AFTER another embarrassing loss to Connecticut, many University alumni, students and fans are questioning head coach Al Groh and the direction of the football program. As well they should.
But as the debate about the program’s future intensifies, it is important that we remember the modest roots of Virginia football and not allow fanciful notions of national championships to become more important than our sense of tradition, academic excellence and integrity off the field.
I came to the University in the fall of 1990 — eight years after the arrival of George Welsh. Astute Virginia fans will recall that my first experience at Scott Stadium was the famous 20-7 victory over the Clemson Tigers, snapping a 29 game losing streak against a longstanding football powerhouse. Those same astute fans also know that Virginia achieved the unthinkable that year, a No. 1 ranking in the nation. After perennial losing seasons and years of celebrating the simple achievement of first downs, the University had one of the best teams in college football. Like many fans, I had become hooked, and for the rest of the 1990’s attended every game played in Charlottesville.
I was excited to return for those crisp fall games, to walk down the Lawn, to see a number of fans — young and old — wearing ties and dresses, to stop by a few tailgates for fellowship with friends and to hear the Pep Band’s latest humorous commentary on affairs local, state and national. Most importantly, it was rewarding to see a group of quality student athletes competing with — and often beating — the historic powerhouses such as Florida State and Texas. Nuclear engineer Tom Burns, Virginia Law graduate and Board of Visitors member Stephen Phelan, and Commerce School graduates Ronde and Tiki Barber — just to name a few — were the model Virginia football players, demonstrating quality on the field and in the classroom.
As the decade drew to a close, however, a funny thing happened. Virginia fans began to want more. Suddenly, our sleepy little Scott Stadium had become much larger. Donations flowed to pump up the facilities to help lure blue chip recruits. And then came calls for Coach Welsh to step down because he “couldn’t win the big one.” Seven-win seasons for close to 15 years suddenly wasn’t good enough for Virginians.
Coach Welsh, whether he was ready or not, did step aside to make way for a new NFL-trained Virginia alumnus to show us to the promised land. No more ties or dresses. No halftime tailgate excursions. No more Pep Band. And, oddly, for a school steeped in our nation’s founding principles, no more signs allowed at football games to ensure “a positive game-day environment” (code for “don’t criticize Al Groh”). In their place, apparently, insert a sea of orange t-shirts, loud NFL-style music over the loudspeaker, a new marching band and some twirlers, and suddenly we would have the atmosphere necessary to “win.”
So what’s the result? Through my eyes, I see a school that instead of taking a great thing and building further on its core competencies — tradition and academic excellence — chose to be one of the Joneses. How are orange t-shirts distinguishable from Clemson, Virginia Tech or Tennessee? How is a non-descript marching band different from Maryland or Duke? How are loud songs over the loudspeaker different from Penn State or an NFL game?
The answer is that they are not. And worse yet — our performance in the classroom has not improved, it has by at least some measures become worse. We are not mentioned in the same breath with Notre Dame, Duke and the military academies whose athlete graduation rates often exceed 90 percent. Instead, we graduate closer to 65 percent of our football players, lost one third of a recent recruiting class due to academic problems, and continue to have off-field problems with our players.
I don’t pretend to suggest some of today’s players are not model student athletes, nor am I calling for those “nostalgic days of old.” There is always room for improvement. To be sure, our academic performance was never good enough. Simply put, Virginia should strive for the highest academic achievement and graduation rates in the nation — even at the expense of performance on the field.
And of course our traditions could have been improved — but we should perpetuate tradition, not undermine it. If we are to remove the Pep Band and replace it with a marching band — replace it with a band that has something unique to offer and somehow says “Virginia” instead of “we want a marching band too.” Combat debauchery and overflowing bourbon, but don’t undermine a traditional tailgating experience. And how about a head coach who wears a coat and tie on the sideline instead of encouraging students to wear orange t-shirts?
There was a time when — even after we lost — I felt proud to defend Virginia football as highly competitive but more importantly, steeped in tradition and academic excellence. Today, when we lose — I have nothing more to say. And that is a reason to question Al Groh and should serve as the starting place for discussion of the future of the program.
Chip Roy graduated from the Commerce School in 1994.
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