White: Welsh Not Ready to Write Off UVa Football
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 12/03/2009
By Jeff White

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- There are those who contend, in the wake of Al Groh's dismissal as coach at his alma mater, that UVa no longer can consistently win in football.

Their argument goes something like this: The University's stringent academic standards make such success unrealistic and tilt the playing field in favor of the ACC's 11 other schools.

George Welsh disagrees.

"I don't know why you can't have a championship program," Welsh said Thursday. "If Georgia Tech can do it, Virginia can do it, in my opinion."

Welsh, who was inducted into the College Football of Fame in 2004, was head coach at two schools that expected their athletes also to be legitimate students: Navy and UVa.

"What's changed [at Virginia]?" Welsh said. "We did all right for a while. So did Al."

The Cavaliers' football program has four full-time academic coordinators, including director Adrien Harraway.

"They have more support in the academic area than they've ever had," said Welsh, who retired after the 2000 season. "I had one woman full time and another person half time."

In nine seasons as coach at Navy, his alma mater, Welsh won a school-record 55 games. In 19 seasons at UVa, he had two losing seasons. The first was in 1982, his first year in Charlottesville; the second, in '86.

Only once in Welsh's final 14 seasons did the 'Hoos win fewer than seven games -- in 2000. And back then, it's worth remembering, a regular season typically consisted of 11 games, not 12.

"We did all right," Welsh said. "It's a question of the talent level. One of the things that helped me a lot was staff continuity. I had a lot of the same guys for many, many years, and I think that helped a lot.

"You look at Tom O'Brien, he was going down into the Tidewater area from '82 till he left in '96. And then Danny Wilmer went down there, and he'd been on my staff since '84, so a lot of those [high school] coaches knew us and knew the assistants. I think the assistants are a big deal."

Of UVa's nine assistants in 2001, only Bob Price and Ron Prince were on Groh's staff this year. And Prince had spent the 2006, '07 and '08 seasons at Kansas State.

Also, Welsh said, "I think we got some really good running backs through the years because we could sell, 'We can run the ball,' and we had good offensive linemen."

Groh went 59-53 in nine seasons at UVa. The Wahoos finished under .500 four times during his tenure, going 5-7 in 2001, 5-7 in '06, 5-7 in '08 and 3-9 this season. The three victories were UVa's fewest since 1986.

More significant, perhaps, was that a once-competitive rivalry became one-sided during the Groh era. As UVa's coach, he went 1-8 against Virginia Tech. In Tech's eight wins, its average margin of victory was 17.4 points.

During the latter part of Welsh's run at UVa, Tech belonged to the Big East. Even when the schools were in different leagues, they met annually in football, but their relationship changed in 2004.

That's when the Hokies joined the ACC, where they've continued to win big in football.

"I think it helped Virginia Tech," Welsh said. "That shouldn't have had anything to do with our success. Nothing's changed there as far as recruiting in the state. Now, maybe it's helped them recruit out of state, I don't know. They were doing pretty well, though, before they got in the ACC. They got Michael Vick and a lot of other great players.

"Frankly, I was not for bringing Virginia Tech into the ACC, but I don't think it's that big a deal anymore. If that's been a problem, we should have adjusted. I don't think it would have killed their program at all if they weren't in the ACC. They were really good in '99 and 2000."

In terms of facilities at UVa, Welsh said, "there's been a lot of money spent since I left. I think there have been a lot of improvements here."

Scott Stadium was expanded and renovated before the 2000 season.

"I think it's a beautiful stadium," Welsh said. "If you get 60-some thousand people in there, it's rocking, and that should help. And Al's done a good job improving the McCue Center and the practice fields."

Welsh occasionally lost players to academic ineligibility at UVa, and Groh dealt with that, too.

Still, Welsh said, "I don't think the academics are a problem. Hell, look at Navy. Are you kidding me? I know their schedule is a lot weaker than ours. But we had a tough schedule when I was at Navy. I was 31-14 my last four years, something like that."

The Midshipmen have won at least eight games in each of the past seven seasons.

"You talk about academics: 18 [credit hours each semester] for everybody [at Navy], and not a lot of meeting time," Welsh said.

He still remembers an exchange he had in with one of his quarterbacks at Navy. It was late September, and the player was dragging.

"I said, 'Why do you look so tired? Are you tired already?'" Welsh recalled. "He said, 'Well, I have 18 hours of class, and then I've got another hour or so of lab, and then I have one hour of military duty.' He was occupied 21 hours a week, and he still played pretty well.

"You can use it as an excuse if you want, but there's a lot of other schools [with high academic standards]. How does Stanford win? My daughter went to Stanford. She says it was very difficult."

College Notebook: Keydets eager to play Cavs in football
By Doug Doughty | The Roanoke Times

As an assistant football coach at VMI in the mid- to late-1970s, Donny White was on a Bob Thalman staff that beat Virginia three years in a row from 1976-78.

While White isn't predicting a repeat, he's pleased by the prospect of playing the Cavaliers again in 2010.

Contracts have not been signed, but there has been tentative agreement for VMI to travel to Scott Stadium for a game Sept. 25.

It will be the first game between the Keydets and Cavaliers since 1991, when Virginia defeated VMI 42-0. At the time, it was the first game between the teams in four years.

White wouldn't necessarily have pushed for a resumption, which came at the impetus of second-year Keydets' head coach Sparky Woods.

Woods served as Virginia's offensive coordinator in 1997-98 and still has ties to the UVa program through Cavaliers' director of football operations Gerry Capone.

Woods "wanted to know what I thought about it," White said. "My response was, 'That's a big thing for us to take on.' Life has changed, but it will be exciting for the kids."

White has been VMI's athletic director for 11 years and the subject of a UVa-VMI game had not come up until now. Virginia has played some of the other Football Championship Subdivision (Division I-AA) teams in the state and actually lost to one of them, William and Mary, earlier this season.

"We've kind of stayed away from the [Division I-A] teams for a while," White said. "We tried to get better. But with the economy the way it is, it's important to play those games."

USA Today reported earlier this year that Arkansas State will receive a $1 million guarantee to play at Virginia Tech in 2011. VMI won't get that much, but it's safe to say the Keydets will get somewhere in the range of $365,000 that Liberty got for playing at West Virginia this year.

VMI played at Division I-A Army this season and led the Black Knights 17-16 with under nine minutes remaining. The Keydets, who wound up losing that game 22-17, also have played Navy, Duke and Ohio in recent years.

Telling stat

Virginia quarterback Jameel Sewell was sacked more times this season (39) than UVa's all-time leading passer, Matt Schaub, was sacked in his entire college career (36).

Sewell lost a year's eligibility to academics but was still sacked 96 times in his career. In the 25 years that UVa has kept sack statistics, no other quarterback had been sacked more than 51 times.

The 41 sacks yielded by UVa this season, including two with Marc Verica at quarterback, surpassed the 35 yielded by Sewell and Co. in 2007 as a school record.

Al Golden looks to future at Temple
By Kevin Tatum
Inquirer Staff Writer

When Al Groh was fired by Virginia on Sunday, Temple football coach Al Golden's name was one of the first mentioned as a possible candidate for the position.

But while movement among coaches is a fluid situation, the 40-year-old Golden didn't sound like a guy who has his eyes on other opportunities during an interview last week.

He spent five seasons as Groh's defensive coordinator before taking over at Temple, where he guided the Owls to a memorable season this fall in his fourth year. They finished the regular season with a 9-3 record after falling at Ohio on Friday. The contest decided which team would represent the Mid-American Conference East Division in the league championship game Friday in Detroit.

On its way to reaching the team's most wins since 1979, Temple won a school single-season record of nine in a row. On Sunday, the Owls will learn their bowl destination. This year will mark their first postseason appearance in 30 years.

"I'm happy that our team is moving in the right direction, but we're not a program yet to the level we want to be," said Golden, who is 19-29 at Temple. "But we have a team that is becoming a winning team. The question is whether we can become an uncommon team. Winning championships, all those things, are before us. We want to build a program that does it year in and year out."

Temple, which had to settle for a share of the MAC East Division title after going down to Ohio, 35-17, loses only 16 seniors from this year's squad. During Golden's first two seasons, the Owls were the youngest team in the nation as they went a combined 5-19.

After a 5-7 season last fall, Golden this year is saying goodbye to his first recruiting class. All members are expected to have degrees in the spring.

"I don't care if you're GM, Home Depot, IBM, the Flyers, the Phillies, or Temple University, you fight the same battle," said Golden, who is up for a few national coach of the year awards. "You need organization clarity. You need everybody in the organization to know their roles. You need to have motivation to execute those roles. And then you have to do it on a daily basis. That's the hardest thing to do in the business model, and it's no different here. Our senior leadership has perpetuated our culture."

Golden, whose recruiting classes have received high marks within the MAC, has 18 players who are ready to sign in February. Yesterday, seven Temple assistants were on the road recruiting. Today, Golden and five others will go out to visit prospects.

The Temple team practices in the morning.

Notes. Temple running back Bernard Pierce, the Owls' leading rusher, who missed the team's last two games due to a shoulder injury, has not been ruled out of the bowl game. . . . The MAC's bowls are the Little Caesars Bowl in Detroit, the International Bowl in Toronto, and the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala. A MAC team could also wind up filling an unused slot in another bowl, such as the EagleBank Bowl in Washington, D.C. . . . Richmond coach Mike London, another former Virginia assistant, is said to be the leading candidate for the Cavaliers job.
 

Wednesday December 2, 2009
Herd AD hopes to hit home run with next hire
by Chuck McGill
Daily Mail sports writer
Advertiser

Mike Hamrick is becoming quite the multi-tasker.

During a brief chat on the phone Tuesday, the Marshall athletic director was attempting to answer my question and talk to a staff member in his office simultaneously. Before our conversation wrapped up, his office phone line started ringing and another call could be heard coming in on his cell phone.

Hamrick wasn't even 48 hours into his search to find a replacement for Mark Snyder, who resigned as the Herd football coach Sunday afternoon after five seasons, but already the first-year Herd AD needed a couple extra hands and a few more hours in a day.

Hamrick has two primary objectives at this time: Continue the vetting process so he can make a home run hire, and rattle the cages of enough donors to load the bases and turn that hire into a grand slam.

Too many curveballs make that task even more challenging, but that's what happens to Hamrick each time a Football Bowl Subdivision vacancy is created or filled.

Each hiring or firing can add and subtract from the pool of candidates.

As if he didn't have enough to do, now Hamrick has to stay abreast on the ever-changing coaching landscape.

Right now there are eight such openings: Akron, Louisville, Louisiana-Monroe, Marshall, Notre Dame, San Jose State, UNLV and Virginia.

Two other schools have already completed searches: Western Kentucky hired alumnus Willie Taggart, the running backs coach at Stanford; Memphis landed highly regarded LSU assistant Larry Porter, who starred as a running back for the Tigers in the '90s.

What unfolds at Louisville, Notre Dame and Virginia merits at least a sliver of Hamrick's attention.

The Cardinals' program is in the market for a new coach after firing Steve Kragthorpe last weekend. The Irish parted ways with Charlie Weis and the Cavs sent Al Groh packing.

Louisville and UVa could target East Carolina's Skip Holtz.

Virginia has long been rumored as a destination for Holtz, and considering the relationship between Virginia Athletic Director Craig Littlepage and ECU athletic director Terry Holland, it's not that far-fetched.

Holland was the Cavaliers' men's basketball coach from 1974-90, and Littlepage served as one of Holland's assistants for the final three years. Littlepage later worked as the associate athletic director at Virginia when Holland became the AD. Littlepage eventually succeeded Holland in Charlottesville.

Maybe Littlepage has his eye on a coach conveniently located down I-64 - Richmond's Mike London. Or maybe Littlepage and Holland are burning up their cell phone minutes trying to pull a bait-and-switch that would bring Holtz to UVa and send London to ECU.

It's all conjecture, but that scenario perhaps poses the greatest threat to Hamrick's process.

East Carolina is arguably a more attractive job than Marshall within Conference USA, and it would eliminate another one of Hamrick's potentially viable candidates.

If London is coveted by Marshall, then perhaps he would take a longer look at ECU if, say, Holtz took the Louisville gig and Virginia bypassed London.

The caveat with London is Richmond is in the midst of its FCS playoff run, a 16-team tournament that does not end until the Dec. 18 championship game.

Or maybe none of that affects the Herd if current Central Michigan Coach Butch Jones tops Hamrick's wish list. Then again, if Notre Dame taps Cincinnati Coach Brian Kelly as Weis' successor, then Cincinnati joins the fray.

The last time the Bearcats had a vacancy, they plucked Kelly from CMU.

Who will take the Louisville job? Will a school like Louisiana-Monroe or Akron snag a top-of-the-line coordinator or assistant? Are additional openings on the horizon?

It's a lot to track, but Hamrick will surely keep his eye on the ball.

Brandon: Spread needed more time at Virginia
Gregg Brandon said quarterback Jameel Sewell's injuries hampered execution of his spread offense.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

Al Groh's Virginia football team was experiencing offensive difficulties long before the arrival of Gregg Brandon.

Some might have believed that the "spread" offense installed by Brandon would work miracles, but Virginia ended up in a familiar position, outside the nation's top 100 in total offense.

An accompanying 3-9 record led to the dismissal Sunday of Groh and most of his staff, including Brandon.

"I have a proven system," said Brandon, whose version of the spread was a result of his collaboration with current Florida coach Urban Meyer.

"Obviously, we would have liked to see it work and done better with it. If I get another chance to run my system, I'm going to run it again."

Brandon, formerly the head coach at Bowling Green for six years and a Meyer assistant before that, was named UVa offensive coordinator in December 2008 and given a two-year guaranteed contract at a salary of $275,000 per year.

He thinks some of UVa's offensive problems could have been helped with more time.

"In fairness to the kids, it's just not something you can do overnight," Brandon said. "If we had that operation going for at least another year, I think we would have won some more games. Some of those games we lost, we were a score away."

"At the end of the day, we just ran out of gas and some of the other teams had more talent across the board."

Brandon said the Cavaliers' offense in the first quarter against Virginia Tech, when quarterback Jameel Sewell carried seven times for 91 yards, was close to what he had envisioned from the outset.

"His ability to run the football is key in the type of offense that I wanted to run at Virginia," Brandon said. "Early on, going back to Southern Miss and [North] Carolina, he ran the ball effectively. Against Indiana, he did the same thing.

"Then, he started to get dinged up. He got hurt at Maryland and I was reluctant to call the runs with him as frequently. He was beat up and I don't think he was healthy until last Saturday. That's the risk you take when you run your quarterback some time."

But, Sewell also "didn't have the weapons around him that would have helped him," Brandon said. "There's no guy at Virginia like the guy at Virginia Tech [Ryan Williams]. He gets the ball in his hand and you're thinking, 'Whoa!'

Vic Hall, who was Virginia's starting quarterback in the opening game, said recently that he would have liked to play slot receiver for his whole career.

After moving to that spot in the fourth game, he finished with 24 receptions.

Hall also carried the ball seven times for 39 yards in a 42-13 loss to Virginia Tech, some on reverses and some on direct snaps out of the Wildcat formation.

"In fairness to him, shoot, he played quarterback all spring because we had some eligibility issues [with Sewell] and we just had to do that," Brandon said. "The kids, to their credit, they worked at [the spread]. They embraced it. They wanted to be good at it.

"They were willing soldiers."

Much has been made of the offensive changes that followed losses to William and Mary and TCU in UVa's first two games. The next week, when the Cavaliers visited Southern Mississippi, the offensive formations more closely resembled what UVa had run in 2008.

Some interpreted those changes as Groh's work. Groh served as his own defensive coordinator, but because he had a one-voice policy that kept assistants from speaking to the media, there was considerable suspicion that Groh had been interfering with the offense.

Brandon didn't find Groh to be a meddler.

"He was pretty good that way," Brandon said. "Al was the head coach and I have a great amount of respect for that position, having been one myself. I could see it from his chair. The adjustments we made before the Southern Miss game were not drastic."

Brandon did speak to the media on UVa's Meet the Team Day in August, when he acknowledged that he had not called plays during his six seasons at Bowling Green.

"It was a big-time adjustment," he said. "It's like anything else you haven't done for a while. There were things I hadn't done for six years that I had to do again, and I had to do them pretty fast."

Brandon, who turns 54 in February, doesn't know what's ahead. He'd like to be a head coach again and he'd be eager to talk to Groh's successor, although it's highly unlikely UVa would go in that direction.

"It's nice here," Brandon said. "I like it, but if [Southern Cal coach] Pete Carroll calls and wants me to coach his tight ends, I'd probably look at that."

UVa Insider, The Column - Doug Doughty | Roanoke Times

As noted in Thursday’s print edition of The Roanoke Times, no Virginia quarterback has been sacked as many times in a season (39) or as many times in a career (96) as Jameel Sewell and it’s not even close.

Here are the numbers that I had hoped to uncover prior to the Tech-UVa game but needed extra time to compile, followed by some observations on the subject:

TIMES UVA WAS SACKED

2009 – 41 in 11 games (Sewell 39, Verica 2)
2008 – 16 in 12 games (Verica 12, Lalich 3, Hall 1))
2007 – 33 in 13 games (Sewell 27, Lalich 6)
2006 – 35 in 12 games (Sewell 30, Olsen 2, McCabe 1, Byers 1, Snelling 1)
2005 – 33 in 12 games (Hagans 33)
2004 – 16 in 12 games (Hagans 15, Olsen 1)
2003 – 12 in 13 games (Schaub 9 in 403 attempts, Hagans 1, Martinez 2)
2002 – 22 in 14 games (Schaub 14 in 418 attempts)
2001 – 24 in 12 games (Schaub 11, Spinner 13)
2000 – 29 in 12 games (Ellis 19, Spinner 9, Schaub 1)
1999 – 24 in 12 games (Ellis 23, Rivers 1)
1998 – 23 in 12 games (Brooks 23)
1997 – 32 in 11 games (Brooks 22, Ellis 10)
1996 – 27 in 12 games (Sherman 21, Brooks 6)
1995 – 23 in 13 games (Groh 22, Sherman 1)
1994 – 15 in 12 games (Groh 9, Willis 5, Sherman 1)
1993 – 12 in 12 games (Willis 11, Groh 1)
1992 – 26 in 11 games (Goodman 22, Groh 1, Willis 1)
1991 – 13 in 12 games (Blundin 8, Goodman 5)
1990 – 13 in 12 games (Moore 10, Blundin 3)
1989 – 12 in 13 games (Moore 10, Blundin 2)
1988 – 20 in 11 games (Moore 19, Blundin 1)
1987 – 9 in 12 games (Moore 6, Secules 3)
1986 – 13 in 11 games (Majkowski 11, Secules 2)
1985 – 10 in 11 games (Majkowski 9, Secules 1)
1984 – No sack records before 1985

OBSERVATIONS

1. The most telling statistic, as mentioned in Thursday’s College Notebook, was that Sewell was sacked more times this season (39) than Matt Schaub was in his entire career (35). Plus, Sewell missed an entire season due to an academic suspension, but Schaub received negligible playing time as a redshirt freshman in 2000.
2. Until Sewell came along, the UVa quarterback who had yielded the most sacks in a single season was Marques Hagans, who was sacked 33 times in 2005. I would use the adjective “mobile” to describe both Sewell and Hagans, and Hagans might have been the most elusive Virginia QB on this list.
3. Nobody would have called Schaub “elusive” and some might have described him as mobile, but, obviously, the key to avoiding sacks is the ability to get rid of the ball. Look at Marc Verica in 2008. With four of the same starting offensive linemen that Sewell had this year, UVa quarterbacks yielded 16 sacks in 2008. That wasn’t all Eugene Monroe, the Cavaliers’ starting left offensive tackle and a first-round NFL Draft pick. With Monroe and Branden Albert, another NFL offensive lineman, Sewell was sacked 27 times in 2007.
4. Who were the UVa quarterbacks who most resembled Schaub? Probably Matt Blundin and Scott Secules. Secules attempted 296 passes in 1987 and was sacked three times, Blundin attempted 224 passes in 1991 and was sacked eight times (he also did not yield an interception) and Schaub attempted 403 passes in 2003 and was sacked nine times.
5. After he was sacked eight times against TCU in an early season game and seven times at Clemson on Nov. 21, Sewell appeared to throw the ball away on several occasions against Virginia Tech in the 2009 season finale. Six Hokie sacks would have been an even 100 for Sewell’s career, but the Hokies only got to him twice – once on the final drive. Maybe he had learned his lesson, but by then it was too late.

Change is coming
There is no clear frontrunner to replace Al Groh
Daniel Mehler, Cavalier Daily Guest Viewpoint
Opinion
December 3, 2009 1

It was time. We all knew it. Coach Al Groh knew it, evidenced by his prepared remarks. The players knew it, publicly stating that they practiced harder this week in order to send their coach off with one final win. It was time, and we all knew it.

The search for the next coach begins with the search for the next president of the University. President John T. Casteen, III has done incredible things for this University. But building a national powerhouse football program was never his top priority. Will the new president be willing to lower academic standards to accommodate football recruitment? This seems unlikely.

By far, the greatest resource in following whom the next head coach will be has been the Adam Gottschalk show on WKAV 1400 AM, airing on weekday mornings from 7–9 a.m. He has talked to former and current players, and members of the former Virginia football staff, and compiled his findings online. Gottschalk writes about six different aspects of the coaching search. I have outlined a couple of these key points.

There were two coaches retained from the Groh era: Anthony Poindexter, one of the most popular players ever at Virginia, and Bob Price, who is a holdover from the George Welsh staff. (Welsh was the coach prior to Groh, and the winningest coach in Virginia history.) Price has an equivalent of “tenure,” and cannot be fired by the University. It was rumored that a five-star recruit, offensive tackle Morgan Moses, would not honor his commitment to Virginia if Latrell Scott was not retained. Athletic Director Craig Littlepage, however, has taken a more hands-on role in Moses’ recruitment, and made the decision to let go of Scott.

Littlepage has given clues about the next head coach. When addressing the team, he outlined three criteria: ACC experience, coming from a winning program, and someone who “understands the unique attributes and appeal of the University.” These clues seem to point to either Mike London, the Richmond head coach who served under Groh or Al Golden, the head coach at Temple who also studied under Groh. However, there are two more names to consider.

The first is Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe, who has won an ACC championship and is a graduate of the University. The next candidate is my personal favorite: Troy Calhoun, the head coach at Air Force. He is a former Wake Forest assistant, and in two years at AFA, transformed the program after three straight losing seasons. He also has experience in a program with difficult recruiting circumstances similar to Virginia’s, whose rigorous academic standards hinder it from going after top high school players. It is also important to note that Welsh had incredible success coming to Virginia from a service academy. Calhoun is also only 41-years old, which makes him much more relatable to a student body who never connected with the much-older Groh.

One source told Gottschalk that the administration (i.e. Craig Littlepage, who most fans know as the man who tried to enforce a sign ban at Scott Stadium) also fired four graduate assistants. This is highly unusual, even when a coaching change occurs, and the source called this firing highly inappropriate. The GAs, who earn approximately an $8,000/year stipend, included three Virginia alums and two former players. Why would these Assistants be told to vacate the McCue Center within 48 hours? This may indicate that Littlepage is looking to distance himself entirely from the Groh era, possibly ruling out London and Golden.

Another story on Littlepage: In 2004, the Virginia football team finished 8-4 and lost the MPC Computers Bowl to Fresno State. The game was played in Boise, Idaho. This is important because the team thought they were going to be playing in a bowl game in Orlando, the Champs Sports Bowl. However, the administration declined the invitation because it would not change the exam schedules of the athletes to accommodate the Orlando game. Not to devalue the MPC Computers Bowl, but its claim to fame is that it is the longest running cold-weather bowl game in the country. The players and coaches were undoubtedly irked by this situation, and this may have been one of the things Groh was referring to in his statement, saying that “We were poised to solidify our position as a top team. Instead, as that trust and collaboration deteriorated, I could see this day coming.” It might also have something to do with last year, when Groh received neither a vote of confidence from the administration, nor was he fired, which ultimately destroyed his ability to recruit effectively.

The last thing to consider is the timeline for when a hiring will be made. Tony Bennett was hired as head basketball coach three weeks after Dave Leitao resigned. Many people think that the timetable for a new football coach will be similar, and we should know by Christmas who will be coaching the Hoos next season. Signing day for recruits is Feb. 3, so certainly the administration will have a coach in place well before then.

Until that time, however, the speculation will continue.

Daniel Mehler is a third-year student in the College.

White: Bates Peaking at Right Time for 'Hoos
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
By Jeff White

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- He arrived at UVa as one of the nation's most heralded recruits and, as if it were scripted, scored a goal in his college debut.

Then, for nine games, nothing. Not a single goal. Not even an assist.

Those who followed George Gelnovatch's soccer team started to wonder what all the fuss about Will Bates had been about. Bates, a graduate of Thomas Dale High School in Chesterfield County, had questions, too.

"I measure the success of myself in two ways: team success and if I feel like I'm contributing to that. And then also as a forward, I'm obviously going to measure myself in goals," Batles said. "So I got a bit frustrated. But Coach kept telling me, 'Keep working hard, they're going to come. And once you get the first one and get a little rhythm, then they're going to start coming more freely.'"

And that's exactly what happened. Bates has had a sensational first season for UVa (16-3-3), which hosts defending national champion Maryland (15-5-2) in the NCAA quarterfinals Friday night at Klöckner Stadium.

Of the Wahoos' 32 goals, Bates has scored 11 of them. Three came Nov. 22 in second-seeded UVa's 5-0 rout of Bucknell in the NCAA tournament's second round. With 23 points, Bates leads Virginia in scoring, well ahead of No. 2 Tony Tchani (17 points).

Bates was named to the all-ACC second team as well as the conference's all-freshman team.

"The goals are obviously a great thing," Gelnovatch said. "He's good in front of the goal, he's very fit, and he's a tireless worker."

It's not uncommon, Gelnovatch said, for a first-year player, especially a forward who's used to scoring regularly, to struggle to adjust to the college game.

Still, Gelnovatch said, "I don't know exactly which game it was, but I remember specifically thinking to myself, 'We gotta get Will going. We gotta keep staying with him, keep getting him in there, keep going with it.'"

On Oct. 2, UVa fell 1-0 to then-No. 5 North Carolina in double overtime. The Cavaliers haven't lost since, in part because of a critical lineup change.

Bates has been playing out wide. After the loss in Chapel Hill, Gelnovatch recalled, "I decided that he had to be our center forward. We had Chris Agorsor up there, and he wasn't the answer. And it became clear after that game, the move was to make Bates that center forward guy. And to stay with it ... to give him a chance to get himself going."

About five weeks after his first goal, Bates scored his second. He hasn't cooled off, and now he and the Wahoos are a victory from the NCAA tournament's final four.

"Coming in, it's definitely a goal to get to the College Cup," Bates said. "But realistically, how many teams do it? Only four. So to be one of the eight left is just a great accomplishment in itself. But I think for us, we're more hungry than that. We want to be in the final four and then the final two."

At 6-0, 185 pounds, Bates is "a big body," Gelnovatch said. "He's big, he's strong, which you kind of need if you're playing with one center forward. He's got to be able to play with his back to the goal, and to play with your back to the goal, you need some size, you need to be able to hold people off.

"His biggest development to me has been that aspect of the game: playing with his back to the goal ... He keeps [the ball] for us, allows our team to move out of the back and connects with our team, and we're able to move forward."

Bates, whose father, Richard, played football at Virginia Military Institute, was born in April 1991. That December, UVa won its second NCAA soccer title in three seasons. The Cavaliers also added national championships in '92, '93 and '94.

None of that registered with Bates when he was a young boy. As he grew older, he learned about Virginia's storied tradition in his favorite sport.

"UVa is known as a prestigious school for soccer as well as academics," Bates said, "and so we would like to get back to that same state. It would be tough for any school to ever win four national championships in a row, because now [professional soccer] is taking lots of great players that are winning College Cups. But definitely, Coach has referred back to those times, where he just talks about what it will take to get to the next level and what it will take to win a national championship, which is inspiring itself."

In high school, Bates helped Thomas Dale win two Group AAA titles. He also starred for the Richmond Strikers and for the under-15, under-17 and under-18 national teams.

"I think in the end -- meaning the late spring, early summer of his senior year -- he probably went from a top-10 recruit to a top-5 guy," Gelnovatch said.

As the fall semester approached at UVa, there was Internet speculation that Bates might skip college and turn pro. It wasn't coming from Bates.

"I never thought I would go pro straight out of high school," he said. "Education's a priority in my family, so UVa was always a great option because it had both: great soccer and great school."

Gelnovatch said: "There was never any doubt in our mind that he'd be here."

Bates was a terrific prospect coming out of high school, Gelnovatch said, but "I don't think he was ready [for the pros]. Is he good enough? I think he will be. I think he needed all of this year, and he's probably going to need one more year, to be ready to be as good as he can be, to be mature enough, all those things."

For now, naturally, Bates' focus is on the NCAA tournament. UVa is trying to reach the College Cup for the first time since 2006. To do so, the Cavaliers will have to defeat the Terrapins for the second time in less than a month. (In their first meeting, Oct. 31 in College Park, the teams tied 0-0.)

That the 'Hoos get to play at Klöckner for a third consecutive game in the NCAAs is a huge advantage, according to Bates.

"We're used to playing at our field, and you don't have to travel, which is always nice," he said. "We don't have to sit on a bus or fly across the country. Also, we have our fans, who are great. We've been getting a great turnout for every game so far this year, especially in the NCAA tournament, so it's just awesome playing in front of people that are constantly keeping your adrenaline going."

Cavs, Terps square off in quarterfinals
By Whitey Reid
Published: December 4, 2009

For those who thought there weren’t going to be meaningful football games played at the University of Virginia come December, well, not so fast.

Tonight at 7, the UVa men’s soccer team plays its biggest game since the 2006 season when it hosts unseeded Maryland (15-5-2) in NCAA quarterfinal action at Klockner Stadium.

The winner advances to next week’s College Cup in Cary, N.C., and will take on the winner of the UCLA-Wake Forest game.

“We’re home, man, and we’re playing one game for the chance to be in the College Cup,” said Virginia coach George Gelnovatch. “At this point, you get to the quarterfinals, you’re getting a good team. No one’s sneaking through to the quarterfinals.

“We have a lot of respect for Maryland and are looking forward to having them at our place.”

No. 2-seeded Virginia (16-3-3) and Maryland have met twice previously this season. The schools played to a scoreless double-overtime draw on Oct. 31 in College Park, Md.. More recently, in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament, UVa defeated the Terrapins, 1-0, thanks to a goal by sophomore Tony Tchani in the 88th minute.

Virginia enters tonight’s clash as the hottest team in college soccer, having gone unbeaten in its last 13 games. A big reason for the success has been the play of goalie Diego Restrepo, who hasn’t let anything past him in 10 games, a new school record.

“I don’t want it to end, you know?” Restrepo said. “I come out every game, same for the players in front of me, and we try not to get scored on.

“If we don’t get scored on, we know we’re always going to have a chance because we know the attack is going to happen and we’re going to get goals.”

Virginia has received amazing production from freshman Will Bates, who has a team-leading 11 goals. And, in the 1-0 win over Portland on Sunday, freshman Ari Dimas scored the first goal of his career.

Another key, according to Gelnovatch, has been the play of defenders Shawn Barry and Hunter Jumper.

“What we’ve been really good at in the last month is both Hunter Jumper and Shawn Barry bombing forward,” Gelnovatch said. “That’s the way we’ve wanted them to play and I feel like those two guys have been a big part of our goal-scoring lately and our attack.

“That’s gone untalked about a little bit, but those two guys have really gone forward and helped us in the attacking third.”

Virginia made its last trip to the College Cup in 2006. That season, UVa lost to UCLA in the semifinals.

The Cavaliers other appearance at the Cup in the Gelnovatch era came in 1997 when UVa also lost to UCLA in the finals.

Gelnovatch would love for his team to get another crack this season.

“The College Cup is sometimes what you’re measured by,” he said. “It’s a huge measuring stick.

“Fortunately, we’re at home. We know our opponent very well, as they do us. We’re both, I’m sure, looking very forward to the game.”

Throw-ins

Virginia trails the all-time series with Maryland, 27-35-8. Prior to this season’s tie and win for UVa, Maryland had won three straight in the series. ... The Terrapins have outscored their first three postseason opponents — Loyola, Penn State and Harvard — 6-2. ... Fans planning to attend the game are encouraged to purchase tickets ahead of time online at Virginiasports.com. Will-call tickets can be picked up at the Klockner Stadium main entrance beginning at 6 p.m. Parking is $5 and available at all University Hall and John Paul Jones Arena lots.
 

Cavaliers prepare for Auburn contest
After falling to Penn State, team hopes for win against Tigers in Alabama next week
Will Van Wazer, Cavalier Daily Staff Writer
Men's Basketball / Sports
December 3, 2009 0

Another week, and another on-the-bubble opponent that managed to make a run in the NIT last season. This time for Virginia, it’s the Auburn Tigers, who made it to quarterfinals last season after finishing second in the West Division of the SEC.

Though both teams hold 4-3 records this season and have yet to play a conference game, Monday’s matchup is a tale of two squads with backstories on opposite ends of the spectrum. Whereas the Tigers made a late postseason run last year, the Cavaliers never found their winning ways, leaving many fans disappointed.

For Virginia to have success next week, it will have to increase its overall level of play; in their most recent game against Penn State, the Cavaliers played lackluster defense especially late in the game, allowing junior guard Talor Battle to score 28 of his 32 total points in the second half.

“Your defense has to hold you in there,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “I thought we got a little more individual-oriented defensively to start that second half, and that hurt us. Our strength has to be us against the ball.”

Against Auburn, a team similar to Penn State in terms of talent level and players, Virginia will need to find a way to keep that extra spark ignited for longer. Auburn’s strength rests mainly in its veteran backcourt, composed of 6-foot-1 senior point guard DeWayne Reed — who averaged 13.2 points and 3.7 assists per game last season — and 6-foot-2 senior guard Tay Waller, who averaged 12.1 points per game and shot .368 percent from the three-point line last season.

Reed has been a key player in each of the Tiger’s last three seasons, and this year looks to be no different as he transitions from scorer to team leader. Waller, meanwhile, a junior college transfer, has a complete green light when it comes to three-pointers — he attempted and made the second-most in the NCAA last year — and is certainly one of the most consistent outside threats the Cavaliers will face this season.

Virginia, though, has its own critical players who will challenge the Tigers. Sophomore guard Sylven Landesberg has emerged as the Cavaliers’ most reliable player, scoring 16 points per game but more importantly never scoring below 10 points in any of Virginia’s games thus far. Junior Mike Scott has also provided a solid presence in the post, averaging 13.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per game while alternating between center and power forward. And, as junior forward Will Sherill did against Cleveland State and sophomore guard Sammy Zeglinski did in the final minute against Penn State, Virginia always seems to find someone seemingly unforeseen to pick up the game at just the right time — but just not by the right amount.

“I think we’re pretty good,” Scott said. “I think we just need to play the whole entire game hard.”

Though Monday’s game is not part of the Cavaliers’ conference schedule, it nevertheless is an important test for Virginia. If the squad wishes to have any chance of making the NIT or even the NCAA Tournament, it will need to start winning some of its games against other bubble teams like South Florida, Stanford and Penn State, against which the Cavaliers have suffered this season’s three losses, respectively.

Losing Challenge means nothing for ACC

To hear ESPN's Brent Musburger tell it last night, Big Ten basketball had climbed Kilimanjaro and cured the common cold by finally "winning" an ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

Bob Knight, bless his cantankerous heart, countered with the truth. The Challenge's overall outcome means nothing, and the participating teams care only about their respective games.

Musburger and Knight called Wisconsin's 73-69 victory over Duke, which combined with Ohio State's dusting of Florida State gave the Big Ten a six-games-to-five Challenge edge. The ACC had won the previous 10 Challenges.

Prevailing in the Challenge, of course, settles nothing. It's a three-day, early-season snapshot, the matchups for which are based on the previous season's standings and projections for the next.

Will the Big Ten be better and deeper than the ACC this season? Who knows? Was the ACC superior to the Big Ten in each of the last 10 years? Don't be silly.

In fact, only twice in those 10 years did the ACC send more teams than the Big Ten to the NCAA tournament. Total bids for that decade: Big Ten 54, ACC 50.

Some other Challenge observations:

* Iowa (2-5 with double-digit losses to Texas-San Antonio and Wichita State) figures to struggle this season, but Virginia Tech's 70-64 victory at Carver-Hawkeye Arena was encouraging nonetheless. The Hokies committed only five turnovers and finally produced the balanced scoring Coach Seth Greenberg craves.

Role players Victor Davila, Terrell Bell and J.T. Thompson combined to make 13-of-20 shots, offsetting a sub-par performance from Malcolm Delaney, Tech's bellcow and the ACC's top scorer. Contrast that to the Hokies' only loss, 61-50 to Temple in Philadelphia, where Delaney scored 32 points on 9-of-21 shooting, while his teammates were 8-of-36.

Tech (5-1) hosts Georgia (4-2) on Sunday.

* Virginia's 69-66 home loss to Penn State further exposed the Cavaliers' defensive liabilities. The Nittany Lions trailed by seven at halftime before guard Talor Battle channeled Dwyane Wade by scoring 28 second-half points.

Virginia (4-3) plays at Auburn (4-3) on Monday.

* The ACC would have "won" the Challenge had Clemson not squandered a 23-point, second-half lead last night against Illinois. At home!

"We've got to take a good portion of blame," Tigers coach Oliver Purnell said after the 76-74 defeat. "We didn't play with the defensive mentality we needed. The first half was a thing of beauty. That was Clemson basketball. We just didn't maintain that."

Unfortunately for Purnell, Clemson basketball the last few years also has included awful free-throw shooting. The Tigers missed five of nine foul shots in the second half against the Illini.

In staging the greatest comeback in its history, Illinois shot 60.7 percent from the floor in the second half.

Led by forward Trevor Booker, Clemson still looks NCAA tournament-caliber to us. But this one may linger.

The Tigers (6-2) host South Carolina (6-1) on Sunday.

Posted by David Teel

Division I and NAIA Learfield Sports Directors' Cup Standings

Dec. 3, 2009

Division I Release

Virginia is the leader after the first fall Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings. The Cavaliers lead Princeton (N.J.) by 15 points, 173-158. Virginia finished third in women's field hockey and 15th in both the men's and women's cross country championship races.

The Princeton Tigers finished third in women's field hockey and fifth in women's cross country.

The Wildcats of Villanova (Pa.) captured the women's cross country title as well as finishing 11th in the men's cross country championship race for a total of 157 points.

Oregon has 153 points after placing second in men's cross country and ninth in women's field hockey.

Rounding out the top-five is Syracuse. The Orange finished fifth in women's field hockey, 14th in men's cross country and 18th in women's cross country, bringing their point total to 146.

Three of the eight fall NCAA championships have been completed with the following institutions capturing titles: Oklahoma State (men's cross country); Villanova (women's cross country); and North Carolina (women's field hockey).

The Learfield Sports Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in up to 14 sports -- seven women's and seven men's.

The next Division I standings will be released Thursday, December 17.

Cavaliers Start Strong on Day One of UVa Invite
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 12/03/2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Freshman Lauren Perdue tied the Aquatic and Fitness Center pool record in the 50 free Thursday on day one of the 2009 UVa Invitational. The Cavalier men's and women's team are competing along with American, Washington and Lee, West Chester and the Kansas women in the three-day event.
Perdue clocked a time of 22.51, an NCAA 'B' mark, in the 50 free to lead a trio of Cavaliers in the event. Her time matched that of Auburn's Eileen Coparropa, who set the record in 2003. Senior Mei Christensen (23.13) placed second and junior Kristen Moores (23.17) was third.
"It was a really good night," Virginia head coach Mark Bernardino said. "Our athletes are wise and experienced, so in the morning they swam times that qualified them. This evening they were a lot more energetic and all-in-all, it was a positive night and a good start to this meet."
The Cavalier women also went 1-2-3 in the 500 free and 200 IM. Senior Jen Narum (4:46.05) led the way in the 500 free with teammates Katya Bachrouche (4:46.92) and Jenna Harris (4:52.08) taking second and third, respectively. All three times were NCAA 'B' qualifying standards.
"It's really important to keep our energy up and stay excited for every race," Narum said. "We were able to come into finals with more energy than we did this morning. That really helped everyone get up and race faster. I am proud of the distance corps; all the way down, everyone had really good swims."
Senior Katherine McDonnell (2:00.96, 'B'), junior Liz Shaw (2:01.05, 'B') and freshman Christine Olson (2:02.98) led the Cavaliers in the 200 IM.
Junior Scot Robison paced the Cavalier men in the 50 free. Robison clocked a winning time of 20.23, followed by sophomore Peter Geissinger (20.86) and sophomore Danny Wall (21.00).
"We started off really well," Robison said. "My goal was to get people fired up and get things going. In the 50 free I wanted to go under the 'B' cut and I was happy with that."
The men also went 1-2-3 in 500 free, led by junior Matt McLean (4:26.33, B). Classmates John Snawerdt (4:26.65, B) and Taylor Smith (4:29.14) were second and third, respectively.
Senior John Azar claimed the 200 IM (1:49.81) for the Virginia men.
Both the men's and women's 200 freestyle relay teams earned NCAA 'B' cuts with their first-place finishes to open the meet. Perdue, Christensen, Kelly Flynn and Davis finished in 1:31.60 while Robison, Geissinger, Zach Kohl and Eric Olesen clocked a time of 1:21.37.
The final event of the day, the 400 medley relay, was also a strong one for Virginia. The women's team of Lauren Smart, Olson, Shaw and Flynn finished in 3:41.58 to edge out their teammates. Christensen, McDonnell, Davis and Perdue placed second with a time of 3:41.64. Both were NCAA 'B' qualifying standards.
Likewise, the men went 1-2 in the 400 medley relay, lead by Olsen, Azar, Geissinger, and McLean, who finished in 3:19.58. Teammates David Wren, Simon Norstedt, Dan McMahon and Robison were second in 3:21.40.
"Hopefully we can carry the momentum with us when we leave here tonight," Bernardino said. "The big lesson of the middle day is that we just need to be solid and strong in the morning and come back at night and perform at high levels again."
The women totaled 470 points on day one, followed by Kansas (213), West Chester (140), Washington and Lee (82) and American (61). The Cavalier men also lead with 435 points, in front of West Chester (207), Washington and Lee (170) and American (81).
Day two of the UVa Invitational continues Friday with the 200 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 breast, 200 back and 800 free relay. Prelims begin at 11 a.m. and finals begin at 6 p.m. from the Aquatic and Fitness Center.

 

Virginia wins the ugly way
Special to The Daily Progress/Frank Crocker
Virginia guard China Crosby (left) knocks the ball away from Purdue’s FahKara Malone during the Cavaliers’ 56-49 victory in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
By Jay Jenkins
Published: December 4, 2009

Early in the first half of the latest installment in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, the shot clock inside John Paul Jones Arena broke.

For those in attendance that were lulled to sleep at times, it appeared that the scoreboard malfunctioned as well.

In the end, however, No. 14 Virginia did enough to survive, edging Purdue 56-49 in a low-scoring affair.

“We knew it was going to be a difficult game,” Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. “I had to call on some young players. Players coming off the bench were critical tonight.”

There was a reason for that — the Cavaliers (6-1) played a majority of the game with star guard Monica Wright watching from the bench.

Wright, who scored just seven points in 17 minutes, spent the final 6:12 on the bench after fouling out.

While the senior will be gone after the season, learning how her team would respond without Wright was not something that Ryan longed to discover this early.

“I was not curious at all,” Ryan said.

Virginia, which boasts five freshmen, managed to do enough without Wright, finishing the game on an 8-2 run to win for the third straight time in the two-league challenge.

“To those that were thinking we were a one-man team, we are not,” Ryan said.

Virginia got 11 points from Ariana Moorer and 10 from freshman Lexie Gerson. Both came in as reserves.

“As a bench player, we knew we were supposed to pick up her slack,” said Gerson, who made four of her eight shots from the field.

Gerson was the lone Cavalier to shoot 50 percent or better from the field.

“She is crazy athletic,” Ryan said.

For the game, Virginia shot just 26.9 percent from the field (18 of 67) and missed 19 of its 23 attempts from behind the 3-point line.

Instead, the Cavaliers did it with defense. Purdue was limited to just 38 shots from the floor and forced into 27 turnovers, which led to 21 points for UVa.

In the first half, Virginia slowly pulled away and took a 26-14 halftime advantage thanks to a session-ending 15-4 run.

The Boilermakers did improve after halftime, using 13 made free throws to chip into their deficit.

The Cavaliers return to action Sunday as they host James Madison at 4 p.m.