Should Virginia coach Al Groh be fired?
It’s a question that sportswriters and fans have brought up following every game since Virginia was embarrassed at Duke 31-3 in Durham Sept. 27. Since that date, I have heard everything from “Groh should get fired now” to “Groh should win ACC Coach of the Year.”
Now, with Virginia standing at 5-6 following a dismal 13-3 loss to Clemson during senior day at Scott Stadium Saturday, followers of Virginia football will naturally swing again toward putting Groh on the chopping block. With the luck Virginia has had in Blacksburg throughout the years, it is certainly not unreasonable to project a 5-7 season; should Virginia fail to be bowl-eligible for the second time in three seasons, the future of the head coach is naturally a question.
It is a question, though, that I have personally tried to dodge to this point. As a student reporter in my first year covering football, I am a bit timid about calling for the removal of an accomplished, ex-NFL coach who has been around this game for more years than I have been alive. There are older, wiser reporters who have been covering Virginia football for 20 years or more, and the meager kid from the student newspaper shouldn’t be the one to sing for the removal of the head coach of a major program if it has any chance of being premature.
Now, however, with only the minor unpredictability of a 5-7 season versus a .500 season hanging in the balance, I think it is an appropriate time to weigh in. Regardless of what happens against Virginia Tech and despite some considerable evidence against him, I do not think that Al Groh should be fired. Offensive coordinator Mike Groh, however, is another story that I will save for a later date.
Before you Al Groh haters start screaming for my removal from this paper along with Groh from Virginia, let me recognize the reasons why the seven-year Virginia coach indeed should be fired.
The reason that should first be considered is the off-field issues. Quarterback Jameel Sewell, corner Chris Cook, linebacker Darnell Carter and wide receiver Chris Dalton are suspended this season for academic ineligibility; Jeffrey Fitzgerald was removed from the team because of an academic issue; J’Courtney Williams and Mike Brown got kicked off the team after being arrested on felony charges; Peter Lalich had problems with alcohol and marijuana use that include violating his probation, leading to his removal from the team.
Groh is ultimately responsible for the activities of his players, and he has admitted as much; however, in reality, the fault lies as much with others as it does with himself. He can preach the importance of making grades all he wants; it is not just Groh’s job, however, to force his athletes go to academic advising sessions or make it to athletic study halls. Nor is it solely on him when players have run-ins with the law; what’s the guy supposed to do, monitor his players with tracking devices?
Groh spends 90 to 100 hours a week meeting with coaches, running practices, studying film, drawing up plays, and the like. He can tell his players they need to be stand-up students off the field, but there are people whose job it is to make sure that happens beyond the head coach.
What would have truly tipped me toward the firing of Groh in this regard, however, is something that never occurred: if his players had reacted to the off-field difficulties in any negative fashion. They could have splintered; they could have given up; they could have started pointing fingers.
Instead, however, they only grew closer. They rallied around some of the classier players on the team, like seniors Cedric Peerman, Clint Sintim and Jon Copper, and told each other they can’t be broken.
Which brings me to the next reason many Groh foes will call for his firing: performance. Should the Cavs lose to Virginia Tech Saturday, Virginia will have its 9-4 season in 2007-08 sandwiched between two campaigns of 5-7. Virginia has never had two losing seasons so close together since 1981-82, when Virginia had back-to-back sub-.500 seasons in the transition between coaches; Dick Bestwick left following a 1-10-1 1981 season, and George Welsh took over in 1982, and his Cavs finished 2-9.
What is most important when considering outcome, however, is this year’s team, and this year’s team has already been surprisingly successful, even in its mediocrity. Virginia was picked to finish third to last in the Coastal Division by the ACC media preseason, just ahead of Duke and Georgia Tech. That was before Lalich was removed from the team, forcing former scout team quarterback Marc Verica into the lineup, before defensive end Sean Gottschalk disappeared because of personal issues, before Aaron Clark went down for the season with an ACL tear. It was before Peerman dealt with early leg troubles that limited him for the first four games and before fellow running back Mikell Simpson suffered a clavicle fracture putting him out for the final three weeks of the season.
Somehow, though, Virginia has still scraped five wins, including several impressive ones. How the Cavs beat North Carolina at home and went to Atlanta to take down Georgia Tech I may never figure out.
The biggest reason why Groh should stay, however, is a simple one: His players like him. And don’t think I’m too naive to recognize the possibility that players just say they like him to appease the sharks in the media; I have considered that possibility and dismissed it.
When Peter Lalich’s father Todd tells The Daily Progress that Al Groh turns boys into men after Peter is kicked off the team, that tells me something. When players rally around Peerman after he gives up a game-costing fumble against Miami, there is further proof of this camaraderie. When all of the players proclaim the exact same message in their interviews that Groh preaches in his, that too is a telling sign.
So, this is the bottom line: You can’t fire a coach who has his players so deeply in tune with his philosophy and who wins more games than he should. All season, Groh has maintained Virginia as a team undivided. For all the rough patches this team has hit both on the field and off, forcing Groh out could be the biggest splinter of them all.
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