Preaching Patience



Sorry to strike a nerve



Let’s take a walk down memory lane for a hot second Wahooze. For those of you that know my writing history, which I think is pretty much just Kendall and my father, you will recall that my former blog was started amidst the angst of watching Dave Leitao try his best to run our basketball program into the ground. I used it to vent my rage and explain how terrible the coach was and how much he needed to be fired. I’m using that to prove that I’m not a coach lover because what I’m about to write may come off that way.



Still the best player I've ever seen



                Since UVA had a bye week this weekend I got to throw on my Sean Taylor throwback Miami Hurricanes jersey and sit down and really soak in the state of that program. (I’ve stated before my feelings towards the canes but just as a refresher they were my first love of college football and where I started college). Watching them got me thinking, how different are these two programs really? Yes I know they have a much bigger tradition and more fertile recruiting soil but in reality we are a lot more similar than you might think. And those similarities should preach one thing to all UVA fans, and that is be patient with Mike London and see what happens. Walk with me Wahooze…

                I got to Miami in the last year of the Larry Coker era. Much like Al Groh Coker had allowed the once proud Miami football program to be run into the dirt. What started off as a strong program with national championships and repeated successful seasons, churning out first round draft picks and consistently making bowl games, had deteriorated into a massively underachieving and undisciplined team who not only struggled to get wins on the field, but even put butts in the seats. Sound familiar? Miami was losing touch with what had built its program to the height that it was at, and that was recruiting south Florida. Coker attempted to instill the Canes as a national recruiting giant, a move that while possible, was completely unnecessary. If you’ve seen The U on ESPN or read Cane Mutiny by Bruce Feldman (which is a great book) you know that a large part of the success of the Canes was due to the pride that playing for your hometown instilled in those players. In the last season under Larry Coker the Canes were 35% from out of state. 35%! That is almost a criminal number for a major program in one of the most fertile recruiting grounds in the country. Coker had lost track of how to build a successful team at the U and it came back to bite him. Similarly Al Groh neglected recruiting Virginia. In 2009 50% of the UVA football team was from outside the commonwealth. This number is somewhat misleading as some of the bigger recruiting pipelines for UVA are DeMatha and Good Counsel, both DC area schools, but in Maryland.  While Virginia is not Florida in terms of recruits it is still good enough to supply a football program capable of being a consistent bowl team. Ask Frank Beamer. That neglect put UVA in a hole, a big hole in the state of Virginia. Not only were they not winning, but they had no identity. No area roped off as their turf. No kids growing up wanting to follow their heroes to UVA. Groh and Coker both let that die at their schools and it ended up being their demise.

                Aside from Nevin Shapiro the biggest boost to the Miami recruiting scene and in turn program was Randy Shannon. A man that knew what it meant to be a Miami Hurricane and more importantly what it took to get the kinds of players that he needed to field a competitive team. Shannon instantly hauled in the number one recruiting class in 2008 and grabbed the nation’s attention. The team responded and has had high expectations the last three seasons. However those astronomical expectations at the U eventually lead to Shannon’s downfall as the Canes couldn’t quite make it over the hump. But the team was drastically better. In his time Shannon lowered the number of out of state players from 35% to 28% and more importantly raised the number of players from the city of Miami and the surrounding area to nearly 45%. The team had its identity reestablished and was on the right track. The only thing missing was wins on the field. With the program mostly rebuilt Miami went after the big name in X’s and O’s, Al Golden. While this move makes sense it’s indicative of a problem UVA has to avoid with Mike London, and that’s being quick on the trigger.

                Let’s get one thing straight. UVA is NOT Miami. Not by a long shot. Al Groh buried this school before leaving to the point that we need a backhoe to dig out. But look at comparisons between the two programs. We have a young energetic coach who respects UVA and wants to build something here the right way. He is looking to build the program within the commonwealth first. The program is already down to 41% out of state and Coach London is lowering that number daily. Building within the states instills that pride that a successful regional program needs, especially if we are competing with Tech for kids. The key is to be PATIENT. Don’t set your expectations too high. Would it be nice to get to a bowl game this year? Yes absolutely. But do we HAVE to? No. Not at all. It’s year two and we are a school with almost 0 history of success on the football field with these kids. How old does that make you feel? London does not have the luxury of recruiting the Virginia name brand to these kids because all these kids might see is douchebags vomiting on their boat shoes as the leave in the second quarter. Give London time and results will come. Give him support and they will come faster. Yes there are incredibly stupid decisions made on occasion but sometimes they work. London is coaching the team he wants and not the team that he has. If he has the players he will look smarter. He is learning, and the worst thing we could do is run him out of town. Because THAT will kill this program more than any coach ever could.