No go: Golden to stay at UVa
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
December 18, 2004

If Virginia defensive coordinator Al Golden is leaving the Cavaliers’ football program, it will not be for a position at Notre Dame. And apparently it will not be this season.

After a week full of speculation and even a report from the Boston Globe indicating that Golden had been hired at Notre Dame, the situation was put to rest.

The University of Virginia released statements from Golden and UVa coach Al Groh on Friday dispelling the reports of his departure.

“After a week of baseless speculation, I feel it is necessary to firmly state my commitment to being the defensive coordinator at Virginia,” Golden said. “We have made great strides in a short time and I believe we are building something special. We came up a little short of our goal of a championship, but I am dedicated to help us finish with nine wins and a third straight bowl win.”

Virginia (8-3) concludes its season on Dec. 27 in the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho. The Cavaliers will face Boise State (8-3) at 2 p.m.

Golden did not address Notre Dame directly, but he did point to the future.

“We have a great nucleus returning for 2005 that includes some players who have also made a similar commitment to be at Virginia, and I want to help them finish their careers on a high note,” he said.

Virginia’s defense ranks 11th in the country in scoring defense (15.9 ppg) and 12th in the country in rushing defense, but four of its starters are seniors.

Two others starters -linebacker’s Darryl Blackstock and Ahmad Brooks - are potential early-round draft picks if they elect to enter the NFL Draft. An announcement from either player is not expected until after Virginia’s bowl game with Fresno State.

Groh also released a statement supporting Golden and his work with the Cavaliers’ defense during the past four years.

“Al has done a marvelous job of molding our defensive players and systems. Finishing 11th in the country in scoring defense is evidence of that,” Groh said. “He is a tremendous resource for us with a very bright future.

“I have high regard for his work and am thrilled by his enthusiasm for and confidence in the future of Virginia football.”

Sources close to the situation indicated that Golden was offered a $40,000 a year raise to stay at Virginia. Golden’s salary annually was close to $180,000.

The news comes at a good time for Virginia’s recruiting efforts with the 2005 National Signing Day just 46 days away. A dead period for coaches also starts on Monday, lasting for 13 days.

Virginia is currently ranked second in the nation, behind only Nebraska, in recruiting for 2005 with 24 commitments, according to Rivals.com.

Twenty of 24 UVa commitments have been ranked as three-stars or better.

Sports mailbag
The Roanoke Times

I read with some interest the pronouncements of Taz Cooper (Messages for Tech Foes, Dec. 11, 2004) concerning the great feats of this season's Virginia Tech football team. He disrespected three pretty good football programs and what goes around, comes around. One of these years, one, two or hopefully all three of those teams will defeat Cooper's Hokies. Perhaps it will be next season as Tech will be without all-world quarterback Bryan Randall. When the inevitable happens, will Cooper be crowing - or be eating crow?

Tim Austin
Roanoke
 

Pompous comments embarrass state, ACC

This is a response to Taz Cooper's letter (Messages for Tech Foes, Dec 11, 2004).

I would like to congratulate coach Frank Beamer and all the Tech football players. They overachieved this year and now represent the ACC in the BCS.

Now let us remember that the only reason Tech was allowed to join the ACC was for its football team. Maybe it is time to start building an athletic program instead of a football program.

The ACC is a conference of champions, not just a football conference. You are not in the Big East anymore, learn how to play with others and not embarrass the state of Virginia and the ACC with pompous comments about how great you are.

Mark Johnson
Roanoke
 

Football champs need to improve on court

This is to comment on a letter last week concerning Virginia Tech owning certain teams in football (Messages for Tech Foes, Dec 11, 2004). Congratulations on a great year. But how long do you think it will be before Tech will own someone in basketball?

Maybe they should take the money from the bowl game and put it into the basketball program. Remember the real season starts Sunday against North Carolina and the rest of the ACC.

Jay Layman
Ferrum

Message shows lack of  class by Tech fan

Congratulations to the Virginia Tech Hokies on their ACC championship. They played hard on the field and earned it. As for Taz Cooper's message to Tech's foes:

The Miami Hurricanes "own" five national championships, you have none. Check back when that changes.

When was the last time Virginia Tech was above third place in the Big East, which your diatribe seems to regard as inferior. As for the Cavaliers, from what I've seen, they win and lose with more class than you could ever imagine.

I work with and know a lot of good Hokie fans who understand sportsmanship. You obviously are not one of them.

Greg Hupp
Roanoke

Writer apologizes, blames paper

My apologies to 'Canes fans, 'Hoos fans, and 'Eer fans for my mean-spirited remarks published in last Saturday's newspaper. The words published were what I wrote, but I believe the way the newspaper edited them took them out of context and totally missed my point.

Taz Cooper
Rocky Mount

N.C. State aide leaving for Florida

N.C. State lost a second key member of its staff Thursday when new Florida coach Urban Meyer announced that John "Doc" Holliday would join the Gators' staff.

Holliday, 47, was Chuck Amato's associate head coach and wide receivers coach. He has been at N.C. State for all five seasons of Amato's tenure, and was instrumental in recruiting south Florida.

In a statement, Holliday said it was difficult to leave N.C. State. He said Amato and the people at N.C. State were good to him.

"However, my ultimate goal is to be a head coach some day," Holliday said, "and after having coached in the Big East and the ACC, the chance to be able to add the SEC to my resume was very important."

Also this month, defensive coordinator Reggie Herring left for Arkansas. -- KEN TYSIAC

Former hoops teammates prove to be football stars
By GUY LORANGER : The Herald-Sun
gloranger@heraldsun.com
Dec 17, 2004 : 11:42 pm ET

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- They would have made a heck of a frontcourt.

Jordan's 6-3 Kinney Rucker and Southern's 6-4 Maurice Covington and 6-2 Brandon Woods all played on the same AAU basketball team together when they were younger, but they all gave up hoops for football.

Fortunately, the decision worked out well for all three of them, earning them Division I scholarships and spots in today's Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas.

After the 1 p.m. game at Wofford's Gibbs Stadium, the next football game that Rucker will play in will be as member of the Duke football team, while Covington and Woods will head to Virginia.

"Everybody has to make a sacrifice to become better at what they want to do," said Rucker, the PAC-6 4-A's defensive lineman of the year this season as a defensive end. "Giving up basketball -- that was my first love -- but I wanted to become a better football player.

"We're all talented, but when you look at it, football has more scholarships to offer because there's more positions. Basketball is kind of limited."

Rucker will start today's game as a defensive tackle -- all week in practice he has been going up against the area's other Shrine Bowl representative, 6-4, 270-pound Riverside offensive tackle Lowell Dyer -- while Covington and Woods will start at wide receiver.

Rucker, Covington and Woods were members of the Carolina Wildcats during their first two years of high school, a team that included Hillside's Chris Faison (his father, William, was the coach) as well as Hillside's James Barbee.

Former Hillside point guard Brandon Alston also was a member of the squad, which won the YBOA Nationals one summer. Alston ended up going to N.C. Central, where he returns kicks for the football team.

"We were a real good team," Woods said of the Wildcats, "because we always played like a team."

Covington, like Rucker, said that his decision to focus on football came down to opportunity. He made the decision after a sophomore year in which he excelled at both sports.

"But all my scholarship offers were coming for football instead of basketball," said Covington, who received attention from Duke, North Carolina and Virginia before picking the Cavaliers during his junior year. A few months later, Woods went with Virginia, too.

"I decided which one would help me the most in the future," Covington said. "I enjoyed playing both sports, but I liked football more. ... I enjoy getting in the end zone, and hearing the crowd. I love the intensity and hard-hitting of the game. I just love the sport -- even when it's cold outside."

Woods said that all three of them could have been ended up playing college basketball if they had wanted. In his opinion, it simply came down to which sport they liked more.

"We're all big, tough guys," he said, "and we wanted to play a tough sport."

Rucker, who made the All-PAC-6 basketball as a junior, said that it hasn't always been an easy choice to live with.

"When I'm at basketball games, I miss it, especially if my boys are struggling," said Rucker, who has been lifting weights last summer. "When I'm sitting in the stands, I know I want to be out on the court."

Of course, none of them would trade their place in today's game.

Said Covington, "I feel fortunate."

 

Amato's program in trouble
By CAULTON TUDOR, Staff Writer

So far this year, N.C. State football coach Chuck Amato has lost four home games, Reggie Herring, T.A. McLendon and Doc Holliday.

That's too much to lose for a program that once had been touted as an up-and-comer nationally.

Amato has an obligation to be concerned, and Wolfpack fans have a right to ask, "What in Sam Hill is going on here?"

Perhaps it comes down to nothing more complicated than cold cash.

Herring, the Pack's defensive coordinator, left for Arkansas, which has given him a three-year, guaranteed contract. Holliday, a fixture of Amato's staff almost from Day One, is going to Florida.

Those schools typically pay top dollar for assistant football coaches. Even though Southern California and Oklahoma nudged Auburn out of the Bowl Championship Series title game, the Southeastern Conference still represents the epitome of big-time college football. Where football is king, the palace princes live well.

McLendon, the team's No. 1 running back, made it perfectly clear that he's leaving school early to play for pay in the NFL.

So there are good explanations for the departures.

But none of that changes the fact that the Wolfpack has lost momentum, status, stability and self-confidence.

A team that should have gone 6-5 instead finished 5-6, failed to qualify for a bowl game and won only three of eight conference games. Two of its five victories came against Division I-AA Richmond and helpless East Carolina.

The offseason footing is tricky for Amato. Recruiting is the lifeline of college football, and assistant coaches are a team's brain cells.

Amato has taken a direct hit on both fronts, waving goodbye to Holliday's recruiting connections in Florida and Herring's defensive expertise.

To replace Holliday, Amato has to act almost immediately. There's no grace period in recruiting. With just more than a month left before signing day, Holliday will now work just as hard against State as he once did for the school. Amato needs to re-establish that presence in Florida.

The defensive coordinator's opening, if not as urgent, is just as critical.

According to the late Bear Bryant, the "road to nowhere" in college football is paved with bad hiring decisions and staff turmoil. Amato stands at a crossroads in that regard. If he doesn't find good successors for his right-hand man and the architect of his defense, the program will suffer.

At some point, Amato has to take a long, close look at why the Murphy Center door keeps revolving. Whether his aides have left for more money, better programs, old friendships, warmer weather, lower taxes, whatever, Amato's staff has been changing since his arrival. That can't be good. Either State has become a difficult place for assistants to work or a prime steppingstone.

Amato's job isn't in jeopardy, of course. One losing record in five seasons doesn't significantly lower a coach's stature. Among most Pack fans, he's still popular.

But he's nearing yellow-flag territory.

With a 20-20 ACC record under Amato, State is not much closer to contending for league championships than it was during Mike O'Cain's final four years.

As the 2004 season began, the energy level among State fans was off the chart. They had a feeling that the Wolfpack would upset visiting Ohio State on Sept. 18 and convert that momentum into an eight- or nine-win season.

Not only did State lose that game, its competitive personality changed. Explosive and unpredictable with quarterback Philip Rivers in the four previous seasons, State morphed into a plodding, methodical, sleepy team.

Quite simply, the program has lost steam. There may be nothing wrong with it that a hot offense and an impressive 2005 record can't fix. But nothing short of that will stop the bleeding.

Fowler calms fears
Pack AD: Changes no reason to panic

By CHIP ALEXANDER, Staff Writer

RALEIGH -- The sudden departure of two assistant football coaches at N.C. State, while unsettling during the recruiting period, isn't indicative of deeper, underlying problems in the program, athletics director Lee Fowler said Friday.

In the past two weeks, the Wolfpack has lost defensive coordinator Reggie Herring to Arkansas and Doc Holliday to Florida. Herring had just completed his first season, but Holliday, the assistant head coach and wide receivers coach, had been with NCSU head coach Chuck Amato since 2000 and was considered the staff's top recruiter.

"You hate to lose coaches during recruiting, when you'd like to have your whole staff working," Fowler said. "But both of them decided it was their best route to being a head coach one day.

"We'll be fine. Reggie did a great job this year and we all liked Doc a lot, but it's not like anyone needs to go jump off a bridge. I'm confident Chuck will be able to bring in very good coaches.

"We have good salaries for our assistants, great facilities, a great school to sell. Our program is fine and will be successful."

Fowler said he talked with Amato on Thursday before new Florida coach Urban Meyer announced that Holliday would join the Gators staff. He said he had not spoken to Holliday.

Nine assistants have left State in Amato's five years as coach -- a high turnover rate -- but Herring insisted that he didn't leave because of problems with Amato.

In an interview Friday, Herring said he "struggled and wrestled" with the decision but found the opportunity to work with Arkansas coach Houston Nutt, a longtime friend, and the financial package too tempting.

"It was tough leaving the players and Chuck Amato after all we invested during the season," said Herring, whose unit led the nation in total defense. "But our profession is a high-risk business. When someone offers me what Arkansas offered, a three-year assurance ... that took me aback. It was unexpected, from a man I've known a long time and has tried to hire me before."

Herring called Amato a "demanding coach" but qualified that by adding, "he's very demanding, but he gets results."

"I had no qualms about it," he said of Amato's coaching style. "I did not have one cross word with Chuck. Chuck was good to me and let me coach, let me be myself. It was an excellent working condition."

Bobby Purcell, executive director of the Wolfpack Club, said some fans have called in the past two days, expressing their concerns. The football news hasn't been good in recent weeks. After the Pack finished 5-6, Herring left, junior tailback T.A. McLendon announced he would enter the NFL draft, and then Holliday left.

"People want the inside scoop and are asking, 'Is there anything we don't know?' " Purcell said Friday. "I tell them I don't know that there is any. I think Doc was happy here, but I also know he really wants to be a head coach.

"Doc built a reputation here. Now, he can build on that at Florida. That should give him more exposure and hopefully help him get a head-coaching job."

Holliday was a finalist for the East Carolina job in 2002. Former ECU athletics director Mike Hamrick, now the AD at UNLV, also considered Holliday for the head-coaching position this year before hiring Utah offensive coordinator Mike Sanford.

"I know our members are disappointed," Purcell said. "Doc was very popular. He did a lot of things -- fishing, hunting, playing golf -- with members and really endeared himself."

Holliday could not be reached Friday. Amato was on the road recruiting and unavailable.

Of the coaches who have left Amato's staff, former offensive coordinator Norm Chow and Herring got multiyear contracts. Chow left after the 2000 season to become offensive coordinator at Southern California.

"Don't just look at that turnover number," Herring said. "Look at each case individually. In my case, I was offered a deal no one would sniffle at."

Fowler said NCSU's assistant coaches work on one-year contracts. He said there were some discussions with Herring about a multiyear arrangement after Arkansas made its offer.

Fowler added that he did not anticipate other assistants leaving the football staff this year.

"We certainly hope not," he said. "But until all the [job] openings are filled, you never know."

No to Notre Dame
U.Va. assistant coach Golden denies rumors he would join Irish
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Dec 18, 2004

For one day, at least, the University of Virginia football team adopted a "two-voice policy."

Cavaliers coach Al Groh ordinarily does not allow his assistants to speak to the media, favoring what he calls a "one-voice policy" for his program. But Groh made an exception of sorts yesterday for his defensive coordinator, Al Golden, who announced in a release that he's staying at U.Va.

The Boston Globe reported Thursday that Notre Dame's new coach, Charlie Weis, had named Golden as his defensive coordinator. Numerous media outlets, including ESPN, took the Globe article as gospel and reported Golden's hiring throughout the day, causing anxious and occasionally hysterical fans to melt down on U.Va. message boards.

Groh had told The Times-Dispatch on Wednesday night, however, that he expected his staff to return intact in 2005, and Golden reaffirmed his commitment to U.Va. yesterday.

"After a week of baseless speculation, I feel it is necessary to firmly state my commitment to being the defensive coordinator at Virginia," Golden said. "We have made great strides in a short time and I believe we are building something special.

"We came up a little short of our goal of a championship, but I am dedicated to help us finish with nine wins and a third straight bowl win. We have a great nucleus returning for 2005 that includes some players who have also made a similar commitment to be at Virginia, and I want to help them finish their careers on a high note."

The Cavaliers tied for third in the ACC this season. No.18 U.Va. (8-3) faces Fresno State (8-3) in the MPC Computers Bowl on Dec. 27 in Boise, Idaho.

Groh was hired at U.Va. on Dec. 30, 2000, and Golden came aboard as defensive coordinator a few weeks later. Golden, 35 and a Penn State alumnus, is considered one of the premier recruiters in college football.

Virginia's national ranking in scoring defense has improved dramatically in Golden's tenure. The Cavaliers ranked No.74 in 2001, No.50 in'02 and No.26 in'03. U.Va. ranks 11th in scoring defense this season.

"Al has done a marvelous job of molding our defensive players and systems," Groh said in the release. "Finishing 11th in the country in scoring defense is evidence of that. He is a tremendous resource for us with a very bright future. I have high regard for his work and am thrilled by his enthusiasm for and confidence in the future of Virginia football."

Weis, who'll remain the New England Patriots' offensive coordinator until the season ends, knows Groh well. They coached together at the University of South Carolina and in the NFL with the Giants, Patriots and Jets.

ACC Is Leagues Ahead of the Rest
Deep Conference Aims to Send Eight Teams to the NCAAs
By Eric Prisbell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 18, 2004; Page D01

Larry Shyatt, a Florida assistant, had examined Miami's game against Xavier on Nov. 27, so he knew the Hurricanes were quick and could shoot well. What he didn't anticipate when the Gators hosted Miami a week later was this: Miami 72, Florida 65.

The two most noteworthy nonconference games involving ACC teams occurred in Gainesville, Fla., and Charlottesville. Miami, expected to be a bottom-rung ACC team, beat one of the Southeastern Conference's top-tier teams. And Virginia, a supposed middle-of-the-pack ACC team, beat Arizona, the Pacific-10 favorite, by 18 points.

Before the season, ACC coaches likened the league, which returned 20 of last season's top 25 scorers, to the 1985 Big East, from which three teams reached the Final Four. Judging from the aforementioned upsets, ACC play, which will begin tomorrow with two games, could be even more competitive than originally thought.

"It's here," said Coach Gary Williams, whose Maryland team will host Florida State tomorrow. "And there's no easy way out in this conference."

Even with a sprinkling of upsets -- Santa Clara beating North Carolina, then-unranked George Washington beating Maryland, and Florida State losing to Florida International and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi -- ACC teams have won more than 83 percent of their nonconference games, the best mark of any league.

Not only are five teams ranked among the top nine in the coaches' poll, eight ACC teams are ranked in the top 50 of the Ratings Percentage Index, which accounts for strength of schedule and is weighed as part of the NCAA tournament selection process.

Duke and Georgia Tech reached last season's Final Four after Maryland won the league tournament. Those teams returned a combined 11 of 15 starters, yet none is even considered the league favorite. The strength of the league is unquestioned, but the determination of the regular season champion will no longer be a cut-and-dried, completely equitable process.

When the conference expanded, adding Miami and Virginia Tech this season, the ACC eliminated the double round robin schedule in which every school played every other twice. Instead, schools will retain a 16-game schedule but will play four teams only once, giving some distinct advantages.

"I'd prefer to play everyone twice, but college basketball is changing," Virginia Coach Pete Gillen said. "I think [expansion] is the right way to go. Some years you might get a bad break; some years you might get a good break."

Some coaches, such as Wake Forest's Skip Prosser, said they believe there will always be a question mark regarding the regular season champion. Others, such as Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, say that fans will suffer because they won't get a visit from every conference opponent (i.e., Duke doesn't play at Virginia this season).

"Virginia fans are great," Krzyzewski said. "We had great games."

Where the scheduling change could most affect schools is in seeding for the NCAA tournament. The strength of a school's conference schedule could prove as important as a school's nonconference schedule, according to some.

"You could have a team finish 12-4 and another finish 11-5 in the ACC," RPI analyst Jerry Palm said. "And the 11-5 team could wind up with the better seed because of its conference schedule."

ESPN analyst Jay Bilas, a former Duke player, said the changes due to expansion have introduced subjectivity into the evaluation of ACC teams. "You can't tell anything just by looking at the conference record," said Bilas, adding that expansion largely has "taken something completely pure and contaminated it. I'm not saying ACC basketball won't be great, because it will, but it will never be as great."

One way to examine the strength of league schedules is to consider a top-tier group of six: Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Maryland, Duke and North Carolina State. Wake Forest will play three of those teams twice and will only host Maryland and North Carolina. Comparatively, Virginia will play four teams from that group twice and will play Georgia Tech and Duke only once, both on the road.

"It's going to be a new era," said Shyatt, Clemson's head coach from 1998 to 2003. "A team that plays Virginia Tech, Miami and Clemson twice, that might not happen for another decade. The year it happens, it will be a marvelous advantage not to have to play Duke, North Carolina and Wake Forest, etcetera, all twice."

Another change caused by expansion affects the conference tournament, which this season will be played March 10-13 at MCI Center. The Terrapins finished sixth in the conference last season and had to beat the top three seeds en route to their first tournament title in 20 years. The difference this season: The sixth-place team, likely an NCAA tournament team, will need to beat the 11th-place school in the opening round -- previously reserved for only the eighth- and ninth-place teams -- and win on four consecutive days to earn the title.

"I'm so sick and tired of people complaining about the changes," Florida State Coach Leonard Hamilton said. "Change doesn't always have to be bad. Some people are just resistant to change because [they think] it's been great, and there is nothing that can make it better. When you look around to see the positives that have come from changes in another conferences, you can predict the same will happen with the ACC."

It remains to be seen how the league's strength and scheduling changes affect the number of teams invited to the NCAA tournament. Six schools earned bids last season and seven are ranked in the top 25.

"Can they take eight?" Williams said. "They've taken seven out of the Big Ten, when the Big Ten hasn't been as strong as our league is this year. There might be eight teams that deserve to go."

Hamilton would not be surprised if eight teams earned bids, which would be a record number for any conference. That appears unlikely even though the NCAA selection committee does not cap the number of bids it awards to teams from one conference.

It is difficult, though not impossible, for a team to garner one of the 34 at-large berths with an RPI outside the top 50. Palm said it would not be unprecedented if eight teams from one conference remained in the RPI top 50 at season's end.

"But you're not going to be in the top 50 if you're 4-12 in the conference," Palm said.

Last season, Virginia had an RPI of 52 and did not earn an invitation; Air Force received one despite an RPI of 70.

Bilas believes the ACC is the nation's best conference but said the gap between it and the second-best league, either the Big 12 or Big East, isn't as wide as others think. "Already Florida State has lost some games, and Maryland lost to George Washington," Bilas said. "We've seen some vulnerabilities people didn't expect."

Even with an unbalanced schedule, though, teams will be awarded for playing nationally ranked conference opponents. Florida State will play seven consecutive games against teams that are currently ranked.

"Whoever makes it out of the league," Williams said, "you're not going to play anyone better than what you've played in the league. That's true in the ACC this year."