QB Hagans anticipates the weekend
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
December 28, 2005

What a weekend this could be for Marques Hagans. On Thursday, he will celebrate his 23rd birthday, well sort of. Friday, he has a chance to end his career at Virginia with a bowl win and Saturday is New Year's Eve.
He's just hoping he doesn't have to put off all the celebrating until Saturday night.

If past history tells us anything about the Cavaliers' senior quarterback, it's that Hagans takes losses extremely hard. Last year, after UVa lost a big halftime lead and eventually the MPC Computers Bowl game to Fresno State, Hagans was so bummed out, he didn't even shower after the game. He just went back to the hotel and couldn't get the defeat out of his head.

A couple of times this season, including the loss at North Carolina, Hagans didn't want to talk about the game. He was too upset after losing.

All heart

If we have learned anything about this kid over the past few seasons is that he doesn't leave anything out on the field. At Syracuse, he was so physically and emotionally drained that he remained in the locker room long after the win to receive an IV.

"He's played with as much heart and as much unselfishness as any player possibly could," UVa coach Al Groh said of his quarterback. "He's really spent after a game. He is spent physically because he is such a high energy player and because he puts his whole heart and soul into it. He's spent emotionally, too. He's demonstrated time and time again, if he goes 1 for 30 [passing] and we win, then he's happy."

Poised on the sunset of his collegiate career, Hagans can hardly believe it's over. When he walks off the field in Friday's Music City Bowl in Nashville, he will be ranked among the top four or five in several career statistical categories for the Cavaliers (pass attempts, pass completions, passing yards).

An impact player

Should Virginia upset the favored Gophers, then it will most likely be largely because Hagans had a great day. Minnesota has had some difficulties in stopping mobile quarterbacks and Hagans has been the kind of player who can beat teams with his arm and his feet.

"I'm going to give it everything I've got because this is my last one and I want the kids coming up in the next class to go into next season on a positive note," Hagans said. "To me, it's a big game for a lot of reasons."

Outsiders view Virginia as a program that lost some momentum with a 6-5 record during a season plagued by injuries to key personnel. A win over Minnesota could be the boost the Wahoos need to carry into the off season.

It will be an uphill battle to beat a physical Big Ten team, but Hagans is accustomed to uphill battles. All his life, he's been told he's too short (5-foot-10), or too young, or too something to get the job done.

While he will turn 23 on Thursday, it is a bit of a change for him to be the old man of the team. When he won his first state championship as quarterback for coach Mike Smith's Hampton Crabbers (following Ronald Curry) he was a 15-year-old junior. He graduated when he was 16 and when he started his career as a freshman at Hampton, he was supposed to be in the seventh grade (by age).

How'd that happen?

"I don't know ... I need to talk to my mom about that," Hagans said with a grin.

When he did graduate, Indiana courted him as its next Randle-El. Flattered with the comparisons, Hagans signed with the Hoosiers. But a not-so-funny thing happened on the way to Bloomington. A few days before he was supposed to report to training camp, Indiana called and told him he would have to be a Proposition 48 admission.

That meant he would have to sit out his first year and pay his own way until he could prove himself academically.

"I didn't want to do that and my high school coach didn't want me to do that either," Hagans said. "So coach Smith called coach [John] Shuman at Fork Union."

While at the military academy just outside Charlottesville, Hagans impressed everyone who came to watch him. He committed to former UVa recruiter Danny Wilmer and head coach George Welsh, but when Welsh retired, Groh had to make sure Hagans was still committed.

"Coach Groh was in the office at Fork Union within three days after he took the job," Hagans remembered. "He sat down and told me that a quarterback's job is to score more points than the other team. He said, 'If you can do that, you can play for me. I don't care how big or tall you are.'"

Groh told Hagans that while he preferred a prototypical NFL quarterback, that after watching Hagans play on film, that he was convinced the Hampton native could play for UVa.

"I think from that day, when Coach Groh looked me in the eyes and told me I could play quarterback and it was up to me if I wanted to switch positions, that I was sold on Virginia," Hagans said.

Since then, Hagans has compiled 4,519 yards passing (25 TDs), has rushed for 876 yards (11 TDs), caught 29 passes for 266 yards and returned 531 yards worth of punts, including yet another for a score. That's more than 6,000 all-purpose yards and 37 TDs.

When he starts Friday's game, his 26-game streak will be the longest by a UVa quarterback since 1950.

He really didn't start working in that area until his junior season, following the sterling career of record-breaking Matt Schaub. However, Hagans got his first taste of playing quarterback in his first college game.

That's when the Cavaliers hosted Colorado State in the season opener his freshman season and he was inserted into the game as a change-of-pace QB who could create havoc with his running skills. Often compared to former Georgia Tech star Joey Hamilton, Hagans has provided lots of thrills with his improvisational scrambling.

He gave Colorado State plenty of headaches until the bitter end when he had one last play remaining and lost the ball as the Cavs fell short, 35-29.

"I didn't know what to expect when [former UVa offensive coordinator] coach [Bill] Musgrave said he was going to give me the opportunity to play in that game," Hagans said. "I didn't understand the level of college football until I got out there. You can prepare all summer, but when you get on the field it's a whole different story. Everybody is moving so much faster."

His emotion and energy was running so high in that game, the odds were stacked against a freshman winning the contest on the final play.

"I tried to make up something, but it didn't work. To lose the ball and the game was tough," Hagans said. "If I could get maybe that one play back, I think the whole season might have gone a little differently."

Still, UVa went 9-5, tied for second in the ACC and won the inaugural Continental Tire Bowl over West Virginia, with Hagans starring mostly as a receiver and return specialist.

So, this week, his last as a collegian, Hagans has reflected a lot on how far he has come. He's loved every minute of the experience other than the losses. He said he wants to be a high school football coach one of these days, then maybe work his way up the ranks.

And, as far as his nickname of "Biscuit," a closely guarded secret, well, it may stay that way.

"Everybody's been wanting to know for so long that the story might not live up to the secrecy," Hagans chuckled. "If I tell, I might get booed. People might say, 'You mean you held out five years for this?' I might keep it to myself and let it go as an unsolved mystery. I might just make up a story that would be better than the real story."

But for now, he's hoping this is a weekend of celebration. He will spend his birthday in football practice, a team meeting, team meal and curfew. That celebration will be postponed until possibly Friday night, if the Cavs win.

If UVa loses, he will definitely not celebrate. Probably wouldn't feel much like celebrating on New Year's Eve either. That's just the way he's built. He'll just kind of fade out.

"It's hard to walk away from UVa football, but it's time for me to move on," Hagans said. "After this game, I will begin a new chapter in my life."

He's hoping the current chapter ends with a win.

 

Cav men take on UMBC tonight in Richmond
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
December 28, 2005

When he's not working on the blueprint to return the University of Virginia to basketball prominence, Dave Leitao is an NFL fan. In his first year as coach, it's been pretty obvious.
Leitao frequently uses football analogies when talking about his team. Recently, he compared the Cavaliers' rebuilding plight to that of the Dallas Cowboys.

Following UVa's impressive 98-59 win over Loyola (Md.) on Friday night at University Hall, Leitao once again spewed NFL rhetoric.

Leitao, whose favorite team is the New York Giants, was trying to downplay the Cavaliers' best offensive performance of the season.

"I learned from Walter Payton a long time ago that he tried, over the course of his career, to play the perfect game," Leitao said. "I said, 'Why don't we try that?' You may not ever get there, but you don't stop trying."

Chances are the Cavs (4-4) won't need to unveil a Mozart-like masterpiece tonight when they play the University of Maryland Baltimore County at the Siegel Center in Richmond.

UMBC (4-6), from the American East Conference, just returned from an ugly West Coast trip where it dropped games to San Diego State (by 13 points) and Long Beach (11 points).

In the loss to SDSU - a school not known for its stifling defense - UMBC shot just 8 of 29 in the first half. Against Long Beach, the Retrievers led by as many as seven in the second half, but went cold - and on a turnover binge - down the stretch.

UMBC gave up 12 3-pointers to Long Beach - a stat that should be pleasing to the Cavs, who are coming off a season-high 13 3-pointers against Loyola.

For the season, the Retrievers are allowing opponents to shoot over 46 percent from the field, while shooting 41 percent themselves - including an anemic 25 percent from 3-point range.

The Cavs last visit to the Siegel Center came last season when they defeated Auburn, 89-87.

"It was a great crowd that came out last year to the game," said Cavs junior guard J.R. Reynolds, speaking after the win over Loyola. "I'm expecting the same thing. I'm looking forward to playing in Richmond. It's just like we're at home."

Reynolds and Adrian Joseph will be looking to build on season-best performances in which they scored 25 and 24, respectively.

Cavs point guard Sean Singletary hopes to get back in the scoring groove. He was held to a season low four points against the Greyhounds.

The Retrievers are led by senior forward John Zito, who is averaging 15.9 points this season. The other UMBC players the Cavs have to watch are senior swingman Jerrell Dinkins [the team's second-leading scorer at 12.7] and junior guard Chris Pugh, who scored a career-high 19 points against Long Beach.

Reynolds said the team will build on the win over Loyola in which they scored a season-high 98 points.

"It gives us confidence and motivation," he said. "We played well and shared the ball with each other."

Reynolds sounded as if the team's three-game losing streak was a distant memory.

"We're going to be fine," he said. "As long as we keep practicing like we did [last] week, things will go well for us."

 

UVa hires Diaco
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
December 28, 2005

No one can say that there isn't a rhyme to Al Groh's reason. Well, at least not with his most recent hiring.
After losing a Rocco, he simply hired a Diaco.

On Tuesday, with his team just four days away from playing in the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl against Minnesota (7-4), Groh named Bob Diaco as the team's linebackers and special teams coach.

Diaco (pronounced DEE-occo) comes to Virginia after spending the 2005 season as co-defensive coordinator at Central Michigan. He is not expected to coach the Cavaliers (6-5) in Friday's game.

For the year, Central Michigan went 6-5 overall and 5-3 in the Mid-American Conference. Diaco's defense was ranked 74th in the country in total defense and 22nd in rushing defense.

In 2004, Diaco was the special teams and linebackers coach at Western Michigan, where he worked under coach Gary Darnell, a close friend of Groh's.

During his time at WMU, the Broncos ranked in the top three in punting, punt returns and kickoff returns in the MAC.

Diaco's history proves he knows a little something about linebackers.

In college, Diaco was a two-time All-Big Ten selection at Iowa and was a semifinalist for the Butkus Award, which is given to the nation's top linebacker, in 1995. He led the Big Ten in tackles in 1994 and 1995 and wrapped up his career as the seventh-leading tackler in program history.

Diaco, a native of Cedar Grove, N.J., and his wife, Julia, have three children (Angelo, Josephine and Michael).

Attempts to reach Diaco were unsuccessful.

With the announced hiring, Groh is left with only three vacancies.

Former offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Ron Prince left to become the head coach at Kansas State. Defensive coordinator Al Golden took over Temple's program and promptly took Mark D'Onofrio with him as the Owls' defensive coordinator. Rocco left UVa to take over Liberty.

PRACTICE PROBLEMS: Rain forced Minnesota to move from its original practice field (Goodpasture High) to the Baptist Sports Park, the indoor facility used by the Tennessee Titans.

The Golden Gophers will likely have to do the same today when they practice at 2 p.m.

Virginia will hold its third bowl practice today at Vanderbilt.

RIBBING IT: On Tuesday night, players from Virginia and Minnesota participated in a rib-eating contest at the "official welcome party" at the Wildhorse Saloon.

Virginia's quartet of Nate Lyles, Brad Butler, Brian Barthelmes and Ian Yates-Cunningham pulled out a squeaker, eating 45 ribs in two minutes. That was one more than Minnesota.

The group was given a life-size trophy.

Virginia did not fair as well - they lost 10-6 - in a trivia contest modeled after the Newlywed Game. Virginia's teams of two included Brennan Schmidt and Chris Long and kicking sensations Connor Hughes and Kurt Smith.
 

Appleby ready for bigger role
Brooks is out, U.Va. is counting on strong game from freshman
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 28, 2005

Minnesota's coaching staff need not worry about Virginia's No. 34. Cavaliers coach Al Groh said last week that Ahmad Brooks had been scratched from the Music City Bowl because of a back injury, and the immensely gifted inside linebacker isn't with the team in Nashville, Tenn.

Brooks was a Butkus Award finalist as a sophomore in 2004. His replacement - No. 58 - has nothing comparable on his résumé. Antonio Appleby, is a true freshman who started one game during the regular season.

You think Minnesota might try to pick on No. 58?

"There's a very high possibility of that happening," Appleby acknowledged in a phone call from Nashville yesterday, "but I think I'm to the point now where I have confidence in my ability. If you make a mistake, you just keep playing."

At 6-4, 250 pounds, Appleby has the size to handle the physical demands placed on inside linebackers in Virginia's 3-4 defense. His talent is evident. What he lacks is significant experience.

Appleby didn't play from scrimmage until the third game of the season. His reps increased as the fall went on, and when back problems kept Brooks out of the regular-season finale at Miami, Appleby got the start. He responded with a career-best six tackles in Virginia's 25-17 loss at the Orange Bowl, raising his season's total to 17.

"I think we found an inside linebacker," Cavaliers coach Al Groh said afterward.

If Appleby had doubts about his ability to play as a true freshman in Division I-A, that performance erased them.

"If you can compete with Miami, you can basically compete with anyone in the country," he said.

A graduate of Virginia Beach's Salem High, Appleby also had scholarship offers from Virginia Tech, Syracuse, North Carolina, Maryland, and West Virginia. He arrived at U.Va. planning to play on special teams this season.

"I came in expecting to have a role," Appleby said, "but not as significant as I have."

He'll start Friday alongside inside linebacker Kai Parham, a first-team all-ACC pick. Parham has completed work on his bachelor's degree and, like Brooks, may pass up his final season of college eligiblity to enter the NFL draft.

"I think I've already taken a lot of steps toward getting ready for next year," Appleby said. "I feel if Kai or Ahmad or both leave, I'll be ready."

 

MUSIC CITY BOWL NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Dec 28, 2005

POPULAR CANDIDATE: Mike London may be offered the chance to return to Virginia as defensive coordinator. London, who spent four seasons as defensive-line coach under Al Groh at U.Va., is finishing his first year with the NFL's Texans. He coaches the Texans' defensive linemen, but changes appear imminent in Houston, and he could be out of a job after this season.

Kwakou Robinson wouldn't be around to play for London, but the senior nose tackle would be thrilled to see his former position coach return.

"I love Coach London. He's a great guy," Robinson told reporters last week. "He's gotten me through a lot of things. I couldn't say enough about him. Y'all would run out of tape if I told you everything."

Sophomore defensive end Chris Long echoed those comments.

"Obviously I was only able to play under him for one year," Long said, "but we still talked all year this year, without the guarantee that he was coming back or even the prospect that he was coming back, so it's a good relationship."

Groh filled one opening yesterday, hiring Central Michigan assistant Bob Diaco as linebackers and special teams coach. Diaco was the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at CMU.

Groh has three more spots to fill on his staff, including both coordinator positions. Possibilities for the offensive job include Brian White, running backs coach and co-offensive coordinator at Wisconsin.

White was a candidate for the Temple head job that this month went to Al Golden, Groh's defensive coordinator from 2001 to '05. Bret Bielema will succeed Barry Alvarez as Wisconsin's coach after this season, and White is among the assistants who will not be retained.

Groh has long admired Alvarez and, in fact, has taken the U.Va. staff to Madison, Wis., to study the Badgers' system.

Of his timetable for hiring new assistants, Groh said, "There's no sense putting it off, but I also want to be very thorough in this process. There are quite a few very intriguing names on the list, and I feel very positive about how this thing is going to be end up being put together."

HEAVY LOAD TO BEAR: Kansas State's new head coach, Ron Prince, served as offensive coordinator and offensive-line coach at U.Va. Groh may split the jobs when he puts together his next staff.

An experienced line coach might also be handle the play-calling and oversight of the offense, but "it's a pretty big burden, that's for sure," Groh said. "That's one of the reasons you don't see it too much, or if you do it's usually with a fellow who's got a good sidekick helping him out."

DYNAMIC DUO: The Music City Bowl is Friday in Nashville, Tenn., and junior Laurence Maroney isn't the only Minnesota tailback about whom Virginia's defense must worry.

Maroney, who made The Associated Press' All-America third team, is the first player in school history to rush for at least 1,000 yards in three consecutive seasons. His backup, sophomore Gary Russell, has scored 19 touchdowns this season, a school record. His 18 rushing TDs also are a single-season record at Minnesota.

HIGH PRAISE: During his stellar career for Virginia, fifth-year senior Marques Hagans has played wide receiver, returned punts and started at quarterback.

Asked about Hagans' legacy at U.Va., Groh said, "I can't speak of that as it compares to other players here, but I can respond to it in terms of my perception of him. He's played for his team at whatever position that he's played with as much heart and as much unselfishness as any player possibly could."

HOOP IT UP? Hagans was an outstanding point guard at Hampton High and still plays basketball regularly. The Virginia hoops team is down to eight scholarship players. Would Hagans consider approaching Dave Leitao about joining the team?

"I love basketball," Hagans said, "but I think my basketball days are up [as far as] playing for an organized team."

With the departure of 6-8 Donte Minter, Leitao has only three post players on his roster. "He needs somebody like Vince," Hagans said.

That would be defensive end Vince Redd. The 6-6, 280-pound redshirt sophomore joined the basketball team, then coached by Pete Gillen, as a walk-on during the 2003-04 season and played in one game.

Redd planned on playing basketball again this season. But his first-semester grades weren't good, Redd said last week, and he decided he'd better concentrate on his schoolwork.

According to Hagans, the top five hoops players on the football team are himself, Redd, tailback Wali Lundy, wideout Fontel Mines and offensive guard Branden Albert.

WELCOME BACK: Ron Darden's football career was thought to be over when severe headaches forced him to leave the team late in the regular season. But he rejoined the Cavaliers this month, and his teammates are delighted.

"I talked to Ron and he was just like, 'I wanted to finish what I started,'" Robinson said. "At first I was worried because I didn't know how [serious] his condition was, but once he said that he was fine and that he was looking forward to coming back, I was happy for him." - Jeff White

 

U.Va. hopes for more good times at Siegel
Long-distance 'home' game next challenge for growing Cavaliers
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 28, 2005

Back in town for a return engagement is the University of Virginia men's basketball team.

U.Va. beat the Richmond Spiders at the Robins Center last month. The Cavaliers were the visitors that night. They'll be the home team tonight in Virginia Commonwealth University's arena.

Virginia (4-4) meets Maryland-Baltimore County (4-6) at the Siegel Center. University Hall wasn't an option for this game, Athletic Director Craig Littlepage said, because the Virginia women's basketball team has a tournament there today and tomorrow. So U.Va. chose to play the game in Richmond, where it has a large and active alumni base.

The Cavaliers' veterans have good memories of the Siegel Center. A year ago, U.Va. edged Auburn there 89-87 before 7,237 raucous fans.

"It was a great crowd last year that came out to the game, so I'm expecting the same thing," junior guard J.R. Reynolds said Friday night after Virginia whipped Loyola (Md.) 98-59 at U-Hall. "I'm looking forward to playing in Richmond. It's just like we're at home."

U.Va.'s coach last season was Pete Gillen, who stepped down under pressure in March. A month later, Virginia turned over its program to Dave Leitao, who said the "schedule was complete when I got here."

U-Hall or the Siegel Center, either is fine with Leitao. His attitude, he said, is "you give me the schedule, we're going to play it."

If Leitao's team plays as well tonight in Richmond as it did Friday in Charlottesville, he'll be delighted. On a night when star point guard Sean Singletary struggled offensively, his teammates sparkled, especially Reynolds (25 points), sophomore swingman Adrian Joseph (career-high 24 points) and 6-10 junior Jason Cain (15 points, career-best 16 rebounds).

"This game showed that we can all help," Cain said.

For Cain, the double-double against Loyola was his third in the past four games. His off game came Dec. 17 in an 80-69 loss at then-No. 10 Gonzaga. Cain had four points and seven rebounds against the Zags.

Leitao wants more consistency from Cain and so has declined to gush about his progress. Still, the Cavaliers' coach said Friday night, for Cain to collect 15 points and 16 rebounds "and to play defensively pretty well today, with a minimum amount of mistakes, is very pleasing to me, obviously."

Ryan's song inspires
Virginia walk-on safety Ryan Best has beaten cancer, all while earning his keep and the respect of his teammates.
Doug Doughty
The Roanoke Times

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Ryan Best was a conversation piece when all he had done was give up a soccer scholarship in hopes of making Virginia's football team as a walk-on.

People were writing about Best even before he moved from tailback to safety and landed a regular job on the Cavaliers' third-down nickel package.

All of that seemed so trivial, however, when it was revealed in October that Best's bid to make the football team had coincided with his fight against Hodgkin's Disease, a form of cancer.

"The doctors made it a lot easier on me," said Best, who began chemotherapy last winter after a lump underneath one of his ears was found to be malignant. "They told me it was treatable and that a lot of people get through it.

"Me, I'm always looking for the best in things anyway. It never really struck me that what I was doing was courageous."

Best was not aware he been nominated for the Brian Piccolo Award until being notified by coach Al Groh that he was this year's recipient.

"At first, I didn't know what it was," said Best, a third-year sophomore from Williamstown, N.J. "Coach Groh kind of caught me by surprise. He came up to me at study hall and said, 'Congratulations.'

"I sort of looked at him funny and said, 'For what?' He said, 'You don't know what for?' Even when he told me I had won the Piccolo Award, I still wasn't sure what it was."

Piccolo, who led the nation in rushing and scoring as a Wake Forest senior in 1964, played professionally for the Chicago Bears before cancer ended his career and eventually took his life.

In 1972, the ACC commissioned an award that has been handed out annually to the league's most courageous player.

Piccolo's career was immortalized in the 1971 movie, "Brian's Song," starring James Caan as Piccolo and Billy Dee Williams as Gale Sayers, Piccolo's fellow running back and a future hall of famer.

"I saw it a long time ago, when I was younger," Best said. "My parents sent me articles about it. They looked it up on the Internet. Coach [Anthony] Poindexter told me that he won it when he played."

Best originally joined the UVa football team last fall as a running back, the position coached by Poindexter, who was an All-America safety during the mid- to late-1990s.

Poindexter sustained a catastrophic knee injury in 1998 that ended his Virginia career and arguably shortened his professional career. Other Piccolo Award winners from UVa have been quarterback Scott Gardner in 1975, offensive guard Chris Harrison in 1994 and center Kevin Bailey in 2003.

Best recently underwent a test that showed him to be cancer-free and he is on a schedule that has him tested every three months. Treatments ended at the start of training camp.

Before that, he had gone through spring practice and summer conditioning workouts with few concessions to his cancer treatments.

Best's "great resolve" is the first thing that comes to Groh's mind.

"It's certainly something the team has observed, too," Groh said. "He's brought that to the team as much as any skills. He's been [an inspiration] to me and to the other kids as well. They root very hard for him."

Best never got on the field last season and did not play in UVa's opening game Sept. 3 against Western Michigan, but that had more to do with unfamiliarity with his new position than a lack of physical preparedness. He has played in each of UVa's 10 subsequent games, for a total of 193 plays.

Best (5-foot-11, 208 pounds) actually has played linebacker in the 4-2-5 defense that UVa employs in passing situations, but he practices at safety and will be the first man off the bench in the Music City Bowl if anything happens to starters Jamaal Jackson and Byron Glaspy.

The starters for most of the season, Tony Franklin and Nate Lyles, will not be in uniform. Lyles sustained a spinal injury in Week 9 and Franklin has been grounded by a misdemeanor charge for marijuana possession.

Glaspy, a walk-on, was hailed by Groh this week for his knowledge of the defensive calls. Best wants it known that he knows his stuff.

"The first couple of months, I really didn't know what was going on," he said. "There are still things that I need to improve on, but I'm probably about 85 percent more comfortable than when I first came over to defense."

Best, who in 2003 started eight games in goal for the UVa men's soccer team, has been paying his way since joining the football team prior to the 2004 season. That situation could be addressed prior to next season.

"It was kind of intriguing," said Groh, initially approached by Best in the football weight room. "I wanted him to make sure that he knew he was giving up was a full grant-in-aid to go to college -- with no promises.

"He said that he had thought that through very clearly and while he had had some success in soccer, his heart was always as a football player. It was more important for him to do what his heart felt than what the financial repercussions might be."

 

Safety net
Virginia coach Al Groh has a generous buyout provision written into his contract, should he be fired for on-field failures.
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
December 28, 2005

Virginia football coach Al Groh will receive a $25,000 bonus for leading the Cavaliers to Friday's Music City Bowl. U.Va. also gives Groh two late-model courtesy cars. And pays his membership dues at an athletic or country club of his choice.

These are all perks of Groh's new contract. He finalized the deal in August, and it could keep him as the Cavs' coach through the 2013 season.

But the contract's most noteworthy term - and perhaps this season's most significant long-term development for the U.Va. football program - is the amount of money Groh would make if he lost too many games and was fired. In short, Virginia would owe him the balance of his contract if it fired him for failing to achieve his primary goal as a coach: winning.

Groh's contract paid him $1.7 million this season. That's his annual base compensation. With a 5-percent annual cost-of-living raise, he's guaranteed to crack the $2-million-per-year mark in 2009.

A copy of Groh's contract was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Virginia previously refused to disclose full contracts of other coaches, including former men's basketball coach Pete Gillen. U.Va. only released summaries of those contracts. Left out of the summaries was how much money U.Va. owed a coach if it fired him.

In the legal language of Groh's contract, Virginia could fire the coach for two reasons: "for cause" and "without cause."

"For cause" covers, among other things, major NCAA rules violations and misconduct that would bring "disrespect, contempt or ridicule" upon U.Va. (See football coach Mike Price, whom Alabama fired after his drunken night at a strip club.)

"Without cause" covers reasons not listed in the "for cause" section. Losing is one of those reasons, though it is what most often causes coaches' professional demises.

If U.Va. fired Groh for losing, it would owe him his annual base compensation at the time he was dismissed, multiplied by the number of years left on the contract. Essentially, Virginia would pay Groh just as much money to not coach the Cavs as it would have if he coached them.

Groh's contract runs through Dec. 31, 2010. But there's an option to add one year after the '06, '07 and '08 seasons. That means Groh could coach through 2013. If U.Va. is dissatisfied with Groh, it doesn't have to tack on the extra year after any of those seasons.

Say Virginia fired Groh after the 2008 season. He's scheduled to make $1.97 million that year. The school would owe him $1.97 million for at least 2009 and 2010. If Virginia decided to give Groh an extra year after the '06 and '07 seasons, it would owe him $1.97 million for 2009 through 2012 - about $7.88 million total.

The worst-case (and most unlikely) scenario for U.Va.: The school tacks on the extra year after '06, '07 and '08, then fires Groh after the '09 season, when he's scheduled to make $2.07 million. U.Va. would owe Groh $2.07 million for 2010 through 2013 - about $8.28 million total.

Technically, U.Va. could give Groh an extra year after the '06, '07 and '08 seasons, then fire him in early '09. In that case, Virginia would owe him his '09 salary ($2.07 million) for 2009 through 2013 - about $10.35 million total. But it seems almost impossible that Virginia would give Groh an extra year after '08 if it was considering firing him soon thereafter for on-field failures.

Groh's arrangement resembles the reported terms of Gillen's contract. Gillen signed a 10-year extension before the 2001-2002 season that paid him about $900,000 a year. Virginia reportedly was on the brink of firing him after the 2003-04 season. If it had, the school would've owed him the contract's balance: about $6.3 million.

But Gillen and U.Va. restructured the contract. And one year later, when Gillen quit under pressure, he received a buyout of about $2 million. Under Gillen's original contract, U.Va. would've owed him about $5.4 million.

U.Va. athletic director Craig Littlepage said he won't comment on Groh's buyout because he doesn't want to start speculation that he's thinking about firing the coach. Groh, 61, indicated after signing the contract that he expects this to be his final coaching job. He'd be 69 at the beginning of the 2013 season.

If Groh resigns, U.Va. owes him nothing. If he quits and takes another coaching job within the next year, he owes U.Va. $300,000 for each year left on his contract.