Alright, we did it … and we did it fast.  The UVa administration took no time to make an announcement on Al Groh’s future, letting the veteran coach of nine years go just 18 hours after the 42-13 home loss to Virginia Tech.  And while I certainly don’t want anyone to get fired in this economy, I’m sure the $4.3 mil Groh received for his buyout makes it a lot easier to deal with.

SO, we’re back in a familiar position: looking for a new head coach to guide one of our revenue sports teams out of the basement and back into national prominence.  And, given the circumstances of the events that have taken place over the last 24 hours, I decided to toss aside what I surmised from the weekend and instead give you all a look into what I can safely surmise about UVa’s most current coaching search …

• I think Chris Peterson is a fine coach and he is doing great things at Boise St.  However, I highly doubt a coach of an undefeated team on the doorstep of a BCS berth would ever consider taking over a “middle of the road” ACC team which just completed a 3-9 season.  And, perhaps more importantly, if he would consider such a leap of faith, do we really want him as our coach anyway?
• Also, for those convinced that Peterson is the man, don’t forget that the last two Boise coaches (Dan Hawkins and Dirk Koetter) who got hired to greener pastures never amounted to much after leaving the Smurf-turf.
• As “media gadfly” Jeff White was quick to point out in his blog last week, the last time UVa hired a new coach, none of us were even mentioning the name Tony Bennett until he had already signed his contract.  The same could very well be said about our next football coach.
• As far as I can tell (which, granted, isn’t saying much) Al Golden and Mike London are the most obvious choices.
• Speaking of London, the objections most people have about him being a “Groh disciple” are weak.  Just because someone worked under you doesn’t automatically make them a disciple of yours.  I’ve had plenty of people I’ve worked for that I didn’t agree with and felt that if I was running the show I would do a lot of things differently.  Who’s to say London doesn’t feel the same way?
• Charlie Strong would be a great choice, but I’m not sure he has any interest in the job whatsoever.
• I would like to see Randy Edsall getting more consideration than he has so far.  I think he could do good things here, plus don’t forget about Casteen’s UConn connections.
• Though I do believe Ken Niumatalolo, Troy Calhoun and Derek Dooley will all be fine FBS coaches one day, I don’t think any of the three are the solution to our problem right now.
• In my opinion, Tommy Tuberville has as much of a chance of being our next football coach as does Bill Belichick.
• In summation, my top three choices are: 1. London 2. Edsall 3. (dream pick) Charlie Strong.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 1:05 pm and is filed under The Good Ol Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.