Hargrave's Scott expected to be force inside for UVa
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7247
December 11, 2006

Since he arrived at Virginia, coach Dave Leitao has been deprived of what you might call offensively skilled big men.

Tunji Soroye is a shot blocker.

Lars Mikalauskas and Ryan Pettinella are hustle guys.

Jason Cain shows offensive flashes, but for the most part scores the majority of his points off of put-backs - or on plays set up by Virginia’s talented guards.

Freshman Jerome Meyinsse, only 17, is a work in progress.

Then, there are former Virginia players Donte Minter and Sam Warren (insert the joke of your choice here).

Help, however, could finally be on the way.

It will be arriving next fall in the form of Mike Scott, a 6-foot-8, 210-pound forward from Chesapeake.

Scott, a postgraduate student at Hargrave Military Academy, signed with Virginia in November.

This, according to Hargrave coach Kevin Keatts, is a very good thing for Cavalier fans.

“He’s a very skilled big kid,” Keatts said. “He’s a double-double guy because he can score in the paint. He’s long and he rebounds.

“He can also step out and shoot the 3-pointer or put the ball on the floor.”

In a victory over New Hampton in the FUMA Invitational on Friday night, Scott played sparingly due to an ankle sprain. However, he was impressive in the few minutes that he was on the court, showing surprising passing skills.

“I like LeBron [James],” Scott said. “I think I can see the floor like him and make good passes.

“I need to work on my strength and putting on some weight, but I think I’ll bring a lot to the table next year.”

One of the things that swayed Scott to Virginia was the presence of strength and conditioning coach Shaun Brown, who used to work with the likes of Paul Pierce and Vince Carter in the NBA.

Scott was shown before-and-after pictures of Soroye, who was able to pack on 30 pounds of muscle in just one offseason under the tutelage of Brown.

“They showed me [the pictures] and I was kind of shocked,” Scott said. “I dropped my mouth. I said, ‘If he can do that, I can get to 230-235 easy.’”

Scott originally signed with Temple, but when longtime coach John Chaney retired, Scott elected to play a postgraduate season.

Scott’s final five college choices were Oklahoma, Wake Forest, Clemson, North Carolina State and Virginia. In the end, he picked UVa over N.C. State.

“When I went there and got on campus, I just knew that this was it,” Scott said. “I felt good in Charlottesville.

“Will Harris and Sean [Singletary] and all the guys made me feel real at home.”

Scott made his decision shortly after attending the Cavaliers’ huge upset of Arizona in the opening game at John Paul Jones Arena.

Scott said he was a little nervous when Virginia got down by 19 points in the first half.

“I was thinking, ‘Man, I hope this isn’t going to be a blowout,’ but they came back,” he said.

Ironically, Scott is a teammate of Eric Wallace, who verbally committed to Virginia last summer, then signed with Ohio State instead.

“Mike’s a special player - athletic, long,” Wallace said. “I have a hard time guarding him when we play one-on-one and three-on-three and things like that.

“He’s a versatile big man … a deadly weapon.”

This past summer, Scott took part in an AAU Tournament in Charlottesville and was one of the most eye-catching players. With a wiry build and great leaping ability, he reminds you of the Phoenix Suns’ Shawn Marion.

Scott, who played for the renowned Boo Williams AAU squad, is the only big man in Virginia’s 2007 class. He joins guards Sam Zeglinski, Mustapha Farrakhan and Jeff Jones.

Keatts became animated when he recalled a play by Scott that occurred in a scrimmage against perennial power Oak Hill Academy earlier this season.

“We ran a play and set a down-screen for him,” Keatts said. “He popped out and hit a 3 for the first basket of the game. Everyone was like, ‘Wow!’ They didn’t know he could do that.”

Scott, according to Keatts, has already had several strong all-around performances this season.

“If I’m a UVa fan, I would be very excited,” Keatts said, “because Mike Scott is going to be a very good player for the Cavaliers.”

Dunks

Wallace shot down scuttlebutt that had him decommitting from Virginia because of advice from Shaquille O’Neal. Wallace, whose mentor is the Memphis Grizzlies’ Stromile Swift, said he has met O’Neal just once in his life - when he was 6. He said Swift didn’t sway him to Ohio State, either. “It was more of a family-oriented decision,” he said. “My family, we’re very spiritually based. We pray on everything. I spoke to coaches at Virginia. I spoke to the coaches at Ohio State and many people in my circle and we were at ease. It was nothing that really swayed me against Virginia. I always liked Virginia. I used to play them on video games. I still respect their coaches and have a good relationship with them.” … UVa remains in the hunt for big man Patrick Patterson, considered one of the top prospects in the nation. Patterson has narrowed his choices down to Kentucky, Duke and Virginia. He cannot sign until the spring but could verbally commit before then.

 

U.VA. NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Dec 9, 2006

PAYING HIS RESPECTS: After the Dudley Award banquet ended Wednesday night in Richmond, University of Virginia defensive end Chris Long spent several minutes speaking with the man for whom the award is named.

Bill Dudley, who'll turn 85 this month, starred at U.Va. and in the NFL.

"If you love the game of football, which I certainly do, it's a tremendous honor to get to know somebody like that, or just to have the opportunity to meet him," Long said. "It's just been great to see him again tonight."

Long was runner-up in voting for the Dudley, presented annually to the state's top college football player. The winner was Virginia Tech linebacker Vince Hall, who like Long is a junior.

Asked about winning the award in 2007, Long said, "It would just be nice to be here . . . To be standing here in the same place [that former U.Va. star D'Brickashaw Ferguson and former Tech star Darryl Tapp] were a year ago is a tremendous honor."

After Virginia ended its season with a loss to Virginia Tech on Nov. 25, Long spoke of his eagerness to begin training immediately for 2007. But he'd played about 720 snaps during the season and so was advised to get some rest.

"You take a little time and get your mind and body away from it," Long said, "but I still can't wait to start again."

During his remarks Wednesday, Dudley recognized Long's father, Howie, who was in attendance at the Richmond Sheraton West. Dudley was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966; Howie Long, in 2000.

LONDON CALLING: In a Division I-AA football semifinal, Massachusetts played at Montana last night. UMass' top wide receiver is a son of U.Va. defensive coordinator Mike London.

Brandon London, a 6-4, 210-pound senior, was a first-team all-Atlantic 10 selection this season. Heading into last night's game, he had 42 catches for 705 yards and nine touchdowns. With 140 receptions, he ranked second all-time at UMass. London was third in career receiving yards (with 1,946) and tied for fourth in TD catches (with 15).

Not bad for a guy who wasn't heavily recruited out of high school and attended prep school for a year to raise his stock.

"I'm extremely proud, with him coming from Albemarle High School and going to Fork Union [Military Academy] and just growing up," Mike London said. "It kind of shocked and surprised me, but he filled out, and I've heard good things about his work ethic."

Mike London was a standout defensive back at the University of Richmond.

"The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree," he said with a laugh.

ACCOLADES: U.Va. defensive end Jeffrey Fitzgerald has been named to The Sporting News' Freshman All-America first team. Fitzgerald started every game this season and had 12 tackles for loss, including a team-high six sacks.

The Sporting News also recognized two of Fitzgerald's classmates: Will Barker and Jameel Sewell. Barker, who started all 12 games at right offensive tackle, was a second-team Freshman All-American, and Sewell, who started U.Va.'s final nine games at quarterback, received honorable mention.

Fitzgerald, Barker and Sewell were redshirt freshmen this season. Fitzgerald and Sewell are Hermitage High graduates.

Also, U.Va. recruit Kris Burd recently was named offensive player of the year in the Central Region. A wide receiver at Matoaca High, where he's a senior, Burd caught 46 passes for 985 yards and 10 touchdowns in 12 games.

ON THE DIAMOND: Former Chicago Cubs star Ryne Sandberg will be the guest speaker Jan. 26 in Charlottesville at a fundraiser for U.Va.'s baseball team. The fifth annual "Step Up To The Plate!" event is scheduled to run from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Memorial Gymnasium.

Tickets are $50 apiece for adults and $35 for U.Va. baseball alumni and children 12 and younger. A barbecue dinner is included in the cost. Tables and group rates also are available. For information, call (800) 542-8821 or (800) 626-8723, or stop by U.Va.'s athletic ticket office in Bryant Hall.

In addition to Sandberg's remarks, the event will include silent and live auctions of memorabilia and tickets, plus an autograph session with the U.Va. baseball team.

Sandberg was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.

IN THE CREASE: Max Pomper, who scored Virginia's first goal in men's lacrosse last season, has been granted a medical redshirt by the NCAA for 2006. Pomper still has four seasons of eligibility left, starting in 2007.

The midfielder from Long Island tore his Achilles tendon early last season and didn't play again for U.Va., which went unbeaten and won the NCAA title.

Pomper's brother Brian has decided to join him in Charlottesville. A 12th-grader at St. Anthony's High, Brian Pomper plans to enroll at U.Va. after spending the 2007-08 academic year at prep school. That's also the path Matt Kugler, a senior attackman at Robinson High, will follow. - Jeff White
 

Rodriguez case has parallels to Beamer-UNC
O’Brien lowballed at BC
Doug Doughty

When I called the Charleston Daily Mail at 11 a.m. today in search of insight about the West Virginia coaching situation, I was told that sports editor Jack “Pops” Bogaczyk was at lunch.

Twenty years I worked alongside the guy and I never knew that he ate lunch.

Maybe he just didn’t want to eat with me.

In any case, when Pops finally called back, he said he’d been up since 4 a.m., trying to track the Rich Rodriguez-to-Alabama story, and while numerous media outlets were reporting that Rodriguez had “agreed in principle” to take the ’Bama job, Bogaczyk thought Rodriguez was beginning to have second thoughts.

At 3 p.m., Bogaczyk called me for a second time and let me know that Rodriguez had met with the team, told his players that he was staying and was preparing for the Mountaineers’ first Gator Bowl practice.

“Sounds a lot like Frank Beamer and Dick Baddour to me,” Bogaczyk said.

The reference was to North Carolina’s 2000 courtship of Beamer, the Virginia Tech football coach, who had a gentleman’s agreement with the Tar Heels and Baddour, the Carolina athletic director, before changing his mind upon his return to Blacksburg.

Bogaczyk said he had spoken to media sources in Alabama who said the Crimson Tide would feel a lot more comfortable if they knew that Rodriguez were on a plane headed to Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Bogaczyk said he had written a column that was critical of Rodriguez, not so much for taking the Alabama job but for coming out on statewide radio on the eve of the West Virginia-Rutgers game and saying he would never leave Morgantown, W.Va.

Bogaczyk also mentioned possible successors, an impressive list that included LSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher, Florida associate head coach Doc Holliday, former Auburn head coach-turned commentator Terry Bowden and East Carolina head coach Skip Holtz, who has the Pirates in a bowl in his second year.

West Virginia is not the prime destination for all job-seekers, but an unusual number of name coaches have state ties, including Rodriguez and Miami Dolphins coach Nick Saban, who both are from Marion County, just south of Morgantown.

Fisher, originally from Clarksburg, W.Va., played at Salem (W.Va.) College, for Bowden and later worked under Bowden at Auburn. Holliday, from the Charleston suburb of Hurricane, W.Va., is a WVU graduate and a former 20-year Mountaineers’ assistant. Bowden also graduated from WVU, where his father, Bobby, was the head coach from 1970-75.

You could take this cradle of coaches connection one step further and add Wake Forest’s Jim Grobe, who was born in Huntington, W.Va., and lived there before going to Ferrum College, when it had a two-year program. Grobe completed his college career at Virginia.

WHEN YOU LOOK at some of the coaching hires, you can see, in many cases, it’s all about money.

Why would Tom O’Brien leave Boston College for N.C. State? At Boston College, he was making $733,000, according to USA Today. At N.C. State, predecessor Chuck Amato was making $995,000.

Given that State was willing to pay $2 million per year for basketball target Rick Barnes, who stayed at Texas, it’s not inconceivable that O’Brien could double his money at State.

That would still put him behind Frank Beamer, Al Groh, Bobby Bowden and Ralph Friedgen on the ACC pecking order.

You see where Miami elevates defensive coordinator Randy Shannon to head coach and you’ve got to wonder if money wasn’t a factor there, too. ESPN reported that Shannon will earn $1 million per year – considerably less than the $1.8 million per year that predecessor Larry Coker was getting, according to USA Today.

It was interesting to note, as of 2 p.m. Friday, there still had been no official mention of O’Brien’s hiring on the N.C. State website or his departure on the BC website, although a headline in Friday’s Boston Globe read, “BC begins preparing for life after O’Brien.”

Beat reporter Michael Vega said that O’Brien had been asked to clear out his desk and quoted trustee Greg Barber as saying, “Someone wanted him gone. … I’d have to say that BC, somewhere in the administration, someone was ambivalent about whether he stayed or whether he left. They made no effort to extend his compensation and that was supposed to come after the season. Now, it’s too late.”

If athletic director Gene DeFillipo didn’t want to lose O’Brien, you have to wonder how the Eagles feel about their two-year association with football. BC hasn’t been pleased two years in a row at bowl-selection time and now another ACC school has taken the Eagles’ coach. What a deal!

It’s the first football coach to go from one ACC job to another in successive years since Bobby Ross coached at Maryland in 1986 and took over at Georgia Tech in 1987.

FORK UNION MILITARY ACADEMY coach John Shuman thought he had seen it all before linebacker Jarrell Miller signed a form Friday morning releasing him from his 2006 letter-of-intent to North Carolina and was on the way to Connecticut for an official recruiting visit by 2:20 p.m.

North Carolina first had fought the release; then, when it became available, Miller hesitated to sign it Thursday.

Said Shuman: “I told him, ‘You can’t go back to North Carolina. We asked for the release. I doubt they’re going to take us back.’ “

So, Miller met his father halfway between Richmond and Fluvanna County and the papers were signed.

A week earlier, Shuman had indicated that Miller would go to Virginia if he received a release. Now, the situation is up in the air.

“He doesn’t want to come back here,” Shuman said. “His fear is, if he signs at Virginia, he’s going to have to come back to Fork Union.”

Miller qualified for Division I-A freshman eligibility coming out of Highland Springs High School and was in summer school at North Carolina before being asked to return home – the reason that FUMA felt it could have won an appeal to invalidate the letter-of-intent.

Now that he has a release, Miller would like to enroll at a Division I-A program in time for the spring semester but UVa frowns on mid-year enrollees.

“That’s the fear of any of our kids who sign at Virginia,” said Shuman, who has another prospect, offensive lineman Anthony Castonzo, with the same concerns. “They think that Virginia is going to force them to stay at Fork Union.

“I don’t think they understand that they can take 1-2 courses at the junior college of their choice. UVa might not let them go there for the second semester, but they’re not required to stay here.”

In any case, Shuman was excited by the flurry of activity.

“Everybody’s fired up,” Shuman said. “If we get an offer from Al Groh one week and Tom O’Brien’s on campus the next week, that’s better than hitting the lottery. [O’Brien] never wandered down here the whole time he was at BC.
 

Sampson, Ewing staged classic duel in '82
By Dick Heller
December 11, 2006

Twenty-four years ago tonight, the joint was jumpin' at Capital Centre in Landover.
That expression might not have been original, but the headline event certainly was: Virginia's Ralph Sampson vs. Georgetown's Patrick Ewing in an epic battle of college basketball 7-footers who were giants in the truest sense -- and sensation -- of the word.
And, oh yes, their teams also were playing.
How big was it? Previewing the matchup in Sports Illustrated, Curry Kirkpatrick likened it to epic roundball confrontations like Alcindor-Hayes and Russell-Chamberlain. Somehow he avoided mentioning the ongoing scrap between Good and Evil, but that imagery would have worked, too, with the graceful Sampson and the scowling Ewing filling the respective roles.
What's more, Virginia was coached by personable, smooth Terry Holland and Georgetown by hulking John Thompson Jr., whose insular, suspicious manner rubbed off on his troops and led to a negative public perception ultimately known as Hoya Paranoia. His teams went to three NCAA championship games in four years, and many fans elsewhere were delighted when the Hoyas lost two of them (to North Carolina in 1982 and whopping underdog Villanova in 1985).
The pre-Christmas clash between Sampson and Ewing on Dec. 11, 1982, was arranged by sports promoter Russ Potts, later an unsuccessful Virginia gubernatorial candidate, and a capacity throng of 19,035 crammed every cranny of Cap Centre. By agreement of the coaches, the game was played the old-fashioned way, meaning without a shot clock or 3-point baskets.
Sampson was a 7-foot-4 senior from Harrisonburg, Va., who had been the nation's most widely sought recruit four years earlier. His offensive and defensive moves were extraordinarily smooth for so big a man.
Ewing was a 7-foot sophomore from Jamaica, by way of Boston, and his arrival instantly turned Georgetown's program from promising to potent. It was no surprise, considering Ewing's limited basketball background, that he relied primarily on brute strength rather than finesse, As a freshman, he starred on a team that lost the NCAA title game heartbreakingly to Michael Jordan's Tar Heels when guard Freddy Brown made an errant pass in the final seconds.
Now the two centers were tangling head to head, and pregame speculation ran rampant. Sampson himself previewed the impending battle this way: "I won't stop him, and he won't stop me. It's who outthinks whom."
Said Ewing, undoubtedly prompted by his cautious coach, "I don't think either of us can beat the other team single-handedly."
Finally, they threw up the ball, and the evening pretty much belonged to Sampson, who accumulated 23 points, 16 rebounds and seven blocks despite a case of the flu and a swollen knee. Afterward, Ralph insisted, "I don't feel I played well," a statement few onlookers agreed with.
Ewing did not disgrace himself with 16 points, eight rebounds and five blocks, but as so often happens, individual and overall experience proved decisive. His supporting cast, which included three freshman starters, had trouble getting the ball to him in the paint, although Patrick graciously said, "I thought they did the best they could."
And, by the way, Virginia won the game 68-63.
For Ewing, the result surely helped toughen him for scraps to come. There had been reports that he was academically unfit for college, and lunkhead fans in other venues often chanted insults like "Patrick can't read!" Yet the Rev. Timothy Healy, Georgetown's president, defended the young man emphatically, saying, "Had Patrick Ewing been a Washington resident and gone through our [remedial education] program as he did in Boston -- and had he been 3 feet high -- we'd have taken him."
Father Healy, of course, was a big basketball fan.
After leaving Landover, the teams and their centers went about their basketball business. With Ewing averaging 17.7 points and 10.2 rebounds, the Hoyas put together a 22-10 season, losing to Syracuse in the Big East tournament and Memphis State in the NCAA's Midwest regional. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers finished 29-5 as Sampson averaged 19.1 points and 11.7 rebounds, losing to eventual national champion N.C. State in both the ACC and NCAA tournaments.
The following season, Georgetown avenged its loss in the 1982 finals by defeating Houston's Phi Slamma Jamma team 84-75 to win its only national title. Ewing, the first of many super Georgetown centers (Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo, Roy Hibbert), now watches his son, Patrick Jr., play for the Hoyas.
No other game in either team's season, however, created as much of a buzz as the December duel between big Patrick and bigger Ralph. Nor, come to think of it, have many showdowns since.


 

NASCAR Champ Horsing Around When Injured
By JENNA FRYER : AP Auto Racing Writer
Dec 11, 2006 : 7:10 pm ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Jimmie Johnson was "horsing around" on top of a moving golf cart when he fell off and broke his left wrist, his team told The Associated Press on Monday.

The version clarifies what happened during the celebrity tournament in Lecanto, Fla., one day after the initial account from Hendrick Motorsports implied that the Nextel Cup champion had fallen out of the cart.

Although Hendrick officials gave no details of the accident, Johnson released a statement that said he was "in" the cart when he fell out.

"I was in a golf cart and the driver took a sharp turn," Johnson said Sunday. "I wasn't holding on tight enough, landed awkwardly on the ground and heard a little pop."

That account differed from one in Monday's edition of The Citrus County (Fla.) Chronicle, which had a reporter at the Black Diamond Ranch who witnessed Johnson horsing around during the Mike Hampton Pitching In Celebrity tournament.

The newspaper said Johnson was sprawled across the top of the cart Friday as it headed toward the 16th hole when his playing partner hit a berm, throwing Johnson several feet.

Johnson was unavailable for comment Monday, but a spokeswoman for the driver confirmed he was on top of the cart when The AP asked for clarification.

"Jimmie was horsing around and was on top of the golf cart when he fell off," spokeswoman Kristine Curley said. "He wasn't trying to deceive anyone and is sorry if anyone believes he was being untruthful."

The injury, which was to his non-shifting hand, will prevent him from driving for at least four weeks. He is expected to participate in preseason testing at Daytona International Speedway next month and should be fine for the season-opening Daytona 500 in February.

Johnson will not be able to compete in the Race of Champions Nations Cup at the Stade de France in Paris next weekend. Johnson, who teamed with Jeff Gordon and Colin Edwards to win the Nations Cup in 2002, said he will still travel to Paris on Wednesday as a consultant for Team USA.

He was scheduled to team with X-Games champion Travis Pastrana in Paris. A replacement for Johnson had not been announced Monday.

"It's disappointing that I can't compete ... but I'll definitely be in Paris to cheer them on and provide any support that I can," he said.

Johnson wrapped up his first NASCAR championship last month and celebrated it Dec. 1 at the annual awards ceremony in New York City. It capped a whirlwind year for Johnson, who won the Daytona 500 and the NASCAR event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway en route to the title.

It's the second consecutive year that NASCAR's reigning champion has been injured during the offseason, and Johnson is the second driver in less than a week to get hurt.

Tony Stewart broke his wrist and bruised his ribs last January when he flipped a car during a qualifying race for the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals. Stewart's arm was placed in a cast, but he was able to compete a month later when the season opened at Daytona.

And Thursday, Greg Biffle dislocated his right shoulder when he crashed while testing tires at the reconfigured Las Vegas Motor Speedway. His car burst into flames during the wreck and he was helped to safety by fellow driver Kyle Busch.

 

O'Brien's move drips with irony, intrigue
David Teel
December 13 2006

Here's how inspired North Carolina State's football coaching hire was: Some influential folks at Virginia and Virginia Tech, programs superior to the Wolfpack, fancied Tom O'Brien as the next big whistle at their respective schools.

Well, scratch O'Brien from those what-if lists. N.C. State figures to be the final stop in a remarkably stable career that veered onto Bizarre Boulevard when the Wolfpack lured him last week from ACC rival Boston College.

O'Brien goes way back with Hampton Roads. As an assistant under George Welsh at Navy for seven years and Virginia for 16, he recruited scores of area athletes, including Terry Kirby, Chris Slade, Ray Savage and the Wallace brothers, Jason and Eric.

And now that he's back within an easy drive, bet on O'Brien mining these parts again. But that's getting ahead of our strange story.

Boston College was O'Brien's first head-coaching gig. He infused a scandal-laden program with military discipline and values, and in 10 seasons became the most successful football coach in school history.

For a private, Catholic institution such as Boston College, O'Brien was straight out of central casting: a product of Cincinnati's working class educated in a Catholic high school, drilled by the Naval Academy and steeled in the Marine Corps.

Still, something was missing.

The school could not or would not match the commitment of conference rivals, then in the Big East and now in the ACC. Salaries and facilities lagged, and fan support, long an issue in pro markets such as Boston, Miami and Atlanta, remained uneven.

After opening with a pair of 4-7 seasons, O'Brien guided the Eagles to a school-record eight consecutive winning seasons and bowl bids, all the while sustaining their sterling graduation rates. Yet his teams stumbled at critical junctures, most notably in regular-season finales against Syracuse in 2004 and Miami last month.

But N.C. State? Toss out the rarity of an intraleague move - O'Brien's is the first among Bowl Championship Series conferences since Tommy Tuberville bolted Mississippi for Auburn in 1998 - and the switch still drips with irony and intrigue.

Consider academics. N.C. State's mission bears little resemblance to Navy's, Virginia's or Boston College's.

Football? The Wolfpack hasn't cracked the ACC's top three since 1994, a primary reason the school fired coach Chuck Amato last month after a 3-9 finish in his seventh year.

Money? The move bumps O'Brien's guaranteed income from about $1 million to $1.15 million, a nice raise but hardly a windfall.

Administration? N.C. State athletic director Lee Fowler is a former basketball player and coach who bungled the school's recent search for a basketball coach. So how did Fowler strike football gold? A conversation with an O'Brien confidant and O'Brien's remarks at his introductory news conference reveal a man eager for a last challenge at age 58. Part of him felt unappreciated at Boston College, and all of him sees untapped potential in N.C. State's eye-candy facilities and rabid (delusional?) fans.

Conversely, some at Boston College resented O'Brien's flirtations with other schools, most seriously Washington following the 2004 season.

"I didn't notice a lot of tears at Boston College," said a friend and colleague of O'Brien's.

"Someone wanted him gone," school trustee Greg Barber told the Boston Globe.

Barber, who endowed Boston College's head-coaching position with a $3.5 million gift, said he worries "the football world is going to question our commitment because we let him go. It's a lot easier to keep people than go find new ones, especially when you have a good guy."

Further, imagine the irritation of Barber and other Boston College honchos with the ACC.

During the spring of 2003, conference officials begged the school to join their grandiose expansion. But when ACC presidents and chancellors met to formalize the invites, Boston College fell one vote shy, a public jilting that was as indecent as it was unexpected.

After reconsidering a year later and welcoming Boston College for 2005-06 competition, the ACC allowed its bowl partners to hose the Eagles in consecutive seasons, relegating them to lesser games - Boise, Idaho, last season and Charlotte, N.C., this year - that belied their record (another reason O'Brien was inclined to jump).

And that's not all. Before N.C. State poached O'Brien, Virginia Tech hired Boston College baseball coach Peter Hughes.

By the way, the vote that first denied Boston College ACC membership? It was cast by then-N.C. State chancellor Marye Anne Fox.
 

ACC coaches bring home the bacon
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
December 13, 2006

Scattershooting around the ACC, while wondering when sportswriters’ salaries are going to jump like college football coaches ...

According to a recent survey, at least 42 of the 119 Division I-A football coaches have total compensations of more than $1 million annually, and at least nine make more than $2 million.

When North Carolina hired Butch Davis recently, his seven-year contract will average out to about $1.86 million annually without bonuses. Former UVa assistant Tom O’Brien got a huge boost in salary when he was named N.C. State’s head coach last week, jumping from the paltry $740,000 that Boston College paid him (11th out of 12 in the ACC) to more than $1 million by the Wolfpack.

It is believed that only two ACC coaches, Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer and Florida State’s Bobby Bowden, are currently paid more than Davis, although Virginia coach Al Groh isn’t too far behind.

OB to Raleigh

We were especially pleased to see O’Brien, known around Charlottesville simply as “OB” during his days under George Welsh, get the N.C. State job.

O’Brien was never fully appreciated at Boston College, where he took the Eagles to nine straight bowl games. Other than promising to play for a national title game in due time (don’t all coaches do that these days?), he did and said all the right things at his introductory press conference last week.

“I’m organized, I have good time management skills,” O’Brien said. “Our football team will be disciplined and our football team will play extremely hard. We’ll play every snap.”

He described the N.C. State program as a “sleeping giant.”

And if nothing else, he’s already made one good decision. He said he’ll never wear a red (one of N.C. State’s color) sports jacket.

“I’ll do a lot,” he said, “but I just don’t look good in a red jacket.”

At the same time, BC is looking hard at the NFL ranks to fill O’Brien’s spot.

After interviewing Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterbacks coach Mark Whipple on Sunday, BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo is believed to have interviewed Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski, who served as BC’s offensive coordinator and offensive line coach under O’Brien in 1997-98.

BC apparently is also interested in Kevin Gilbride, quarterbacks coach for the New York Giants, and University of Richmond head coach Dave Clawson, who is connected to DeFilippo through time spent together at Villanova.

Beat goes on

Meanwhile, at UNC Davis hired one assistant coach on Tuesday.

Charlie Williams, a 22-year veteran who most recently coached the wide receivers at the University of Arizona, was added to Davis’ staff.

Williams coached the wide receivers for Davis at Miami and also coached the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ receivers for Tony Dungy from 1996 to 2001.

Davis has already fired five assistants: Danny Pearman (defensive ends), Dave Brock (recruiting coordinator and receivers coach), Frank Cignetti (offensive coordinator), John Gutekunst and Mark Weber.

Quote of the Week

Wake Forest football coach Jim Grobe, who doesn’t want to lose any of his assistant coaches but knows it’s part of the business, on what may come:

“People are crazy if they don’t look at my guys. I tell everybody - a lot of times people don’t want to listen - that it’s really not me. I’ve got a great group of assistants. So, if you’re out there and you’re not looking at these assistant coaches, you’re not very smart.”

Horns and Halos

* Horns to the rules-makers for changing the way college football was played this season. A recent NCAA survey revealed that Division I-A games lasted an average of three hours and six minutes this past

season, or 13 minutes fewer than the year before. Also, teams combined to average 13 fewer plays, 67 fewer yards, and five fewer points per game.

* Halos to Al Groh, Gene Corrigan and Bryant Stith. Groh recently invited Louisa’s football team to come and practice on Virginia’s field turf in preparation for the Lions’ state championship game against Amherst at Liberty University, which features field turf. Corrigan and Stith were both elected to the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, inductions coming next spring.

Short yardage

Whatever happened to ACC Player of the Year J.J. Redick? He’s mostly riding the pine for the Orlando Magic, having played only two games and scored six points before Monday when coach Brian Hill decided to give him a little more time due to a rash of injuries to other players on the roster. ... The ACC is ranked the No. 1 basketball conference in the country at present in terms of RPI, boasting eight of the top 35 teams in the country. ... Florida State’s boosters group, the Seminole Boosters Inc., must pay fired offensive coordinator Jeff Bowden $107,400 annually for five years beginning in August, with the money coming from concessions/Coca-Cola revenue. And all along we thought Bowden liked Pepsi. ... Meanwhile, Daddy Bowden is looking for someone to replace his son, and some have put their money on LSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher, who wanted the N.C. State job. Our spies tell us that Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster also wanted the Wolfpack head coaching job. ... The picks will make a bowl edition comeback, but for now, we finished the regular season and ACC Championship game (yes, we picked Wake) with a 73-24 record.