New U.Va. 'voice' saw work at JPJ as 'amazing job'
Thursday, Jun 26, 2008 - 12:07 AM
By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Dave Koehn got his first look at Charlottesville and the University of Virginia in early November. He fell hard for John Paul Jones Arena, where the men's basketball team for which he did the radio play-by-play -- the Vermont Catamounts -- was to meet U.Va.

"I remember thinking to myself, 'What an amazing job this would be, to work in this arena,'" Koehn recalled yesterday by phone from Vermont. "So to have the opportunity to be there in a full-time position a year later is surreal."

Koehn (pronounced CANE) is moving from UVM to U.Va. to fill the position vacated by Mac McDonald. The longtime "Voice of the Cavaliers," McDonald resigned in late April to, he said, pursue other career opportunities. Koehn spent some time with McDonald before the Nov. 11 hoops game at the JPJ.

"Actually, he left a mark on me," Koehn said. "I was thinking about what a great guy and a great host he was."

CBC Collegiate Sports Properties, whose U.Va. branch is called Virginia Sports Properties, announced Koehn's hiring Tuesday night. Koehn, also the radio announcer for the Vermont Lake Monsters baseball team, starts work at U.Va. on July 7. Initially, he'll focus on football and men's basketball.

"It's kind of one of these win-win situations professionally," Koehn said. "I have a chance to be there a long time, and you don't get that all the time in this profession."

Virginia Athletic Director Craig Littlepage, in a statement, said Koehn "brings a wonderful combination of enthusiasm, broadcast experience and talent to the position."

Koehn, 32, grew up in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he was a three-time state champion in high school tennis. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1999.

Before taking over as the voice of Vermont men's basketball in 2005-06, Koehn did play-by-play for football, basketball and baseball on KJHK in Lawrence, Kan., for Sam Houston State football and basketball, and for Texas Lutheran University football and basketball.

He's never done play-by-play at a school whose football team competes in Division I-A, but it's "something I feel very comfortable doing, and it's another facet of the job that's attractive to me: to get back to doing football," Koehn said.

"To be totally frank, football is probably more in my wheelhouse than anything. It's the sport I grew up watching more than anything."

 

Koehn eager to get started
By Jay Jenkins
Published: June 26, 2008

Preparing to tackle a broadcast featuring Virginia’s relatively new lineup and national powerhouse Southern California would appear, at least on the surface, to be a daunting task for any
play-by-play artist.
Add in the fact that Dave Koehn has not handled a Division I football game since 2002 and the challenge appears almost overwhelming.
But Koehn, who was hired to handle Virginia’s football and men’s basketball radio broadcasting on Monday, has replaced the anxiety with excitement.
There’s a good reason.
“I think my tape would reflect this, but football is really my strength anyway,” Koehn said Tuesday. “It is what I am most familiar with, it’s what I have done the most from college on and it’s what I grew up watching. I think it was the first sport that I had an interest in.
“The bottom line is when you have grown up with a sport, you have a much better understanding of it than something you are just learning as you go. In the last two years I haven’t been doing it regularly, but even with that said, I was still doing a little bit of high school football, I had done five years of football in college and high school in Texas when I was down there, and prior to that I had done four years commercially in college and Colorado.”
Possessing a strong play-by-play background in football was a natural desire amongst many avid Virginia supporters and the lack of that type of experience led to the dismissal of numerous interested candidates during the later stages of the search process.
“I feel like I have almost a decade’s worth of experience in football,” Koehn said. “It really wasn’t too much of a concern for me. I think putting it on those terms sort of speaks for itself.”
Koehn, who starts in his new post July 7, will have less than a month to prepare for the start of the Cavaliers’ eighth training camp under coach Al Groh.
In the meantime, local bookstores beware.
“I would like to find the best literature that I can that epitomizes the history of the program and get my fingers around that so I can start with that as an infrastructure behind all my knowledge that I can pick up,” Koehn said. “Another part of it too is really trying to meet people that are involved in the program and pick their brains. I think there is a lot of information that can be gained, whether it is coaches or people in the know.
“I just want to utilize every avenue I can to gather as much information as I possibly can and make myself as well informed as a broadcaster can possibly be.”
Koehn, who has been at Vermont since 2005, worked at Sam Houston State in 2001 and 2002 before taking a position at Texas Lutheran. TLU is a Division III school that boasts an enrollment of just 1,400.
That move, at least in the quickly-climbing broadcaster’s portfolio, appears to have been a demotion of sorts.
“They lost their broadcast rights [to the Sam Houston State games] at the station that I was working for so it was a situation where I was able to keep my job at the station that I was at, but I was going to be doing high school sports and I wanted to be doing college sports,” Koehn explained. “I had an opportunity to do that at Texas Lutheran and that prompted the move more than anything.”
Koehn, who is replacing Mac McDonald, is unsure at this point if he will handle sports at UVa outside of basketball and football, but he has a strong background in baseball, including minor league work for a Class A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, the Vermont Lake Monsters.
For now, Koehn is merely living the dream.
“There were so many pieces that peak your interest,” the 32-year-old said. “Obviously, the first thing that comes to mind is the rich tradition at the University of Virginia. There is so much history here and it is an amazing conference.
“Another part of it that is intriguing from my standpoint is just the opportunity to kind of be a part of a program that not only has the emphasis on athletics, but it is neat to be a part of something where the emphasis is also on academics. It is not entirely different in terms of that from where I am at now. There is a concept of a public Ivy League, and I think Virginia and Vermont have that.”
Graduation day and academic awards for athletes are as important in Koehn’s eyes as any national accolade.
“It’s neat to see a true
student-athlete because sometimes that is lost,” he said. “I think Virginia presents the opportunity to work with people that are the definition of a student-athlete.”
Despite having worked at three previous schools in the past eight years, Koehn hopes his most recent position becomes a long-standing partnership.
“It is one of those situations that you get to do what you love in a tremendous professional opportunity and feel like you are going to be somewhere that you want to stay, which is not always the case,” Koehn said. “I think a lot of guys in my business bounce around, but this is the kind of place that you want to stay for 25, 35 years if you can and are lucky enough to do that.”

 

Waiting game
Experts believe ex-UVa star Sean Singletary could be a second-round pick.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

On the day after he removed his name from consideration for the 2007 NBA Draft, then-Virginia junior Sean Singletary said he was "sure" he would have been chosen.

Mock drafts weren't as unanimous on that topic and, if Singletary is to be chosen tonight, his selection would fly in the face of some of this year's projections.

ESPN.com draft analyst Chad Ford predicts that Utah will use its second of two picks, the 53rd overall, to choose Singletary. Other projections either do not include the second round or do not include Singletary.

While the likes of 5-foot-1112 Texas point guard D.J. Augustin are mentioned as possibilities for the top-10 picks, a similarly sized Singletary isn't getting the same kind of love.

Singletary, measured at 6 feet, is the only player in ACC history to finish his career with more than 2,000 points, 500 assists, 400 rebounds, and 200 steals.

"I like him," NBA scouting director Marty Blake said. "I thought he had a great year. They talk about all these other guys; I hope somebody drafts him and gives him a chance because he's a true point guard."

The knock against Singletary, not that anybody complained about it when he was at Virginia, is that he is seen as a scoring point guard. If he were a distributor, that would be one thing, but it might not be as easy to get off his shot in the pros.

"What I really like about him is he's just an extremely tough, competitive, [a] get-in-your face defender," Minnesota Timberwolves assistant general manager Rob Babcock said. "Even though he's small, he's a gamer. He's got a knack for getting the job done.

"He's got a chance to get drafted. He's going to have to [be a pass-oriented point guard] because I don't think he's going to be able to make it as a scoring point guard."

As agents like to say, it's not a matter of all 30 teams finding a player draft-worthy. All it takes is one.

Nobody is advising Singletary to pick out a home in Dallas, but don't think new Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle isn't aware of him.

While he was still an NBA analyst, Carlisle took time out from his schedule to return to his alma mater, Virginia, for the first basketball game he had seen there since his 1984 graduation.

Carlisle was in the crowd at John Paul Jones Arena for the occasion of Singletary's senior night, when he had 27 points in a 91-76 victory over Maryland.

"I saw him play against Arizona earlier in the year and he was great in that game, but I always place more weight on seeing somebody in person," Carlisle said days later. "You get more of a feel for the presence they have on the floor, their leadership ability and will to win.

"This guy is a tremendous player, a terrific little player. He'll be in the league. I can just tell by the way he handles himself that he's going to find a way to make a career in the NBA and be successful."

Carlisle didn't hesitate when asked if Singletary would be a player of interest if he returned to the NBA.

"I'd love to have 12 guys on my team who played with his kind of energy and unconditional commitment," Carlisle said. "After 23 years in the NBA, I believe that you have to have enough size and enough ability, but there are very few players that enter the NBA Draft that have as big a heart as Sean Singletary."

Dallas has a group of veteran point guards who are at or past their prime -- Jason Kidd, Jason Terry and Tyronn Lue -- and their first pick comes at a point, No. 51, when other teams might be considering Singletary.

However, there has been speculation in the Dallas media that owner Mark Cuban might write a $3 million check as part of a package for a first-rounder.

In his draft analysis, ESPN's Ford said that Singletary is a favorite of Kevin O'Connor, Utah's senior vice president of basketball operations. O'Connor was an assistant at Virginia Tech in the 1970s and his daughter Katie starred for the Tech women's basketball team.

Singletary was in Salt Lake City this past weekend at a tryout where he was paired against ex-Washington State point guard Kyle Weaver.

"When you come out here with the big guys, you just show you have basketball IQ, quickness and basketball ability," Singletary told the Jazz's Web site. "I think I did that real well. I shot the ball well today. It was a good workout for me."

He returned to Virginia because he wanted to have his degree. Carlisle said it was possible that Singletary might be drafted later as a senior than he would have as a junior, but nobody's ever going to know for sure. Not even Singletary.

 

Virginia Football: Students Low on Optimism
Doug Adams poses questions to Michael Reed Garcia from thefanaticmagazine.com about the upcoming Virginia football season.
by Doug Adams (Scribe)

Michael Reed Garcia from thefanaticmagazine.com talks about the upcoming Virginia football season.

With 2007 starting quarterback Jameel Sewell out of the picture due to grades, reports are that Peter Lalich will likely be the starter. The former coveted recruit in the 2007 class certainly looks the part at 6'5" and 225 pounds. How did he play in spring ball, and is this young quarterback developing the respect of his teammates?

From what I understand, Lalich’s performance in spring ball left a lot to be desired. Although he did not perform as well as senior Scott Deke, I still expect him to enter the season atop the depth chart.

Last year in summer camp, Coach Groh hinted at concerns about Lalich’s ability to grasp the playbook and command the offense. Given rumors that he is a not-so-stellar student, I expect that issue to continue to surface.

You could see it in the Gator Bowl. He looked confused in the pocket and was thinking too much; he seemed extremely uncomfortable. Whether or not he has learned from that experience and improves as a result is the real issue.

With that said, as long as Lalich maintains his confidence, I expect him to command a reasonable amount of respect from his teammates. He certainly says all the right things to the media, and I feel like his offensive teammates will be patient with a young quarterback, given how Sewell developed over last year. If he is the starter, the team will support him.

The Virginia Cavalier offense really struggled both rushing and throwing the football in 2007. They ranked 101st in the country in total offense out of 119 teams. Injuries appeared to have an effect with starting receivers Kevin Ogletree and Maurice Covington missing significant time, as well as running back Cedric Peerman, who rushed for close to 600 yards in five games before a season-ending injury.

Is Al Groh relying on the return of these players to fix the offense, or are there other adjustments he might make philosophically?

The returns of Ogletree and Peerman especially will help the offense, but let’s face it: Virginia is not a dynamic offensive force, even when fully healthy. The offense is not built around yardage, but rather on ball control and maximizing possessions.

I think the running game will be fine. With Peerman, a bruiser, returning and Mikell Simpson as an explosive second option, the Cavs have sizeable creative license with regard to running the ball.

The real concern is the passing game. With Sewell’s return improbable (but not impossible), there will have to be adjustments. This means no more option runs, fewer shotgun QB reads, and almost no sprint-out type plays. Instead, UVA will have to be more traditional in the passing game, relying on three- and five-step drops (Lalich’s specialty).

So yes, the Grohs will have to adjust how they approach the passing offense, although Ogletree’s explosiveness will help stretch the defense and make Lalich’s job (presumably) a little easier.

The offensive line appears to be strong on the edges with the return of tackles Eugene Monroe, Will Barker, and tight end John Phillips who saw snaps last year. How much of a concern is the interior of the offensive line, and will it affect a lot of the play calling?

The offensive line is at the bottom of the list of concerns right now. UVA has a history of really solid O-Lines, and with Monroe and Barker returning, that should continue to be the case. The interior line, though inexperienced, will be OK. They learned from a strong group of guys last year and should not be a weakness.

Even if they do struggle early, I don’t expect it to be much of a problem. UVA does not run Woody Hayes’ offense. The tackles and tight ends are much more crucial to the run-blocking schemes because of all the sweeps and off-tackle plays Groh calls. The only real issue here is whether or not they will be able to pass protect—and I think they will. The line is maybe the team’s strongest unit.

The Cavaliers return three starting linebackers, all of whom will be seniors. They are led by OLB Clint Sintim, who is on the watch list for the Bronco Nagurski award and led the nation in sacks by a linebacker last year with nine.

How is the defensive line looking, having to replace all three starters, and can they be effective enough to allow one of the finest groups of linebackers in the country to run free?

The defensive line is a major concern. Nate Collins is a formidable nose tackle, and he will definitely be up to the task of stopping inside runs. But I really doubt there is going to be much of a pass-rushing presence from this group.

The loss of Long hurts for obvious reasons, but unexpectedly losing Fitzgerald might be as devastating, because now there is no experienced pass rusher out of the front three.

At best, the defensive line will be able to “free up” the linebacking corps and consume blockers—but it will not make many plays by itself, and sacks are going to be the linebackers’ responsibility.

If there was a weakness in the defense last year, it was probably a lack of turnovers. Will cornerbacks Vic Hall, Ras-I Dowling, and safety Byron Glaspy's experience last year together bring out more interceptions? Is there a comfort level growing?

The defensive backfield totaled six interceptions last year. That is simply not going to cut it with the roster that returns. There is a lot of young talent at the corner position, but the guys there—namely, Dowling, Hall, and Chase Minnifield—are going to have to mature their games quickly.

There is something resembling a comfort level with those players, especially Dowling, considering that he played fantastically at some points last year (he tied for the team lead with two picks and nine pass breakups). Glaspy and Hall are solid, too.

With their collective size and speed, the defensive backs will be able to make more plays. I see more interceptions for this group, but also a lot more yards allowed through the air, because the chemistry might not be there at first, and inexperience at corner could be an issue.

USC will come to town on August 30 as one of the top-ranked teams in the country. What will the Wahoos need to do to start the season with a huge win?

It will take nothing short of a miracle for the ‘Hoos to win.

Where will the Cavaliers fit in the 2008 ACC standings, and will they be a top 25 team?

This could be a bowl team without the dismissals of six players in the offseason, most notably Sewell and Jeffrey Fitzgerald. However, those losses leave huge question marks at QB and defensive line. This, then, is a rebuilding year; the team will not break .500 in ACC play.

I hate to be so negative, but with all the personnel losses (coaches too—let’s not forget the impact Mike London had), it’s hard to see this team being as good as last year’s squad. And had it not been so seemingly charmed, last year’s team could have been 3-9—remember, it only won three games by more than a score.

I see this team going 4-8 (3-5), unless Lalich plays up to his physical capacity or the ‘Hoos are able to fill other positional voids.

I was informed over email this morning that last year's quarterback Jameel Sewell still has a chance to return. He is taking summer classes and is going to appeal to the academic administration for reinstatement. If he gets in, he will be the starter.

 

Coming off earning starting job, Bills sign OL Butler to extension
Associated Press

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Offensive lineman Brad Butler signed a contract extension with the Buffalo Bills on Wednesday, a reward after the player took over the starting right guard spot last season.

Brad Butler, G
Buffalo Bills

Height: 6-7
Weight: 315
College: Virginia
Experience: 2
Games/Starts: 18/16

Terms of the extension were not immediately available, but Butler's new deal is expected to provide him a significant raise over the $445,000 base salary he was scheduled to make this season. Buffalo's fifth-round pick in the 2006 draft out of Virginia, Butler had two years left on his contract and was scheduled to make a base salary of $530,000 in 2009.

After appearing in only two games as a rookie, Butler won the starting job out of training camp last season on a revamped line that included high-priced free agent additions Derrick Dockery at left guard and Langston Walker at right tackle. Butler started all 16 games and was part of a unit that allowed only 26 sacks last season, 21 fewer than in 2006.

The Bills offensive line is still unsettled, with left tackle Jason Peters holding out for a new contract. Peters was fined by the team after failing to attend Buffalo's two mandatory minicamp practices earlier this month.

The Bills also signed rookie tight end Derek Fine, the second of Buffalo's two fourth-round draft picks, on Wednesday. Selected 132nd overall in April, Fine was a three-year starter at Kansas, where he set the school record for tight ends with 98 career receptions. He finished with 1,009 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns.

Fine is expected to compete for a backup spot behind returning starter Robert Royal. He is the third of Buffalo's 10 draft picks to sign with the team.