It's an issue no one seems to want to address. Partly because it's grossly unfair to the hundreds of student-athletes, coaches and staff that work so hard and achieve so much. Partly because we operate in a sports world dominated by money and TV contracts -- and yet, in collegiate athletics, the head honchos are supposed to deny that. Partly because it's the end of the year. But in my mind, it's an issue nonetheless.
Virginia Athletics has an image crisis -- maybe not a full-blown, board-up-the-windows crisis but certainly something worth addressing. Run with me for a second. We're the Jeffersonian University, where mind, body and soul can accomplish anything -- and this I don't doubt. Athletic Director Craig Littlepage certainly believes in this, as the 10-year plan he crafted once becoming AD several years ago sets goals that other large, public universities must see as utterly laughable: 100 percent graduation rate among all student-athletes who complete their eligibility, 70 conference championships and 12 national championships to name a few. I'm a big believer in setting the bar high for yourself, and so when I initially heard this plan, I smiled somewhat suspiciously, because I don't know realistically if it can be done -- but who am I to say we can't or shouldn't try?
In an exclusive interview with Matt Boucher of The Cavalier Daily, Littlepage admitted to being slightly behind pace for those goals but pointed out that we have just reached full funding for all of our sports (something very few Universities do), and he expects a flurry of championships to start rolling in the back end of the decade.
The spring of 2006 certainly attests to this game plan, as Virginia athletics have competed quite well across the board. We have the top-ranked men's lacrosse team, a baseball team that's ranked as high as 13th in the nation, a men's tennis team that nearly scored its third consecutive ACC Tournament championship this past weekend, a women's tennis team that has the ACC Coach of the Year in Mark Guilbeau and a women's lacrosse team ranked in the top-five nationally heading into their ACC Tournament this weekend. With a list like that, the spring season sports are most definitely carrying their weight in the goals Littlepage has set.
HOWEVA, in the world of today's college athletics, universities aren't immediately defined by the overall success of their so-called "smaller" programs. And yes, as unfair of a label as that is, when you want to talk about college sports, you have to look at the money -- the money that funds so much of what this University is capable of doing. This means that you're talking about two sports programs: football and men's basketball.
So would you consider Virginia a football school? A basketball school? A lacrosse school? A soccer school? A baseball school? A swimming school? A tennis school? Littlepage and the Athletics Department would love to have the answer to all those questions be, quite simply, "yes."
But we're not quite there -- and mainly because of those first two questions. There's been no denying the Athletics Department has been making a push to make Virginia a national powerhouse on the gridiron over the last several years. And while the program was once considered up-and-coming, there's no doubt things have stagnated a bit. Coming into Coach Groh's sixth season, the ex-NFL head coach has made it known that 2006 is a rebuilding year. But in the sixth year of the program, a national powerhouse is reloading, not rebuilding. So we're not quite a football school, yet.
But what about basketball, you ask? After a successful season by any definition from Coach Leitao, some excitement is being generated. With the sparkling new arena ready for action come next November, Virginia basketball is primed to return to its glory days of the 1970s and '80s. But with just two NCAA appearances in the past decade, declining attendance numbers in recent years and a general malaise towards the sport that can be felt on Grounds, Virginia hardly has earned the title of "basketball school" these days.
Add those last two paragraphs up, and I come to wonder about the image of Virginia athletics. With Littlepage's 10-year plan, we want to be seen as an across-the-board national athletic powerhouse. And steps are being made to enact that goal, as evidenced by the immense success of our spring season. But in today's college athletics world, people will only begin to notice the achievements of Virginia's total athletic program when our money-making, big-time programs are truly on the national stage.
And until that time, we will continue to remain a top-tier school with a nice athletic program. A powerhouse? Unfortunately, not yet.
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