Tom Dienhart
Groh is ready to rock 'n' roll
April 28, 2003

Van Halen is serenading Virginia coach Al Groh as he critiques video of high school prospects in his office. He leans over to adjust the volume.

"Is that too loud?" he asks, as David Lee Roth hits a high note on "Jamie's Cryin'."

Nope. Classic Van Halen -- not that Sammy Hagar stuff -- never is too loud. It's hard-rocking music for the coach of the fastest-rising team in the nation's fastest-rising conference. You expect Groh to get Virginia to the top of the ACC -- which is where it will finish this fall -- listening to Christopher Cross? Everything has a purpose in Al Groh's world, even music. This gets his blood pumping, and Groh has been pumped all spring, building toward the impending glory fall holds for UVa.

The video pauses, and Groh flips through a phone book-thick three-ring binder. There are more stuffed on shelves along a wall of his office, products of Groh's labor in the NFL. He smiles. This isn't a guy who builds ships in a bottle in his free time. For Groh, it's all football all the time -- 25/8 if he had his way. He is sustained by dreams of the perfect zone blitz and burdened by thoughts of how to convert a second-and-long into a third-and-short. He'll get some relief this afternoon at practice, where everything is scripted down to the minute. This is stuff Groh learned as an assistant to Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick and as coach of the Jets.

The smell of Sundays is everywhere at Virginia, right down to the rock music that blares over the P.A. on game days. And the recruits Groh and his young, energetic staff pursue know all about his work as an NFL defensive guru. That's why Virginia is becoming the new Linebacker U., with young studs such as Ahmad Brooks, Darryl Blackstock and Kai Parham. The talent level everywhere is swelling as rapidly as the expectations at a school that often used to shrug its shoulders in indifference at football. Groh has made sure those days are over.

"I came here to win a national championship," he says.

There's an intimidating presence about the guy. Maybe it's his unblinking, great white shark eyes that stare right through you. Groh is a confident man who knows no one knows more than he does about coaching a football team. He has taken micromanagement to new heights. Groh knows about the offense, defense, special teams, recruiting, academic advising, offseason conditioning, tire pressure on the equipment carts and temperature of the drinking water.

"I am the head coach of the team," he's famous for saying. "As a result, I intend to be involved in every facet of the operation."

That's evident watching his highly structured, fast-paced practice. On this day, various third-down situations are executed on different areas of the field. A running back just missed a blitz pickup. Furious, Groh grabs a fistful of jersey and does a little coaching.

This is Groh at his best -- just coaching. That's his mantra: Just coach the team. The phrase stares back at Groh from a sign at the front of his desk, a point of focus. He senses he has a lot of coaching to do this fall but knows this only is the start.

He leans forward in his chair. "If we get another good recruiting class behind the first three we signed," he says, "I think 2004 could be our best team yet. It's all about talent, not schemes."

Time to find more of it. Groh hits the play button and turns up the volume. Cover your ears and get ready for some great football.

Virginia downs Denver 12-3 in Men's Lacrosse
Senior A.J. Shannon's four goals lead 11 goal run.
April 28, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - Leading 3-2 at halftime, the Virginia men's lacrosse team scored nine unanswered goals during the second half to post a 12-3 victory in its regular season finale over visiting Denver University at Klöckner Stadium. Senior midfielder A.J. Shannon paced the offense with a game-high four goals, while fellow senior midfielders' Chris Rotelli and Billy Glading contributed a hat-trick and two goals respectively. The decision gives the Cavaliers (11-2, 2-1 ACC) their sixth straight win as the squad heads into NCAA tourney action, while the Pioneers fall to 8-5 overall.

"I don't know if we lacked intensity [in the first half]," said Shannon. "We made a few mental errors, but goalie (Jeff Nunziato) made some huge saves. He stopped me a couple times when I thought I had one, and he stopped a bunch of other guys. The goalie was really hot. We just came out in the third quarter and sunk a couple of quick [goals] on him and he kind of lost his rhythm. The defense fell apart a little bit and we took advantage of it by capitalizing on the opportunities we had."

The only score of the first quarter came five minutes into the game when Glading found the back of the net on an assist by attackman Joe Yevoli.

During the second quarter, Denver scored back-to-back goals on its first two shots of the period. At the 10:26 mark, midfielder Blake Evans scored an unassisted goal that was followed a minute later by another unassisted score, courtesy of freshman midfielder Adam Swain. With the score 2-1 in favor of the Pioneers, both teams exchanged possessions for the remainder of the half until Shannon knotted the score on assist by Rotelli with two minutes remaining. A minute later, Virginia took the lead for good on an acrobatic, diving shot by attackman John Christmas that bounced past Nunziato, who finished with 21 saves.

In the third quarter, the Cavaliers continued where they left off by scoring seven unanswered goals. Christmas commenced the second half scoring spurt by putting a crease feed from midfielder Kyle Dixon into the net 30 seconds into the period. With the score 4-2, Shannon followed with back-to-back goals. At the 4:05 mark, attackman Matt Ward added to the lead on an assist from fellow freshman Foster Gilbert. Rotelli extended the lead by scoring the next three goals during the last three minutes of the third quarter to push Virginia's lead to 10-2.

After Shannon scored his fourth goal and Glading contributed his second to increase the Cavaliers' margin to 12-2, Denver scored the last goal of the game on freshman attackman Adam Miller's unassisted goal at the 7:37 mark.

Virginia now awaits seeding in the NCAA tournament which begins May 10th, while Denver hosts Air Force in its season-finale on May 5th.

 

Redskins sign ex-Iowa QB Banks
Teams pick up Cavs, Hokies

Jerton Evans and Ronyell Whitaker are among the undrafted free agents getting an NFL shot.

FROM STAFF, WIRE REPORTS

   Two players from Virginia and four from Virginia Tech were signed by NFL teams as undrafted free agents Monday.

    UVa safety Jerton Evans from Jefferson Forest High School has signed with Buffalo, where he will be joining ex-UVa teammate Angelo Crowell, selected by the Bills in the third round last Saturday.

    Wide receiver Billy McMullen, selected in the third round by Philadelphia, will be accompanied by longtime sidekick Merrill Robertson. Robertson, an inside linebacker signed by Philadelphia on Monday, was McMullen's roommate at Fork Union Military Academy and UVa.

    Two players who began their college football careers at Virginia, wide receiver James Johnson and running back Arlen Harris, signed free-agent contracts with Washington and St. Louis, respectively. Johnson transferred to Bowie State and Harris to Hofstra.

    The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed two Hokies, cornerback Ronyell Whitaker and offensive tackle Anthony Davis.

    Tech backup quarterback Grant Noel was signed by the Baltimore Ravens. Tech receiver Shawn Witten was signed by the New York Jets. Witten's brother, University of Tennessee tight end Jason Witten, was drafted in the third round by Dallas last Saturday.

    Running back Keith Burnell, who transferred from Virginia Tech to Delaware last year, was signed by Green Bay.

    Johnson was one of 12 free agents signed by the Redskins - a group that includes Iowa quarterback Brad Banks, the Associated Press national player of the year and Heisman Trophy runner-up.

Basketball star was named in police report April 2
Duke's Redick cleared of wrongdoing

Ken Redick says Duke has exonerated his son after the guard was involved in a marijuana-related incident.

By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   Duke basketball star J.J. Redick has been cleared of any wrongdoing in a dormitory incident that resulted in a police report to the dean's office, Redick's father said Monday.

    "He was very upset," said Ken Redick, speaking on behalf of his son. "I think he's moved on. Kids are a lot more resilient than adults.

    "It made a lasting impression of the importance of knowing your place in the university and the bigger picture. You're not some average 18-year-old basketball player. You're very well-known."

    J.J. Redick, a Cave Spring graduate, was one of five students named in a report filed April2, after campus police investigated a call from a resident advisor who said she detected the smell of marijuana coming from a dorm room. The police report said five students in the room had "red, glossy eyes and a strong smell of marijuana about their person," and found a pipe-like device "with pieces of green leafs in the water and a strong smell of marijuana emitting from the top."

    Ken Redick said his son had not been smoking marijuana and had left the room once before returning to check his e-mail.

    "We actually thought about requesting something in writing from the dean's office," Ken Redick said. "They didn't give him anything. They just told him basically, 'You're exonerated. We see you have no fault other than lacking some judgment here - not getting out of the room when you needed to.'"

    The story originally was reported in Duke's student newspaper, the Duke Chronicle, whose reporters were able to read Redick's name on the report despite efforts by the campus police to black out names.

    "The event in the dorm caused enough commotion that people identified who was involved," Ken Redick said. "That's where the origins of the Chronicle story were, not in the police report itself."

    J.J. Redick had 30 points in the ACC championship game in March, when Duke rallied to beat North Carolina State.

    "I don't think anyone has an idea of what the ramifications were," said Ken Redick, disappointed by the coverage given the incident in Roanoke and elsewhere, "but it was pretty deep.

    "I don't want to talk about anything specific, but based on the other mistakes and situations we've seen, we anticipate another year of [hearing about] this. It tends to stick around a lot longer than it probably should."

Cain not passing on Cavs
By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Virginia basketball recruit Jason Cain has been told by his coach that he resembles University of Arizona forward Luke Walton.
His future coach has another comparison.

"Coach [Pete] Gillen at Virginia tells me I remind him of Austin Croshere," Cain said Monday, referring to the Indiana Pacers forward who played for Gillen at Providence.

If Cain plays like either Walton or Croshere, UVa basketball fans won't have any complaint.

Cain, still awaiting the scholarship papers that will make his decision final, committed to the Cavaliers last week on the eve of a scheduled visit to Villanova.

Cain, from Bartram High School in Philadelphia, was to have visited Villanova last weekend but canceled his trip after Wildcats assistant Joe Jones was named head coach at Columbia on April18.

"I was disappointed that he left," Cain said, "but what disappointed me the most was that he left and nobody told me. The other [Villanova] coaches called, but not until he was already gone."

Chances are Cain still would have signed with Virginia, which came recommended by his AAU coach, Chris Russell.

UVa had expressed some interest during the fall, when Cain, a 6-foot-10, 200-pounder, was weighing offers from UNC Greensboro, Penn State and several Philadelphia-area schools. Indiana also expressed interest and continued to recruit him in the spring, along with Utah and Villanova.

As a senior, Cain recorded nearly eight assists per game, displaying passing ability that prompted the comparisons to Walton. He averaged 14 points and 13 rebounds while playing in the post but expects to be a face-up big forward at UVa.

Cain will become the fifth UVa signee, including three this spring, two of them (Cain and Donte Minter) post players. UVa loses two post players this year and one more following the 2003-04 season.

ORANGE LEAVING: Virginia football coach Al Groh said Monday that freshman Stefan Orange, a SuperPrep All-American who was rated the state's No.9 prospect by The Roanoke Times after his senior year at Culpeper High School, has left the program.

Classmates Marcus Hamilton and Tony Franklin were ahead of Orange at cornerback and there was a similar logjam at safety. In that respect, Orange might have been a casualty of the standards set by a host of 2002 signees who had prominent roles almost from their arrival.

"Circumstances had something to do with that," said Groh, who is under the impression that Orange will complete the semester, "[but] I recognized from the start, with a class like last year's and all those guys playing prominently, that some guys might be discouraged.

"I thought he would compete for time but once he made that decision, there was no changing his mind. I really liked the kid a lot. I'd like to have him around here for his own good. He's got enough ability. There have been lesser guys than him that have played and played well."

NO ORDINARY JOE: A big reason for UVa's baseball turnaround is the play of Joe Koshansky, a 6-4, 225-pound pitcher and first baseman who raised his record to 7-0 when the Cavaliers beat Wake Forest to capture a series in Winston-Salem, N.C., for the first time since 1993.

As a pitcher, Koshansky was a combined 6-11 in his first two seasons and batted .150, with one home run in 60 at-bats. A one-time Group AAA Northern Region player of the year at Chantilly, he is hitting .336 this year and has a team-high five home runs.

At 26-17, UVa already has exceeded its victory totals from 2002 (25-31) and 2001 (25-32) and matched its 26 wins in the 2000 season. The Cavaliers, picked seventh in the ACC before the season, are 9-8 in conference play, with six wins over Top 25 opposition.

 

If ACC expansion comes, Hokies should be counted
BOB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Apr 29, 2003

Here's my position on the ACC expansion issue's latest incarnation: If the spreading of ACC tentacles includes an offer sheet to Virginia Tech, I can buy into the idea. But if annexation leaves the Hokies on the outskirts and homeless, I vote for preserving the status whoa.

Call it a balancing of sentiments. I'm also looking out for our department's travel budget.

The bottom line here is Virginia Tech belongs in the ACC. Can we at least all agree on that? Geographically, spiritually and academically, Tech has far more in common with the ACC than the Big East. It should be suiting up annually against N.C. State and Clemson, not Rutgers and UConn. It'd say yes in a Jim Weaver minute if the ACC dangled an invitation.

Weaver is the athletic director who brokered Tech's all-sports marriage to the Big East three years ago. He says his school is happy with the arrangement. He also sounds positively gung-ho when he tells you Big East teams have played in three of the past four BCS title games and that league members have claimed four straight women's basketball championships and two of the past five on the men's level.

"So we have a pretty good league," Weaver observed. "Having said all that, if the ACC expands and Miami becomes the 10th team, and they want to go to 12 and they have their eyes on the Big East, obviously it would be my hope that Virginia Tech would be in the mix for those other two."

This matter has been simmering for the past four years or so, and it hit the front burner anew 12 days ago when Big East boss Mike Tranghese ripped the ACC for being "hypocrites" by poaching on his territory. Specifically, Tranghese - and let it be stipulated here that he is no loose cannon - accused the ACC of romancing Miami and playing footsie with Syracuse, Boston College and Virginia Tech.

Weaver's response. "I've not been contacted directly. I'd like to leave it right there."

This is 100 percent a football-driven matter. If Mike Krzyzew ski, Gary Williams and the basketball forces have their way, the ACC holds at nine members forever. It's football interests - particularly among the ACC's southern tier of Florida State, Clemson and Georgia Tech - that have consistently pushed for expansion to boost the league's profile and profit margin in that sport.

Their game plan: Add three schools, split the ACC into two divisions, stage a championship game of the sort that earns the SEC and Big 12 millions of greenbacks and negotiate a fatter TV contract.

It sounds swell at first blush - until you consider the pot would be split 12 ways instead of nine, and there's no guarantee everyone prospers in the bargain. As for basketball, its traditions and round-robin schedule would be shattered. It says here the tradeoff isn't worth the bother, but I'm not counting the beans.

For now, everything hinges on football powerhouse Miami, which, Florida newspaper sources say, has had recent discussions with ACC emissaries. Add Miami and a couple of tag-alongs, and the ACC charts a new course. Subtract the 'Canes, and Big East football sinks like the Titanic.

Whether Miami wants to swap its kingpin status and inside track to BCS riches to rub academic shoulders with the likes of U.Va. and Duke, only it can say. Whether ACC expansion partisans have the seven votes necessary to propel expansion is uncertain. Whether Virginia Tech would be in trouble if left clinging to a life preserver is easier to answer.

 

Iowa State Weighs Discipline for Eustachy
By CHUCK SCHOFFNER : AP Sports Writer
Apr 28, 2003 : 9:53 pm ET

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Iowa State basketball coach Larry Eustachy said drinking was a factor in his behavior at a student party in Missouri, where he was photographed holding a beer can and kissing female students on the cheek.

"I am certainly aware of the role drinking has played in my behavior. I am addressing this matter," Eustachy said in a statement issued Monday by Des Moines lawyer Jerry Crawford.

Crawford would not comment when asked if that meant Eustachy would seek counseling.

Eustachy was photographed at a party in a Columbia, Mo., apartment during the early morning hours of Jan. 22, after the Cyclones lost at Missouri.

The photos show Eustachy embracing and kissing women on the cheek or being kissed on the cheek. The Des Moines Register ran the photos to accompany a story that appeared Monday.

The Register also quoted Kansas State students describing Eustachy's actions at a fraternity party in Manhattan, Kan., after the Cyclones lost at Kansas State in January 2002.

Iowa State administrators were looking at possible disciplinary action against Eustachy, who met with athletic director Bruce Van De Velde and university President Gregory Geoffroy after learning the Register had copies of the photos.

"The situation will be dealt with in an appropriate manner," Van De Velde said Monday. "I think Coach Eustachy knows he made some very poor decisions. I think he's used bad judgment."

Van De Velde refused to say what kind of punishment was being considered. A member of the state Board of Regents, David Fisher of Des Moines, said he would not think it too extreme to fire Eustachy.

Eustachy said he regretted his actions.

"I want the people of Iowa and the fans of our program throughout the nation to know how sorry I am to have disappointed them with some poor decisions I have made," Eustachy said in his statement.

"But words are cheap at a time like this and I hope to be measured by my future conduct."

Fisher, whose term on the Board of Regents expires Thursday, said he was "shocked and stunned" by the reports of Eustachy's behavior.

"Certainly it is not a good image for Iowa State University, which is a fine school doing so many good things, to have one of its high-profile employees behave like this," Fisher said. "This is not good."

Asked if dismissal was possible, Van De Velde replied: "We're still reviewing the situation. I have to visit with the president. We'll make that decision down the road."

Eustachy, 47, guided Iowa State to the Big 12 championship in 2000 and 2001 and was selected national coach of the year in 2000, when the Cyclones reached the final eight of the NCAA tournament.

Married since 1987, Eustachy and his wife, Stacy, have two sons -- Hayden, 10, and Evan, 8.

"I'm sure that he is very embarrassed, as he should be," Gov. Tom Vilsack said. "I'm sure he feels he has let a lot of people down and he has. He's going to have to deal with that."

Vilsack made his comments at a bill-signing ceremony attended by a number of children. He said children tend to look up to people in public positions such as Eustachy, who makes $1 million a year and is Iowa's highest paid public employee.

"I think with that, you've got a special responsibility," Vilsack said.

The photos of Eustachy were taken by Sean Devereaux, who is a junior at Missouri and lives at the apartment where the party took place.

Devereaux told the Register that Eustachy arrived between 1:30 and 2 a.m. with Missouri player Josh Kroenke. Van De Velde said Eustachy is a friend of Kroenke's father, Stan, and other family members.

The Register quoted Devereaux as saying Eustachy drank beer, became belligerent with a partygoer who objected to his presence, made disparaging remarks about his team and left the party between 4:30 and 5:30 a.m. after residents of the apartment called a cab for him.

"He was here and acted very uncoachlike," Devereaux told the newspaper. "I didn't think personally he could hang that long, being an old man."

Devereaux said he took the photos because he wanted to show that Eustachy had been at his party. He mailed negatives to the Register in mid-March, telling the newspaper he made them public because he was bothered by Eustachy's behavior.

"Visiting with Coach Eustachy, I think he sincerely regrets his action and the harm he caused the university," Van De Velde said. "I think he understands he has some challenges and some deficiencies that he needs to address."

A Kansas State student, Nicole Wenger, said Eustachy showed up at the Kappa Sigma fraternity house hours after the Cyclones lost to Kansas State on Jan. 19, 2002.

Wenger was quoted as saying Eustachy complimented her on her looks and asked where she was from. She replied she was from Lawrence, Kan.

"He was like, `What are you doing here? Why aren't you going to KU? The girls down there are much hotter. You belong there,'" Wenger told the Register.

She said Eustachy was "not representing himself very well."

Van De Velde said he had no information to dispute the students' accounts of the parties, but added, "No laws were broken that we know of."

Eustachy does not like to fly and usually drives to games while the team goes by chartered airplane. The team returns home immediately after the game. Eustachy often does not drive back until the next day.

Van De Velde refused to say if Eustachy would be ordered to travel with the team.