MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Virginia football coach Al Groh reads a poem during his postgame press conference following Saturday's game with Virginia Tech.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- When asked Saturday about the possibility that he had coached his last football game at the University of Virginia, Al Groh unfolded a piece of paper and read a poem.

"Well, here's what I got," he said.

It was the same poem, "The Guy in the Glass," that he had read to his team only moments earlier.

It begins: "When you get what you want in your struggle for self and the world makes you King for a day, then go to the mirror and look at yourself, and see what the guy has to say."

Groh substituted the word "self" for "pelf," meaning riches and wealth, in the original version penned by Dale Wimbrow in 1934, but nobody in the media gathering questioned him.

By almost any standards, it was a bizarre end to a coaching tenure, if in fact, that's what a 42-13 loss to Virginia Tech brought.

Groh never actually addressed the issue of his job status, and got up and left the room as soon as his reading was finished.

Players came in and out of the interview area as Groh's wife, two of his children and several grandchildren stood in the back of the room and waited for him.

While it took a question about his future for Groh to read the poem to the media, the players didn't make that connection.

"I didn't take it like that at all," said wide receiver and return specialist Vic Hall, a two-year co-captain. "It was a message. Even tough things didn't go right, we're a brotherhood. When you look in the mirror at the end of the day, you know you gave it everything you had."

The Cavaliers' loss was Groh's eighth in nine meetings with the Hokies as Virginia coach and saddled UVa with a six-game losing streak to end the season. It was the first nine-loss season for the Cavaliers (3-9 overall, 2-6 ACC) since 1982.

Moreover, it was the third losing season in four years for Virginia, which had not suffered back-to-back losing records since 1981-82.

Groh has two years remaining on a contract that pays him more than $2 million, but athletic director Craig Littlepage has said UVa has the resources to offer a buyout, if so desired.

Littlepage declined to exercise a rollover clause in Groh's contract after the 2008 season, but that option no longer exists, nor does a Nov. 30 deadline to determine the coach's fate.

Although Littlepage did not respond to voice or text messages Saturday, it is known that he hopes to complete an evaluation of the program by Monday.

It is unlikely that the evaluation will turn out favorably for Groh, but players said he offered no indication that he had coached the Cavaliers for the last time.

"We don't know anything about that," co-captain Aaron Clark said.

Fifth-year running back Rashawn Jackson said it would be common season-ending procedure for the team to have a meeting today, and that he expected to receive a text message in the morning.

"I'm not thinking about it at all," sophomore linebacker Cam Johnson said.

The first UVa player to come into the interview area was Clark, a fifth-year linebacker from Rockbridge County who described the emotions in the Cavaliers' locker room as "pretty raw."

The Cavaliers had trailed 14-13 at the half and went on to stop Tech on its first two possessions of the second half.

The Hokies' second series ended on an end-zone interception by UVa cornerback Chris Cook, but two plays later, the game changed when quarterback Jameel Sewell and running back Mikell Simpson could not connect on an option pitch.

After Tech's Kam Chancellor recovered the fumble and returned it 15 yards to the UVa 10-yard line, the Hokies needed only two plays to score the touchdown that stretched their lead to 21-13.

Virginia was not shut out all season but failed to score in the second half in three of its final four games.

"It's been a roller-coaster but with a lot more drops than climbs," Clark said of a season that started with three losses, followed by three consecutive victories.

Sewell had 10 carries for 99 yards in the first half Saturday, when the Hokies outgained the Cavaliers 221-200. That differential was 262-95 in the second half.

Sewell ran for 29 yards on UVa's first play of the second half and the Cavaliers had a first down at the Tech 45, but then they lost yardage on three straight plays.

Sewell was one of the players who had said he wanted to win the game for Groh.

"From what everybody's telling me, they're saying that things might change," Sewell said. "I've done a lot of worrying about what's next for me and for the program. I want things to go well."