Plenty of options
Rubeor's hurt, but U.Va. has veterans, talented freshmen
Saturday, Feb 16, 2008 - 12:07 AM
By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

CHARLOTTESVILLE Anew season begins tomorrow for the University of Virginia men's lacrosse team. Expectations, however, remain the same at Virginia.

As with most of the teams Dom Starsia has had since taking over at U.Va. in July 1992, his latest appears talented enough to contend for the national championship.

Under Starsia, the Cavaliers have won three NCAA titles (1999, 2003 and 2006) and been runners-up twice (1994 and 1996). His challenge this season is to blend the nation's top-ranked recruiting class with a veteran group.

Virginia returns nine of the top 10 scorers from a team that finished 12-4, though the most decorated of them, first-team All-American Ben Rubeor, is out indefinitely with an injured right kneecap.

Rubeor, a senior attackman, has had company in the training room, and the team that will face Drexel tomorrow in Philadelphia isn't close to a finished product. Three midfielders -- Jack Riley, Steve Giannone and George Huguely -- recently returned from injuries.

"We're a far cry from the team I think we're capable of being, but we're moving in the right direction," Starsia said.

For much of 2007, the Cavaliers shined, beating such perennial powers as Syracuse, Princeton, Maryland and Johns Hopkins. But a season that began with a stunning loss to Drexel ended with another shocker for the Cavaliers. Seeded No. 2 in the NCAA tournament, U.Va. lost 14-8 to Delaware in a first-round game at Klockner Stadium.

"I think it's something that everybody who was a part of it will remember," said junior attackman Danny Glading, who had four goals and an assist against Delaware.

The finale marked the third time in five games that the Cavaliers scored fewer than 10 goals. For a program that prides itself on offensive proficiency and fast-paced style, such low production was out of character.

"I think we had a good team last year, we had good senior leaders, but we had to work so hard for everything that came on the offensive end," said Glading, a third-team All-American in 2007.

Rubeor led U.Va. with 46 goals and 22 assists in 2007. Even if he can't play this season, U.Va. should be more potent on offense, if only because it has more weapons in the midfield. Starsia's options include Riley, Giannone, Huguely, Brian Carroll, Will Barrow, Max Pomper, Mike Thompson (Collegiate), touted freshmen Rhamel and Shamel Bratton and Peter Lamade.

Lamade transferred to U.Va. from Duke, where he was a second-team All-American in 2005. He's been a mentor of sorts to the Brattons, who were featured on the cover of Inside Lacrosse magazine when they were in high school.

"I think they're going to be very good," Starsia said of the twins. "There's just no way they could match the hype that's been out there. . . . But they bring an athletic quality. Primarily, what we lacked last year was the ability to attack from the midfield. Teams could just kind of double down on Danny [Glading] and Ben [Rubeor] in particular."

Starsia said his defenders might be the most athletic group he's had. In the cage will be freshman Adam Ghitelman, who like the Brattons is from Long Island, N.Y. Ghitelman beat out Bud Petit, a Collegiate graduate, and Mark Wade for the starting job.

"He definitely makes all the saves he should make," Glading said, "and some he shouldn't."
Contact Jeff White at (804) 649-6838 or jwhite@timesdispatch.com.

SCHEDULE

Feb. -- 17, Drexel at Philadelphia, 2 p.m.; 23, Stony Brook, 1 p.m.; 26, Vermont, 4 p.m.

March -- 1, Syracuse at Baltimore, noon; 4, VMI, 7 p.m.; 8, at Princeton, noon; 11, at Mount St. Mary's, 3 p.m.; 15, at Towson, 3:30 p.m.; 22, Johns Hopkins, 4 p.m.; 29, Maryland, noon. April -- 5, at North Carolina, 4 p.m.; 12, Duke, 6 p.m.; 19, Dartmouth, 1 p.m.; 25 and 27, ACC tournament at U.Va. May -- 10-11, first round of NCAA tournament; 17-18, NCAA quarterfinals; 24, NCAA semifinals at Foxborough, Mass.; 26, NCAA final at Foxborough.


 

Cavs look to rejoin lax elite
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
February 16, 2008

Nobody - players, coaches, media members, fans - could see what was coming last May at Klockner Stadium.

In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Virginia was pounded by Delaware, 14-8. The loss - UVa’s only one at home all season - marked the school’s earliest exit from the tournament since the 2001 campaign.

It came just a year after the Cavaliers had completed one of the most dominating seasons in college history - a 17-0 record that ended with a national championship.

This spring, UVa will be looking to reclaim its spot among the lacrosse elite.

With 30 returning letterman, including seven starters back in the fold, plus a recruiting class that was ranked No. 1 in the nation by Inside Lacrosse, you have to like the Cavs’ chances.

Virginia players certainly seem like they’re looking forward to a little redemption.

“Whether you have a season that ends in a championship or a season that doesn’t end as well as you had wished, you always try and learn something from it and take something out of it,” said Virginia senior Ben Rubeor. “So, yeah, I think last year could be a motivation for all of us.”

“I think what happened to us at the very end of last season is certainly part of our makeup now,” concurred UVa coach Dom Starsia, whose team opens its season on Sunday at Drexel. “This is a new team and a new start, but I’d think we’d all like to get deeper in the playoffs at the end of the season.”

Virginia’s schedule features six games against teams that played in last year’s NCAA Championships, including both finalists, and a total of seven games against teams ranked in last season’s final coaches poll.

UVa opens its home schedule next week with back-to-back games against Stony Brook and Vermont (coached by former Virginia All-American defenseman Ryan Curtis).

On March 1, for the second year in a row, the Cavaliers face Syracuse in the second annual Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Virginia plays the Orange at noon, while Johns Hopkins takes on Princeton at 2:30 p.m.

On March 22, the Cavaliers host reigning national champion Johns Hopkins, then host the ACC Tournament in April.

Rubeor, heading into his second year as a team captain - Will Barrow and Mike Timms join him this season - is fired up to get started.

“It’s my senior year,” he said. “I can see the end. I think that’s definitely motivation to play as well as you can for your final season.”

Rubeor, a preseason first-team All-American who led the team with 46 goals and 22 assists last year, has been hampered in the preseason by a right knee sprain that he aggravated the week before a scrimmage with Navy. While the Towson, Md. native isn’t expected to be in the lineup against Drexel, he’s confident he’ll be back soon.

Joining Rubeor on the attack is first-team preseason All-American Danny Glading and Garrett Billings, an honorable mention preseason All-American.

The midfield appears equally strong. Back in the mix is Barrow, a senior who received first-team preseason All-America recognition; and transfer Peter Lamade, a third-team preseason All-American last year for Duke.

Timms, a junior longstick midfielder, and sophomore defenseman Ken Clausen anchor the defense (both were named second-team preseason All-Americans by Face-Off Yearbook), while junior defender Matt Kelly received honorable mention honors.

“We’re athletic on the defensive end - probably one of the most athletic groups we’ve had,” Starsia said. “The expectation is that we’re going to be a very good defensive lacrosse team. And that has to be the case in order for us to be successful.”

In goal, Virginia will have to find a replacement for the graduated Kip Turner. Senior Bud Petit and freshman Adam Ghitelman have been battling for the spot.

Virginia features several talented newcomers. None have come in with as much fanfare as twin brothers Rhamel and Shamel Bratton from Huntington, N.Y.

“They are dynamic and make a lot of things happen on the field,” Starsia said. “They’re working hard and have done a good job fitting in with the team. I think people are really going to enjoy watching them play.

“I want people to give them a little chance to grow up a little. You don’t just step onto the field at this level and be a finished product yet. They’ve got some work to do, but they’ve been doing a good job so far.”

 

Virginia fulfills Pruett's need
As the Cavs' defensive coordinator, Bob Pruett gets the chance to keep contributing.
By MELINDA WALDROP | 247-4634
February 16, 2008
 

It's not that retirement didn't agree with Bob Pruett.

"I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it," Pruett said from his winter home in Sarasota, Fla. "It's 80 degrees here today, and I'm getting ready to go play golf."

But Pruett, the former head coach at Marshall who was named Virginia's new defensive coordinator on Friday, got the itch to coach again while helping his son coach a high school team in Mississippi this past fall.

"I realized that I missed working with young people," said Pruett, 64, who retired in 2004 after nine seasons and a 94-23 record at Marshall. "I felt like I had a few more good years in me, and I needed to do this."

Enter Virginia head coach Al Groh, a longtime friend, who first hired Pruett as an assistant at Wake Forest in 1983.

"There is no one who is a truer, more proven 'football guy' than Bob Pruett," Groh said in a release. "Simply, teams that Bob has coached win."

Pruett said the two men had talked for two or three years about Pruett joining Groh's Cavaliers staff. An opportunity arose when former defensive coordinator Mike London left to become the head coach at Richmond on Jan. 19.

London also served as the Cavaliers' recruiting coordinator for three seasons, and he formed strong bonds with athletes, including those in the Peninsula. But Pruett, whose coaching career began in Virginia in 1965 as an assistant football and head wrestling coach at Falls Church High, is confident his many state ties also will serve U.Va. well.

"I've recruited Virginia since 1979, everywhere from James Wood High School in Winchester to the Outer Banks," said Pruett, who became an assistant at Marshall, his alma mater, that year.

The Herd recruited the Peninsula and Southside heavily, said Pruett, who coached Denbigh graduate Max Yates at Marshall.

"He brings a great background in Virginia with relationships in multiple areas," Groh said. "Both coaches and players relate very positively to Bob."

At Virginia, Pruett reportedly will make $250,000 a year.

In his first season with the Thundering Herd, Pruett, a native of Beckley, W.Va., won the 1996 Division I-AA national championship. Marshall's move to I-A the following season also brought success. Marshall earned bowl bids in seven of Pruett's final eight years and won five postseason games.

In 1999, the Chad Pennington-led Herd finished 13-0 and No. 10 in country in the Associated Press rankings.

But Pruett's Marshall career ended with his abrupt retirement in March of 2005. Pruett, whose 2004 team went 6-6, had a contract running through 2010 when he resigned.

"I'd been working hard at it for a number of years," said Pruett, who still has a home in Huntington, W.Va. "I had a brother dying of cancer, a grandson playing high school football and a son who was coaching. I just felt like I needed to get some of those things done and taken care of while I could and while I could afford it."

Pruett also was an assistant at Mississippi, Tulane and Florida, where he was Steve Spurrier's defensive coordinator in 1994 and 1995.

"When I retired I said it was time, but it's time for me to go back to work, too," Pruett said.
 

Cavs get veteran in Pruett
The former Marshall coach is also a close friend of coach Al Groh.
Doug Doughty

In the days leading up to Virginia's selection of Bobby Pruett, there was speculation that head football coach Al Groh was considering himself for defensive coordinator.

"The scheme is going to remain constant," said Groh, who has used a 3-4 defense throughout his seven-year UVa career, "but when the head coach is the coordinator of either the offense or defense, then there's always an 'other side of the ball.'

"It's better that a head coach be a uniter than a divider."

Pruett succeeds Mike London, the Cavaliers' defensive coordinator for two seasons before he was named head coach at Richmond.

London had been passed over in a previous Richmond coaching search and felt he needed the coordinator's title to complete his resume, "but Mike was a defensive coordinator in more than title," Groh said. "Mike and I had a great arrangement."

Groh was heavily involved in gameplanning and defensive signal calling, but London ran the meetings and dealt with the players.

"He provided great leadership and energy and enforced the standards of the defense," Groh said. "I never called the defense up as a group on the field. It would happen in practice and I would go check on the offense. Mike was in charge of the defense. They didn't need me there all the time."

When London was defensive coordinator, he also served as defensive-line coach. Pruett will be defensive coordinator and assistant head coach.

"Bob's expertise is on the back end more," Groh said. "Whether he's been out of it here for a while or when he was at Marshall, we'd talk often about what was going on in the game or what we were going up against."

When he was named head coach of the New York Jets in 2000, Groh contacted Pruett about joining his staff. At the time, Pruett was in the middle of a successful nine-year run at Marshall, where he went 94-23 and captured a Division I-AA national championship.

Pruett developed health issues and retired abruptly in March 2005. He later was treated for a bleeding ulcer.

"He wasn't just not feeling well," Groh said. "He was 'code blue.'"

Pruett, who has a master's degree from Virginia Tech, coached at five Virginia high schools before joining Sonny Randle's staff at Marshall in 1979.

Pruett, who had played at Marshall, was the Thundering Herd's defensive coordinator from 1981-82 and later held that position at Wake Forest and Tulane.

"I felt all along that this was a good possibility," said Randle, a former Virginia football player and coach now working as a commentator. "He's [Pruett] a great guy and they're best of friends."

Groh did not say if he had interviewed any other candidates.

"Had we not done this, we had another short list of guys who could really come in and recruit hard and grow as a coach," Groh said, "but, we have a guy here who's grown as a coach. Who could we hire who had a greater background in Virginia than a guy who was a coach on three Virginia all-star teams?"

At 64, Pruett has outlasted many of his coaching colleagues from the late 1970s in Northern Virginia, but his name still resonates in some circles.

"We played for the state championship in 1978 when he was at Gar-Field," said Hampton High School coach Mike Smith. "Ol' Bob's a good guy. He must be in better shape than I am."

Some veteran assistants of Pruett's stature are spared recruiting responsibilities, but Pruett will be assigned a recruiting area and will be going on the road.

"He wants it that way," Groh said. "He asked me the question about 10 days ago and, boy, it would have had to be a tremendous trade-off. You'd hate to have somebody in the middle of your baseball lineup who couldn't get any hits.

"What assistant would have had greater name recognition than Bob Pruett? He knows the schools. He knows the circumstances. Why not use him?"
 

Pruett officially accepts UVa job
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
February 16, 2008

In his last season as the head coach at Marshall, Bob Pruett’s defense was ranked 19th against the run.

The top rushing defense in the country that year was Southern Cal’s.

On Aug. 30, Pruett’s sole focus will be on stopping a different USC operation - its vaunted offense.

On Friday, the University of Virginia officially announced Pruett’s hiring as the school’s defensive coordinator.

Pruett, who turns 65 in June, served as the head coach at Marshall from 1996 to 2004, compiling a 94-23 record. He also worked as an assistant coach at Florida, Marshall, Ole Miss, Tulane and Wake Forest.

“There is no one who is a truer, more proven ‘football guy’ than Bob Pruett,” said UVa coach Al Groh in a released statement. “He has been highly successful as a high school coach, a college defensive coordinator and a college head coach.

“Simply, teams that Bob has coached win. He brings a great background in Virginia with relationships in multiple areas. Both coaches and players relate very positively to Bob.”

Pruett replaces Mike London, who left his post at UVa last month to become the head coach at the University of Richmond, and becomes the fourth defensive coordinator under Groh.

Believed to be retired, Pruett looked at several openings, including South Alabama, before getting the opportunity to work with Groh, a longtime friend and former boss at Wake Forest.

“I slept on [Groh’s] floor in Charlottesville when he was an assistant coach at Virginia,” Pruett said. “When he went on to North Carolina as an assistant coach, he was able to afford a couch and I was able to sleep on that when I came down to visit and learn football with him. We have always kept a close relationship and relied on each other for advice and tips and friendship.”

Pruett joined Groh’s staff at Wake Forest in 1983, originally as the defensive backs coach. After two seasons, Pruett was promoted to defensive coordinator.

After climbing the ranks and serving as the defensive coordinator under legendary coach Steve Spurrier at Florida, Pruett was named Marshall’s coach in 1996.

The Beckley, W.Va., native enjoyed instant success at his alma mater. In fact, only two major college coaches all-time - Walter Camp (1888-1892) and George Woodruff (1892-1896) - posted more wins in their first five seasons than the 58 collected by Pruett.

He will be asked to help Virginia’s recruiting efforts in the state, namely in the Tidewater region. Pruett is familiar with the area and with Northern Virginia, where he worked at five different high schools.

“I’m really excited for this opportunity,” Pruett said. “I’ve had offers to coach each of the years I have been out of football and to get a chance to get back together with an old friend, and to coach at the University of Virginia, I think that is just awesome.

“I spent 14 years as a high school coach in Virginia and I have always recruited the state, so I’m excited to come back. It is a chance for me to continue to be involved in the great state of Virginia and still not be far from home in West Virginia.”

Pruett’s annual salary reportedly will be $250,000.

 

Tech numbers will add up but it's a full-time job
By Doug Doughty

Whenever the subject of numbers was raised during recruiting season, I’m told that the conversation in Virginia Tech staff meetings went something like this:

“Recruit till I tell you to stop recruiting,” was the message Frank Beamer gave to his assistants. “I’ll worry about the numbers.”

(Knowing Beamer, he probably wasn’t that blunt).

The Hokies signed 31 players on Feb. 6 and now have had consecutive recruiting classes (in descending order) of 31, 25, 21, 25 and 19.

Add four 2003 sigees who were grayshirted, meaning they did not enroll until January 2004, add 2007 summer recruit Ervin Garner, and that’s 126 scholarship players who have signed with the program over the past five years.

How do the Hokies get down to the 85-scholarship limit?

I would think, somewhere, that some Hokie beat reporter would be keeping a running count. But, since this column is targeted toward Virginia Tech and Virginia fans, I’ll take a crack at it.

We’ll start out with five 2004 signees who completed their eligibility in four years: Justin Harper, Josh Morgan, D.J. Parker and Eddie Royal. That lowers the number from 126 to 122.

Redshirt junior Brandon Flowers passed up his final year of eligibility in order to make himself available for the 2008 NFL Draft. (121)

Seldom-used linebacker Andrew Bowman was eligible to return for a fifth year but has had knee surgery and will graduate in May. His Tech football career is over. (120).

Offensive lineman Matt Welsh, a 2003 signee who delayed his enrollment until 2004, already has graduated and will not return for a sixth or fifth year, depending on how you count it. (119)

There were five players who were members of more than one signing class – Todd Nolen, Brandon Holland, Sam Wheeler, Kendrick Pressley and Quillie Odom – and only should have been counted once. (114)

Then, there were the players who played for Tech and later transferred: George Bell (Catawba) and Jeremy Gilchrist (Hampton). (112).

There were other players who enrolled at Tech but transferred before playing: Brandon Barden (Vanderbilt), Joey Hall (Elon) and Devven Sutton. (109)

SuperPrep All-American Carl Howard arrived at Tech for summer camp in 2004 but transferred to Rutgers before the start of school. Another New Jersey product, Mike Green, was in the same class and also left without playing. (107)

Defensive back Mario Edwards, a 2006 signee, played briefly for the Hokies this past season before leaving the team with plans to transfer (106).

Signees who never met NCAA admissions guidelines included Deveon Simmons in 2005, Todd Nolen for the second and last time in 2006, and Mike Gee and D.J. Thomas in 2007. (102).

A pair of 2006 signees who did not qualify, Ladi Ajiboye and Douglas McNeil, were targeted for January 2007 enrollment but Ajiboye ended up signing with South Carolina after spending the fall of 2006 at Hargrave Military Academy and McNeil committed to JMU when his Tech acceptance was taking longer than anticipated. (100)

Offensive lineman Antonio North, a 2005 signee, gave up football in December 2006 as the result of a herniated disk. He received a medical release and stayed in school but no longer counts against the scholarship limit. (99)

William Wall, a 2005 signee, was kicked off the team for repeated disciplinary violations in October 2006. There were similar issues surrounding the departure of one of Wall’s cronies, Theodore Miller (97).

Offensive lineman Robert Norris, a 2005 signee from DeMatha in Hyattsville, could see that he wasn’t going to play and transferred. Maurice Reevey, a 2004 signee, left the program and may be playing collegiate basketball. The Hokies aren’t sure (95).

Now, the nitty gritty starts.

Of this year’s 31 signees, at least two are expected to enter in January 2009 and will count toward Tech’s 2009 quota, if necessary. They are quarterback Ju Ju Clayton and wide receiver Ben Barber (93).

Linebacker prospect Derrick McCoy from Amherst and wide receiver D.J. Coles from Goochland are expected to spend a year in prep school. (91).

So, where does Tech find the other six scholarships to get down to 85? I’d say that two or three more signees will require prep school, another 2-3 will be grayshirted and 2-3 veteran players will not be returning, either of their own volition (playing time) or the school’s choice (academic or discipline).

Also, there have been cases in the past when Beamer has pulled players’ scholarships for academic or behavioral reasons and given them a chance to return to the team but not restoring their scholarships unless they earn them.

TECH’S ABILITY TO SIGN such large classes may grate on some Virginia fans, but it’s not much different from what the Cavaliers have done in men’s basketball in recent years.

UVa, as pointed out in a recent Roanoke Times column, currently is at the 13-scholarship NCAA scholarship now and has signed three players to replace the three seniors who will complete their eligibility.

That would place the Cavaliers at the limit, but now comes word that they’re trying to get involved with Oregon City, Ore., guard Brad Tinsley, as well as fellow senior Wesley Witherspoon, a 6-8 wing from Lilburn, Ga. On top of that, there’s the matter of sophomore Calvin Baker, a walk-on who is fourth on the team in scoring and has played nearly 600 minutes.

Then, there’s Tunji Soroye, the 6-11 senior who has played in two games all season and would be eligible for a hardship ruling. Tinsley, Witherspoon, Baker and Soroye are all candidates for a scholarship in 2008-2009, but where are they going to find one, much less two or three?

Presumably, this happens a lot of places, not just with Virginia Tech football or Virginia men’s basketball. You would think it would affect graduation rates, but I don’t see where it has.

My biggest problem is with the concept of running people off, but if these kids aren’t being forced to give up their scholarships and NCAA guidelines are being followed, what’s the beef?

A POST ON one of the UVa boards indicated that Virginia might be able to obtain a waiver to allow Soroye to return for a fifth year since his hardship occurred after the Cavaliers had filled their roster, but school spokesman Rich Murray said UVa’s compliance office is not aware of that provision.

The response:

“The men's basketball team may only have 13 counters (i.e. student-athletes on athletics scholarship) unless the NCAA has granted a waiver (which in my opinion would be extremely rare) to permit an institution to provide an additional scholarship.

“There is no NCAA rule that I know of that permits an institution to have 14 athletics scholarship student-athletes practice and competing on the MBB team (medical or otherwise).”

ON THE UVA recruiting front, Harrisburg High School football coach George Chaump said that video superstar Josh Potts has grown “nervous” over his recruiting and has accepted an invitation to visit Division I-AA Villanova over the weekend.

If UVa interest does not pick up, Potts might sign with Villanova on his trip, Chaump said.