Coach Al Groh

It has been obscurred by poor results in recent years but I wanted you guys to know that Al Groh is one helluva football coach. He had a grand plan for his alma mater and somewhere along the line the stuff he could not control did him in. He was never a great fit (or even a good fit) from a PR standpoint. He fashioned a "tribe" (his words) of coaches that captured the imagination of the UVA faithful. He then went about his business well, making progess at first; all the while structuring a public image that eventually would choke his program to its death.

Personally he was everything that you've heard. He did come off as arrogant, he did "grade" reporters questions in his mind and often answered accordingly. I found him to be very interested in what I had to say when we talked and I never really understood why other people didn't receive that same message that I did. He knew that people wanted a "back slapper" and that he was on the edge of being a hermit when compared to other Head Coaches. He didn't care; he had no intention of changing. To him, he would let the play on the field do his talking. I don't think he sees that connection even today; PR is part of the Modern Football Coach's job.

My phone rang 12 hours after he had been hired. We had never met. I had just been quoted in the RTD about Tech's success in recruiting the state. I guess he got my number from his son Mike who I got to know while he worked as a stock broker in Richmond. Mike and I had actually talked about doing a talk show together before Al had him join the Jets staff as a QC guy. We instantly hit it off and talked for about 45 minutes. At the end of the conversation he said; "well, Gary what do you think should be the first thing that I do to get all of this done?" I told him to hire Mike London and put him in the 757. He laughed and said; "I think I can make that happen". Of course that was already a done deal. He didn't need my advice or my approval. He made that perfectly clear. He invited me to come up to spring practice and told me to stay in touch.

Because the radio thing was doing enough to get me press credentials I went to about 7 games a year through 2004. Most of my one on one conversations with Groh from then on was at the the Spring game, All Metro banquet or around signing day. At that point he always called me "coach" (because of Arena Football) and I always thought that he enjoyed the fact that he could talk above the sound bites that he would reluctantly give the press. I don't count him as a friend because we never got close; we justed talked football and about players.

A lot of bad things have been said about Coach Groh. I will tell you that I think that he believed that you earned a right to have his attention. I think that is THE "Parcell" thing about those coaches that we now know so well. That is why he will leave a squad of players that HAD earned that right and will miss him.

I hope he coaches again. I hope he gets a job that allows him to just recruit, evaluate and coach "his guys". He was a true "piece of work". I am hoping that his assistants all get re-settled, I think they will tell you that they learned a lot from Groh.