Virginia Finishes Eighth In Directors' Cup Rankings
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 06/29/2009
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Virginia finished eighth in the final 2008-09 Learfield Sports
Directors' Cup competition for Division I schools. The final results were
announced today by the National Association of Directors of Athletics (NACDA).
It ties the best finish ever by Virginia in the 16-year history of the program.
The Cavaliers were also eighth in 1999.
It marks the 16th consecutive year, since the program's inception, the Cavaliers
have recorded a top-30 finish. UVa is one of 15 schools to rank in the top 30 of
the final Directors' Cup standings in each year of the program's existence.
Virginia finished 17th in last year's final Directors' Cup standings.
“Our athletics department’s ranking of eighth in this year’s final Directors’
Cup standings matches our highest ranking and is affirmation of the hard work
put in by our student-athletes, coaches and our entire department staff,” said
UVa athletics director Craig Littlepage. “It is also an indication that the
support and dedication of our alumni, friends, faculty and University staff, and
donors are yielding results. Our future challenge is to be an athletics program
that consistently performs among the nation’s top 10 in the Directors’ Cup
standings, while at the same time ranking among the national leaders in the
academic achievements of our student-athletes.”
Teams or individuals in 20 of Virginia's 25 athletic programs advanced to
postseason competition in 2008-09. Virginia won six Atlantic Coast Conference
championships in 2008-09, the most of any league member. ACC titles were for –
men’s cross country, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s tennis, men’s
outdoor track and field and baseball.
Some of the highlights of the athletics year included:
• A total of 89 Cavalier student-athletes earned All-ACC honors in 2008-09.
• Virginia had 62 student-athletes named to All-America teams for their
respective programs during the year.
• The Virginia baseball team advanced to the College World Series for the first
time after winning its first Regional (Irvine, Calif.) and Super Regional
(Oxford, Miss.).
• The Virginia women’s golf team had its best finish at the NCAA Championships
(eighth).
• Dominic Inglot (London, England) and Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) became the
first doubles team from the ACC to win the NCAA Men’s Doubles Championship.
• The Virginia men’s tennis team went 32-1 and reached the quarterfinals of the
NCAA Championships. The team also won the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s
Men’s National Team Indoor Championship for the second consecutive year.
• Ryan Foster (Stephens City, Va.) became the first Cavalier to win the men’s
individual title at the ACC Cross Country Championships.
• The UVa men’s lacrosse team reached the semifinals of the NCAA Championships
finishing 15-3.
• The women’s rowing team finished fourth at the NCAA Championships and the
Cavaliers’ Varsity Eight finished second in that event. The Cavaliers won the
NCAA South/Central Regional.
• The men’s swimming and diving team finished ninth at the 2009 NCAA
Championships, the best finish for the Cavaliers in the history of the program.
The UVa women were 12th at NCAAs.
• Senior Yemi Ayeni became the first Cavalier to win an NCAA track and field
regional title when he finished first in the discus. He also won the ACC title
in the event and placed fourth at the NCAA Championships.
Several members of Virginia coaching staffs were cited for outstanding
achievement during the year. Cavalier baseball coach Brian O’Connor was named
the national coach of the year. UVa women’s golf coach Kim Lewellen was one of
three national regional coaches of the year, and Jason Vigilante was named the
southeast regional women’s cross country coach of the year and the NCAA men’s
southeast region outdoor track and field coach of the year. UVa men’s tennis
coach Brian Boland was the ITA mideast region coach of the year and Carrie Lane
was named the NCAA women’s southeast region outdoor track and field assistant
coach of the year.
Four different Virginia coaches won a total of six ACC Coach of the Year awards.
Mark Bernardino was the men’s and women’s swimming coach of the year, Boland was
the men’s tennis coach of the year, Dom Starsia was the men’s lacrosse coach of
the year and Vigilante was named the men’s cross country and men’s outdoor track
and field coach of the year.
Stanford finished first in the NCAA Division I Directors' Cup standings for the
15th consecutive year with 1455 points and North Carolina was second with
1184.25 points.
UVa was the top Division I program in the state of Virginia in the Directors'
Cup standings with 1059 points and one of four ACC schools to finish in the top
20. In addition to North Carolina and UVa, Florida State was 15th (945) and Duke
was 17th (891.8).
In addition to Virginia's eighth-place finish in this year's Directors' Cup
standings and 17th place finish last year, UVa finished 13th in 2007, 26th in
2006, 13th in 2005, 30th in 2004, 19th in 2003, 27th in 2002, 30th in 2001, 13th
in 2000, eighth in 1999, 13th in 1998, 22nd in 1997, 21st in 1996, tied for 19th
in 1995 and 19th in 1994.
There are four Learfield Sports Directors' Cup awards, one to honor the
institution with the best overall athletics program in each of the NCAA's
Divisions I, II and III, and the NAIA. Developed as a joint effort between USA
Today and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA),
the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup program is the only all-sports competition
that recognizes the institution in each of the four categories with the best
overall athletics program.
2008-09 Learfield Sports Directors' Cup
Final Point Standings
1. Stanford 1455.00 2. North Carolina 1184.25 3. Florida 1172.75 4. Southern
California 1137.75 5. Michigan 1131.80 6. Texas 1105.50 7. California 1072.00 8.
Virginia 1059.00 9. LSU 1029.0010. Ohio State 1015.8011. Washington 1010.2512.
Arizona State 1001.7513. Texas A&M 976.0014. Minnesota 975.7515. Florida State
945.0016. UCLA 909.2517. Duke 891.8018. Georgia 866.5019. Penn State 813.1020.
Illinois 808.7521. Notre Dame 775.1322. Oregon 757.2523. Tennessee 746.2524.
Arizona 738.5025. Arkansas 730.0026. Auburn 720.0027. Michigan State 708.0528.
Maryland 668.8029. Oklahoma 656.5030. Alabama 650.60ACC Schools in Final 2008-09
Directors’ Cup Standings 2. North Carolina 1184.25 8. Virginia 1059.0015.
Florida State 945.0017. Duke 891.8028. Maryland 668.8037. Wake Forest 580.2543.
Miami 491.0046. Virginia Tech 459.2548. Georgia Tech 452.3853. Clemson 397.0074.
NC State 265.3075. Boston College 262.00
Schools Ranked in the Top-30 of All 16 Directors’ Cup Point
Standings (1994-2009)Arizona Arizona State California Florida Georgia Michigan
North Carolina Ohio State Penn State Stanford Tennessee Texas UCLA USC Virginia
U.Va. eighth in Directors’ Cup, tying its top finish
By Jeff White
Published: June 30, 2009
CHARLOTTESVILLE - A stellar showing in the spring, including a trip to the
College World Series in baseball, lifted the University of Virginia to an
eighth-place finish in the Directors' Cup competition for Division I.
U.Va., which won six ACC titles in 2008-09, tied its top finish in the 16-year
history of the Directors' Cup competition, which reflects schools' performances
in NCAA championships. Virginia also placed eighth in 1998-99.
This spring, Virginia totaled 567 points, scoring in men's lacrosse (83),
women's rowing (80), baseball (78), men's tennis (73), women's golf (70.5),
women's tennis (50), men's golf (46.5), women's track and field (36.5), women's
lacrosse (25) and men's track and field (24.5).
Only Southern California (635.75) totaled more points in the spring than U.Va.
USC finished fourth overall.
Of the 278 Division I schools that earned Directors' Cup points in 2008-09, 13
were from this state. The National Association of Directors of Athletics
announced the final results yesterday.
In addition to U.Va. at No. 8, Virginia Tech finished 46th, James Madison 94th,
William and Mary 117th (tie), Liberty 120th (tie), the University of Richmond
131st, George Mason 142nd (tie), Radford 153rd (tie), Hampton 163rd (tie), VCU
167th (tie), Old Dominion 196th, Norfolk State 263rd (tie) and VMI 271st (tie).
Virginia is among 15 schools that have finished in the top 30 in each of the
Directors' Cup race's 16 years. U.Va. was 17th in 2007-08.
In a statement, Athletic Director Craig Littlepage praised the work of U.Va.
coaches, athletes and athletic-department staff members. He also said Virginia's
"future challenge is to be an athletics program that consistently performs among
the nation's top 10 in the Directors' Cup standings, while at the same time
ranking among the national leaders in the academic achievements of our
student-athletes."
Stanford, with 1,455 points, won the Directors' Cup for the 15th consecutive
year. North Carolina (1,184.25) was second. Complete results can be found at
http://www.nacda.com.
Cavaliers No. 8 in all-sports standings
By David Teel
247-4636
June 30, 2009
Virginia equaled its best ranking while Hampton University leapfrogged more than
100 spots from last year in the final Directors' Cup all-sports standings
released Monday.
Thanks to national top-10 seasons in baseball, men's and women's lacrosse,
women's crew, men's tennis and women's golf, Virginia placed eighth in the Cup
ratings, second-best among ACC schools. North Carolina was No. 2 behind
Stanford, which earned its 15th consecutive No. 1 ranking.
The Cavaliers have been among the top 30 in Division I since the Cup's inception
in 1994. Their other No. 8 finish was in 1999.
In a statement, Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage called the
Cavaliers' finish "affirmation of the hard work put in by our student-athletes,
coaches and our entire department staff. It is also an indication that the
support and dedication of our alumni, friends, faculty and university staff, and
donors are yielding results.
"Our future challenge is to be an athletics program that consistently performs
among the nation's top 10 in the Directors' Cup standings, while at the same
time ranking among the national leaders in the academic achievements of our
student-athletes."
Hampton's No. 163 rating, shared with Loyola Marymount, is second to No. 131
Bethune-Cookman among Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference schools. The Pirates were
278th a year ago and 105th in 2007.
Women's track and field teams accounted for nearly all of HU's points. The Lady
Pirates were 22nd at the national indoor meet, 43rd outdoors.
Virginia Tech placed 46th in the Cup standings, nine below its school-best
performance from the previous academic year. The Hokies did not crack the top 60
until 2005 but have been among the top 50 each of the past four years.
Elsewhere in the state, James Madison's 94th-place paced schools that compete
full-time in the Colonial Athletic Association. William and Mary shared 117th
with Portland, a dip from the Tribe's No. 105 of last year.
Old Dominion fell from 97th in 2008 to 196th.
U.VA. NOTES
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS: The latest basketball standout at Nichols Schools in Buffalo,
N.Y., where Christian Laettner starred in the late ‘80s, is Will Regan.
Like Laettner, Regan is a skilled frontcourt player, and the 6-8, 220-pound
rising senior has heard others compare him to his illustrious predecessor.
“I get them a fair amount,” said Regan, who recently committed to U.Va.
“Obviously, I’m a different player, but I come from the same high school, so
it’s kind of inevitable.”
Regan, who’ll turn 18 in January, was strictly a low-post player when he entered
high school, Nichols coach Greg Plumb said, but “ever since his freshman year
he’s been kind of [moving] farther and farther away from the hoop. Now if he’s
open from 3, you better be on him, or he’s going to shoot it on you.”
Asked if Regan reminded him of another big man, Plumb answered, “It’s hard to
say. You feel like he’s almost like he’s got the toughness of a [Kevin]
Pittsnogle. I don’t think he’s quite as out in left field as Pittsnogle was --
he doesn’t have any tattoos or anything like that – but he’s very versatile.”
Regan needs to work on his “strength and explosiveness,” Plumb said. “He’s lean
like an athlete, but now he needs to get bigger and wider at this level.”
RECRUITING UPDATE: The sixth football player to commit to U.Va. for 2010 is,
like the first five, from out of state.
Pablo Alvarez, a rising senior at Belen Jesuit Prep in Miami, recently visited
Virginia with his family. Alvarez, an outstanding student, chose U.Va. over
offers from Colorado State, Duke, Iowa, Kansas State, Marshall, Northwestern,
Purdue and Tulane.
The 6-3, 190-pound Alvarez, also a track star, is projected to play cornerback
at U.Va.
ON A BIG STAGE: Six U.Va. recruits played in the fourth annual Under Armour
All-American boys lacrosse game Saturday night.
One of them, midfielder Chris LaPierre, was named the MVP. LaPierre, who’s from
the southern part of New Jersey, had two goals and four assists to lead the
South to a 19-16 win over the North.
The other future Cavaliers at Towson were Howie Long from St. Anne’s-Belfield
School in Charlottesville, attackman Connor English and attackman/midfielder
Nick O’Reilly from Long Island, N.Y., attackman/middie Matt White from
Connecticut and defenseman Harry Prevas from Baltimore.
“I think we were really proud of how they all played and carried themselves in
the game,” said Virginia coach Dom Starsia, who was an interested observer at
Towson University.
The 6-2, 210-pound LaPierre, who also was a record-setting tailback in high
school, is “a monster,” said Starsia. “I think his play Saturday night was a
little bit of a revelation for a lot of guys who were probably seeing him for
the first time, because Shawnee High School is not on everybody’s stop list for
high school games.”
In 2010, Starsia said, “I think [LaPierre] could play on the first midfield. I
think he could face off. I think he could play on the second midield. He could
play on the defensive midfield. I think he could do anything we ask him to do
and do it well.”
For the North, White had four goals and two assists, O’Reilly had three goals
and English had one goal.
ODU ADDS EX-CAVALIER: Former U.Va. football player Jason Fuller will use his
final season of eligibility at Old Dominion University.
Fuller, who graduated last month from Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce, is
the Monarchs’ first transfer from a program in the NCAA’s Football Bowl
Subdivision. ODU is about to embark on its first season in the Football
Championship Subdivision.
Coach Bobby Wilder, in a statement, said Fuller “has everything we are looking
for in a student-athlete at Old Dominion. He has an undergraduate degree from
one of the top business schools in the country, he is a great person, and he is
passionate about playing football at Old Dominion.”
Fuller, a 6-5, 255-pound defensive end, is from Virginia Beach’s Kempsville
High. He was redshirted at U.Va. in 2005 and played sparingly thereafter.
-- Jeff White
Virginia gets football commitment from Florida
Efforts by first-year Virginia assistant Chad Wilt to recruit in Florida paid
dividends Monday with an oral commitment from Pablo Alvarez, a 6-foot-3,
205-pound defensive back and wide receiver from Belen Jesuit School in Miami.
Six other Division I-A schools had made offers to Alvarez, who took an
unofficial visit to Virginia last weekend. He picked the Cavaliers over Duke,
Iowa and Northwestern.
Alvarez, the sixth player to commit to UVa for 2010, is ranked nationally in the
300-meter intermediate hurdles and has a 22.01 clocking in the 200. The
Cavaliers have only scholarship player from Florida on their roster, cornerback
Mike Parker, who will be a junior this coming season.
-- DOUG DOUGHTY
UR’s London gets contract extension through 2014
By John O'Connor
Published: June 30, 2009
London file
Age: 48
Family: wife, Regina; children, Michael, Brandon, Kristen, Ticynn, Korben,
Jaicyn, Madicyn
Education: graduated from Bethel High School, Hampton; University of Richmond
(sociology major, Class of'83); received degree in law enforcement from the
Richmond Police Academy
Playing career: Spiders' defensive back 1979-82; signed as a free agent by the
Dallas Cowboys
Assistant coaching career: Richmond (1988-89), William and Mary (1990-93),
Richmond (1994-96), Boston College (1997-00), Virginia (2001-04), Houston Texans
(2005), Virginia (2006-07)
Head coaching career: Richmond (2008), won Football Championship Subdivision
title, 13-3 record
University of Richmond coach Mike London will welcome back 16 starters and both
kick returners from last year's 13-3 team that won the Football Championship
Subdivision title.
The University of Richmond today will announce that football coach Mike London
has signed a contract extension.
London, 48, became the coach at UR in January and led the Spiders to the
Football Championship Subdivision title in his first season as a head coach on
any level. London, who grew up in Hampton and graduated from UR in 1983, signed
a five-year contract when he became Richmond's coach. His contract now runs
through the 2014 season.
Athletic Director Jim Miller said the two-year extension "clearly acknowledges
the success that Mike has had here, both on the field and off the field. I
believe he is a great fit for the University of Richmond. This makes the
statement that we're happy with the direction of the program.
"I think it's a statement that we're both making, that he's happy in Richmond
and we're happy with the job he's done at Richmond, and we want the relationship
to continue for a long period of time."
Sixteen starters and both kickers return from a 13-3 team that finished third in
the Colonial Athletic Association South Division, then won playoff games versus
Eastern Kentucky and at Appalachian State and Northern Iowa before topping
Montana 24-7 in Chattanooga, Tenn., for the national title. The Sporting News
projects UR as the FCS' No. 1 team this season. Another high-quality year would
undoubtedly make London attractive to Football Bowl Subdivision schools seeking
coaches.
Miller chose not to comment on London's salary, but UR's pay scale for football
coaches does not compare with those at well-established FBS schools. London's
predecessor, Dave Clawson agreed to a five-year contract when hired by UR in
2004, then agreed to a two-year extension following the 2005 season. That
extension ran through 2010, but Clawson became Tennessee's offensive coordinator
before last season. He is now Bowling Green's coach.
"We understand the realities of FCS football, that if you're successful,
sometimes coaches have opportunities that they feel they have to look at,"
Miller said. "I think the contract recognizes that reality but also protects the
university if coach London were to make that decision.
"But I think the commitment he has made in this contract is an indication of his
long-term commitment to the University of Richmond."
London, who could not be reached for comment, was named male coach of the year
in all sports by Black Coaches & Administrators, and also was honored as FCS
coach of the year by the American Football Coaches Association and by Schutt
Sports/American Football Monthly.
UR's commitment to football and London also includes facility improvements. The
school plans to open in 2010 a $25 million on-campus football stadium that seats
8,700. The Spiders have played off-campus since 1929.
"We continue to upgrade our facilities," Miller said. "We've enhanced the
current facilities in the Robins Center that football has used, during the nine
years I've been here, ranging from the locker room to the weight room, and we
continue to look at ways to enhance the meeting rooms.
"There are ongoing discussions about the future of facilities involving
football."
Hall glad to have ball back
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: June 30, 2009
Beneath a blazing Virginia sun, a figure in dreadlocks sprinted in the 90-degree
heat, the sweat glistening off his well-chiseled frame.
Quarterback Vic Hall — yes, quarterback — was going through only part of his
daily summer routine in preparation for his senior season as a Cavalier. Like
many of his teammates, he goes to class, works out in the weight room, then
practices every day, including about 100 passes on a daily basis.
With a very strong shot at being Virginia’s starting quarterback, Hall wants to
be as prepared as he possibly can for the task. He’s in a three-way battle with
more experienced QBs, Jameel Sewell and Marc Verica, so he has to be at the top
of his game.
Back under center
While most every Wahoo fan is familiar with Hall’s deeds as quarterback at
Gretna High School where he rewrote a good portion of the VHSL record book, he
has been on the defensive side of the ball for all but one game at UVa. Last
November, the Cavaliers surprised Virginia Tech by starting Hall at quarterback
and allowing him to engineer most the game from that position.
During that afternoon, Hall displayed many of the same moves that made him a
high school legend, rushing for 109 yards, including touchdown jaunts of 40 and
16 yards as UVa threw a scare into the Hokies before succumbing, 17-14 in
Blacksburg.
That was on four days practice, so just think what he can do with an entire
spring and August training camp under his belt.
In a commercial promoting Virginia football, Hall says how great it is to have
the ball back in his hands again.
“I just feel that since I’ve been playing football, it has been the natural side
of the ball for me,” he said Monday. “I had to adapt to playing defense. I had
minimal snaps on defense in high school and playing defensive back at the
college level is hard. Making that transition is something that frustrated me a
lot but I fought through it.”
A natural instinct
Now that he’s back in familiar territory, watch out. There’s plenty more of what
the Hokies got a sampling of last fall.
“A lot of guys have a knack for escaping tackles and getting through tight
spaces,” Hall said.
Well, maybe not a lot, at least not how Hall does it. He exhibits a natural
instinct for getting out of or avoiding jams with quicksilver moves that only
few possess.
In fact, UVa coaches are trying to teach some other players what comes naturally
to Hall.
“I’d say Mikell Simpson (senior tailback) is very good at being naturally
elusive,” Hall said. “It’s big at this level if I know I can throw you the ball,
and you’re one-on-one with the defender and I know that you can make the
defender miss.”
Ever wonder what goes through a player’s mind when the pigskin is in his hands?
When Hall totes the ball, first and foremost, he’s thinking he wants to score.
Most of us, sportswriters included, don’t really notice that when he’s running,
he’s always looking, head’s on a swivel.
“I like to see what guy is next, what I have to do to elude that guy or get to a
certain spot,” he said. “I see a lot of things before they happen just by
searching for the next move I can make.”
Against Virginia Tech’s vaunted defense, Hall was elusive and did 99 percent of
his damage with his legs and vision because he had little time to hone passing
skills. He’s dedicated a lot of time since then to returning to the same form he
used to lead Gretna to state titles.
Lots of people say he can’t throw it, that he’s too small at 5-foot-9 to see
over linemen or to find receivers.
Well, that’s a bunch of hooey.
“That just gives people something to talk about,” Hall said with a grin. “All I
do is keep working. If a throw needs to be made, I’ll make it. I’ll just put it
like that. I’m confident in myself more than anyone else that I can make it.”
There’s no question that Coach Al Groh loves Hall’s leadership ability and that
was evident at Lane Stadium when the youngster nearly helped the Cavs pull off a
significant upset.
When it was over, it was difficult to judge just who was most appreciative of
the situation, Groh and the team or Hall.
“Coach gave me an opportunity and I was very thankful,” the QB said. “In the
back of my mind and in my heart, I was doing it for the team, the coaching
staff, and I was hoping I could give them something to believe in.”
No questions that Hall already had the respect of his teammates and staff, but
his effort at Tech earned him much more.
Now, he’s embracing another opportunity to lead Virginia back to glory.
“That’s what summer and training camp are about for me, to be in position to
have my team believing in me,” Hall said. “My job, all of the quarterbacks’
jobs, is that we have to make everyone believe in us.”
When those throws need to be made or when three yards is a must or a touchdown
drive has to happen, those players need to believe that Hall can come through,
that he’s going to make the play whether he runs the ball or throws.
“That’s what I work on in the summer,” he said.
That’s why we found him busting his hump in the late June sunshine.
You gotta believe.
ACC quarterbacks lack star power
Crop of signal-callers is a field full of ability but short on big-time results
By PAUL STRELOW - pstrelow@thestate.com E-Mail
CLEMSON — When the ACC holds its annual football media kickoff in a month,
league representatives will invariably recycle the same statistical propaganda
that paints the conference in a favorable light.
The ACC again went toe-to-toe with the SEC for having the most players chosen in
the NFL Draft. And the ACC again produced some of the stingiest defenses,
boasting seven of the country’s top 28 defenses in yardage allowed.
Yet despite Virginia Tech snapping the league’s eight-game BCS bowl losing
streak, the ACC football still lags at the back of the BCS pack.
The simplest reason might be that its successes — or lack thereof — are tied to
its mundane quarterback play.
Only three drafted ACC quarterbacks have gone on to be NFL starters this decade
— Matt Ryan, Matt Schaub and Philip Rivers.
A year ago, two of the three quarterbacks put on the pedestal at the ACC’s
preseason kickoff event wound up as backups. The third — Clemson’s Cullen
Harper, the preseason player of the year — was briefly benched and threw more
interceptions than touchdowns.
The ACC appears to have a deeper stable of decent quarterbacks this year,
although its star power and NFL potential might be less inspiring. The State
ranks the league’s projected starters:
1. RUSSELL WILSON, N.C. STATE
Furthering the second-rate ACC quarterbacks argument, Wilson is the reigning
first-team all-conference selection after beginning last year as a backup and
missing most of three games because of injury.
He resuscitated the Wolfpack the second half of last season and finished with 17
touchdowns and one interception, averaging 205.7 yards per game his last seven
starts. His first test this season will come against South Carolina.
2. RILEY SKINNER, WAKE FOREST
In his first three years as starter, Skinner evolved from a lightly recruited
overachiever to overrated playmaker and back to an undervalued commodity.
Wake Forest coaches know what they’re going to get from Skinner on a weekly
basis: an agile, high-percentage passer with leadership skills who wins more
often than not.
3. TYROD TAYLOR, VIRGINIA TECH
Taylor’s profile is still the product of the hype that came with the initial
comparisons to Michael Vick.
The rising junior threw two touchdowns a year ago while completing 57.2 percent
of his passes, but the rising junior is 13-2 as a starter, and he ranked ninth
in the league in rushing, tallying 738 yards and seven touchdowns.
4. JOSH NESBITT, GEORGIA TECH
Nesbitt’s statistics are a product of Paul Johnson’s flexbone option offense,
but that shouldn’t diminish the value of Nesbitt’s decision-making or the assets
he brings to the table.
Nesbitt proved a tough runner a year ago, rushing for 693 yards and seven
touchdowns while — like Taylor — amassing two passing TDs. Johnson believes
Nesbitt will be much improved in his second year in the system.
5. THADDEUS LEWIS, DUKE
We’re just not buying Lewis is as underappreciated as advertised. True, Lewis
has put up impressive numbers with little to work with, and he will continue
flourishing under the tutelage of second-year coach David Cutcliffe, a passing
mastermind. But there is no fear factor against Lewis.
6. T.J. YATES, UNC
Yates is difficult to evaluate. You’re only as good as your last impression, and
Yates was inconsistent the last three games of last season.
Yates deserves a mulligan because of the broken ankle that sidelined him for
most of seven games. But time will reveal whether last year’s receiving corps —
which featured three NFL draft picks — made Yates look better than he was.
7. JACORY HARRIS, MIAMI
From here, the QB picks become a matter of taste.
So here’s gambling on Harris, an exciting high-risk, high-reward sophomore who
figures to improve under Mark Whipple, the new offensive coordinator. Whipple is
getting a lot of preseason love for energizing a moribund offense, and Harris
has several promising young receivers at his disposal.
8. CHRISTIAN PONDER, FSU
ESPN recently ranked Ponder as the ACC’s 22nd-best player period, which goes to
show three things: 1) How much clout being FSU’s quarterback brings. 2) That a
marginal season — 14 TDs, 13 TDs, 55.7 completion percentage — was an upgrade
from incumbent Drew Weatherford. 3) The Seminoles are a threat to score points
on offense this season.
9. KYLE PARKER or WILLY KORN, CLEMSON
The candidates for the starting job aren’t interchangeable, but Clemson’s
fortunes are likely the same no matter who is under center.
Both have tools that could quickly springboard them to the upper half of the
league’s quarterback pool. But given their lack of experience, there is no
telling how Parker’s cannon arm or a healthy Korn’s versatility will translate.
That said, the Tigers’ quarterbacks might only be as good the running game
allows.
10. CHRIS TURNER, MARYLAND
Turner seemingly retains the job by default. Sometimes he’s consistent enough to
win you games, others he looks like a serviceable backup. What you have seen is
what you will get. He avoids a lower ranking because his father was the original
drummer in the 80s hair band RATT.
11. JAMEEL SEWELL or VIC HALL, VIRGINIA
Sewell, the starter in 2007, returns to school and the team after being forced
to leave last year for academic issues. Sewell didn’t set the league on fire
when he was playing, and he is being challenged for the starting job in
Virginia’s new spread offense by Hall, a senior and converted cornerback. Enough
said.
12. DAVID SHINSKIE, BOSTON COLLEGE
After shaky starter Domonique Davis transferred, the Eagles elected to bring in
Shinskie, a 25-year-old looking to give football a try after his six-year minor
league baseball career fizzled.
Maybe he’s Chris Weinke, or maybe he’s Mark Farris (you’ll probably have to
Google his name, and that’s the point).
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
UVa hoping it's not same old song
Patrick Stevens - The Washington Times
CHARLOTTESVILLE | Tony Bennett glanced around his spacious office a few weeks
ago and approvingly ran down what distinguished his latest rebuilding project
from his last.
The new Virginia basketball coach sits in arguably the best conference in the
country, works at one of the top schools in the nation and is far, far closer to
a cluster of talent than he ever was when he won at remote Washington State.
"There's a lot of things in place here," Bennett said, a theme he would return
to a few more times.
Not to mention that office, a part of the glistening and expansive John Paul
Jones Arena that opened three years ago. Yet for all the reasons Virginia should
thrive, the Cavaliers have not for nearly a decade and a half.
The program once built upon Ralph Sampson's broad shoulders rarely generated
attention in the past 14 years. Sure, there might be an upset here, a
buzzer-beater against Duke there. But Virginia has a single NCAA tournament
victory in that span, a figure that just for a second prompted Bennett to gulp.
Perhaps it was reflexive. More likely, it was for comedic effect; Washington
State's track record wasn't any better before Bennett led the Cougars to a pair
of NCAA tournaments and an NIT in three seasons.
Either way, it was appropriate. Bennett is the first to acknowledge he inherited
a job requiring a well-thought-out plan and the patience to shepherd it to
fruition. There is no quick fix, no easy answers for attempting to accomplish
what Pete Gillen and Dave Leitao could not earlier this decade: sustain success
in the long term.
Of course, taking shortcuts isn't the meticulous Bennett's approach, anyway.
"There's certainly some great tradition and history here, but we have to make it
more recent," said Bennett, who was hired March 31. "There hasn't been
consistency in this program. I think when you go to a place that hasn't had
consistent success, you have to try to build it for the long haul."
Establishing a brand
It is plain for reasons both obvious and subtle that Bennett's greatest coaching
influence is his father, Dick, a Wisconsin institution who decades ago studied
the tendencies of Vince Lombardi.
The signature feature of Dick Bennett's teams - not only at high school and
small college stops but also at Wisconsin-Green Bay and Wisconsin - was
tenacious defense, usually coupled with an offense predicated on smarts rather
than style.
Most importantly, it worked, enough for Tony Bennett to absorb several lessons
while playing for his father and a few more after becoming an assistant at
Wisconsin. Later, Dick Bennett came out of retirement to take on a reclamation
project at Washington State, bringing Tony along as the top assistant.
Father and son set to work, with Tony Bennett's studious and balanced
personality playing a pivotal role in the process. There were long days, tough
recruiting sells and aggravating moments - a 46-29 loss at Fresno State late in
2003, an 81-29 pummeling at Oklahoma State a year later.
"He sat through that with me, and I remember saying, 'Are you sure you want to
do this?' " Dick Bennett recalled. "That same year, we ended up winning [seven
games] in the Pac-10, beating Arizona on the road. It's never quite as bad as it
seems and perhaps never as good as everybody says it is. He knows. He lives his
life between those parameters."
Indeed, Tony Bennett saw both good and bad at Washington State, where he took
over in 2006-07. Winning - and reaching the Sweet 16 in 2008 - only further
validated the methodical process of constructing a program in the proper
fashion.
Bennett scoured the globe for players, eventually emerging as a known quantity
for both style of play and performance - a reputation that should help Virginia
emerge as a destination.
"I think the best thing Virginia and Tony Bennett have going for them is they
have an established brand and a head coach with a specific style of play," said
Dave Telep, the national basketball recruiting director for Scout.com. "It is
very difficult to recruit until you establish your identity. What Virginia got
was an immediate identity of who they are and guys they'll recruit and the way
they'll play and what they'll do on the floor."
The Cavaliers also added a coach unlikely to panic at the prospect of taking
over a bunch that scuffled to a 10-18 record last season, posting Virginia's
worst winning percentage (.357) since 1967.
It was and still is a young roster, with only one of the top nine scorers (Mamadi
Diane) departing. Both members of the recruiting class (Jontel Evans and Tristan
Spurlock) remain en route despite Leitao's departure. It isn't the most ideal
short-term scenario, yet Bennett's calm and analytical approach could prove a
solid fit.
"He has a softer side to him," Dick Bennett said. "He doesn't overact. That has
really I think enabled him to deal with difficult circumstances wherever they
might be. That has impressed me. He was that way as an athlete. There's a quiet
fire to him."
Quality over quantity
As impressive as Bennett is, he inherits a program mired in a sustained run of
mediocrity - one others with solid credentials couldn't shake.
Jeff Jones, now at American, endured losing seasons in two of his last three
years. The energetic Gillen quickly revitalized the Cavaliers, but the program
crept back toward .500, and Gillen left after seven seasons.
Leitao exceeded expectations for two seasons before the loss of guards J.R.
Reynolds and later Sean Singletary - not to mention dwindling crowds at John
Paul Jones, which averaged more than 4,000 below capacity last season - led to
diminishing fortunes and another coaching change.
A single season doesn't stand out, but Virginia has a basketball image to
replenish after going 222-200 (and 88-136 in the ACC) the past 14 years.
Virginia earned three NCAA invitations since an Elite Eight run in 1995, fewer
than every ACC school besides Florida State and Virginia Tech.
"It is shocking and unacceptable," said new assistant Jason Williford, a member
of the 1995 team. "We're hoping to correct that."
It will take time and an extended recruiting push. The Cavaliers earned a
commitment from Buffalo, N.Y., forward Will Regan this past weekend, but that's
only the start for Bennett - who assembled an interesting blend of assistants
for his first East Coast job.
Williford, previously an assistant at American, is well-connected locally. Ron
Sanchez, one of Bennett's assistants at Washington State, began his career in
New York. Ritchie McKay, a veteran head coach, spent the past two years at
Liberty and recruited Seth Curry to the Lynchburg, Va., school.
But Virginia doesn't exist in a vacuum and has not distinguished itself in
recent years.
"On the surface, it looks like it's well-positioned geographically," Telep said.
"It's a product of competition for players. You're competing against D.C.- and
Baltimore-area colleges for players. North Carolina and Duke have lived in the
state of Virginia the last decade. It's been a tough row to hoe. I think the
first thing that has to happen is Virginia has to become at some point the No. 1
option for players in its state."
At this moment, trying to create a lasting program might prove more crucial.
It's a matter of finding players who will embrace Bennett's defense-first
philosophy and help create a stable, fundamentally sound program capable of
weathering occasional problems.
"To me, it's more about right now qualitative versus quantitative," Bennett
said. "I learned long ago to concentrate on the process and fall in love with
that process. Be consumed with quality and how we do things, and the end results
will wind up taking care of themselves."
Such an approach makes it difficult to pin a timetable on the Cavaliers'
resurgence, but the course of action appears wise. Bennett dispelled ideas that
his offense is merely a plodding slow-down system, and Williford noted that the
last time Virginia was consistently good - in the Terry Holland and Jones years
- defense was the team's hallmark.
Tough, sound play (especially on the defensive end) is near the top of Bennett's
list of non-negotiables, pillars he intends to instill. It's a similarity to his
last rebuilding stop - and if things unfold as they did at Washington State,
could be the reason all the things in place in Charlottesville finally lead to
better results.
"As those things hopefully come together, then we'll see some results," Bennett
said. "I think it's not wise to say 'I expect us to finish in this spot in the
ACC' or 'I expect us to be here for postseason.' ... You'll be judged by that
and people will look at that, but there's a process here and a long-range plan."
Virginia timeline
By Patrick Stevens (Contact) | Tuesday, June 30, 2009
1996 After losing three starters and a top inside sub from an
Elite Eight team, Virginia endures its first sub-.500 season since 1987-88.
1997 Courtney Alexander averages 14.8 points as the Cavaliers beat North
Carolina and Maryland at home and reach the NCAA tournament. The following
offseason, offcourt issues prompt Alexander to transfer with two years of
eligibility remaining in the following offseason.
1998 Curtis Staples sets the NCAA record for 3-pointers made (since broken by
Duke's J.J. Redick). It's a bright spot as Virginia struggles to its worst ACC
record (3-13) since 1962 and must play five games against No. 1 teams.
March 15, 1998 Coach Jeff Jones is ousted after eight seasons.
March 28, 1998 Virginia hires Providence's Pete Gillen, who made eight NCAA
trips.
1999 Donald Hand and Chris Williams both average more than 16 points as the
Cavaliers barely miss a .500 season despite starting the year with seven
scholarship players.
2000 After a sound 15-5 start, the Cavaliers drop six of their last 10 and
become the first ACC team to post a 9-7 league record and miss the NCAA
tournament.
2001 Virginia rips Maryland and Wake Forest in back-to-back home games and is
ranked No. 6 in early February. But the season ends on a three-game skid,
including losses in the ACC and NCAA tournament openers.
2002 Behind Roger Mason Jr., Virginia peaks at No. 4 and enters February in the
top 10. However, the Cavaliers drop nine of 12 to miss the tournament, and Mason
turns pro after the season.
2003 The Cavaliers sweep defending national champion Maryland but also lose
seven straight late in the season and land in the NIT, where Virginia wins a
postseason game for the first time since 1995.
2004 Virginia wins five of seven late in the season -- including an ACC
tournament game for the first time since 1995 -- and earns an NIT invite for the
third straight year.
2005 Devin Smith averages 16.5 points, but the Cavaliers endure their first
losing season since Gillen's first year. Virginia spends December in the Top 25,
but a free fall drives increasingly apathetic fans away.
March 14, 2005 Gillen resigns three days after Virginia loses in the ACC
quarterfinals.
April 16, 2005 Dave Leitao is hired after three seasons at DePaul.
2006 In the final season at aging University Hall, Leitao coaxes a .500 season
and NIT berth from a team that upsets North Carolina and Boston College at home.
2007 Virginia opens sparkling John Paul Jones Arena. Guards Sean Singletary and
J.R. Reynolds spur the Cavaliers to a share of the ACC regular-season title and
the second round of the NCAA tournament.
2008 Singletary averages 19.8 points (and becomes the fifth Virginia player to
score 2,000 for his career), but the Cavaliers lose 10 of 11 in one stretch and
squeak into the College Basketball Invitational.
2009 A precocious team craters to 10-18 -- including a stretch of 12 losses in
14 games -- leaving Virginia with its worst winning percentage in 42 years.
Freshman Sylven Landesberg averages a team-high 16.6 points.
March 16, 2009 Leitao is ousted after going 63-60 in four seasons.
March 31, 2009 In a surprise move, Washington State coach Tony Bennett is hired.
The men behind Cavman
By Whitey Reid
Published: June 30, 2009
It was a few months before the 2001 football season got under way when Ann
Holland, the wife of former Virginia Athletic Director Terry Holland, approached
the school’s video services department about an idea she had.
Holland had seen the University of Texas implement its Longhorn mascot into an
animated video that was shown before football games. The video seemed to get
fans excited, and she thought it would be great if UVa could do something
similar.
Holland’s main objective was to get tardy tailgaters into Scott Stadium in time
for kickoff.
Never could she have imagined that the idea would catch on the way it has. And,
never could she have imagined that the initiative would help spawn a name for
the Cavalier mascot – Cavman.
Today, the roughly 90 seconds of animation featuring Cavman sometimes draws as
much attention as the actual games — understandable when you consider that the
lovable Virginia mascot has an undefeated record.
Over the years, the animated adventures — which feature Cavman riding on his
horse through well-known spots on Grounds and using a combination of guile and
strength to defeat his opponents — have become embedded in the fabric of the
university’s athletic culture.
When Cavman rears up on his horse during an episode, Virginia fans go wild. When
the human version, on a real horse, comes racing out of a Scott Stadium tunnel
and onto the field, it’s game time.
‘We’ve created a monster’
“Cavman has become one of the most identifiable figures connected to our
intercollegiate sports programs at the University of Virginia,” said Athletics
Director Craig Littlepage. “Both the real-life Cavman and the animated version
have become a significant part of our game-day festivities.”
What many fans don’t realize is the amount of work that goes into producing each
animated adventure.
Erik Elvgren and Matt Uncapher, who have worked in the school’s video services
department together for the better part of the last nine years, typically spend
80 to 90 hours per week during football season on Project Cavman. Each Cavman
adventure takes about two weeks to produce.
“We’ve created a monster,” said Uncapher, who graduated from Liberty University
in 1998 with a degree in communications.
First, Elvgren and Uncapher must develop a concept. Typically, they hit a local
coffee shop for a brainstorming session with other staffers from their office.
Then, after an idea has been created, they run it by Todd Goodale, Virginia’s
associate director of athletics for marketing and video services.
The battle for approval
If the concept gets the thumbs up, Elvgren and Uncapher create a storyboard.
Then they scout locations around Grounds for the battle scenes and insert the
selections back into their drawings.
Next, they send the drawings up the athletic department food chain for further
approval. Littlepage and Jon Oliver, Virginia’s executive associate director of
athletics, make sure there is nothing too racy or offensive.
“That’s the hardest thing – figuring out how Cavman is going to battle the other
mascot,” Uncapher said. “There’s all sort of political things that we can’t do
and a lot of parameters that you have to work within.”
That means no blood or gore. Everything must be family-friendly.
In 2007, after the shooting tragedy at Virginia Tech, an episode idea — which
culminated in a handshake between Cavman and his Hokies counterpart — had to be
run by the university Board of Visitors.
“You can’t be too violent,” Elvgren explained, “but at the same time you have to
vanquish the opponent. Sometimes we have to walk a tight line between those
things.”
It’s after Elvgren and Uncapher have received approval that the real work
begins. Elvgren, a Newport News native who grew up in Pittsburgh and learned
rudimentary animation while working for the Navy, spends countless hours in
front of a computer, modeling characters and affixing school logos.
Behind-the-scenes work
Then, in the basketball media room at John Paul Jones Arena, Elvgren and
Uncapher use infrared cameras to shoot body movements that will be used in the
battle sequences.
Elvgren, similar to what NBA players do to make video games, wears a suit with
sensors attached to it.
“The purpose is to add that sort of realism to it,” Uncapher said.
The duo sometimes enlists others to wear the sensor suit, including former UVa
quarterback Marques Hagans. Another time, a local karate instructor was brought
in so that leg kicks could be replicated.
After the necessary movements have been filmed, Elvgren inserts it all into a
program and combines it with the “bones” he has constructed in another program.
Then some facial expressions, such as eye blinks and frowns, are added.
When that is completed, Uncapher takes over. He edits everything and adds
special effects, music and sound.
When fans hear Cavman grunt, it’s actually Uncapher. “That’s me at about 2 a.m.
when nobody is around,” he said, laughing.
When things go wrong
The day before the game, the video is timed down to the second and inserted into
an operations-day script.
From there, Elvgren and Uncapher hold their breath that the show goes smoothly,
which isn’t always the case.
A few years back, the video finished and Cavman and his horse didn’t emerge for
a good 10 seconds. “We were like, ‘Where’s the horse?’” Elvgren said.
The following week, Elvgren wanted to make sure it didn’t happen again. After
walking out of his production truck, he saw that Cavman was having trouble
getting on the horse, so he helped him mount it.
Another time, coach Al Groh and the team were in the tunnel just before kickoff.
Groh, thinking it was time to go out on the field, smacked the horse on the
rear. Only, it was too soon.
“The timing can be really tough because they’re going over last-minute details
and trying to get ready,” Elvgren said. “They want to cooperate with us and have
a good show, but they also have to play football, too.”
To that end, Cavman and the team now come out of separate tunnels. The team is
cued to run onto the field when they see smoke from a pregame device.
For Elvgren, who directs all of the video that fans see on game days, character
animation continues to be a learning process. He had never done any prior to
Holland’s request eight years ago.
“You have to understand anatomy and how joints move — all the principles of
animation like exaggeration and anticipation,” he said.
Early quality issues
Elvgren, who has worked at Virginia since 1994 — he hired Uncapher in 2000 —
called the first few years of Cavman “hideous.”
“The sense of timing was all wrong,” he said. “My timing and pacing was
terrible. Something would fall from the sky and it would look like it was
falling in slow motion. There were all kinds of quality issues.”
But, today, Elvgren and Uncapher have helped put Virginia in a league of their
own in terms of animation. There aren’t many pro or college teams who do what
UVa does. Even fewer produce everything in-house.
As one would expect, both Elvgren and Uncapher have episodes that they enjoy
more than others. One of Elvgren’s favorites was shown prior to the East
Carolina game last season when Cavman took on “Petey the Pirate.”
To film the water-based scenes, Elvgren went out to the Rivanna Reservoir with
the Virginia crew team.
“I was shooting from a trail boat,” Elvgren recalled. “I said, ‘Everybody jump
out of the boat now because the cannon ball just splashed!’ They enjoyed that.”
To replicate the cannon ball splashes, Uncapher went to a friend’s house late
one night with a camera and recorded splashes in a nearby pond.
One of Uncapher’s favorites is the episode from last year’s Richmond game when
Cavman frees Virginia cheerleaders from The Rotunda, which had morphed into a
giant spider web.
Uncapher also liked the “300”-themed tilt used in the season opener against the
USC Trojans that paid a brief homage to “The Karate Kid.”
“We try and mix it up a little bit,” said Uncapher, smiling. “Some people got
it, some people didn’t.”
Added Elvgren: “We walk a fine line between wanting to entertain the audience,
but also get them excited about what’s about to happen.”
‘What’s a Hoosier?’
Elvgren and Uncapher have already begun work on episodes for this coming season.
Making their job tougher is the fact that Scott Stadium has switched to a new
wide screen video board that is about twice as big as the old one. That means a
lot of re-formatting.
In addition, Virginia has games on its schedule against William & Mary and
Indiana — schools whose mascots aren’t all that clear.
“What’s a Hoosier?” said Uncapher.
While the job is a ton of work, the pair says it never gets old.
“We love it,” Elvgren said. “Creatively, it’s very challenging.”
Ironically, Elvgren actually tried to talk Ann Holland out of the whole idea
back in 2001. He didn’t think it would be that well-received.
Today, he’s contemplating putting out a DVD for crazed Cavman fans.
“I can laugh about it now,” said Elvgren, “but she was totally right. The crowd
has always loved it. It’s really become a staple and part of what we do.”
Virginia kicks off its home football schedule Sept. 5 against William & Mary.