Tony Elliott had to look out at the sea of empty seats in Scott Stadium and wonder to himself, Did I really leave Clemson for this?
Though actually, he didn’t think that.
He didn’t admit to it, anyway.
“I think that in this profession, you can be fast and take the wrong job. But I believe I was patient, and the Lord opened up the right door, and I’m in the right place,” Elliott said after scoring a win in his first game as a head coach, with Virginia’s 34-17 win over Richmond on Saturday.
The environment wasn’t anywhere near a gameday at Clemson, which averaged 78,732 fans in its 81,500-seat Memorial Stadium in its seven home games in 2021.
The announced crowd was just under 42,000 in the 61,500-seat Scott Stadium on Saturday for the opener, though there was word in the press box that closer to 27,000 had been scanned through the turnstiles.
A lot less hung than even that around for the second half. The student section had at least filled up the lower level behind the visitors’ bench and the adjoining section of the open end of the stadium behind the west end zone, but the kids apparently had better things to do by mid-afternoon.
The in-game host exclaimed his way during one media timeout about giving out a pizza to fans in the upper deck.
It was an odd choice to go with the upper deck for the promotion. The fans in the upper portions of the stadium numbered in the dozens.
Even at less than half capacity, lines at concession stands kept people waiting for hot dogs and sodas for long stretches, almost as if the folks in gameday operations somehow expected an even smaller turnout.
The product on the field looked … fine.
The offensive line largely kept Brennan Armstrong upright, and paved the way for the ground game to gain 259 yards.
The defense looked suspect at times, but got some big stops when it needed to.
The stuff outside the lines shows how far Virginia Football has fallen, dating from the end of the Al Groh era in the ‘aughts, through the Mike London debacle, then Bronco Mendenhall’s one good year in six years of mediocrity otherwise.
You wanted to think going in that people would flock to Scott Stadium to usher in the new era with a championship-winning coach and a fringe Heisman Trophy QB.
Saturday was a stark reminder of the herculean task ahead of Elliott to get people in Central Virginia to care about football again.
Postgame, reporters tried to get Elliott to talk about the culture, or lack thereof, but he didn’t give the media the soundbites they were looking for there.
“All the pieces are here that I was looking for to build something special, and for me it was just building something special that everybody that’s a part of it can be proud of –not about myself, but about everybody that’s involved,” Elliott said.
In his introductory remarks, Elliott offered his thanks to UVA president Jim Ryan and athletics director Carla Williams for the opportunity, his players and staff, the fans who did come out, “every person that touches this program.”
He even promised to “get after the rest of the folks,” addressing the empty seats, the lapsed fans.
“Hopefully they got a glimpse of where we’re taking this program and what we can be,” the coach said.
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Chris Graham
