Comments on: Focus | The next UVa. football coach

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:11:23 +0000

I agree Bud Foster would be great but ain’t going to happen. Although I do believe this may be the year that ole Bud may say goodbye to Va. Tech.. As for UVa the dude from Navy may be a good fit. He’s used to having to recruit kids who can read and write and have to actually go to class. This puts him way above 75% of the coaches out there. I personally want to be more competitive but do not want to go but so low to do it.

By: chrisgraham

chrisgraham — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:44:38 +0000

This would be a great Machiavellian move. Foster is a good recruiter and defensive whiz. Hiring him gets that on our side, and at the same time takes what he brings to Virginia Tech away from what they do.

I doubt he’s even on the long list. I can only imagine the reaction of the UVa. bluebloods to the very idea. There could easily be a movement to have my degree taken away for agreeing here that it could be a good move.

By: Brent

Brent — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:11:59 +0000

Is there any chance of UVA trying to lure away Bud Foster from Virginia Tech? He is a defensive mastermind and is a very good recruiter in the state of Virginia.

By: chrisgraham

chrisgraham — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:01:13 +0000

I’ll give the wishy-washy answer here. Could be this week. If it’s Troy Calhoun, for example, there is precedent for a coach leaving his current program before its bowl game (assuming Air Force will get a bowl this year at 7-5) and moving to the new job because of the pressing need to get a new staff in place before the early February recruit signing deadline.

Mike London could be an early announcement, too, if UR falls out of the playoffs early.

The longer the wait goes, the more likely it is we’re looking at Chris Petersen at Boise State or somebody like Charlie Strong, the defensive coordinator at Florida, neither of whom would be likely to leave ahead of a BCS game.

I would be surprised to have this linger into January and see UVa. end up with London or Calhoun (or Jim Grobe from Wake Forest). I wouldn’t be surprised to see it linger into January and end up with Petersen or Strong.

That’s a long, long nonanswer.

By: Alex Frayer

Alex Frayer — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:55:30 +0000

Perfectly stated. What is your estimate on when we will find out who the next coach is? After the bowl games?

By: chrisgraham

chrisgraham — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:49:33 +0000

The chances that no one has a clue as to who will actually get the job are great. Tony Bennett came out of left field, obviously.

That’s the fun part of speculating about these kinds of things.

I was thinking on this today about how Duke about 30 years ago hired a no-name basketball coach from Army that everybody assumed was the absolute worst hire in the history of sports. You can never be sure.

By: Alex Frayer

Alex Frayer — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:18:31 +0000

What are the chances no one has a clue who was going to be hired yet? If I remember correctly, when UVA entered the coaching search for basketball Bennett was not mentioned in the news until a couple days before he was signed. What do you think the time frame on a new coach is?

None of these coaches seem like a good option….Of course except Tuberville(won;t come with recruiting restrictions) and Peterson (who is in the media for defending non-bcs schools, why would he ever do that and then go to a bcs school?).

This obviously is just my opinion and I don’t get paid to give it, so it probably is not that valuable.

By: chrisgraham

chrisgraham — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:51:32 +0000

He reminds me of Tony Bennett, and also George Welsh, with the background at the service academy.

By: Brian Rostron

Brian Rostron — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:47:40 +0000

I assume that Air Force has to prepare for that Armed Forces Helicopter Bowl that they go to every year, but it’ll be interesting to see what comes of this. Calhoun kind of reminds me of Bennett.

By: chrisgraham

chrisgraham — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:39:11 +0000

Thanks for sharing that, Brian. According to my source, players were informed of Calhoun’s pending interview, and the sense was that they were being sold on him being the top choice.