Where to begin?
For the first two weeks of the 2008 season, I engaged in plenty of Virginia football bashing. I disowned the defensive line for its lackluster performance against USC, shamelessly knocked Virginia coach Al Groh for being overeager on a fourth down against Richmond, and clamored for the removal of quarterback Peter Lalich from the lineup following allegations brought against him for violating his probation (which, incidentally I’m sure, happened Saturday). I was hoping, begging, crying for a reason to write something positive after Saturday’s game against Connecticut, even if it was a silver lining in the context of defeat.
I don’t like being that snide, peewee reporter who sits in his air-conditioned press box and lays into the men who bleed, sweat and scream Orange and Blue. I was an athlete in high school, but I can hardly empathize with the regimen Virginia athletes put themselves through on a daily basis. These guys work harder than any non-Division I athlete can imagine. These are men who, if I played against them, would probably cause irreparable harm to my 5-foot-10, 150-pound frame.
Then again, I am obliged to call it like I see it, and what I saw in Virginia’s 45-10 loss Saturday was a team that was hurting for talent and effort. I saw a defensive line that was completely at a loss for how to contain Huskie quarterback Tyler Lorenzen, whether it was getting to him in the pass rush or containing him in the pocket. I saw experienced running backs fail to attack the few holes granted to them by a futile offensive line.
In a feeble attempt to squeeze something positive out of a clearly troubled Groh after the game, I asked him about wide receiver Kevin Ogletree’s outstanding production for the second week in a row, considering the junior’s seven receptions for 58 yards, and his 92 yards on four kick returns.
“It’s nice of you to bring that up,” he replied softly.
Not to be deterred, I tried again with Ogletree himself. What about the fact, I asked him, that if this kind of pounding had to be taken, at least it happened before the team’s first bye week of the year?
“It’s never good timing for a loss,” he replied.
In other words, you’ve got to do better than that. In other words, 382 Connecticut rushing yards against 31 Virginia yards is downright pitiful. In other words, there might have been more missed tackles than made tackles, assisted and unassisted. In other words, it’s a good thing the effort was better against USC than it was Saturday, because otherwise the Trojans might have reached triple digits.
But, as unbearable as it was to watch these Cavaliers Saturday, there was one aspect of what happened that night and what happened all last week that was, clear as day, the right call: Groh had his players’ back.
Say what you will about his play-calling; no coach’s schemes please everyone. Moan if you’d like about the distance he keeps with the media and the fans. Agree with me if you must that Lalich should have been sitting a week earlier when the allegations against him emerged.
But imagine, for the moment, that you are Peter Lalich. You’re 20 years old, and you’ve made some mistakes that have led to these legal issues; as a result, the media scrutinizes your every move on the field and off, the University community has turned against you and a court date awaits that everyone who gets even the faintest whiff of Virginia football knows about.
The first people you want in your corner? Your parents, and perhaps a spiritual being if you are so inclined; then comes your coach. All week, Groh was there for Lalich.
The decision to play Lalich against Richmond in the first place is debatable; I have already voiced my own disagreement, but as I have also said, perhaps Groh knows something about Lalich that the public doesn’t know. Why, then, would he so suddenly change his mind barely 72 hours before the kickoff of Virginia’s first road game? It appears, perhaps not surprisingly, that the decision was in fact not Groh’s at all. In an article by Jerry Ratcliffe of The Daily Progress Thursday, Peter Lalich’s father Todd said he was told the decision “came from on high.” What this says to me is that Groh was planning on sticking to his guns, but was overruled by a higher authority – perhaps athletics director Craig Littlepage, perhaps even University President John T. Casteen, III.
Of course, as a result of a decision that was likely not his own, Groh was inundated with questions about his young quarterback the following day, which he deflected over and over again. Saturday, he preempted any question about Lalich by saying in his opening statement at the postgame press conference that the loss had nothing to do with “anybody who wasn’t here.” Groh went on to take responsibility for the embarrassing loss as any good coach would do, saying, “I take the blame for that, and there are really no other names necessary to discuss.”
Then, consider further the words of Todd Lalich in Jerry Ratcliffe’s article. Jerry is not only a great guy, but is also perhaps the most well-respected writer for Virginia football there is. So, when Ratcliffe writes that Todd Lalich is “a solid, straight shooter,” I believe him. It follows, then, that when Todd Lalich tells The Daily Progress that if parents “have a son being recruited by the University of Virginia or Al Groh ... they shouldn’t even consider looking at any other school,” I give merit to that statement as well.
When the can of worms was opened on Peter Lalich in the days leading up to the Richmond game, I thought Lalich shouldn’t have started not only for the benefit of the program, but for his own benefit as he sorted through his personal issues. Todd Lalich’s words for Groh, however, indicate that Groh did appear to have Peter’s best interests at heart. Todd Lalich’s words pay the highest compliment that a college coach in any sport can receive, and it puts the humiliating defeat to Connecticut in perspective. A head coach’s first responsibility is not to the media, or the fans, or even to obtaining wins — it is to looking after his players. For a guy who is criticized for being an NFL coach in a college game, he sure seems to care about how his boys mature into men.
So, I found something positive to write about. Call me a sucker for twisting a horrific game into a positive column; give me hell for not jumping on the “Fire Groh” bandwagon.
But remember one of the reasons you came to this University: Around here, people care. And in that regard, Al Groh fits right in.
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