Thursday, February 07, 2008
No excuses-mentality needs to extend to recruiting
Get a recruiter for D-coordinator
Doug Doughty
Doug Doughty's UVa Insider is exclusive to roanoke.com and is posted by 5 p.m. Thursdays in season.
See Doug and Randy talk sports every week with the Sports edition of the TimesCast
Recent columns
On a drive to Charlottesville for a signing-day teleconference, I wondered what kind of spin Virginia football coach Al Groh would put on a recruiting class that was ranked 11th in the ACC and 62nd in the country by rivals.com.
After listening to Groh for nearly 90 minutes on and off the record, I concluded that Groh still had a pretty good grip on things, but sometimes he just can’t help himself.
Take the subject of in-state recruiting. Not counting Fork Union, Virginia signed three players from Virginia high schools, including one player, Norfolk Norview defensive lineman Klinton “Buddy” Ruff off The Roanoke Times Top 25.
UVa’s other two in-state signees, Highland Springs tight end Rod Wheeler and Great Bridge offensive and defensive lineman Mike Price, were rated 32nd and 83rd, respectively.
“Each year brings a set of different circumstances in terms of talent available at the position that we’re looking for, the academic circumstances and whatnot,” Groh said.
“We have to get whatever we need, wherever it might come from. The pool that we were able to operate in this particular year was not as broad as it has been in other years.”
Groh has been saying the same thing since the summer, but his argument breaks down when you consider that Virginia extended more than 20 scholarship offers to in-state players.
Surely, academics were involved with some of the players Virginia did not offer, but to get 15 percent or fewer of the in-state players you have offered is unacceptable for any self-respecting state university.
Besides, does Groh know how it sounds when he continues to cite needs and “academics?”
People take it the wrong way.
Jimmy Prince, the coach at Ocean Lakes High School in Virginia Beach, saw the Cavaliers try and recruit two of his players – quarterback Marcus Davis and wide receiver Randall Dunn – before both committed to Virginia Tech.
Tech signed 20 players from Virginia, or 21 if you count Delaware-bred defensive end Leon Mackey, who is spending his senior year at Hargrave Military Academy. What does it say when Virginia gets three?
“It tells me that there’s an image problem that somebody’s got to fix,” said Prince, who has coached in Virginia for 37 years. “There was an article that came out when Virginia had one in-state commitment and the reason given [by Groh] was that the kids didn’t meet their needs.
“When you’ve already got a reputation for elitism and then, to say something like that, I think it makes it kind of tough [to recruit]. We’ve got enough schools coming down here that, obviously, somebody thinks there are players. But, in Virginia’s defense, they worked like crazy to get both of our guys.”
During the season, Groh is constantly harping on a no-excuses mentality. Why can’t there be a no-excuses approach to recruiting?
Before going to Ocean Lakes, Prince worked at James Madison at a time when ex-Cavalier assistant Danny Wilmer was on the Dukes’ staff. Wilmer later recruited some of the best players ever to come through the UVa program but was not retained when Groh replaced George Welsh.
“Because somebody (Groh) was told that he should do it, he wasn’t going to do it,” Prince said. “I think that’s one of the things that haunts them to this day.
“They say that George Welsh changed the face of University of Virginia football, but Danny Wilmer changed the face of University of Virginia football recruiting. He said, ‘I’m not going to let these guys leave the state and go to North Carolina and Clemson. We’re going to beat ‘em.’
“That’s what he did. He went into the middle of the state and found guys that nobody was looking at. Before he ever went to Virginia, he got Charles Haley. He was relentless.”
And, where is Wilmer now? He’s still employed by UVa in community relations.
“He could go out there tomorrow and not miss a beat,” Prince said.
That said, Prince was impressed by Groh’s initial staff, which included current I-A or I-AA head coaches Al Golden (Temple), Ron Prince (Kansas State), Danny Rocco (Liberty) and Mike London (Richmond).
“They were all young, energetic guys and what about that guy [John] Garrett who went to the Cowboys?” Prince said. “I think what you’ve got to ask about is the hires they’ve made after that.”
Golden and Prince were replaced as coordinators by London, who returned after a one-year stint in the NFL, and Mike Groh. Two newcomers to the staff were veterans Dave Borbely (offensive line) and Steve Bernstein (secondary).
Before hiring Borbely, Groh interviewed then-JMU assistant Curt Newsome, already established as a terrific recruiter. Not long after Newsome was passed over by Virginia, Tech head coach Frank Beamer found a position for Newsome on the Hokies’ staff.
Newsome either was the lead recruiter or shared responsibilities for nine of the 31 players who signed with Tech this week.
My theory on recruiting is that it’s mostly about the people doing the recruiting, including players who escort recruits on visits. The Cavaliers currently have an opening for a defensive coordinator, but even Groh admitted Wednesday that he has been making the defensive calls for the last two years.
London knew that when he took the job, but he figured he needed a coordinator’s title to round out his resume, and his two-year stint was a bonus for all concerned. It would be a mistake for Groh to name himself defensive coordinator or not hire a defensive coordinator when he could use the coordinator’s title as a bargaining chip.
To me, you go out and find the best recruiter you can. Make sure he knows his stuff but, if there’s a question about his age or experience, know that you’re there to help him. What the program needs more than anything right now is players.
