Groh gone
Al Groh has been fired by Virginia, as expected. I don't want to pretend to know more than I actually do (reading uninformed opinion pieces about RR has taught me this), but the way I saw it was that each year would start off weak, and then Groh would get his team to start caring. 2007 started with a 3-23 loss at Wyoming, a pretty mediocre team. But then they pulled off 7 straight wins, lost to NC State by 5, won 2 more including a 48-0 shellacking of Miami at the last game in the Orange Bowl, eventually finishing 9-4. It seems like he would slack off in the beginning of each season and then start coaching once his seat heated up a bit and then start pulling out the wins, but he just couldn't finish the past 2 years. He wasn't a miserable recruiter, usually getting at least one Rivals100 guy a year. He was just a shitty coach.
What do you all think about Al Groh as well as all the other coaches getting fired or being put on the hot seat at the end of this season (i.e. Hawkins, Kragthorpe, Richt?, etc.)? Have they been given a fair amount of time, are their teams undermanned, or do they just suck? MGoDiscuss.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:33 PM ^
he kinda reminded me of Chain Galey at GaTech - you just knew each you were going to get a mediocre and uninspiring football team.
Groh had a fair shake at it, by this time I think it is clear that he can get you 9 wins at best but is probably going to get around 6 or 7 wins.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:35 PM ^
Groh definitely got more than a fair shake. He put together a number of top-20 recruiting classes over the years and never turned them into on-field success. I'm amazed he lasted as long as he did. The ACC has been ripe for the picking the last few years, so it has to make the struggles even more frustrating for Wahoo fans.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:51 PM ^
i seriously thought we had a player named Groh and was shitting my pants about the depth chart
November 29th, 2009 at 3:03 PM ^
#88 Roh. I did the same thing. Title should include OT.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:58 PM ^
Kragthorpe has been the biggest disappointment I can remember as a coach. When he was at Tulsa, he was one of the hottest "up and coming" coaches in the game. Because I thought RR would never leave WVU and didn't consider him an option, my "short list" to replace Carr was Meyer, Peterson, and Kragthorpe, in that order.
I am shocked that he has done so badly at Louisville, but quite happy that he didn't end up at UM.
November 29th, 2009 at 3:52 PM ^
If you didn't think Rodriguez would leave WV, why on earth would you think Urban Meyer was an option?
November 29th, 2009 at 4:27 PM ^
Is Urban Meyer a Florida alum?
November 29th, 2009 at 8:26 PM ^
...
The Urbe was an undergrad at Cincinnati (psychology) and snagged a masters at tOSU (in some jerk-off "sports administration" program).
November 29th, 2009 at 3:06 PM ^
Groh was given more than enough time.
But, your criticism is pretty ridiculous: "the way I saw it was that each year would start off weak, and then Groh would get his team to start caring". And, "It seems like he would slack off in the beginning of each season and then start coaching once his seat heated up a bit and then start pulling out the wins".
There is not a coach of any sport at any level that would actually do this.
November 29th, 2009 at 3:35 PM ^
It's cool, I hear that. It's just how it appeared, but I don't know what goes on in the locker room. I agree that it's highly unlikely.
Just for the record, I agree that Groh deserved to be canned and had more than enough time. I'm not questioning that at all. The opinion questions aren't really about him or Weis but rather have more to do with other coaches like Hawkins, Kragthorpe, Friedgen (not a time issue), etc.
November 29th, 2009 at 5:07 PM ^
"Shitty coach" is more than just a little unfair.
November 29th, 2009 at 5:08 PM ^
Richt has had plenty of time and talent at Georgia. I don't think he's done a great job of coaching that team. Good, yes. Great, no. He's kind of in the quandary we found ourselves with Lloyd Carr. If you're Georgia, are you satisfied with having a good team every year or are you willing to take the high risk, high reward chance of having a great team?
November 29th, 2009 at 5:19 PM ^
Groh and Weis will find plenty of work back in the NFL from which they came.
November 29th, 2009 at 7:53 PM ^
there are other hot, up-and-comers who sooner or later flame out, like Kragthorpe, Franchione (Texas A&M), Hawkins, and Dirk Koetter, to name just a few. While he never had had a head coaching job before, I think you could put Weis into that category as well. He was a hot name when he was initially hired. For a very brief moment John Cooper was considered a hot commodity based on his record at Arizona State, and his overall record at OSU was certainly pretty good, except for Michigan. I'm not a coach so I'm just totally guessing, but sometimes I wonder if coaching success is as much having to do with right place at the right time as anything else. I wonder how Bo would have done if he had taken over a truly awful program like Iowa or Northwestern in 1969. My hunch is that he would have gotten them competitive relatively quickly, but that's a different thing than getting them to the top of the conference every year to start off with.
November 29th, 2009 at 11:14 PM ^
I just never though Groh commanded authority as a college coach. He always seemed out of place, like an NFL guy trying to act the part of a college guy (have we heard that one somewhere else as well?)
Wearing those sweatshirts at games made him look like a bum and/or a gym rat who lacked the professionalism of a serious coach. Joe Paterno wears a tie, for Chrissakes.