One of the basic elements of any strong football program is quality assistants who stay a long time. Look at Virginia Tech where Frank Beamer has kept guys like Bud Foster and Bryan Stinespring forever. Florida State is another classic example. Mark Richt, Chuck Amato and Mickey Andrews were there forever and the Noles kept winning and winning. It was no coincidence that FSU’s reign on top became tenuous almost immediately after Amato and Richt left.
So what happens at a school that hasn’t had quite as much success but still loses its coordinators? Virginia’s about to find out.
Associate Head Coach Danny Rocco was just hired as Liberty University’s new head coach.
Offensive Coordinator Ron Prince was just hired as the new head coach at Kansas State.
And Defensive Coordinator Al Golden is said to be Temple’s new head coach.
Wow. Talk about your ouches. On the one hand, I guess it’s great for the Cavs that their coaches were so well regarded. On the other hand, Al Groh now has to replace all three of his most critical coaches. And it’s not like UVA has been tearing up the world the past two seasons.
Al Groh came in and didn’t exactly turn things around immediately at UVA, but he did bring hope and landed several excellent recruiting classes. His teams have reached the level of good and occasionally very good, but haven’t been able to hit excellent or even stay at very good.
Will he be able to take that next step up after losing so many coaches? I predict some dark times ahead in Charlottesville.