Welcome to the Seven Win Society

While UVA was in the process of searching for a new men’s head basketball coach, I looked everywhere and discovered that there was very little out there in the way of really good UVA sports blogs. With all due respect to the Sabre, which requires you to pay for content, and the print media, some of whom I worked alongside many moons ago and very much respect, I was looking for some intelligent insight on UVA sports, and most (but not all) of the time, found it lacking.

So I reached out to a few of my former brethren, and we decided we’d take our shot. Our intent is not to replace the Doug Doughtys and Jerry Radcliffes of the world, nor is that a realistic goal. Both are very good at what they do, and are more plugged in than we will ever be. But we did want to provide a forum for those of us UVA alums that are looking for another voice discussing UVA sports.

Why Seven Win Society? Well, other than a tip of the cap to the famous stewards of the University, seven wins is often viewed as a line of demarcation for a successful season, whether it be a 7-4 in football, which will usually get you a decent bowl invite, or 7-9 in ACC basketball, which puts you right on the line for a NCAA Tournament invite. From 1987 to 1999, Virginia was only one of three schools (Michigan and Nebraska were the others) to win at least seven games in each season. At the time, Virginia fans complained about George Welsh’s failure to take the program to the next level. After eight years of Al Groh, who has failed to eclipse seven wins in two of the last three seasons, most Virginia fans would take 7-5 every year (and then complain when it happens). Similarly, in hoops, it seemed (to me at least) that UVA’s hoops teams were perenially 7-9 in ACC play. The history books actually show its been somewhat rare – Jeff Jones, Pete Gillen, and Dave Leiato each registered only one such season. Still, a friend of mine said last year he’d take what Seth Greenberg does for Tech (7-9 last year, but no NCAA bid to show for it and only one bid since joining the ACC). I can only hope Tony Bennett has his sights set higher than that. I know I do.