Littlepage talks men’s basketball, recruiting
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: August 3, 2009

EDITOR’S NOTE: Daily Progress sports editor Jerry Ratcliffe had his annual sitdown chat with University of Virginia director of athletics Craig Littlepage to discuss various issues affecting the Cavaliers’ athletic program.
Last in a two-part series.
Q. In recent years, we’ve heard some of UVa’s best former athletes, who went on to be successful after school, comment that they weren’t sure they could even get into Virginia today. Do you believe that’s valid?
Littlepage: I would say the answer is yes, they could. I think some of the differences are the national differences, the NCAA’s academic reform movement and an enhancement of core courses, grade point averages, SAT scores, the credentials that one has to present ... so, I think yes, the university has changed and the profile of the student body here has changed, but I still believe they could get in.
If anyone feels as though they couldn’t get into Virginia as they did 20 years ago, I don’t think it’s because of the University itself having changed, just some of the rules and NCAA requirements have changed.
Q. What are those major differences?
A. Years ago, you were certified as eligible as of Sept. 1, and if you were certified at that time by the NCAA standard, you were also eligible on May 1. Now, student-athletes are certified every semester, so you can’t have a bad fall semester and expect to play your sport in the spring. You have to track every semester and earn and maintain certain credentials in order to perform throughout the course of the year.
It used to be that if a student-athlete bombed out in his or her spring semester and they found themselves ineligible, they could go to summer school and automatically make it up. Now there are limits on how many courses you can take in a summer. You can’t just bag the academic year, and that keeps kids on the ball and they know they can’t just goof around and make it up in the summer.
Q. Switching gears a bit, why do you think that Ralph Sampson, generally regarded as one of the top 50 players, or higher, in the history of college basketball, isn’t in the College Basketball Hall of Fame?
A. That’s a great question and I don’t have an answer. To be honest, even though I was aware of it, I have not thought about it. Certainly, when you look at a
person who has been a three-time national player of the year, he’s going to be in the Basketball Hall of Fame, there’s no doubt about it. Maybe that’s something we should take a closer look at and ask questions about whether there’s something we’re missing here.
Q. You played a key role in recruiting Sampson to UVa. How has the University changed over that span in your mind?
A. Yeah, that was 30 years ago. A lot has changed in those 30 years, a change for the better. If you look back at that time, UVa had not been able to successfully recruit in most of our sports, if not football and basketball in particular.
It was interesting that we managed to recruit the person that was viewed as not only the very best player from the state of Virginia, but probably the best player nationally. I think that his coming to Virginia signaled an opportunity to kind of change the view of UVa. The fact that he stayed for four years, graduated, and became the player he did, lived on The Lawn, and was a great representative of the University, was a very big deal. Plus, the team did very well during those years and helped set the stage for UVa being able to open the door for, not only student-athletes, but African-American students generally.
It was during that time that things really did start to shift and the University became viewed as a more welcoming place, whereas before that time there was more skepticism about how well a student-athlete like Ralph Sampson could do at UVa.
Q. It is my opinion that Sampson coming to and staying at Virginia was the biggest thing that ever happened to UVa athletics. Would you agree?
A. I would say when you look at the magnitude of being arguably the Number 1 player in the country, one hour away, from this state, all the other things we talked about, and at a time that, in my opinion, that the University needed that kind of moment in its history to shift a view that people had about it, and the view that some had about athletics here, I’d say, yes, that was the most significant event.
Q. That leads us to your latest basketball news, the hiring of Tony Bennett as coach. What kind of feedback are you getting on the hire, months following all the initial hoopla?
A. We went from the “Tony who?” phase to “Boy, this guy looks pretty good,” to “this guy is REALLY good.” Now that things are settling in, the reception that Tony has gotten has been overwhelmingly positive. The thing that I find to be remarkable about Tony is that he is absolutely a regular guy.
Q. A regular guy in terms of ....
A. Many people that have met him for the first time have talked about just how genuinely friendly he seems. They’ve met him at places like Barracks Road and how he stood around for 30 minutes just talking about the program. I think what that tells me is that this is a guy that has the ability to connect with people, to make people feel not just good about him as the coach, but good as a representative of the department and UVa, and someone who is going to generate a lot of goodwill with people that are going to want him to do well.
Q. Any other insights about Coach Bennett that you can share with our readership, something fans might not be aware about?
A. He did something I thought was particularly interesting. When he assembled his staff, aside from Jason Williford (a UVa graduate), he told them he wanted them to get familiar with the University, so he put his players in charge of conducting tours of the University for the staff. He had groups of three players that would take Coach Bennett, and the other coaches out to walk The Grounds.
So, they showed the coaches, this is the college of arts and sciences, this is the engineering building, this is the Corner, this is what happens on the Corner, that sort of thing. And, of course, they told coaches, this is the place that you don’t want the guys to go on Saturday night.
Q. What does that tell you about your new coach?
A. I think that he has shown an uncanny knack of understanding how to succeed here at UVa and has pushed all the right buttons. The thoughtful way he put a staff together was probably the most visible example, the most tangible example of what he will do here as basketball coach, because it would have been easy for him to say, ‘OK, these are my guys from Washington State and I want to bring them.’ He really took the time to ask questions of people on our department staff, people that he knew from around the ACC, people who knew college basketball, and he was extremely thoughtful and said this is what he was going to need to put his staff, his program together.

 

ACC could be offensive this year
League returns lots of productive running backs and quarterbacks in '09.
By Ken Tysiac
ktysiac@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Friday, Jul. 31, 2009

ACC Gets Offensive
RUSH TO RESPECTABILITY

Eight of the ACC's top 10 rushers from 2008 return. The returning players are listed in bold:

Rank, player, school
Yards
Avg.

1. Jonathan Dwyer, Ga. Tech
1,395
107.3

2. Da'Rel Scott, Maryland
1,133
94.4

3. Darren Evans, Va. Tech
1,265
90.4

4. Cedric Peerman, Virginia
774
70.4

5. Montel Harris, BC
900
69.2

6. Shaun Draughn, UNC
866
66.6

7. Graig Cooper, Miami
841
64.7

8. Josh Nesbitt, Ga. Tech
693
63.0

9. Tyrod Taylor, Va. Tech
738
61.5

10. Antone Smith, FSU
792
60.9

ARMED WITH EXPERIENCE

Nine ACC quarterbacks who have started at least one season for their respective teams return this season. This includes two players who have started at Virginia:

Player, school
Total offense (career)

Riley Skinner, Wake Forest
6,707

Thaddeus Lewis, Duke
6,609

Chris Turner, Maryland
4,294

Jameel Sewell, Virginia
3,997

T.J. Yates, North Carolina
3,633

Tyrod Taylor, Virginia Tech
3,130

Christian Ponder, Florida State
2,111

Marc Verica, Virginia
2,037

Russell Wilson, N.C. State
1,955

Josh Nesbitt, Georgia Tech
1,933

Source: ACC

GREENSBORO N.C. State coach Tom O'Brien smirked at the question.

For years, he said, reporters have been asking him why defenses have dominated ACC football.

This season looks like it might be different.

“Now you've got some guys that when the ball is in their hands can make some big plays,” O'Brien said.

Indeed. It's been a long time since so many productive running backs and quarterbacks have returned in the ACC.

The league's skill players likely are to be overshadowed nationally by Heisman winners Tim Tebow of Florida and Sam Bradford of Oklahoma, plus 2008 Heisman finalist Colt McCoy of Texas.

But at the very least, ACC defenses seem likely to be challenged more than during recent years.

“I think it's going to be a very highlighted offensive season for a lot of players,” Georgia Tech tailback Jonathan Dwyer said. “We've got a lot of exciting players in this conference.”

Dwyer and two other 1,000-yard rushers – Maryland's Da'Rel Scott and Virginia Tech's Darren Evans – are back as the conference returns eight of its top 10 rushers.

That list doesn't even include running back C.J. Spiller, whom Clemson is promoting for the Heisman Trophy.

Many of the ACC's top quarterbacks also are back. In North Carolina, that includes:

The 2008 first-team (N.C. State's Russell Wilson) and second-team (Duke's Thaddeus Lewis) All-ACC selections.

Wake Forest's Riley Skinner, a fourth-year starter who led the nation in completion percentage as a sophomore.

T.J. Yates, who set a North Carolina record for passing yards during 2007 before an injury-shortened 2008 season.

Virginia returns two quarterbacks, Jameel Sewell and Marc Verica, who have started a combined three seasons. Virginia Tech (Tyrod Taylor), Maryland (Chris Turner), Florida State (Christian Ponder) and Georgia Tech (Josh Nesbitt) also return starting quarterbacks.

It all points to an offensive resurgence in ACC play.

Statistics show that defense ruled the ACC the past five seasons. At least five ACC teams have ranked in the top 25 nationally in total defense during each season since 2004.

During the same period, just two ACC teams (Virginia in 2004 and Clemson in 2006) finished in the top 25 in total offense.

Duke's Lewis predicts the conference's strong defensive tradition will at least balance out the returning skill on offense.

“I think it's going to be a balanced league,” he said.

Lewis was a rare voice speaking on behalf of the ACC's defenses this week. Returning starters on offense outnumber those on defense 85-77, and Maryland's Turner suggested that in terms of quarterbacks, there are more household names in the ACC than in the SEC.

First-year Boston College coach Frank Spaziani is a former defensive coordinator, but he said the experienced quarterbacks will make the offenses better. And more scoring might get the ACC more national attention, he said.

“Nobody's looking like, ‘Wow, look at this goal-line stand,'” Spaziani said. “We want to see Spiller running 80 yards down the sideline in Alumni Stadium. That's what gets you a little more national focus.”

If that happens, Dwyer predicts improvements for the ACC in recruiting. That could pay dividends for a conference that's eager for more exposure after rival schools from the SEC have won the past three national titles.

“By seeing a lot of offensive players succeed in this league, I think a lot more recruits are going to start to come here and know they can succeed,” Dwyer said. “It doesn't matter what conference they are in, as long as they are on a team that's going to expose them and let them play where they want to play.”