Trio transfers to Grambling
Brown fails to regain admission to UVa due to grades
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
June 15, 2006

For cornerback Philip Brown, the waiting game was too much to handle.

The former Virginia football player said on Wednesday that he plans to join two other teammates - defensive linemen Chris Johnson and Vince Redd - in transferring to Grambling State University for the upcoming school year.

Brown, who sat out the 2005 season after becoming academically ineligble, had hoped to regain admission to UVa in time to play for the Cavaliers this season.

That re-admission letter never came in the mail for Brown and time was running out.

Brown said his decision to play at Grambling had nothing to do Johnson’s, who was also academically ineligible in 2005, or Redd’s, who was dismissed from the program by coach Al Groh prior to spring practice.

“Even after they had decided that they were going to go down there,” Brown said, “I was still waiting around hoping that my situation would change and that I could stay.”

Brown, an All-State defensive back at Hampton’s Phoebus High in 2002, has become accustomed to biding his time.

In 2003, Brown did not initially meet the minimum NCAA academic eligibility requirements and spent a year at Hargrave Military Academy in Catham.

Brown arrived in Charlottesville in 2004 and worked his way into the starting lineup for three games, but academic troubles arose.

After spending two semesters at Piedmont Virginia Community College, Brown was hopeful that he would have everything necessary to transfer back to UVa.

“I had already waited for a whole year - I sat up there with no money, no food, no place to stay - and to wait this whole time and still not be able to get back in, it is just a slap in the face,” Brown said from his Hampton home on Wednesday. “It is something that is real hard to swallow.”

Brown said the toughest part was trying to remain positive without an open line of communication with the coaching staff.

“[Assistant coach] Mike London was the only person that called to see how I was doing,” Brown said. “He would call to check on me. Coach Groh never called me. Coach Groh could have probably cared less how I was doing. I am just disappointed in how they carried themselves.

“They sat in my house during recruiting and told my mom how they were going to make sure that I graduated, and then the first sign of academic troubles and I get the boot. Nobody wanted to work with me after that.”

With Virginia in his rearview mirror, Brown said the experience was helpful in at least one respect.

“I have learned through the UVa situation not to lean on anybody,” said Brown, who started working out on his own weeks ago and is down to 202 pounds. “I am leaning on myself. It will be good to have C.J. and Vince down there, to talk to and having guys that I identify with, but at the same time I am going to basically depend on myself. I learned my lesson.”

Brown knows relocating to Louisiana as a student-athlete will keep him from his young son, but it was “just something I have to do,” he said.

“Whether I stay down there two or three years, in the long run I will have a degree and I will have a good network of alumni, true alumni, who want everybody to succeed,” Brown said. “I know that I will at least have a place that I can call home. It’s going to be hard not having my son around, but I just know that it’s something that I have to do and he will thank me once he is old enough to understand.”

Groh was out of town on Wednesday and unavailable for comment.

Three ex-Cavs to transfer
Brown, Johnson and Redd will be eligible to play in shift to Division I-AA Grambling
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jun 15, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Three former University of Virginia football players -- cornerback Philip Brown and defensive linemen Chris Johnson and Vince Redd -- plan to transfer to Division I-AA Grambling in Louisiana.

That was the word yesterday from Brown, who started three games for the Cavaliers as a true freshman in 2004 but, like Johnson, was academically ineligible last season.

Coach Al Groh dismissed Redd from the team before the start of spring practice, and for more than a month it's been known that Johnson wouldn't play for U.Va. this season, either. But Brown didn't learn until recently that U.Va. had rejected his bid for re-admission.

"I was looking forward to coming back," said Brown, who praised the support he's received from Virginia's defensive coordinator, Mike London.

"I had my heart set on it, but I believe everything happens for a reason. When this door closed at Virginia, the door at Grambling swung open."

Brown added, however, that he still needs to get copies of his transcript and other material from U.Va. to gain admittance to Grambling.

"We've been calling and calling and not getting any response," he said. "I'm just frustrated right now."

Brown, who was an all-Group AAA performer at Hampton's Phoebus High, has three seasons of college eligibility left. Johnson and Redd have two seasons remaining apiece. All would be eligible immediately at Grambling, which went 10-1 last season.

Johnson, a Charlottesville High graduate, started four games at defensive end for Virginia as a redshirt freshman in 2004. He was suspended from U.Va. for academic reasons during the 2005-06 school year, as was Brown. Both attended Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, with the goal of returning to U.Va. in 2006-07.

Neither was re-admitted.

"I just felt like at this time his staff wants to weed out academic troubles and have a certain type of roster," Brown said. "I guess they're looking for scholars and not athletes. That's all well and good. I'm not mad at the situation."

Redd, who began his college career at outside linebacker, was a backup defensive end during the 2005 regular season but played a leading role in U.Va.'s win over Minnesota in the Music City Bowl. The Elizabethton, Tenn., resident was expected to contend for a starting spot this season, but Groh kicked Redd off the team for unspecified violations of team policy.

The Times-Dispatch was unable to reach Groh for comment yesterday.


 

Leitao narrowing assistant search
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
June 14, 2006

It’s been three weeks since Virginia assistant coach Gene Cross left for Notre Dame.

In that time, UVa head coach Dave Leitao has looked at dozens of candidates in hopes of filling the vacancy.

Some he has ties to. Some he has never met.

According to sources, Leitao has whittled his list down to four. Two of the names definitely on the list: Former Virginia player Jason Williford - an assistant coach at American University - and Providence College assistant Bill Courtney.

Williford, who was in town for an interview with Leitao on Monday, would have obvious local appeal. The former Virginia captain helped lead the Cavaliers to four straight postseason berths, including a trip to the Elite Eight during his senior year in 1995.

“Jason would really, really love to go back to Virginia,” said a person close to the situation.

Williford played under former Virginia coach Jeff Jones, who he now works under at American. The Eagles are scheduled to play in UVa’s new John Paul Jones Arena this season.

Prior to joining Jones’ staff last season, Williford was an assistant coach at Boston University for five years. Coming out of John Marshall High School in Richmond, Williford was a first-team All-State selection in 1991.

Courtney, a Springfield native, just completed his first season at Providence. Before that, he was an assistant at George Mason under Jim Larranaga for nine years.

Ironically, Courtney - a standout player for Bucknell in the early 1990s - got his college coaching start at American in 1995.

One source told The Daily Progress that if he was “a betting man,” he would put his money on Williford. However, another source maintained that there is still no clear-cut favorite.

Leitao would like to have the position filled by July, but wants to make sure he makes the right hire and will take as long as he needs to do so.

 

Opportunity finally knocks
Holmes gets his shot after missing 2 titles
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
June 12, 2006

Steve Holmes could have been a part of two NCAA Championship lacrosse teams at the University of Virginia.

He should have been an All-American defenseman on the only undefeated squad in UVa history.

He would have walked away with a degree from one of the finest universities in the country.

Could’ve. Should’ve. Would’ve.

Yeah, it’s easy to see how Holmes might want to go Uncle Rico on the world - to lament on what might have been, to stew in a cauldron of his missed opportunities - but that doesn’t seem to be his style.

That’s not to say watching his best friends have the most glorious of seasons this spring was easy.

“It was definitely tough,” said Holmes, whose poor academic performance forced him out of Virginia, “but I stayed close to [Coach Dom Starsia] and all the players. They did something special this year and I felt like I was kind of a part of it, even though I was doing my own thing.

“Overall I was kind of happy with what I was able to experience this year and what they were able to accomplish.”

While his former teammates were stampeding opponents to the tune of a 17-0 record, Holmes may have found a future career. The 23-year-old Philadelphia native coached the Monticello High boys lacrosse team, leading the squad to the quarterfinals of the Region II Tournament.

“If I wasn’t going to UVa, this was the next best thing,” Holmes said. “I give all the credit to the kids that I coached. You’re not guaranteed a great experience every time you coach because every team is different, but I lucked out with the kids I had.”

The majority of the kids Holmes coached were novices. Their primary sports were football and wrestling.

Monticello Athletics Director Fitzgerald Barnes said Holmes did an unbelievable job.

“His enthusiasm and knowledge of the game was very instrumental,” Barnes said. “He definitely has a gift for coaching kids.”

While Holmes loved his experience at Monticello, he isn’t sure whether he’ll return next season. On May 31, Holmes was selected by the San Francisco Dragons in the third round of the Major League Lacrosse Draft.

Holmes said playing in the league has always been a goal.

“It’s run like a first-class operation,” Holmes said. “The way they play is real physical, a lot of up and down and fastbreaks - like how I like to play. I’m really looking forward to that, and I think the league is only going to grow.”

Holmes’ career at Virginia started positively. He was a freshman when UVa made it to the Final Four in 2002. But following the season, Holmes - who was struggling with his grades - decided to take the next school year off and work for his father. Virginia wound up beating Johns Hopkins to win the 2003 title.

In 2004, Holmes - who also dabbled briefly as a wide receiver on the Virginia football team - returned to Charlottesville. The team went 5-8 in one of the worst seasons in the history of the lacrosse program. Then, in 2005, Holmes was a part of the Virginia squad that lost in a gut-wrenching overtime game to Hopkins in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.

After the season, Holmes’ poor grades caught up with him again, and he was dismissed from Virginia. This past fall he tried to regain admission, failed, then watched as his teammates won another NCAA title.

“I haven’t had the best luck in missing two championships, but hey, what are you gonna do?” said Holmes, with a chuckle. “You’ve got to laugh about it a little bit or else I think you would drive yourself crazy.”

Virginia coach Dom Starsia stuck with Holmes throughout his topsy-turvy career. In the end, Starsia said Holmes wasn’t focused enough.

“I think he just had some distractions,” Starsia said. “For some guys school work is just not easy. I think he was capable, but just had a hard time bearing in on it. Some guys just learn how to do it. They just do it and you don’t have to be great, just efficient.

“I don’t think he was able to reach that gear with his schoolwork. If a distraction reared its head, I think he would fall prey to that more often than not. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to do the work or was angry at Virginia. He just had a hard time bearing down, and at the end of the day it just got away from him.”

Starsia, who wasn’t the greatest student in the world back in his day, empathized with Holmes. Whenever he saw his former player - who attended all of the team’s home games - he made sure to tell him how big of a hand he’d had in the team’s success.

Ever the optimist, Starsia believes Holmes’ struggles may be a blessing.

“Sometimes a young man needs to go through these kind of travails in order to land on his feet,” said Starsia, who put in a good word about Holmes to the Dragons’ general manager. “Everybody’s journey is a little different. If at the end of the day Steven gets his diploma and has got an idea of what he wants and winds up being happy, than this was exactly the right road for him.

“I think he’s a good person and has a good heart. In spite of not playing this year, I think he’s had a lot to be thankful for.”

Holmes, just a few credits short of his degree, said he plans on taking some classes at a college in San Francisco.

Holmes said he never quite understood the importance of academics while he was at Virginia.

“I never really made the decision of why I wanted it, and why I should really give it everything I could,” he said. “I just tried to get by, like a hurdle, just to make everything else easier, instead of really looking at the big picture.

“By the time I started to get it, I think it was too late. But everything happens for a reason, and I think if I come out a better man for it, that’s all I can really hope for.”

 

Tat update

Virginia's second summer-school began Tuesday without men's basketball recruit Solomon Tat, but head coach Dave Leitao and his staff are cautiously optimistic that Tat will be able to play for the Cavaliers in 2006-2007.

Tat, a 6-foot-5 wing player from Community Christian School in Stockbridge, Ga., committed to Virginia last fall but never signed with the Cavaliers.

In order to play for Virginia, Tat, a native Nigerian, must have his visa extended. The UVa staff is under the impression that Tat has met academic guidelines for freshman eligibility, but he still needs to be approved by the NCAA Clearinghouse.

While many of Virginia's athletic recruits are enrolled in summer school, Tat is on a different timetable. UVa will require him to attend its Summer Transition Program, which begins in early July, which gives him approximately 212 weeks to get his issues resolved.

Timesland ties

Ex-Martinsville High School quarterback Shawn Moore, the ACC player of the year as a UVa senior in 1990, has resigned his position at USA Football to become a coach and administrator at St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., where he also will work with a support program for students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds.

 

DA's statements, record at odds
Facts appear to contradict some of Nifong's words in the Duke lacrosse case
Joseph Neff, Staff Writer

In the early days of the Duke lacrosse rape case, Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong's public statements appear to have contradicted certain facts in his own files.
After an escort service dancer said three men raped her at a lacrosse party, Nifong talked frequently with national and local reporters -- 50 to 70 interviews consuming 40 hours of his time, Nifong estimated. Nifong then went quiet in early April, refusing most interview requests.

A comparison of his words with documents that Nifong gave defense lawyers show that Nifong made what appear to be misstatements about condom use, a purported struggle and a 911 call made by a second dancer, among other things.

Nifong said the assailants might have used condoms; the accuser told an emergency-room nurse none were used, according to a defense filing. Nifong described a violent attack in which the accuser was choked and struggled to breathe; the accuser told a nurse she wasn't choked, the filing said.

Defense lawyers have filed some of the documents in court and characterized others, such as the medical exam, in affidavits.

Nifong declined through an assistant to answer questions Wednesday.

"Either he knew what the facts were and misstated them, or he was making them up," said James Coleman, a Duke law professor who has publicly requested that Nifong remove himself from the case. "Whether he acted knowing they were false, or if he was reckless, it doesn't matter in the long run. This is the kind of stuff that causes the public to lose confidence in the justice system."

North Carolina lawyers must obey the N.C. State Bar's Rules of Professional Conduct, which prohibit lawyers from making out-of-court statements that could prejudice the outcome of a case.

Prosecutors have added responsibilities: The rules prohibit them from saying things outside court that could heighten public condemnation of the accused.

Nifong has called lacrosse players "hooligans" and "reprehensible." Defense lawyers for Reade Seligmann have cited these comments and the bar's rules in asking that Nifong be removed from the case, a request pending before a Durham Superior Court judge.

Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J.; David Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md., and Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y., have been charged with first-degree rape, sexual offense and kidnapping.

Attorneys for the three men have said that the accusations are false and that no assault or sex took place in the house.

Beside the professional rules of conduct, there are tactical reasons why prosecutors shouldn't discuss the facts and specifics of an investigation outside court, said Richard Myers, a former federal prosecutor and UNC law professor.

"Any good prosecutor is aware of the risk that facts may come to light that weren't clear at the beginning," Myers said. "They are careful not to lock themselves into positions that may later change."

Myers declined to discuss the Duke case specifically.

There is also a danger that defense lawyers would seek to call the prosecutor as a witness to explain the contradiction between his statements and the evidence, Myers said. A lawyer can't be an advocate and witness in the same case, so the prosecutor would have to recuse himself, Myers said.