC game, he said: "I sleep just like a baby. I wake up every two hours and I cry."

Somehow, that line remains appropriate today. Occasionally, the quips still come.

"He's a character, and he's funny, but never let that fool you," said Bobby Gonzalez, a former Gillen assistant who is the head coach at Manhattan. "Behind all that, he's an extremely competitive person, and a great coach. You don't win the [372] games he's won without being a great coach."

Yet the situation at U-Va. isn't about Gillen's past wins. It is also about more than just this season, this version of the Cavaliers, this coach. In May, Virginia broke ground on the new John Paul Jones Arena. The privately funded project will cost $129.8 million, of which $80 million has been raised, according to Barry Parkhill, Virginia's associate director of athletics for development. There will be 15,000 seats, modern offices, separate practice facilities for the men's and women's teams.

Littlepage said the new arena was one reason, back in the summer of 2001, that Gillen was granted his 10-year deal, worth an average of about $900,000 annually.

"Knowing that the arena project was on the horizon, the thing that we were, from an institutional standpoint, sensitive to was not wanting uncertainty upon the opening of the arena," Littlepage said. "We wanted to know who the leadership was coming from, have an institutional commitment to the coach, and eliminate -- or at least minimize -- any uncertainty around the program."

But is Virginia still at the point where uncertainty is minimized?

"I will, as I routinely do, continue to look at the program and how it is progressing, as I do with all of our programs on a continuing basis," Littlepage said. "We're not where we want to be at this particular point in time, and we'll continue to look at things over the next couple of weeks to try to make the best determination for the future of Virginia basketball."

Last week for a 9 p.m. tip-off against Maryland, there were banks of empty seats at U-Hall, which, at a capacity of 8,392, is already the smallest arena in the conference. Yet this season, only the Duke game has been a sellout. The new arena will have 6,400 more seats to fill. There is no way to quantify, Parkhill said, the impact of the program's current struggles on fundraising.

"My pitch to everybody is that the building's going to help our basketball program, and it's going to be around for 50-plus years," he said. "We need to do it, and we need help doing it. Every once in a while, there's somebody who's passionate about what's going on with the program who's hesitant [about contributing], but I don't consider it a major problem."

After Saturday's loss to N.C. State, the Cavs' fourth straight, Littlepage approached Gillen from behind in a hallway at U-Hall. "Keep your head up," the AD said, putting his arm around his coach. Gillen trudged on.

"No one's tougher on Pete Gillen than Pete Gillen," Herrion said. "No one's more critical of himself than Coach. He has those long and deep bags under his eyes for a reason."

Gillen says next year's freshman class, featuring point guard Sean Singletary, will help immediately. He has praised this team's character at every turn.

Still, he realizes the gravity of the situation.

"I'm just frustrated, because I feel we're letting people down," Gillen said. "The fans want to win. The school wants to win. I feel badly that we're not."

ACC nearly doubles TV football package
By Rudy Martzke, USA TODAY
The Atlantic Coast Conference is close to completing negotiations with ESPN/ABC that would almost double its football TV income to an average of about $37.6 million per year under a seven-year agreement that would run through the 2010 season, according to conference and television officials familiar with the negotiations.
The ACC currently receives about $20 million per year from ESPN/ABC and syndicator Jefferson-Pilot under separate deals. The deal with ESPN/ABC just completed the fifth year of seven.

With Miami (Fla.) and Virginia Tech joining the conference in 2004 and Boston College in 2005, the final two years of the ESPN/ABC deal would be adjusted upward to reflect the new schools and the addition of a conference championship game, which will start in 2005. The title game will be valued at about $5 million a year.

ESPN/ABC would pay $263.3 million under the new ACC contract. The conference plans to gain additional revenue from a new contract with a still-to-be determined syndicator. The current syndication deal with Jefferson-Pilot brings the ACC $1 million a year.

Once Boston College's arrival makes the ACC a 12-team league, and the championship game begins, each of the schools would receive an average of just under $3.3 million per year from the ESPN/ABC deal alone. That's a 50% hike from the $2.2 million annual average for nine schools in the present deals with ABC/ESPN and Jefferson-Pilot. Under the new ABC/ESPN deal, the ACC will double its annual Thursday night appearances to six, a key to ESPN/ABC's increased rights fee. Another factor in the increase was potential competition from TBS, which expressed interest in the deal.

ESPN/ABC officials have scheduled a meeting at ACC headquarters in Greensboro, N.C., on Feb. 19-20 to finalize the deal.

"We're delighted with the progress to date and look forward to completing the deal in the next few weeks," ACC negotiator Barry Frank of IMG said Tuesday.

"We think we are forging a fair deal," said ESPN senior vice-president programming strategy Len DeLuca, "where the annual school income is level before you count the addition of the championship game and the value of Thursday night football. .. This will be a win win for the conference and ESPN/ABC."

ESPN/ABC originally offered the ACC $28 million to $30 million a year, including the championship game, in the new contract. But the deal was increased to an average of $37.6 million when TBS, which carries Big 12 and Pacific-10 conference games on Saturday nights, expressed an interest in adding the ACC. TBS was unable to present a formal offer because ESPN/ABC came to a tentative agreement in their exclusive negotiating period with the ACC.

"We would have been interested if it were made available to us but that's as far as it got," Turner senior vice-president Greg Hughes said Tuesday.
 

Gillen feels the heat as Cavs' decline continues
By Dave Johnson
Daily Press
Published February 11, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Snow is falling outside Buffalo Wild Wings on Arlington Boulevard, but inside Pete Gillen is feeling the heat. His weekly radio call-in show comes two days after Virginia's 19-point loss at North Carolina. And the evening's first caller - Jim from Emporia - has had it.

He doesn't see why Gillen insists on burning timeouts like kindling, nor can he figure the coach's occasionally random substitution pattern. But what really has his goat is that Gillen hadn't gone ballistic the previous week when a ref blew a call. "Why not earn some respect from the officials?" Jim wants to know. "Why don't you support your players?"

Something, probably the notion that he doesn't support his players, strikes a nerve.

"Jim, you're a great fan, we appreciate it," Gillen answers. "You're wonderful. Why don't you go follow the Hokies? I've been coaching a long time. I'm sure you can do a better job. I'm sure you could take my job, Jim."

A week later, Gillen opens his show with an apology. But Jim represents a growing sentiment among Cavaliers basketball fans who want Gillen gone and don't care about the seven years left on his contract. Virginia, a program on the rise three years ago, is in decline. Even Gillen's fiercest supporters can't deny that.

Since the 2001 season, which ended with a first-round loss in the NCAA tournament, the Cavaliers are 45-36 overall, 15-26 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Virginia went to the NIT, the ultimate consolation prize, in 2002 and '03. This season, that would be an accomplishment.

That isn't what the university had in mind in October of 2001 when it extended Gillen's contract through the 2011 season. Nor is it what Cavalier fans demand.

"Sure, there's frustration," Gillen said earlier this week. "I'm more frustrated than anybody in the commonwealth. Nobody's more frustrated than me."

Not even Jim.

ACCOUNTING. Numbers don't lie, and Gillen's recent record isn't pretty. Though he's 98-73 in five-plus seasons at Virginia, he's 31-34 since Jan. 24, 2002. His postseason record is 1-9, the lone win coming against Brown in last season's NIT. His 0-5 mark in the ACC tournament is the worst of any coach in league history.

A loss tonight at No. 1 Duke would drop U.Va. to 2-8 in the conference, its worst start since 1998, Jeff Jones' final season. Aside from a 71-67 loss to Maryland a week ago, the Cavs have been non-competitive in defeat. They lost twice to N.C. State by a combined 33 points. They fell 22 points short against Duke at home. They lost by 18 at Georgia Tech, 19 at North Carolina, 13 at Wake Forest.

Attendance figures in University Hall are falling for the third consecutive year. The Cavaliers are averaging 7,249 for home games this season, well short of U-Hall's capacity of 8,392. And even that number is suspect because U.Va. considers attendance to be tickets distributed, not bodies through turnstiles.

Craig Littlepage, who was named athletic director two months before Gillen's extension was announced, hears the bickering.

"We have a fan base that is concerned, and obviously we have a coaching staff and team that are concerned," Littlepage said. "Everybody wants the team to be successful. That's our goal: To support the team and coaches so they ultimately can have the kind of success that makes us feel as if we are moving forward.

"Being tied for last place at this point in time is not where we want the team to be, nor do I think that's where we'll be at the conclusion of the season. I do have confidence that we're going to improve and we're going to win games and have postseason opportunities."

Asked whether he expects Gillen to return next season, Littlepage paused a few seconds before answering.

"I would say that, generally, you always expect continuity in your coaching staff," he said. "This is certainly a difficult situation, and my goal is to work as hard as I can to see Pete through not only the end of the season but for the long term."

The key to Gillen's future might be the language of his contract - specifically, a buyout clause. If Virginia wants to part ties with Gillen, how much would it cost? The entire worth of Gillen's deal, approximately $6.3 million? His base salary times seven years, which would be roughly $1.3 million?

Littlepage would neither confirm nor deny the existence of a buyout clause. The Daily Press has requested through the Freedom of Information Act a copy of Gillen's contract. Littlepage said the only information the university would be able to provide is compensation amounts.

TURNABOUT(S). Gillen's arrival in the spring of 1998 was seen as a fresh start for a program that had become stale. With only six scholarship players, his first team went 14-16 in what is arguably Gillen's best coaching job at U.Va. His first recruiting class, headlined by Roger Mason and Travis Watson, was considered a blockbuster.

The Cavs went 19-12 in 2000 and made the NIT. A year later, they won 20 games for the first time in six seasons and made the NCAA field. In '02, Virginia won its first nine games and was ranked No. 4 in the national polls. The program looked stronger than it had been since the Ralph Sampson Era.

But the Cavaliers lost 10 of their last 13 games and landed in the NIT, where they lost at home to South Carolina in the first round. When the slide continued into the '03 season, fans began turning on the coach. A smattering of students chanted "Fire Gillen!" in the closing seconds of Saturday's loss to N.C. State.

Gillen is a hot topic on message boards. Fans on thesabre.com, a Web site not affiliated with the university, already are speculating on who his replacement might be. So far, they've thrown out just about every name from Rick Barnes and Byron Scott to John Crotty and Grant Hill.

Talk about awful timing. Last spring, Virginia broke ground on a 15,000-seat basketball arena that will cost an estimated $130 million. The university has raised $83 million so far.

An obvious question: Has the program's decline had any effect on fund-raising? Dirk Katstra, the executive director of the Virginia Athletics Foundation, says no.

"At this point, we haven't seen a dropoff," he said. "Obviously people are disappointed. The coaches and the team are disappointed. But our focus has been not on this year, but for the next 35-40 years."

GOOD CITIZEN. Even his critics will concede that Gillen represents himself and the university well. He hasn't been caught drunk in a frat house, like Larry Eustachy, or yelled at his boss in a supermarket, like Bobby Knight. In 19 years as a head coach, he's never been the target of a NCAA inquiry.

Of the four freshmen who entered in the fall of 1999, three graduated in four or fewer years. The fourth, Mason, left a year early for the NBA. When guards Keith Jenifer and Jermaine Harper were arrested last season - on assault and DUI charges, respectively - Gillen immediately suspended them. When Watson, last season's team captain, became a discipline problem, Gillen benched him.

If Virginia doesn't win another game this season, Gillen still will be averaging 19.6 victories a year for his career. His 1990 Xavier team won 28 games and advanced to the NCAA tournament's third round, beating third-seeded Georgetown along the way. His '97 Providence team went all the way to the Southeast Regional final, trouncing No. 2 Duke in the second round.

One reason Gillen finds himself on the hot seat now is the expectations he created in his first three years. In the 2001 season alone, Virginia beat No. 4 Tennessee, No. 9 Maryland, No. 3 Duke and No. 2 North Carolina. Students regularly camped out for tickets - Gillen brought them pizza - and U-Hall became one of the toughest venues around.

But as hot as he was then, Gillen has become the unpopular kid looking for acceptance. That makes no sense to those who back him.

"We're the ones who've got to go out and play," forward Devin Smith said. "People can say what they want about the coach, but he can't go out there and pass the ball for us. He can't go out there and rebound for us."

Some circumstances in Virginia's decline have been beyond the coach's control. The devastating knee injury to Majestic Mapp in August of 2000 had a profound effect on the entire program. He lost two full seasons, much of his quickness, and wasn't the same player when he returned. Smith, the team's most-gifted scorer, has played this entire season with a herniated disc in his back.

Gillen's second and third recruiting classes proved to be major busts. Of the six freshmen who entered in 2000-01 and 2001-02, four transferred. Gillen is the only coach in the ACC, and one of the few nationally, who regularly plays five freshmen. Only juniors Elton Brown and Jason Clark have played more than two full seasons at U.Va.

All Gillen can do at the moment is paint the rosiest picture possible. He points to the three-man recruiting class he signed last fall: a quality point guard, an athletic swingman and a shot-blocking center. He points to the nine players who may return next season.

"People are impatient - I'm impatient," Gillen said. "But we certainly haven't given up. We're going to do our best to get it going. There are a lot of plusses about this team. The bottom line is you've got to win, but I like the intangibles that we have. I like the direction we're going. I think the future's bright."

Will he be around to see it?
 

Gillen prefers to look ahead
Coach sees bright future for U.Va., now tied for last in ACC
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Feb 11, 2004

As might be expected of a coach fighting to keep his job, Virginia's Pete Gillen talks a lot these days about the bright future he sees for his basketball program.

"We're not too far away," Gillen said on his radio show Monday night. "Next year, we'll have all the pieces."

Of the U.Va. players who average at least 10 minutes, only guard Todd Billet is a senior. The team's three recruits for 2004-05 include Sean Singletary, a touted point guard from Philadelphia who's expected to start from day one at Virginia.

"We have a great recruiting class coming in," Gillen said. "Put that together with our five freshmen and" such veterans as Jason Clark, Elton Brown and Devin Smith, and "I think we'll have a tremendous team next year."

Maybe so, but that's the future. The present and recent past are why so many Virginia fans are disgruntled and why Gillen's job is in jeopardy. U.Va. (2-7, 12-8) is tied with Clemson for last place in the ACC. The Cavaliers have lost four in a row and six of their past eight and appear bound for the ACC tournament's dreaded play-in game. This from a team that collapsed in 2001-02 and again last season.

Gillen worries about his players' morale, he said, but "I think we have character, and I think our guys will play hard [the rest of the way] and they'll give it a good effort . . . We certainly haven't given up."

U.Va. will play at least eight more games this season. Of Virginia's seven remaining regular-season opponents, four are ranked in the latest Associated Press poll, and two others received votes. First up for the Wahoos is the nation's top-ranked team, Duke (9-0, 20-1), tonight at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

"We're not doing great by any means, but we're not out of it yet," Gillen said. "We've got seven games left, and let's try to win as many as we can. Let's try to get to the postseason, try to make a run and make the NCAA tournament. If that doesn't happen, try to go to the NIT and continue to build."

In six seasons under Gillen, U.Va. has fared considerably better at University Hall than on the road. But the Cavaliers twice stumbled at home last week, falling to Maryland and N.C. State in games they desperately needed to win. The Wolfpack never led by fewer than 11 points in the second half of its 79-63 romp, after which the mood was somber in the home locker room.

"There's definitely a level of frustration whenever you get a streak of losses," said Billet, a dangerous perimeter shooter whom opponents have shut down in recent games. "We have to get everyone on the same page and refocus and put a stop to the losing streak."

Billet is one of the Cavaliers' tri-captains, along with junior Devin Smith and fifth-year point guard Majestic Mapp. They suffered through an agonizing 2002-03 season and have no desire to repeat the experience.

"I don't feel like we're pulling apart," said Smith, who's played this season with a herniated disk in his back. "I just feel like all the time we're not playing together on the court . . . It seems like we're not in sync all the time."

If the Cavaliers sustain their effort for 40 minutes, Gillen said, they "can win almost any game left on the schedule." If the Cavs continue to lose focus, though, they clearly could lose all of those games, too.

"We just can't give up on ourselves," freshman swingman Gary Forbes said.
 

Groh plugs holes as staff takes shape
Two assistants return to NFL; Poindexter to instruct backs; receivers may report to Garrett
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Feb 11, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Football coach Al Groh's staff at the University of Virginia is taking shape for the coming season.

Anthony Poindexter, who as a graduate assistant worked with U.Va.'s wide receivers in 2003, is expected to take over as running backs coach. Groh hired Poindexter after Kevin Ross left last month to become offensive coordinator at Army.

Groh also must replace two assistants who are returning to the NFL, where each had a long playing career. Tight ends coach Andy Heck was recently hired by Jacksonville, where he'll assist with the offensive line. Corwin Brown, sources said, is headed back to the New York Jets, for whom he'll be an assistant position coach.

Brown, who played defensive back for the Jets in 1997 and '98, coached U.Va.'s special teams for the past three seasons.

Poindexter's hiring is the only one Groh has announced, but John Garrett is expected to take over as U.Va.'s receivers coach.

Garrett, 38, spent last season as a scout for the Cincinnati Bengals. A former NFL receiver, Garrett has been an assistant coach for the Bengals, the Arizona Cardinals and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His brother Jason is a longtime NFL quarterback.

Groh couldn't be reached for comment yesterday, and it's unclear how he plans to fill the final vacancy on his staff.

U.Va. finished 8-5 in 2003, Groh's third season as coach at his alma mater. The Cavaliers are likely to begin next season ranked in the top 25.
 

Don't mess with J.J. and the Devils
By Doug Doughty

The first time J.J. Redick remembers being taunted, he was a junior at Cave Spring High School and Duke - already his declared college choice - had just been upset at home by North Carolina.

Two nights later, the Knights had to go to Pulaski County, where Redick was serenaded with chants of "UNC, UNC."

Would-be future hecklers could have learned something that night, as Redick scored 24 points in the first half and finished with a career-high 42 in an 84-66 victory over the Cougars.

Of course, top-ranked Duke (20-1, 9-0 ACC) hasn't lost any conference games this season, so a variation of the "UNC, UNC" chant wouldn't be as obvious. Besides, profanity seems to be the preference of some fans.

The crude reception Redick received at Maryland whenever he went to the free-throw line has been the inspiration for a nationwide debate on fan behavior.

"I don't take it personally," Redick, a Blue Devils sophomore, said Tuesday. "It's part of college basketball, I guess, part of the rivalries. Schools hate other schools. It's going to happen. I thought it was funny."

Funny?

"I think it's funny that fans think that's going to affect me or, in some way, shape or form, it's going to hurt my feelings," he said. "For them to respond with the 'F, you,' chants was ridiculous. I hadn't heard that before."

Redick made all nine of his free throws in Duke's 68-60 victory at Maryland and has made 84 of 87 for the season. At 96.6 percent, he is on track to beat the Division I free-throw record of 95.9 set by Penn State's Craig Collins in 1995-96.

Redick, who made his first 45 free throws of the season and set an ACC record by converting 54 in a row dating back to the 2002-03 season, thinks it is possible to go an entire season without missing a free throw.

"If a guy goes to the line two or three times a game and he's automatic, sure, I could see that happening," Redick said. "Lately, I've been going to the line a lot more than that."

As a freshman, Redick set four goals and accomplished half of them. The two he got were a selection to one of the three All-ACC teams (he made the third team) and a 90-percent free-throw percentage (he shot 91.9). The two he missed were ACC rookie of the year (Georgia Tech's Chris Bosh got that) and 45-percent shooting on 3-pointers (he shot 39.9).

"I've set some goals this year," Redick said, "but they're more along the line of team goals."

Redick has raised his scoring average from 15.0 points per game last season to a team-high 16.5 entering a 7 p.m. game today with visiting Virginia (12-8, 2-7). He has made better than 42 percent of his 3-pointers despite a slow start attributed to a hamstring injury that kept him out of the Junior World Championships.

Other players of Redick's caliber have made an early jump to the NBA, but Redick doesn't hesitate for a moment when asked if he will be back at Duke in 2004-05.

"Of course," he said. "I don't see what the purpose of me going early to play overseas. I'd like to try and stay in the United States."

OK, so he was just joking about the overseas part.

"I'll put it this way," he said. "It's something that hasn't even crossed my mind. It's always been my goal to leave a legacy at Duke. That's why I stayed at Cave Spring for four years.

"If I had left after my sophomore or junior year to go to a prep school, I wouldn't have left a legacy at my high school. I want to leave a legacy at Duke and, to do that, I have to stay here and play for four years."

If opposing fans have anything to say about that, they first need to know his history.

 

Gillen on hot seat
Cavaliers' slide no laughing matter for Virginia coach
By CHIP ALEXANDER, Staff Writer

Virginia basketball coach Pete Gillen, once asked about the stress of coaching, said he "sleeps like a baby."

"Yeah," he said, "I wake up every two hours and cry."

Gillen's lines, which once amused so many Virginia fans, apparently are losing their punch. The Cavaliers take a 2-7 ACC record into their game tonight at top-ranked Duke. Chances are, they will leave Cameron Indoor Stadium with their fifth straight conference loss.

The strain of the Cavs' slide recently showed when, on his weekly radio show, Gillen barked at a caller who claimed the coach wasn't supporting his players enough during games.

"Go root for the Hokies," Gillen said, referring to in-state rival Virginia Tech.

Gillen immediately regretted his heat-of-the-moment reaction.

"I think our fans have been great," Gillen said Monday. "Sure, there's frustration. Hey, I'm as frustrated as anyone in the Commonwealth.

"The fans get mad, but they support our kids. Hey, they want to win. They're desperate to win, just as we're desperate to win. I'd rather have it that way than them not caring, just being melancholy or blase."

UVa's University Hall seemed somewhat blase Saturday as the home team lost to N.C. State 79-63, falling to 12-8 overall after an 8-0 start. Herb Sendek's Wolfpack, by comparison, improved to 14-5 and 7-2.

While a firesendek.com Web site recently was shut down, a new site now is up and running: gillenmustgo.com.

"That's the nature of our sport, and you can't allow those things to influence how you do your job," Sendek said of such Internet sites. "Unfortunately, our sports culture today is a little off-center."

But discontent is spreading among some of the UVa faithful.

"I think the program has reached the point that [Gillen] is ineffective," said David Call, a Raleigh attorney and member of the Virginia Athletics Foundation, the school's booster group. "When you reach the point that whatever you try isn't working and won't work, there needs to be a new solution.

"The history of the university is such that it does not get rid of coaches. I don't think there's a movement to do that. I think most believe Pete is a great guy. But he has to bear the responsibility for what's happening."

Before the 2001-02 season, Gillen, 56, was given a 10-year contract worth about $900,000 a year. That deal followed a 20-9 season and the Cavs' first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1997.

Contract negotiations began under former athletics director Terry Holland and were finalized by Holland's successor, Craig Littlepage. With seven years remaining on the contract, a buyout could be prohibitive for a school in the midst of raising money for a new $128 million basketball arena.

Virginia has not won an ACC Tournament game under Gillen. The Cavs won their NIT opener against Brown last year -- Gillen's first postseason victory in five seasons at UVa -- but were dispatched in the second round.

Littlepage, a former college basketball player and coach, said he can relate to the pressures on Gillen. The AD said the length of Gillen's contract allows the coach and his staff to avoid the temptation of taking shortcuts. There's urgency to win but no panic.

"It's allowed him to look at his job in terms of the long haul rather than the day-to-day, game-to-game manner in which coaches usually operate," Littlepage said. "You can step away from it and look at building a program.

"What's needed now is for everyone to remain supportive of the coach and the team and all pull together."

Gillen said the Cavs suffered last year from a "lack of character," citing several off-court problems. As for this season, Gillen said, "we've got terrific character and leadership."

Junior forward Devin Smith has played with a back injury that prevents him from practicing, Gillen said. Senior guard Majestic Mapp, who started Saturday, has battled back from serious knee injuries.

Freshmen Gary Forbes and J.R. Reynolds both were ranked among the nation's top 100 prep players, and Gillen also has given meaningful minutes to freshmen T.J. Bannister, Jason Cain and Donte Miller. Virginia has gotten an ACC-high 27 starts from its freshman class.

"We only lose one guy, [senior guard] Todd Billet, who plays a lot," Gillen said. "I think our future is bright."

Meanwhile, it's his team's mind-set that has Gillen most concerned.

"We have to keep our morale up," he said. "We're 12-8, and what I've told our players is some great teams in our league have losing records in conference play. Yeah, we're a couple of games behind people, but we can regroup.

"We certainly haven't given up. We've got seven games left. Let's go day by day, try to win No. 13, try to win No. 3 in the conference. Just try to win the next game, then the next game. ... "

Do that, and Gillen may get more laughs.