White: Desperate Comeback Falls Short
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 11/30/2009
By Jeff White

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- With 4 minutes left, UVa trailed Penn State by 12 points in their Big Ten/ACC Challenge men's basketball game at John Paul Jones Arena.
If first-year coach Tony Bennett hadn't given up all hope, he was at least realistic.
"We needed every break to go our way," Bennett said later.
The Wahoos didn't get every break -- veteran ACC official Karl Hess made sure of that in the final minute -- but they nearly completed a miraculous comeback anyway before 8,898 fans Monday night.
Sophomore guard Sammy Zeglinski pulled up about 23 feet from the basket as the clock hit :01. He was worried that the Nittany Lions would foul him before he could get his shot off -- Virginia trailed by three -- so he leaned forward before letting the ball go.
"I probably should have gone straight up with my shot," Zeglinski said. "It was just one of those things. It just didn't go down."
And so the Cavaliers lost 69-66 in a game they led by six at halftime. Blame their defensive lapses, a familiar story as this season unfolds.
In the first half Monday night, UVa (4-3) held Penn State to 34.6-percent accuracy from the floor. After intermission, the Nittany Lions (5-2) shot 53.8 percent. During one stretch, they scored on nine straight possessions.
"I thought we were such a good team defensive unit in the first half," Bennett said. "And then in that stretch to start the second half, they got to the rim, they got transition baskets, they did the things that we work on every day in practice that are going to make you lose."
At halftime, Virginia led 27-21, but its margin could have -- and should have, Bennett said -- been greater. In the other locker room, Penn State's veteran coach figured his team was in solid position.
"I thought we would open the floor a little bit and score some points," Ed DeChellis said. "I didn't know we'd score 48 in the second half."
UVa has yet to beat a team from a major conference this season. Its wins have come against Longwood, Rider, Oral Roberts and Cleveland State. The Cavaliers have lost to South Florida (Big East), Stanford (Pac-10) and, now, Penn State.
"We have a small margin of error," Bennett told reporters. "You guys all see that. We've got to just keep trying to eliminate those breakdowns to give ourselves a chance."
Zeglinski missed the game's final shot, but he produced a highlight reel late, scoring all 16 of his points in the final 4:32. He made a pull-up jumper, two free throws and four 3-pointers, including an NBA-length bomb that made it 67-66 with 5.7 seconds left.
"Give the credit to him," DeChellis said. "We were trying to guard him. He just pulled from really, really deep, way behind the line, and made shots."
The best guard on the court, though, was a Nittany Lion, and it wasn't close. Talor Battle, who made the all-Big Ten first team as a sophomore in 2008-09, scored 28 of his game-high 32 points in the second half. He was 5 for 7 from beyond the arc in the final 19 minutes.
"He takes the game over," DeChellis said. "He's really a good player. He has not been shooting the ball well from 3, and he'll be the first to tell you. He's worked on it extremely hard, and I knew he'd have a breakout game for us, and we needed it. You need your best player to step up."
Battle set a JPJ record for points in a half. He matched the mark of 32 -- the most scored by an opposing player at JPJ -- set by Clemson's K.C. Rivers in February 2008.
"I tip my hat to him," said Zeglinski, who roomed with Battle at a Nike camp when they were in high school.
Bennett, a former NBA guard, praised Battle, too.
"You can see why he's one of the better guards in the country," Bennett said. "But they can't get to the lane as easy as they did [in the second half], and that put us in a hole that was tough.
"My goal is, hey, make a great player earn them. Make him hit tough shots, and there were too many shots in that stretch that weren't contested or were too easy."
Junior guard Mustapha Farrakhan started on Battle, but in the final minutes Bennett went with freshman Jontel Evans, probably the team's best athlete. Evans hounded Battle but was called for two fouls in the last 51 seconds.
On the second, with the score 62-59, Evans appeared to have forced Battle into a double-dribble, but Hess whistled Evans for a personal. Battle's two free frows made it a five-point game with 27.2 seconds left.
Sophomore swingman Sylven Landesberg, who'd missed four of his previous six foul shots, hit two with 24.4 seconds remaining, and Zeglinski followed suit 13 seconds later. For all their flaws, the 'Hoos battled to the end.
"Gut-wrenching loss, but they fought, they scrapped, they didn't quit," Bennett said.
"That was the one thing that -- 'encouraged' might be too strong a word -- but I was pleased that they didn't die and guys kept fighting and stepped up and made some big shots."
Walk-on forward Will Sherrill, coming off a career outing in the Cancun Challenge, didn't score against Penn State, but the 6-9 junior contributed 4 rebounds, 1 assist and characteristically heady play in his 20 minutes.
Landesberg led the Cavaliers with 18 points. Junior forward Mike Scott had 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Scott didn't hurt the Nittany Lions much, though, after a first half in which he went 6 for 6 from floor.
"I didn't know if he could do that again," DeChellis said, and he was correct. Scott missed 4 of 6 field-goal attempts in the second half.
In the end, though, defensive breakdowns, not missed shots, led to UVa's demise.
"It's a building process," Bennett said. "Until your mentality switches and there's genuine pride in your team defense and guys just learn how to outlast and be so physically and mentally tough on that defensive end, you're going to have those."
Penn State made history at UVa's expense. The Nittany Lions became the first team from their conference to record victories in three consecutive Big Ten/ACC Challenges.
 

Penn State holds off late U.Va. rally
By Michael Phillips
Published: December 1, 2009
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CHARLOTTESVILLE -- At U.Va., the quest for a complete game continues.

Coach Tony Bennett encouraged his team all week not to give up the defensive lapses that have been so costly, but there was another last night as Virginia fell 69-66 to Penn State in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.

Take away the start of the second half, and this would have been an easy victory for the Hoos.

"The first four minutes we came out not mentally focused on the defensive end, and that collapse got us in the hole," guard Mustapha Farrakhan said.

Instead the Nittany Lions took their first lead of the game, fed the ball to Talor Battle, who took over, and held off a late comeback that nearly sent the game to overtime.

With the Cavs trailing by 10 and two minutes remaining, guard Sylven Landesberg hit a 3-pointer, the Nittany Lions missed two field goals, and guard Sammy Zeglinski hit a three to make it a game.

Zeglinski had struggled from the field, missing his first six shots -- many of them ill-advised shots.

"It's a long game, and I'm not going to get discouraged," he said. "I have confidence in my shot, and I knew my team needed me to score to stay in the game."

On the other end, freshman Jontel Evans, who saw only one minute of playing time, was brought in to contain Battle, who scored 28 of his 32 points in the second half. Evans nearly forced a key turnover, but instead was whistled on a foul with minimal contact. Coach Tony Bennett got animated from the bench, saying after the game that "when you're desperate, you beg."

Still, with 5.3 seconds left, Zeglinski drove the length of the court to attempt a game-tying 3-pointer. He had to lean into his shot instead of getting a clean look, and missed at the buzzer. He buried his head in his jersey, having finished one shot away from a remarkable comeback that would have forced overtime.

"It was a gut-wrenching loss, but they fought, they scrapped, they didn't quit," Bennett said. "You've got to keep building, and you've got to say, 'Hey, that's a step forward in that area.'"

The Nittany Lions, who managed just 21 points in the first half, matched that output nine minutes into the second half.

As for Will Sherrill, the walk-on's magic didn't make it through customs on the trip back from Cancun. After scoring a career-high 18 points against Cleveland State, he was 0-for-2 in 20 minutes of playing time last night, though he did get a large ovation from the crowd when he first checked into the game.

Early in the game the Cavs returned to their 2008 form, standing around offensively and waiting for Landesberg to make a play. He delivered, though, and carried the team to an early lead.

It seemed to spark the Hoos out of their inaction when Landesberg headed to the bench for a breather with 11 minutes remaining in the first half they went on a 7-0 run to claim an early lead, not relinquishing it until Penn State's rally coming out of the halftime break.

Those few minutes proved to be the difference in an otherwise competitive showing by the Cavs.

"We have a small margin for error, you guys all see that," Bennett said. "We've got to work on eliminating those breakdowns to give us a chance."

UVa's Zeglinski barrage too late
Sammy Zeglinski scores 16 points in the final 4 1/2 minutes, but UVa falls to Penn State | Penn St. 69, UVa 66
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The Virginia-Penn State match-up in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge turned into a shootout between former Nike camp roommates.

Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, Sammy Zeglinski didn't begin his 3-point barrage until 4:32 remained at John Paul Jones Arena.

By then, Talor Battle already had hit four second-half 3-pointers en route to a 32-point night in the Nittany Lions' 69-66 victory.

Battle was a first-team All-Big Ten selection for Penn State in its NIT championship season last year, but he was largely unfamiliar to anybody but Zeglinski.

"He was explosive even then," said Zeglinski, who met Battle in Indianapolis. "As he showed tonight, he can do almost anything out there."

Battle, a 6-foot junior from Albany, N.Y., had two points in the first half as Penn State fell behind by as many as 10 points, 27-17. When Virginia failed to score on its last four possessions of the half, the Nittany Lions (5-2) were able to trim the margin to 27-21 at the break.

The teams traded baskets to start the second half; then, Penn State went on an 11-0 run that included three baskets by Battle's backcourt partner, Tim Frazier.

Virginia made only three of its first 15 shots from the field to start the second half and scored 14 points in the first 15 minutes after intermission.

Zeglinski was 0-for-6 for the game before getting a steal that he turned into a short jumper with 4:32 left. Scoreless until that point, he finished with 16 points, including 11 in the final 1:18.

After Battle made a pair of free throws with 5.7 seconds left, Penn State coach Ed DeChellis wanted the Nittany Lions to put Virginia on the line, but Zeglinski weaved his way through the defense and got off a long, off-balance 3-point attempt that bounced off the rim at the horn.

UVa had trailed 60-50 with just over 1 12 minutes remaining.

"Encouraged might be too strong a word," said first-year Virginia coach Tony Bennett, a loser for the first time at home. "I was pleased that they didn't die and guys kept fighting and stepped up and made some big shots.

"We missed some free throws that hurt us down the stretch and would have made it interesting. I didn't think it was going to get that close. That would have been a heckuva [comeback] if we had been able to send it into overtime."

The Cavaliers (4-3) were led by sophomore Sylvan Landesberg, who finished with 18 points but missed three of four free throws during a five-second span inside the final two minutes.

"I think that really stung him," Bennett said.

Landesberg entered the game as an 81.8 percent free-throw shooter for the season but also experienced difficulty at the line late in a 57-52 loss to Stanford in the Cancun (Mexico) Challenge.

"He's a sophomore," Bennett said. "You want him at the line. He's a marked man and he draws fouls. We've got to keep trying to get him looks, get him a few post touches [and] get him some action going to the lane."

Landesberg declined an invitation to speak to the media after the game.

After shooting 34.6 percent from the field (9-for-26) in the first half, the Nittany Lions jumped to 53.8 percent (14-for-26) in the second half.

Bennett blamed a lot of that on the Cavaliers' inability to make stops, but Battle also had a lot to do with it.

"He has not been shooting the ball well from three but he has been working on it extremely hard and I knew he would have a breakout game for us," said DeChellis, whose team has now won three straight games in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

Postgame Quotes
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 11/30/2009
VIRGINIA BASKETBALL
Postgame Notes
Penn State 69, Virginia 66

Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett

On managing the end of the game without timeouts:
“We were just using offensive and defensive substitutions. I felt like the first half defensively we played the way we needed to and got good looks, but that four minute stretch in the second half, it was 14 or 15 points that they scored – that’s where we really hurt ourselves. I thought we were such a good team defensive unit in the first half and then that stretch to start the second half, they got to the rim, they got transition baskets, they did the things that we worked on every day in practice that are going to get you and make you lose. I think we got a little more individual oriented defensively to start the second half and that hurt us. Our strength has to be it’s us against the ball. That kid is very good; there is no question with [Talor] Battle and you can see why he is one of the better guards in the country. They can’t get to the lane as easily as they did to start the second half and that was tough. What I told the guys after is that it was a gut-wrenching loss but they fought, they scrapped, they didn’t quit. You have to keep building and when you see something like that, you have to say that’s a step forward in that area instead of just letting it slide. I tried to encourage them with that and then I said we will watch the film and address the areas that were breakdowns.”

On previous coaching experience in this sort of situation:
“If we could have won and sent it to overtime, then I would have said no (I haven’t experienced anything like this before). I wish we could have been in that spot. We dug the hole early. Like I said, that was the one thing I was pleased with. They didn’t die, they kept fighting and some guys stepped up and made some shots. We had a couple free throws that hurt us down the stretch that would have made it interesting, but I didn’t think it was going to get that close. Things lined up and maybe that was one of the first times I had been in it quite like that.”

On the 27-7 Penn State run in the second half:
“In those stretches, your defense just can’t collapse like it did. That’s where we get hurt. Offensively, I thought we got some pretty good looks and guys weren’t making them. Certainly we want Sylven [Landesberg] to get in the lane and make some plays. A couple guys took a shot here and there. It would be nice to be able to just put the ball in a guy’s hand and get it done, but I think Sylven has the ability with his chances to get in the lane, but some of his shots weren’t dropping tonight. Guys got some looks and didn’t make them. We were trying to go inside to Mike [Scott] a lot. I don’t know if we have to develop that or share the load. When the defense slides like that, there’s too much pressure.

On the effects of missed offensive opportunities on defensive play:
“We have had some stretches like that to start the second half in games. As we say, your defense has to hold you and if you’re not making shots all game, it puts a lot of pressure on the defense, but it can’t give up that many quick buckets. It was real good early, but we have a small margin of error and we have to keep trying to eliminate those breakdowns to give ourselves a chance.

On Sylven Landesberg from the foul line:
You want him at the line – he draws fouls. He is a marked man and he’s a second-year. He just has to continue to stay aggressive and I think that really stung him. We have to keep trying to give him looks. We tried to give him a couple post touches, get him some action going to the lane. He played a heck of a game against Cleveland State; I thought he was really complete and did the right things. It just was not dropping for him tonight but that’s part of being a young player and learning how to play through that. That’s why I want him to impact the game in other areas if the shots aren’t going down. Certainly defenses are stacking the deck against him but he’s trying to get some good shots for our other guys.
________________________________________

Penn State Head Coach Ed DeChellis

On the adjustments made at the half:
There weren’t any specific adjustments. We talked about guarding them a little better because they were running around us. We were playing against them instead of them playing against us. I think our defense got a lot better which fueled our offense. We got some hands on some balls and we were able to convert those into baskets.

On Talor Battle’s play:
He’s a really good player. He has not been shooting the ball well from three but he has been working on it extremely hard and I knew he would have a breakout game for us. We needed our best player to step up in a game on the road against a good team like Virginia and Talor accepted the challenge. He was just amazing. In the second half he wanted the ball so we tried to run some plays to get him the ball so he could catch and shoot. That opened up some plays offensively. We got some easy baskets and lay ups because of his penetration.
He’s a special player. He’s very competitive, always wants to win and wants the ball in his hands. Talor can make big shots and he fuels the rest of the team. He is a very talented young guy. He has won so many games for us. There is nobody else I would rather have taking the last shot than him.

On three-point shooting in the second half:
It all started with our defense when we opened the floor up. In the first half it was like we were trying to jam everything but once we opened up the floor, we got some layups and loosened them up a bit making things run a bit more smoothly for us offensively. We were able to get some open shots and knock them down but I don’t think it was anything specific.

On the difference at the half:
I felt like we were okay at the half. It was a couple possession game. I didn’t know if Mike Scott could go six for six again in the second half. They had made some contested shots and I didn’t think they could do it again. I was just hoping to get out there and score some points – I didn’t know we would score 48. We just needed to come back out in the second half and get a quick basket or two to put some pressure on them.

On Sammy Zeglinski’s play in the final minutes:
He just made shots. They banged one in early and then he made a couple real deep ones so give the credit to him. We were trying to guard him, he just made them from really far beyond the line. He made some big baskets for them to pull them back into the game down the stretch.

On winning three Big 10-ACC Challenge games in a row:
We won Virginia Tech at home, then at Georgia Tech and now at Virginia and we’ll talk about for a couple minutes but that’s about it. We have another game on Saturday. I think that coming into this environment and winning a nice game on the road is good. We’re just happy to have the win but we’ll move on.

On Virginia’s team:
I think Tony has done a nice job. They are going to guard the line and try to wall you. We didn’t do a good job of swinging it and driving it in the first half. We really concentrated – though it didn’t look like it – on trying to reverse the ball and swing it to the other side. We didn’t do a very good job at all. I think they’re getting the guys that can score the ball and that’s good for them.
________________________________________

Virginia Sophomore Guard Sammy Zeglinski
On Virginia’s comeback in the final minutes
“We were just trying to extend the game as long as we could. We kept sending them to the foul line to see if we could claw back into the game. We got a shot it just did not go down.”

On taking something away from the loss
“We got beat the first four minutes of the second half. I like the way we fought back though. We did not give up. We tried to pull it out in the end, it just did not happen for us.”

On guarding Penn State Guard Talor Battle
“We have to tip our hats to him today. He made some really tough shots and had 28 points in the second half alone. He did a great job for them. He is very quick off of the dribble and has a great stroke too. He can beat you many ways, and he gets to the foul line. He is tough for anyone to guard.”

Virginia Junior Forward Mike Scott
On defensive improvements
“I think we are playing better defense, even though we did not show it the second half. If we keep playing like we did at the end, we will be pretty good.”

On improving his baseline shot
“I am shooting with confidence. I have always been able to shoot those shots but did not have the confidence. Now I do.”

On adapting to Coach Tony Bennett’s style
“I think we have to play hard the entire game, which we have shown in past games. The beginning of the second half we did not play good defense.”

On fighting back into the game
“I do not think any of us thought the game was over. We just wanted to come back.”

Virginia Junior Guard Mustapha Farrakhan
On the second half
“We were getting some good looks, but some of them just did not go down.”

On guarding Talor Battle
“He was doing a good job. He did a good job of finding his teammates, getting to the basket, and he just had one of those nights. It is tough but we just have to get ready for Auburn.”

On second half defense
“The first four minutes we came out not mentally focused on the defensive end. That quick lapse got us in the hole, and it took us the rest of the game to climb back out.”
________________________________________

Penn State Junior Guard Talor Battle

On the turn from the first half to the second half:
We needed baskets. After I got the lay up, I hit a three. Once I had one three, we just kept going. That’s what we’ve done all season long.

On the run in the second half:
That’s the best feeling I’ve had in a long, long time. This whole week, I’ve sat and talked to coach. That’s what I’ve said. I wasn’t really having fun. Tonight I really had fun. I get to see how much things are different. The team, they feed off me. I’m just happy to have a smile on my face. At the same time, I’m happy we won our third straight.

On short possessions in the 2nd half:
Coach made a lot of great calls. We started getting stops and rebounds, and they were scoring transitions. That’s when we were at our best level. That really helped us get going. Timmy Frazier made some great shots.

On playing with Tim Frazier:
I already love playing with the kid. We’re going to try to get him back in here as much as possible. He’s such a great defender, and at the same time, he relieves a lot of pressure off of me because he attacks baskets, as well. He continues to grow.

On making a statement after losses at Charleston Classic:
It was big. We went down there and we were disappointed with our efforts. Then we had the Sacred Heart game. We still weren’t really clicking and playing well. Then we beat a quality team on their home court. Now, we’ve got to come out ready to play Saturday.
 

White: Bennett Looking for Defensive Upgrade
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 11/30/2009
By Jeff White

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The weather here Monday afternoon is cool and rainy, another reminder to UVa men's basketball players that they're not in Mexico anymore.
After flying to Cancun for two games last week, the Cavaliers are back home. The end of the fall semester looms, but the Wahoos (4-2) have two more games before final exams begin.
The first comes Monday night at John Paul Jones Arena against Penn State (4-2) in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. ESPN2 will televise the 7 o'clock game.
Virginia is coming off two uneven defensive performances in the Mexican portion of the Cancun Challenge.
In its first game at the Moon Palace Resort, UVa held Stanford to 38.9 percent shooting from the floor, but that figure is deceiving. Late in the game, the Cardinal capitalized on a series of defensive lapses by UVa and rallied to win 57-52.
The next night, Virginia erased a 10-point second-half deficit and pulled away for a 76-55 win over Cleveland State. But the Vikings shot 65.2 percent from the floor in the first half and 55.3 percent for the game.
First-year coach Tony Bennett expects more from his team at that end.
Rugged defense, Bennett said, is "part of an identity we're trying to establish, to have some genuine pride in it.
"I just keep preaching to the guys, 'Make them earn everything. If they can hit tough shots, we can live with that. But let's not give them the ones where we just somehow break down and they're laying it in.'"
That's what happened late against Stanford, much to Bennett's chagrin.
"When it gets to that time in the game when you absolutely need to rally the troops and get a stop, we just have to be tougher-minded and not have breakdowns," he said. "We're going to have breakdowns, but we've got to shrink the number we're having."
Bennett benched junior guard Mustapha Farrakhan, who'd started the first four games, for the opening half against Stanford. ("Coach's decision," Bennett called it.) Jeff Jones replaced Farrakhan and scored a team-high 17 points in 34 minutes.
Against Cleveland State, however, Jones played only five minutes. Farrakhan matched up better defensively against the Vikings' backcourt, in Bennett's opinion, and ended up playing 33 minutes.
Jones "had a few breakdowns defensively [in Cancun]," Bennett said, "but he certainly is going to be an important part of this, and I think that whether he starts or comes off the bench, my challenge to Jeff is to just try and stay locked in and not let that affect his confidence.
"As a coach, I've always said the hardest thing is to see your kids work hard in practice and then not to be able to reward them [with playing] time ... But that's the reality of what we do."
Assane Sene was another UVa player who watched most of the Cleveland State game. On a night when Farrakhan, Sammy Zeglinski, Sylven Landesberg and Mike Scott played at least 33 minutes apiece, another Cavalier, Will Sherrill, logged a career-high 24.
Sene played only six.
'I think he's still finding himself a little bit, finding his legs," Bennett said.
Sherrill's magnificent effort against Cleveland State was another reason Sene played so little. A 6-9 walk-on from New York City, Sherrill totaled 18 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists and 1 steal -- all career highs.
"I guess I've gone really to an eight- or nine-man rotation right now," Bennett said, "but that doesn't mean it's locked in there."
Sherrill, for example, played only nine minutes against Stanford. Given the myriad ways in which Sherrill was contributing against Cleveland State, however, Bennett saw no reason to take him out.
He played Sherrill alongside Farrakhan, Zeglinski, Landesberg and Scott and "just rode them in the second half," Bennett said, "because I thought we had something going."
Sene, a 7-0 sophomore, was suspended for UVa's first three games, and he sprained an ankle during that period. He sparkled in his 2009-10 debut -- a Nov. 21 rout of Oral Roberts -- but looked out of sync in Cancun.
"He didn't finish a couple shots and was out of place on some defensive assignments," Bennett said. "Some of the other guys were doing the job. Again, that goes into the rotation. It could be Assane playing heavy minutes and someone else not as many.
"I think it's pretty fluid with our guys, but I want Assane to keep coming, because defensively, he's real active. That's what I like about Assane. He's a presence defensively. And he made a nice post move against Stanford. He just had some trouble finishing against Cleveland State.
"My hope is that as he gets more comfortable and his ankle continues to feel better, that we'll be able to see him get more established in that rotation."
Penn State lost two starters from the team won the NIT last season, but Talor Battle ranks among the best guards UVa will face this season. The 6-0 junior from Albany, N.Y., averages 18.2 points and 6.3 rebounds.
"As with any team we play, we're never in a spot where we can say, 'We can just coast in this one,'" Bennett said. "We have to be so ready to play, to handle their guard, to handle their size and to rebound, and hopefully being back home we'll play at a high level.
"I just want to keep taking steps towards better basketball. As I've said, there's stretches of it, but I don't know if we've put a complete game together, and playing against a Big Ten opponent we'll certainly need to do that."
 

Battle boosts Penn State
By Whitey Reid
Published: December 1, 2009
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There came a point, somewhere very late in Monday night’s ACC/Big 10 Challenge game between Virginia and Penn State, where UVa guard Sammy Zeglinski just seemed to say, “Enough is enough.”
Zeglinski and Virginia’s guards had been worked over by Penn State stud Talor Battle, and found themselves down by 12 with under four minutes to play.
Virginia, behind Zeglinski, mounted a furious rally, trimming the lead to three points with just five seconds left. However, a Zeglinski 3-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark and Penn State escaped with a 69-66 victory in front of a crowd of 8,898 at John Paul Jones Arena.
“What I told the guys after is, ‘Gut-wrenching loss,’” said Virginia coach Tony Bennett, “but they fought, they scrapped and they didn’t quit.
“You’ve got to just keep building and when you see something like that, you have to say that’s a step forward in that area…I tried to encourage them with that.”
Virginia (4-3), which doesn’t play again until Monday at Auburn, got 18 points from Sylven Landesberg, 17 from Mike Scott and 16 from Zeglinski (all in the second half).
Penn State (5-2) was led by Battle’s 32 points, 28 of which came after halftime, a new JPJ record.
Battle clearly showed why he was a first-team All-Big-10 selection last year. The junior from upstate New York hit from all angles and from way beyond the 3-point line. When Battle wasn’t scoring, he was creating easy baskets for his teammates.
“We have to tip our hats to him,” Zeglinski said. “He made some really tough shots…he was the reason for their win tonight.
“It was a tough guard for anybody.”
Led by Battle, Penn State shot a blistering 54 percent from the field in the second half.
“That kid is very good, there’s no question about it,” Bennett said. “You can see why he’s one of the better guards in the country.”
Virginia led by six at the half. The Wahoos major undoing came in the first few minutes after the break when Penn State exploded on a 23-7 run.
Battle, who only had four points at the half, nailed a 3-pointer from about 25 feet to put Penn State up 55-43 with 3 minutes, 46 seconds remaining.
Just as the crowd at JPJ was beginning to file out, Virginia, with the help of some missed free throws by the Nittany Lions, mounted a comeback.
Bennett did a great job of substituting his players on offense and defense.
After Battle split a pair of free throws with 9.8 seconds left for a 67-63 lead, Zeglinski banged home one of his four 3-pointers to make it a one-point spread.
Virginia fouled Battle, who made two free throws to push the lead back to three. UVa, out of timeouts, inbounded the ball to Zeglinski, who raced up the court and let off a running a 3-pointer as time expired.
“I tried to avoid getting fouled,” Zeglinski said. “I leaned forward. I probably should have went straight up on my shot. It was just one of those things. It didn’t go down.”
A key roadblock in the comeback came when Virginia, down 62-59 with 44.6 seconds to play was the victim of a questionable call. Freshman Jontel Evans, who had been inserted for his defense, was whistled for a foul on Battle.
“We needed every break to go our way,” Bennett said. “I just didn’t know if maybe Jontel had picked up a five-second [call] or a double-dribble. He was really into [Battle].
“When you’re desperate, you beg and that’s kind of what it was, but I’d have to really see the tape before I could comment on that. It was a crucial possession or two where I thought maybe we had them going our way.”
Bennett wasn’t about to blame the officiating for the loss, though. He seemed well aware of where his team lost the game.
“The first half we played defensively like we needed to,” he said. “We got good looks, but that four-minute stretch to start the second half…that’s where we really hurt ourselves.”
 

Defensive lapse costs Cavaliers
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: December 1, 2009
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For the past decade we listened to Dave Leitao and Pete Gillen bemoan the fact that Virginia’s basketball team couldn’t play winning defense.
It was a phase of basketball, actually THE phase of basketball that Virginia’s greatest coach, Terry Holland, won with for years.
The latest to take on that challenge, Tony Bennett, is still attempting to get his point across. The same point that Gillen and Leitao kept pounding into their players: winning is about playing good defense.
Perhaps the poor start the Cavaliers suffered through at the start of Monday night’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge against visiting Penn State might finally get their attention.
After holding the Nittany Lions to a mere 21 points in the first half, their fewest at the break since scoring 17 at Illinois 18 games ago, the Cavaliers lost their focus at intermission and paid dearly for the defensive lapse.
A scoring burst
In the first 12 minutes, 18 seconds of the second half, Penn State had scored more points (23) than it had in the entire first half, and had built a 10-point lead
(44-34) on the Cavaliers.
The Lions (5-2) shot 53.8 percent during the final half, much on the strength of sensational guard Talor Battle’s 32-point effort (28 in the second half) to beat Virginia 69-66. It was the Cavaliers’ first home loss in the 10-year history of the Challenge.
“The first half we played defensively the way we needed to,” Bennett said after watching his team slip to 4-3 on the season. “That four-minute stretch to start the second half, I think it was 14 or 15 points that they scored, that’s where we really hurt ourselves.”
Bennett was spot on. He watched from the sideline, urging his team to play better defense as the Lions reeled off basket after basket those first six minutes of the second half. Penn State outscored UVa 15-4 during that short span for a 36-31 lead and set the tone for the rest of the half.
Only a barrage from Bonusphere by guard Sammy Zeglinski (four, 3-pointers in the final 2:54, and a missed desperation heave at the buzzer) kept the Cavaliers hopeful until the bitter end.
The Virginia coach wasn’t happy that during that early second-half, Penn State surge that the Lions managed to get to the rim without much resistance and scored easily in transition.
Losing focus
It’s the very things that the Cavaliers work on daily in practice, the kind of things that drives coaches batty, the kind of things that made Bennett stop practice a few weeks ago and walk out of the gym, disgusted with his team’s lack of defensive focus.
“It’s us against the ball,” Bennett pointed out about his team defense.
While there was some individual defensive effort out there, the teamwork required to keep Penn State quiet offensively just wasn’t there.
Battle did much of his damage from beyond the arc, but he also drove too easily to the hoop to suit the defensive-minded Bennett. For the game, Battle hit 9 of 15 shots, 5 of 9 on 3’s.
The UVa coach didn’t think his team would manage to cut that deeply into Penn State’s lead (the Cavs scored a whopping 23 points in the final 2:54 of play) to get within a shot of sending the game into overtime.
Still, he blamed the poor defensive start in the second half for allowing a potential win slip through the Cavs’ mitts.
“In those stretches, your defense can’t just collapse like it did ... that’s where we got hurt,” Bennett said. “When the defense slides like that, it’s too much pressure.”
Particularly when a team like Virginia’s doesn’t have a lot of offensive answers to match red-hot opposing offenses basket-for-basket.
Sophomore Sylven Landesberg is clearly the go-to-guy, and others have shown flashes, but there wasn’t anyone on the floor who could consistently ring the bell to keep pace with Penn State on this particular night.
What is sounding like a recording, until Virginia’s players get Bennett’s message, nothing is likely to change inside or outside of John Paul Jones Arena.

Four Cavaliers Earn All-ACC Football Honors
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 11/30/2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - Four Virginia football players were named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) football team, announced Monday, including one first-team selection.

Defensive tackle Nate Collins was named to the first team, while cornerback Ras-I Dowling earned second-team accolades for the second straight season. Both linebacker Steve Greer and placekicker Robert Randolph earned honorable mention recognition.

Collins emerged on the scene during his senior campaign by earning ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week honors following stellar career outings against then No. 11 Georgia Tech and at Maryland. The Port Chester, N.Y., native finished the season ranked No. 5 in the ACC with 6.0 sacks. A part-time starter a season ago, Collins started all 12 games a set a career high with 16 tackles against then No. 11 Georgia Tech. Collins also snared his first career interception and returned it 32 yards for the go-ahead touchdown at Maryland, prompting an appearance on ESPN's Top 10 plays. On the season Collins finished second on the team with 77 tackles.

Dowling, a junior, earned his second straight second team nod, anchoring the ACC's No. 4 and the nation's No. 21 pass defense. The Chesapeake, Va., native finished the season ranked No. 6 in the ACC in passes defended (11) and No. 11 in interceptions (three). After recording a career-high nine tackles, including his first career sack against Indiana, Dowling earned the ACC Defensive Back of the Week nod by the league. He also averaged 3.4 tackles per game and had two tackles for loss.

Greer led the UVa and all ACC freshmen in tackles with 92. The Solon, Ohio native also ranked No. 5 among the nation's freshmen with his 92 stops, which included a career-high 14 tackles at Miami.

Randolph, a sophomore, is one of two ACC kickers listed as a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Placekicker Award. Connecting on 17-of-19 field goal attempts, the Naples, Fla., native ranked No. 2 in the ACC in field goal accuracy and No. 28 in the nation with 1.42 field goals per game.

Groh's successor faces daunting task
Posted to: Bob Molinaro Sports
Bob Molinaro
Virginian-Pilot sports columnist
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The Virginian-Pilot
© December 1, 2009

Over the course of the search for Al Groh's replacement, you might hear it said that the Virginia coaching position is a great job.

That's a matter of opinion.

Mine is that it's not such a great job.

It's a good job, all right, especially for somebody not currently coaching in a BCS conference. But it's not as good a job now as it was when Groh was hired nine years ago. I think we can all agree on that.

At any rate, can the U.Va. position really be a great job when taking it means stepping into a role of perennial No. 2 in the state?

As always is the case when a coach is fired, Groh's successor has a lot of work to do. U.Va.'s football image is as gray as the sweatshirt the departed coach wore on the sidelines.

A bright coat of paint can be applied fairly quickly. But the new coach also will need to mend fences with disillusioned fans while working to reconnect with U.Va.'s recruiting base. In-state recruiting is the program's chief issue.

With that in mind, is it too soon to speculate that the No. 1 candidate for the job is Al Golden? There's every reason to think he should be the man.

U.Va. wouldn't just be replacing one Al with another, it would be moving

toward the future with a young man (Golden is 40) who in four years at Temple has lifted a moribund program to nine victories and the brink of a bowl game.

An infusion of youthful exuberance is a must if U.Va. is to break free from its doldrums. And Golden knows the school. As a Groh assistant between 2001 and '05, he was an outstanding recruiter. Today, he's considered to be one of the best recruiters in the East.

Golden has something else going for him. If offered the U.Va. position, he'd most likely take it. Some others wouldn't.

Don't believe all the names that will get thrown against the wall when the U.Va. job is discussed. A few may reflect reality; but most will be the product of pipe dreams.

Rule of thumb: If a coach is included on the rumored short list to replace Charlie Weis at Notre Dame, he's not interested in U.Va.

Head coach at U.Va. is not the great opportunity some would have you believe. It's fraught with too many uncertainties and systemic hurdles. Sure, there are attractive elements to the job. It means coaching in a solid conference at a school that does things the right way.

But the commonwealth already has a football school. It's called Virginia Tech, and the Hokies aren't going away. The shadows they cast are long and deep, and not easily escaped.

Once Tech was admitted to the ACC, U.Va.'s one major recruiting advantage over its state rival disappeared.

We don't live in Texas, Florida or Alabama, states capable of producing more than a single big-time, headline-grabbing football team. When in-state rivals inhabit the same conference, it's that much tougher on the program that lags behind.

What keeps U.Va. from being a great job may be one of the things that marks the university as a great school - academics. Not to belabor the obvious, but when many top jocks choose schools that wink at academics, U.Va.'s reputation can work against it.

Or is that, as some insist, simply a cop-out?

Could a new coach, with a different vision, overcome the perception created during the Groh years that U.Va. is relatively tough on jocks?

Anything is possible. Any new blood creates renewed hope.

Maybe a brighter future begins by seizing on a Golden opportunity.

Whoever U.Va. hires, he won't be stepping into a great job, though with time and the right coach, it could begin to resemble one.

Virginia's coaching search begins
Richmond's Mike London and Wake Forest's Jim Grobe are popular choices to replace Al Groh at Virginia.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

Hampton High School football coach Mike Smith is pleased to report that he received a call Monday from Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage.

Technically, that's correct. But Smith called Littlepage first.

"He called me back," Smith admitted.

Smith wasn't calling to apply for Virginia's football coaching vacancy, although he declared his candidacy on one other occasion, when George Welsh stepped down in 2000.

Smith called Littlepage to voice his support for either Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe or Richmond head coach Mike London as a possible successor for Al Groh, fired Sunday after nine years as the Cavaliers' head coach.

"I was calling on behalf of the Virginia High School Coaches' Association," Smith said. "I'm the executive director. I make executive decisions, just like Al Groh."

Smith said he was sure that Grobe and London had the support of the coaches in Southwest Virginia because he had spoken to his buddy, Phil Robbins, the longtime coach at Powell Valley High School in Big Stone Gap.

London, a former Virginia assistant who took Richmond to the 2008 Division I-AA title in his first year, gets mentioned in virtually every conversation about a potential Groh successor.

Grobe is seen as a less viable candidate because of the $2 million buyout he would have to pay for breaking a 10-year contract extension he signed with Wake in 2007.

"They've got plenty of money," said Smith, aware of a $4.33 million settlement the Cavaliers made with Groh. "They could go halve-sies with him.

"There isn't anybody I know who doesn't hold Jim Grobe in the highest esteem."

Grobe played at Virginia from 1973-74 and has numerous in-state connections. He played at Ferrum when it was a two-year program and later was the head coach at Liberty High School in Bedford.

Lynchburg College professor John Walker played with Grobe at Virginia and later served as an assistant to Grobe at Liberty.

"He'd be a marvelous choice," said Walker, later a head coach at several Lynchburg-area high schools and past superintendent of Amherst County schools, "but, to what degree he has interest, I have no idea. He hasn't shared that with me."

Walker saw Grobe at the Wake Forest-North Carolina State game and later left a voice mail for him, "but he played for Coach Groh, too," Walker said. "He's not going to share with anyone a desire to go somewhere where a coach hasn't been removed."

Sonny Randle, who coached Grobe at Virginia and later hired Grobe at Marshall, said a possible hang-up would be the upcoming retirement of UVa president John Casteen. Randle, who lives in Staunton and does radio commentary, thinks that many coaches would be wary of taking over a program where the identity of the president is unknown.

"Jim Grobe would be a great, great hire for them," Randle said. "He would be the answer. I don't think there's any question about that. You can talk to anybody in the ACC. [Fellow analyst] Doc Walker said, 'Nobody in the league can touch him.' "

Randle has said on numerous occasions that he doesn't think Virginia can get Grobe, 57.

Most speculation has centered on London, 49, and 40-year-old Temple head coach Al Golden, primarily because of their UVa ties.

Both were on Groh's original UVa staff in 2001, Golden as defensive coordinator and London as recruiting coordinator. London left following the 2004 season to become the Houston Texans' defensive line coach, only to return 15 months later after the dismissal of the Texans' staff..

Golden took the Temple job following the 2005 season and has put together a 19-29 record. However, the Owls won nine games in a row this year after an 0-2 start and are bowl-eligible at 9-3.

Richmond already has advanced to the second round of the I-AA playoffs and has won 20 of its last 21 games.

Shawn Moore, the ACC player of the year for Virginia in 1990, said he would like Virginia to take a look at one of his former teammates, 41-year-old Derek Dooley, the head coach and athletic director at Louisiana Tech.

Dooley, who worked with Nick Saban at LSU and with the Miami Dolphins, took over a Louisiana Tech team that went 3-10 in 2006 and had the Bulldogs in the Independence Bowl two years later. However, Louisiana Tech has lost his last five games and is 3-8.

"That definitely would be out of the box," Moore said, "but look at [UVa men's basketball coach] Tony Bennett. That was out of left field. If I had one request, it's that they give [Dooley] a call. Just one call."

Moore would be happy with London.

"He'd be like Jim Tressel," said Moore, referring to the Ohio State coach, who previously had worked at Division I-AA Youngstown State. "To me, that would be a 10-year investment."

The advantage that London and Golden have is that they have recruited in Virginia. Regaining credibility in in-state recruiting is one of the major challenges facing UVa's new coach.

"Every year, if you look at Northern Virginia and the Tidewater area, we have some of the top kids in the country playing right here in the state," Moore said. "And if those kids aren't considering Virginia or not taking visits to Virginia, that's got to be corrected."

London not addressing speculation about U.Va. job
By John O'Connor
Published: December 1, 2009
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Mike London has two jobs this week: prepare the University of Richmond for Saturday's FCS quarterfinal vs. Appalachian State, and keep the Spiders free of distractions linked to their head coach and the University of Virginia opening.

London, 49 and UR's second-year coach, by many standards seems a qualified candidate to succeed Al Groh, who left Virginia Sunday after nine years as the Cavaliers' coach. London grew up in Hampton and is well known and well respected as a recruiter around the state after working as an assistant at UR, William and Mary, Boston College and Virginia.

London directed UR to the 2008 FCS title, and this season he guided the Spiders to a share of the Colonial Athletic Association championship. With London as coach, Richmond is 24-4. Yesterday, London emphasized that his time this week is, and will be, spent on preparation for Appalachian State, not the vacancy at U.Va.

"It's an unfortunate situation that just happened up there, and that's the reality of coaching and everything," London said. "In particular, as it relates to Appalachian State, my focus is on the game [vs.] Appalachian State, and my entire focus is on that. So, I'm not going to talk about speculations, or rumors, or anything like that. I mean, I've got a ballgame to try to prepare for and win.

"I would appreciate that any questions or any conjecture, or hypothetical scenarios and all that stuff, you could be sensitive to the fact that I'm the head coach at the University of Richmond. I'm getting ready for Appalachian State. So that's all that's on my mind right now."

London added that he will address inquiries regarding Virginia's situation in no other way and suggested that approach will indicate to his players and assistants that their concentration should be on no football topic other than preparation for Appalachian State.

"We've got a big game ahead of us," said UR quarterback Eric Ward. "[London's status] is one of things that I'm pretty sure we'll worry about once the season is over."

London has first-hand knowledge of U.Va., and not just its athletics department. London's daughter, Kristen, attended Virginia, as did London's younger brother, Paul. London worked on U.Va.'s staff as defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator from 2001-04, and after a season as a Houston Texans' assistant, returned to the Cavaliers as defensive coordinator/defensive line coach in 2006-07.

"He's a great coach. He's the first [position] coach I had here, and I feel like he did a lot for me," said Nate Collins, a senior defensive lineman on this season's U.Va. team. "I feel like I have to give him a lot of the credit for my success here. He was a great coach, a great guy, and he's doing great things over there in Richmond.

"If he does become the coach [at U.Va.], I wish him luck carrying on this Virginia legacy and getting it back to what it used to be around here."

Richard McFee, Huguenot High's coach from 1988-2007, said that London's relationship with the state's high school coaches is something Virginia needs.

"He's been highly professional in everything I've known him in," McFee said. "I think one of the problems with Virginia is, as it is right now, they don't recruit Virginia kids. I think [Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer] has done a great job in recruiting Virginia kids.

"You can't tell me that there's a 6-foot, 190-pound cornerback in Connecticut that's better than the one in the state of Virginia. Plus, the one in the state of Virginia is going to bring fans to the game. I think that's one of the shortcomings Virginia has had recently. They recruit out of state before they recruit in-state.

"[London] has a relationship with all of the coaches in the state, and I think that would help him get some of the kids that Virginia wasn't able to get in the past."

Mixed reactions from players after Groh's firing
UVa players learned of Groh's firing in a meeting with Craig Littlepage on Sunday.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

Stories coming out of Charlottesville gave two differing pictures of player reaction to the firing of nine-year football coach Al Groh.

According to one, there was a line of players waiting to meet with Groh that extended down a hallway and into the lobby of the McCue Center, UVa's football operations center.

Yet, when sports information officials tried to locate players for teleconferences with the media, it was determined that many of the players were at a World Wrestling Entertainment show at John Paul Jones Arena.

It was left to redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jared Green to speak for his teammates.

Green said the players had learned of Groh's firing Sunday at a 2 p.m. meeting with athletic director Craig Littlepage, who was accompanied by assistant football coach Anthony Poindexter.

"I think the meeting was good and was needed," said Green, the son of ex-Washington Redskins defensive back Darrell Green, who is in the NFL Hall of Fame. "It was good because we got together as a family and the players got to express their different feelings as to what was going on."

There was no mass meeting involving the players and their ex-coach and Green said he had not spoken to Groh personally. He said that most of his contact had been with his fellow wide receivers.

"What continued to come up was the fact that a coaching change can only change so much," Green said. "We have to change our culture and have to work hard. We're really excited about next season, but it starts with us."

Poindexter and recruiting coordinator Bob Price are the only assistants from the Groh staff who will be working during the transition to a new coach.

"We believe the players are the key factors in this whole situation," Green said. "We have to make sure we stay out of trouble during this period when we don't have a head figure.

"It's very important that we take care of each other and stay out of harm's way. This is the time when we're going to find out who the new leaders are on the team. We don't know who the new leaders are on the team.

"Clearly, there's going to be some voices that are going to be heard [and] some guys who are going to be kind of like shepherds to the sheep."

Green hopes that the new coach is a "personable and relatable guy," as he put it.

"I love Groh; I really appreciate what he did [in] giving me the opportunity to play in orange and blue," said Green, offered a scholarship by UVa on the eve of signing day in 2007. "I'm forever in debt to him for that, but I would really like to have a coach that has a tight relationship with his players.

"I don't want people to think coach Groh wasn't a personable guy. My relationship with coach Groh was good at the McCue Center, but that's as far as it went."

London's focus is on Appalachian State, not Virginia
By David Teel
247-4636
December 1, 2009

The first question Richmond football coach Mike London faced Monday had nothing to do with his team's upcoming national quarterfinal against Appalachian State.

Instead, a reporter on the Colonial Athletic Association's media teleconference asked London whether he is interested in the head-coaching position at the University of Virginia.

The immediacy and directness of the question seemed to surprise London, a former assistant at Virginia under Al Groh, whom the school fired Sunday.

"It's an unfortunate situation that just happened up there," London said. "It's a reality of coaching and everything. … My focus is on the game (against) Appalachian State. My entire focus is on that.

"So I'm not going to talk speculations or rumors or anything like that. I've got a ballgame to try to prepare for and win. I'd appreciate that any questions or hypothetical scenarios and all that stuff be sensitive to the fact that I'm the head coach of the University of Richmond, and I'm getting ready for Appalachian State."

A graduate of UR and Bethel High, London guided the Spiders to the championship subdivision national title in 2008, his first as a head coach. Richmond (11-1) defeated Elon in last week's opening playoff round and plays host to Appalachian State (10-2) at 7 p.m. Saturday.

London vowed that questions about Virginia would not distract his team.

"My focus is going to be addressing … Appalachian State and what we need to do to beat them," he said. "The players' focus, the coaches' focus and our energies and efforts, that's what we're thinking about, and I'll make sure that happens because I'm the one answering the questions."

London, 24-4 at Richmond, joined Groh's first Virginia staff in 2001 as defensive line coach. He added recruiting coordinator to his title in 2002 and remained in Charlottesville through the 2004 season.

After serving as the Houston Texans' defensive line coach in 2005, London returned to Virginia as defensive coordinator.

Virginia needs to ante up - David Teel

Virginia's search for a head football coach will hinge, in part, on the university's willingness/ability to increase its comparatively low pay for assistant coaches.

Of the eight public ACC institutions that provided information to USA Today -- privates Miami, Boston College, Duke and Wake Forest did not -- Virginia ranked last in staff compensation for this season at $1.55 million. Offensive coordinator Gregg Brandon was the top-salaried assistant at $275,000.

Florida State's staff was the ACC's highest-paid at $2.46 million, followed by Virginia Tech's $2.04 million. Defensive coordinator Bud Foster was the Hokies' top-salaried assistant at $402,000.

The $490,000 disparity between Tech and Virginia averages to more than $54,000 per assistant coach. Don't know about you, but that strikes us as a significant gap, one the Cavaliers need to narrow.

Heck, even Air Force ($1.75 million) paid its staff more than Virginia this season.

In case you're curious, Tennessee heads the list of staff salaries at $3.3 million. Defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, father of head coach Lane Kiffin, makes $1.2 million.

Tennessee and Florida State are among 12 schools that paid assistants more than Virginia Tech. The others were Texas, LSU, Alabama, Auburn, Oklahoma, Missouri, West Virginia, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Washington.

Among ACC head coaches, Groh's $2.07 million salary this season ranked fifth behind Florida State's Bobby Bowden ($2.32 million), Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson ($2.3 million), Wake Forest's Jim Grobe ($2.17 million) and Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer ($2.14 million).

Had no idea Grobe made that much. With Virginia paying Groh $4.33 million to go away, wonder if it can afford to entice Grobe, a U.Va. alum.

Groh: Virginia most memorable coaching experience
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: November 30, 2009
Updated: November 30, 2009
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Al Groh has been around the game of football nearly his entire life.

During the peaks and valleys of his 40-plus years in the sport, Groh has pretty much seen it all, done it all, from high school to college to the NFL.

His speed dial is filled with some of the top coaches in the country, from college guys like Nick Saban and Mack Brown, to pro coaching legends Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick. While some critics may have tired of his name-dropping, those are his friends, the guys he hangs with.

Considering that Groh has coached in two Super Bowls, coached some Hall of Fame players, worked alongside Hall of Fame coaches, it was somewhat surprising that after being fired by his alma mater on Sunday, Groh said his most memorable coaching experience was being the head coach at the University of Virginia.

For nine years, he toiled to make UVa a winner in one of the most competitive sports in the land. Through 2005, it appeared he had the Cavaliers’ program on the rise, having gone to four consecutive bowl games.

Dedicated to the goal

The success only made Groh more determined to win. No one ever dedicated more hours to his goal. The man’s ability to put in seemingly endless hours should be legend.

All that work couldn’t keep Virginia near the top of the ACC. We’ve covered some of the reasons why in recent columns, but the rise of Virginia Tech certainly took its toll on the Cavaliers’ program and its shortcomings when it came to competing for the state’s top talent.

Regardless, it all came to an end early Sunday afternoon in the McCue Center, where UVa athletic director Craig Littlepage fired Groh after nine years on the job.

Reached later in the evening, Groh was cleaning out his office in the same building. He was in better spirits than this columnist expected, toiling away for the last time in his home away from home.

I couldn’t help but think about last July, when I dropped by the football office to pass something along to Groh from a fellow alum. Groh was supposed to be on vacation.

Instead, he was at his desk, studying tape of Texas Christian University, trying to find an edge that might help his team.

“This is a really good football team,” Groh said of TCU. “It’s going to be tough to beat them ... it’s going to be tough for anybody in the country to beat them.”

Groh’s words were prophetic. The man knew the challenge ahead, but went after it like one would expect.

Sunday evening, he was cleaning out his library of game plans from many of his stops along the way. Boxing up the memorabilia, the photos, the gifts from UVa fans. A big reader, Groh had an impressive collection of books covering a myriad of life philosophies.

The only discord detected in his mood concerned UVa’s decision to release news of his firing before he had the opportunity to meet with his assistant coaches, a move considered bush league in most corners of the sports world.

In a statement released by Groh earlier in the day, one

particular paragraph was most

interesting.

“My coaching philosophy and method of building teams has trust and teamwork as bedrocks,” Groh said. “We were poised to solidify our position as a top team. Instead, as that trust and collaboration deteriorated, I could see this day coming.

“We arrived with a set of principles that we have tried to remain faithful to and we leave with those principles intact.”

While certainly Groh made some mistakes along the way, and had difficulty keeping a coaching staff together, there’s a strong hint that he didn’t get the support he expected to get the job done here.

Perhaps candidates interested in succeeding Groh need to ask more questions than perhaps he did when lured to UVa by John Casteen on a snowy day back in 2001.

“I am privileged to have represented this fine University — a school from which my two sons and I have earned degrees. I hope I have represented it well,” Groh said in the statement.

By the way, just to clear things up, it wasn’t Groh’s idea to fire his son, Mike, as the team’s offensive coordinator last year. Perhaps Al Groh should have seen the writing on the wall at that point, that the end was near.

Still, he labored on, trying to right the Good Ship Wahoo. Instead, all he did was bail water.

“I feel very fortunate. I am an ordinary guy who has been lucky to have been around some extraordinary players and coaches who put me in a position to enjoy many fulfilling games and seasons — and that’s the truth. I gave everything I had to the position and to each game.”

Apparently, UVa didn’t feel the same way. After firing Groh, the rest of his staff was also fired, with the exception of Anthony Poindexter and Bob Price, a holdover from the George Welsh era. All the rest were given 48 hours to pack and get out.

Still, Groh considers himself a Wahoo.

“To all the members of the Virginia football family, I love you, and God bless you,” the coach ended his farewell statement.
 

What’s left in the cupboard?
By Jay Jenkins
Published: December 1, 2009
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Officially, a redshirt is never burned until a four-year player completes his career without taking a season off.
Redshirt seasons can, in fact, be used at any point in an athlete’s career.
That said, the decision by former Virginia coach Al Groh to play 14 true freshmen this season could throw an interesting wrinkle in the upcoming plans for his predecessor.
Will players that saw the field prematurely be benched in their second season? Will the new head coach face obvious roster-management restrictions?
Regardless of the decisions that loom for the program’s eighth coach since 1961, a far more important issue lies in what returns in 2010.
That could determine if the Virginia job is a career-killing opportunity, a gem in waiting or a quick stopgap.
Players from the most recent team, one that stumbled to a 3-9 finish, proudly said the talent was in place for a postseason run next year.
“I think there are a lot of good young guys that got their feet wet this year,” former Virginia
tailback Mikell Simpson said. “Playing during the season the way they did, because a lot of young guys played, the confidence and the experience that they got will matter.
“Hopefully, this taste [of losing] will last as they go into next year. It should make them a lot hungrier.”
Despite losing household names such as quarterback Jameel Sewell, wideout Vic Hall and defensive end Nate Collins, there were 21 underclassmen on the season-ending depth chart.
There were also 16 players on the two-deep with eligibility remaining on defense, but it remains unclear if cornerback Ras-I Dowling desires to return for his final season or head to the professional ranks.
“There is enough talent coming to back for this program to be real good,” former right tackle Will Barker said. “The offensive line has talent, the defensive line has talent and there are a lot of players that are better than people know.”
As the season started, Virginia showcased a spread-like offense that never flourished.
Given the speed that returns with wide receivers Kris Burd, Jared Green, Quintin Hunter, Tim Smith and Javanti Sparrow, that could become the desired
offense again next season.
“Don’t fool yourself, the game is changing. You can tell that a lot of teams are going to the spread offense and trying to get fast players and let them create things,” Simpson said. “With a lot of those guys that are there you see talent and speed and hopefully next year they will be able to showcase those abilities.”
The speed that Virginia returns, while missing other needed components, may be what helps land a big-name coach.
“There is a lot of talent coming back with Tim Smith and Perry Jones and others stepping up this year in practice,” Sparrow said. “Most of the freshmen should have played a bigger role than what we did this year. Overall, with the upperclassmen, the leadership is still there. We are not losing a lot of leadership. I wouldn’t say that we are not losing a lot.
“I know there are people on this team that can step up and fill those shoes.”