U.VA. NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Dec 10, 2005

HELP WANTED: As expected, Mark D'Onofrio has joined his close friend Al Golden at Temple. His departure leaves Virginia football coach Al Groh with four slots to fill on his staff: those vacated by Golden, D'Onofrio, Danny Rocco and Ron Prince.

D'Onofrio, who coached U.Va.'s inside linebackers and coordinated its special teams, is expected to be defensive coordinator at Temple, where Golden was introduced as head coach Tuesday. Golden was the Cavaliers' defensive coordinator and also coached the secondary.

Rocco, Liberty University's new head coach, was U.Va.'s associate head coach and also worked with the team's outside linebackers. Prince, the new head man at Kansas State, was offensive coordinator and offensive-line coach at Virginia.

In his search for replacements, Groh said Tuesday, he might talk to Gary Darnell, one of his best friends in the coaching profession. Groh and Darnell were assistants on Bill Dooley's staff at North Carolina in the '70s. Then, in 1986, Groh's final season as Wake Forest's coach, Darnell was his assistant head coach and defensive coordinator.

Darnell, 57, also has been defensive coordinator at Texas, Notre Dame, Florida and Kansas State. He had an eight-year run as head coach at Western Michigan, which fired him after the 2004 season. Darnell went 31-15 in his first seasons at Western Michigan, but his final team there went 1-10.

Before Virginia's game at Western Michigan in September 2003, Darnell was asked about Groh.

"There is hardly anyone in coaching I respect more than Al," Darnell told reporters then. "He is a unique and meticulous guy and maybe one of the most relentless coaches I have ever known. He leaves no pages unturned and is very focused."

Attempts to reach Darnell for comment this week have been unsuccessful.

HEADING DOWN ROUTE 29: Chad Wilt, a graduate assistant at U.Va. for the past two seasons, is expected to join Rocco's staff at Liberty as a full-time assistant. Wilt will help Virginia prepare for its Dec. 30 game with Minnesota in the Music City Bowl. Wilt assisted Golden with the Cavaliers' defensive backs during the regular season.

STAYING PUT: Rashawn Jackson, who came to U.Va. as a running back, was moved to inside linebacker during the regular season. Groh said the 6-1, 243-pound freshman will remain on defense.

"I like him there a lot," Groh said. "He's really impressive athletically."

Jackson, who's redshirting this season, is from Jersey City, N.J. If Ahmad Brooks enters the coming NFL draft, as Virginia's coaches expect him to do, Jackson could well earn a place on the two-deep at inside linebacker in 2006.

CAIN IS ABLE: Maybe it's his new number. Whatever the reason, forward Jason Cain has been a revelation for Virginia's basketball team this season.

Cain, who wore jersey No. 32 as a freshman and sophomore, entered the season with career averages of 2.2 points and 2 rebounds. He now wears No. 33. Cain hasn't started a game, but the 6-10, 212-pound junior from Philadelphia ranks among the Cavaliers' most productive players.

He leads the team in rebounding (8.2) and averages 7.5 points. He's shooting only 53 percent from the line, but of the Cavs who have attempted at least 20 field goals, only Cain (45 percent) has made more than 40 percent.

NUMBERS GAME: In a short news release Wednesday, U.Va. announced the signings of three men's basketball recruits for 2006-07: forwards Will Harris, Jamil Tucker and center Johnnie Lett.

First-year coach Dave Leitao has said publicly that he has commitments from two other players. NCAA rules prohibit Leitao from identifying those players, because they haven't signed letters of intent, but they're 6-5 Solomon Tat and 6-8 Andy Ogide, both of whom attend high schools in Georgia.

The NCAA allows a Division I team to carry 13 players on scholarships each season. None of Virginia's nine scholarship players this season is a senior, but the U.Va. coaching staff is confident the numbers will work in 2006-07.

Junior forward Donte Minter has yet to play this season because of a knee injury, and he's not a lock to return to U.Va. next year. Also, Tat might not meet NCAA eligibility standards coming out of high school. That would mean he couldn't enroll at Virginia next year. -- Jeff White

 

Tickets still selling slow for bowl game
From Staff Reports / Charlottesville Daily Progress
December 9, 2005

As of late Friday afternoon, a University of Virginia official said that 3,497 tickets had been sold through its ticket office for the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn.
UVa was given an allotment of 10,000 tickets from the bowl and with 1,500 tickets set aside for internal use, the school remains 5,003 shy of its required usage.

Virginia (6-5) will play Minnesota (7-4) on Dec. 30 at The Coliseum (noon, ESPN).

Tickets can be purchased online at www.virginiasports.com.
 

College scuttlebutt doesn’t avoid FUMA, Hargrave coaches
Hokies, Cavs both entertain prospects
By Doug Doughty
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Fork Union postgraduate football coach John Shuman said that he had a dream Thursday night that Al Groh had offered him a job on Virginia’s football staff.

“If VMI doesn’t want me, maybe Al would take me,” Shuman said. “I’d be the best assistant he ever had. And, I wouldn’t have to move.”

Besides, if Shuman took a college job, his new employer might have the inside track on son Mark Shuman, a 6-foot-5, 210-pound eighth-grader.

“He makes his JV debut this afternoon at 4 o’clock,” Shuman said. “I’m projecting 12 points and five blocks. Who knows, we might be turning pro next year. What’s that league they have in Roanoke, the NBDL?”

Shuman said he was interviewed for the VMI position when Cal McCombs was hired in 1998 but looks back on it as “a token interview.” McCombs was fired earlier this month.

“They had an Army guy, Jim Shuck,” Shuman said. “Then, they had an Air Force guy [Cal McCombs]. Isn’t it about time for a VMI guy? Only one guy can turn it around and that’s me.”

It should be noted that, when Shuman talks, a lot of the time he has tongue in cheek.

Among the names being mentioned in connection with the VMI job are Jim Reid, a former head coach at Richmond and Massachusetts, and Jeff Durden, a former VMI assistant who has been the offensive coordinator at James Madison for the past two seasons.

There also has been talk about Bill Stewart, who was the VMI coach from 1994-96 and directed the a 1995 offense that was the highest-scoring in Keydets’ history. Stewart resigned after he was accused of making a racially insensitive remark, but he has resurrected his career as quarterbacks coach and kicking-game coordinator at BCS-bound West Virginia.

“He’s a good one,” Shuman said.

Shuman’s counterpart at Hargrave Military Academy, gregarious Robert Prunty, also has been mentioned as a possible college coaching candidate. There is reason to believe that Prunty has caught the attention of UVa’s Groh, who has at least four positions to fill.

Prunty and Shuman had scouting combines on back-to-back days this week and attracted big crowds Monday and Tuesday despite the threat of snow.

Head coaches Rich Brooks of Kentucky and Ted Roof of Duke were among the spectators at Hargrave, where top prospects include wide receiver Vidal Hazelton from Staten Island, N.Y., and 6-foot, 225-pound running back Keiland Williams from Lafayette, La.

Virginia Tech has extended a scholarship offer to Williams, but LSU is going to be hard to beat for his services.

Southern Cal is in good shape with Hazelton, who will be at Penn State this weekend on an official visit. Also headed to Penn State for a visit this weekend is Harrisburg, Pa., running back LeSean McCoy, with whom Hazelton bonded during a trip to Tech earlier in the fall.

Prunty maintained that Hazelton is wide-open and is still considering Virginia.

“That’s what he says,” said Prunty, who indicated that Hazelton met with UVa assistants this week.

Virginia also is hot on the trail of a coveted Fork Union wide receiver, Jacoby Ford, from West Palm Beach, Fla. Shuman said that Virginia receivers coach John Garrett was in Ford’s home Thursday night, an indication that Garrett, who normally stays in the office, has hit the road following the departure of four UVa assistants.

The Cavaliers were expected to have five prospects on campus this weekend, including another receiver target, Bayonne, N.J.’s highly regarded Kenny Britt; teammates Bruce Campbell and James Nixon from Hyde Leardership High School in New Haven, Conn., and wide receiver Brent Vinson from Phoebus High School in Hampton. Campbell, a defensive lineman, is considered one of the top prospects in New England.

Rivals.com is reporting that Vinson will announce his college decision Monday, which doesn’t look too good for Virginia, considering that his recruiter for Virginia, Danny Rocco, was one of the assistant coaches who left UVa. Vinson has expressed interest in Virginia throughout the process, but every top Phoebus player has gone to Tech in recent years.

This will be the big weekend of the pre-Christmas period for Tech, which was in Jacksonville, Fla., last Saturday for the ACC championship game against Miami and did not have any prospects on campus last weekend.

Uncommitted visitors to Blacksburg this weekend will include defensive end John Graves from Richmond’s Meadowbrook High School; Highland Springs linebacker Jarrell Miller, and Carteret, N.J., defensive lineman Jason Adjepong. Former Hampton wide receiver Todd Nolen, a 2005 signee who has spent the fall at Fork Union Military Academy, also is scheduled to be in Blacksburg, along with committed Sanford, Fla., defensive end Budd Thacker.

Preseason All-American Drew Gloster, a wide receiver from Good Counsel High School in Wheaton, Md., was at Tech on Thursday and will be at Maryland this weekend. The Hokies have been his stated leader since the summer but Maryland has tried to sell him on the H-back role played by first-team All-ACC selection Vernon Davis.

The Hokies suffered a recruiting setback Thursday when Suitland, Md., linebacker and Tech target Navorro Bowman said he would enroll at Penn State in January. A possible Virginia casualty, previously committed Wayne, Pa., linebacker Mark Herzlich, will be at Boston College this weekend on an unofficial visit.