Thursday, January 31, 2008
Now is not the time for knee-jerk decisions
Cavaliers had choices before taking QB commitment
Doug Doughty
Doug Doughty's UVa Insider is exclusive to roanoke.com and is posted by 5 p.m. Thursdays in season.
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It beats me how Virginia could be raising money for athletics these days.
Fundraisers must be talking up the No. 1-ranked men’s tennis team and looking ahead to the baseball and lacrosse seasons.
It’s hard to imagine anybody being terribly excited about what’s going on with the two revenue sports, football and men’s basketball.
The football team had a 10-win season in its sights before choking in the Gator Bowl. The men’s basketball team had double-digit leads before choking against Virginia Tech, Florida State and Georgia Tech. Heck, even the wrestling team choked in its Rumble on the River with the Hokies.
Maybe February will be better. January couldn’t have been worse.
In all fairness, Virginia had the kind of football season that enabled Al Groh to be named coach of the year. And, the Cavaliers played very well against favored Texas Tech for 55 minutes, but it’s been one piece of bad news after another since the end of the season.
First, there was the announcement that junior offensive guard Branden Albert was turning pro, but that was to be expected. Some analysts are now saying that Albert might be the first offensive lineman selected in the draft.
Albert said last week that he has not second-guessed himself and that subsequent developments in Charlottesville have only reinforced those feelings.
Never mind that UVa will be losing ACC defensive player of the year Chris Long and starters or part-time starters Tom Santi, Jon Stupar, Ian-Yates Cunningham, Jordy Lipsey, Allen Billyk, Jermaine Dias, Nate Lyles, Jamaal Jackson and Chris Gould.
They were seniors. The Cavaliers knew they were going to lose them. But consider the underclassmen who Virginia will be losing, including quarterback Jameel Sewell and Chris Cook, not to mention the feared loss of defensive end Jeffery Fitzgerald. And, don’t be surprised if a number of prominent underclassmen skip spring practice in hopes of improving their academic standing.
Then, there are the recruiting decommitments, which could number four if East Stroudsburg, Pa., offensive tackle Corey Lewis reverses field and signs with Penn State. Remember Tyler Westphal, the Wisconsin-bred tight end and defensive end who committed to the Cavaliers in the summer. Westphal, who broke off his commitment shortly thereafter, recently was named a SuperPrep All-American.
You could go on and on. Virginia’s recruiting of in-state talent is at an all-time low, with commitments so far from only one player ranked among the Top 25 prospects in the state, and now the Cavaliers have lost their top recruiter and defensive coordinator, Mike London.
MY BASIC PHILOSOPHY on college athletics is, "When in doubt, blame the coach." Some people would say that the players are responsible for not doing their classwork or that the academic side of the campus doesn’t like football, but what it comes down to is, Al Groh makes $1.96 million per year.
“Just coach the team” is Groh's favorite mantra, but, for $1.96 million, your bosses should expect more. You are expected to be a steward for the program. If something is going wrong, you’re responsible for fixing it.
Men’s basketball coach Dave Leitao signed a five-year contract in 2005 that paid him $925,000 per year. With escalator clauses, he makes approximately half what Groh makes, but that’s big money, too, and the Cavaliers should expect more than a 1-5 ACC record in Leitao’s third year.
When predecessor Pete Gillen was kneeling on the sidelines, there were many instances when his coaching moves baffled me. That doesn’t happen as much with Leitao, but I had to question his decision to bench senior co-captain Adrian Joseph for the final 10:33 on Wednesday night at Maryland.
Joseph hadn’t produced to that point, but he is the Cavaliers’ leading rebounder for the season. Virginia trailed by double digits for most of the night but put itself in a position to catch the Terrapins if Maryland hadn’t scored eight points following offensive rebounds in the final 4:49.
Leitao said he felt it was necessary to go with two true post players, freshman Mike Scott and fifth-year senior Ryan Pettinella, but Pettinella did not have a rebound in 18 minutes and has a total of three points and two rebounds in 39 minutes over the past two games.
I remember one instance when Maryland scrub Dave Neal out-fought Joseph for a ball that was rolling on the floor, but it seems that Leitao is quick to get down on a player and not so quick to forgive and forget. Joseph has a tendency to lose intensity at times, but he is one of Virginia’s five best players under any circumstances.
Joseph was joined on the bench by Jamil Tucker, who had scored 13 points in 21 minutes Sunday in a 92-82 overtime loss to Georgia Tech. Tucker missed two shots in the first half Wednesday, played three minutes in the first half, then didn’t get off the bench in the second half.
In the past four games, here are Tucker’s minutes: 19, two, 21 and three.
I'm not of the opinion that freshman Jeff Jones should regain the starting job he held early in the season, but, against Georgia Tech, Jones made a nice move to the basket in the first half that was nullified by a debatable charging call. Jones left the game shortly thereafter, getting three of his four minutes in the first half.
A COMPLAINT I have with many coaches is what I’d describe as the “knee-jerk reaction.” Groh has made a few of them, many relating to the redshirting of players.
I’ll always remember the 2004 football season, when, following a 36-3 loss at Florida State, Groh elected one week later to play true freshmen Chris Gorham, Kevin Bradley and Bud Davis at Duke, effectively killing a redshirt year. Based on the fact that none had a major impact over the course of their careers, they had no business playing as freshmen.
You’ve also got defensive end Alex Field, who played 33 plays as a true freshman in 2005, and outside linebacker Aaron Clark, who played 114 plays as a true freshman in 2005 and 16 plays as a sophomore in 2006. What a waste!
Nobody will argue that true freshman quarterback Peter Lalich will benefit from having played in seven games this year, particularly with Sewell out of the picture for at least one year, but what was the need to insert him in the opening game at Wyoming in a game the Cavaliers were losing 23-3?
If there were concerns about Sewell’s surgically repaired wrist or his academic future, that’s one thing, but the timing suggested that Groh was mostly ticked off that Sewell had thrown an interception that nearly was returned for a touchdown.
I’LL BE INTERESTED to see what Leitao does with junior forward Lauris Mikalauskas, who has a bad shoulder and has not played since a Dec. 7 game against Longwood. Mikalauskas has played in nine games and probably could gain an extra season on appeal, but I don’t know if the Cavaliers are thinking that way.
Leitao may feel he could use Mikalauskas’ scholarship, in 2009-2010 if not 2008-2009, but here’s a guy who averaged 6.2 points and 4.5 rebounds as a freshman in 2005-2006. That’s better than any of the three frontcourt players in Leitao’s first recruiting class – Jamil Tucker, Will Harris or Jerome Meyinsse – averaged last year as freshmen or this year as sophomore.
The smart thing would be not to play Mikalauskas and apply for a hardship ruling but also make it clear that Mikalauskas will not come back for a fifth year unless he is projected to be a contributor.
MEDIA GADFLY Jeff White and I had the same reaction when we heard that Virginia had taken a football commitment from Riko Smalls, a 6-foot quarterback from Plano, Texas.
Is he really 6 feet? And, if he’s not 6 feet, don’t the Cavaliers already have a sub 6-foot quarterback in the program who put up prolific passing numbers in high school?
Can you say Vic Hall?
Smalls passed for 2,989 yards and 33 touchdowns this past season at Plano East High School and is said to have 4.4-second speed for 40 yards. The Cavaliers actually had a few options for a quarterback, including Brian Burnette from Maryville, Texas, so you have to figure they liked this guy.
Column contributor Allison Doughty points out that Plano is Ian-Yates Cunningham’s hometown, although Cunningham is a graduate of Hebron High School.
