The announcement of Randy Bungard's resignation as head of the track and field program was like so many to come out of Charlottesville in recent years, with suspicions raised.

Just in the past three years, Virginia has made coaching changes in field hockey, softball and volleyball, usually with the notation that the coach would be departing to "pursue other interests."

In several of those instances, the coach did not have the option of remaining at Virginia, a conclusion to which some Internet posters jumped after the Bungard announcement.

"That's what worried me when this happened, that people would look at [the announcement] and say, 'Oh, Virginia canned this guy,' " said Bungard, who was at UVa for 13 years, including two seasons (1993-1995) as an assistant to Fred Binggeli. "I easily could have remained at Virginia. The administration wasn't unhappy."

Bungard, a 1982 Blacksburg High School graduate who won three Metro Conference championships as a decathlete at Virginia Tech, was head of Virginia's track and field program from 1997 until his resignation July 24th.

Virginia never won an ACC title during his time, but the men finished fourth and the women were fifth last spring. In track and field, as opposed to some non-revenue sports, all 12 ACC schools have men's and women's teams.

"If you look at the program, it's not in the dumps," Bungard said. "The men's team this year was maybe as good as it's been since I've been here. I felt good about where we were going, but, as we were talking, something came over me and told me, 'It's time for a change.' "

Bungard doesn't have another job -- yet -- but his wife does. For the past 20 months, Bungard has been married to Meridith Thorpe, an assistant field hockey coach at Iowa.

Thorpe is the most celebrated player in UVa field hockey history and holds the ACC record for points and goals in a career (1995-98). She also served as an assistant to ex-Cavaliers coach Jessica Wilk, whose "resignation" was announced in December 2005.

Thorpe was not interviewed for the post, which went to Michele Madison from Michigan State.

"Meridith wasn't very happy with how that all went down," Bungard said. "She was having a hard time being in Charlottesville. When the opportunity came up at Iowa, I said, 'You know, Meridith, you're pretty miserable here. Why don't you go ahead and look at that position?' "

Thorpe had just about decided not to pursue the Iowa opening when Bungard learned that the Hawkeyes' longtime women's track and field coach, James Grant, had died from cancer. When told by Iowa's athletic director that he might be considered for Grant's spot, Bungard advised his wife to go ahead.

Iowa eventually promoted from within to fill its track and field opening.

"We really didn't have a 'Plan B,' " Bungard said, "but that wasn't the primary reason I resigned. I still don't know if I'm going to head off to Iowa or not. What I do know is that I still want to coach."

Bungard, 44, isn't sure if he wants to be a director of track and field, a position that has become increasingly administrative. Indeed, Jason Dunn, who had been Bungard's assistant, went to Stanford as distance coach when he would have been a prime candidate to succeed Bungard.

Under Dunn's direction, Virginia has won two ACC men's cross country championships in three years.

"I knew that Virginia was a little bit nervous about letting Jason go," said Bungard, noting that Dunn also was being courted by Wisconsin. "That was part of my timing. I said, 'You know what, I think I'll resign and Jason can take a look at this option.' "

Dunn elected not to pursue the Virginia job for a lot of the same reasons that Bungard was willing to give it up. At Stanford, he'll be able to coach.

"If you're the director, you're responsible for six sports and more than 100 athletes," said UVa athletic director Craig Littlepage, referring to men's and women's cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. "The administrative aspect of the job had become overwhelming."

With the Olympics approaching, Virginia knew it had to move quickly and hired Texas assistant Jason Vigilante before he left for Beijing. When Vigilante returns, Littlepage will pitch the idea of filling a vacant assistant's job with a director of operations who can coordinate recruiting, academics and scheduling,

Virginia doesn't want to be left behind, but the Cavaliers face some obstacles, most notably the absence of an indoor track.

"When I first got there, I was like 'indoor, indoor, indoor,' " Bungard said, "but, in the meantime, the outdoor facility has run down. It's not that we can't train at Lannigan Field. The problem is, when you bring recruits in, they're thinking, 'Obviously, this isn't very important here.' Our track is the worst in the conference. Not even close.

"If Virginia had an indoor facility and a good outdoor facility, they'd be tough to beat. Kids look at Virginia. We can use academics, but when you're going against Stanford and [North] Carolina and Princeton and Duke, you can only use academics so much."

Littlepage said plans are on the table that would increase the seating at Lannigan Field, build a support building with utilities and running water and possibly add lights.

"Our goal would be to make it an asset," Littlepage said.