Butler: Life lessons, and some football
Former UVa. standout, NFL veteran talks politics, civic engagement at WHS
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Without football pads, wearing dress slacks and a light blue Oxford, no tie, Brad Butler could have passed for the high-school government teacher that he basically was for an hour at Waynesboro High School Thursday afternoon.
Which isn’t to say that the University of Virginia alum hadn’t been prepared by the NFL for the worst that the teens in the audience were capable of giving him.
“I play for the Buffalo Bills, and we have some pretty tough fans. I’ve heard just about everything in the book, so I’m not above being confrontational,” said Butler, a four-year NFL veteran in the fall and early winter, and a politico the rest of the year.
Butler’s visit to WHS was sponsored by the University of Virginia Center for Politics. Butler, a 2006 UVa. graduate and four-year starter at right tackle, interned at the Center for Politics, and learned the way of famed UVa. political-science professor Larry Sabato well. The message he scrawled on a flip chart at the front of the room relayed Sabato’s “Politics Is A Good Thing” mantra, and Butler told his personal story to try to relate to the teens how an informed and involved populace can make for good politics, good government and a good country. Read more
Groh: You know where he’s gonna go
Column by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Al Groh’s name is being connected to two defensive-coordinator jobs right now – the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, where he would reunite with long-time colleague Bill Parcells, and the ACC’s Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, where two-time ACC coach of the year Paul Johnson is looking to get a handle on his D after flaming out in the Orange Bowl last week.
You can guess where Groh is going to end up, can’t you?
“They’ve got that program winning in a hurry. As a fan or as an opposing coach, if winning impresses you, you have to be impressed with what Paul has done there,” Groh told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in acknowledging his interest in the Georgia Tech job. Read more
Focus | London: ‘I will make winning a priority’
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Mike London is back for a third stint on the sidelines at Scott Stadium, this time as the man in charge of righting the course of the wayward University of Virginia football ship.
“I will make winning a priority, but also by doing it the right way, and also by making sure that it’s OK to embrace the academic qualifications and expectations here at the University,” said London, who was formally introduced as the head football coach at UVa. at a press conference Monday afternoon. Read more
Focus | The next UVa. football coach
Column by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Before we get to the next UVa. football coach topic, I have a commentary on a point raised in Daily Progress sports editor Jerry Ratcliffe’s column on the sacking of Al Groh.
Ratcliffe wrote that it was “bush league” for the athletics department to have informed the news media of Groh’s dismissal before he could talk to his assistant coaches, most of whom ended up being jettisoned with him.
Maybe I’m more tied into what’s actually going on than the rest of the media, but I was first informed of the pending Sunday early-afternoon news regarding Groh’s dismissal on Thursday. Read more
Groh not ‘retained,’ given $4.33M buyout
National search begins for new UVa. coach
Story by Chris Graham
Al Groh’s tenure as head football coach at the University of Virginia has come to an end, with an announcement from athletics director Craig Littlepage that Groh, 59-53 in nine seasons at his alma mater, would not be retained.
In a statement released by the UVa. sports information office this afternoon, it was reported that Littlepage had met with Groh earlier today to inform him of the decision.
The statement stopped short of saying that Groh had been fired, and did not indicate either that Groh had resigned. Read more
Groh pulls strings all the way to end
Column by Chris Graham
I’m not buying it for a second, though I guess that makes me the butthead.
“When I visited the guy in the glass,” Groh said after reading the last line in the poem “The Man in the Glass” at what turned out to be his final press conference as the head football coach at UVa. last night, following a 42-13 loss to in-state rival Virginia Tech, “I saw that he’s a guy of commitment, of integrity, of dependability and accountability. He’s loyal, his spirit is indomitable, and he’s caring and loving.”
“I’m sure I will always call the guy in the glass a friend,” said Groh, before walking to the back of the media room underneath Scott Stadium to embrace his wife, Anne, and family members in a scene that struck me immediately as having been a piece of media-relations orchestration on the part of Groh. Read more
Poetic ending?
Groh goes out in verse
Story by Chris Graham
Photos by Mark Miller
With AFP Audio
A reporter’s question on Al Groh’s status at the University of Virginia following the Cavs’ 42-13 loss to in-state rival Virginia Tech prompted the nine-year head football coach to pull out a piece of paper.
True to form, the unpredictable Groh used the occasion to read a poem, “The Man in the Glass,” by Dale Wimbrow, with the theme that “the fellow whose verdict counts most in your life is the one staring back from the glass.”
“When I visited the guy in the glass,” Groh said after reading the last line in the poem, “I saw that he’s a guy of commitment, of integrity, of dependability and accountability. He’s loyal, his spirit is indomitable, and he’s caring and loving.” Read more
