An Open Letter to Craig Littlepage

Dear Mr. Littlepage:

For the last two weeks, Al Groh has been the subject of fans' criticism, scorn, and boos. Sometime in the next few months (or if unsubstantiated rumors are to be believed the next week), you'll begin the search for a new football coach, and the heat will be on you.   

To be sure, Virginia fans have unreasonable expectations. When a George Welsh-led football program won at least seven games from 1987-99, Virginia fans often complained that he couldn't get the program over the hump to being great, and cited his contemporaries (Georgia Tech's Co Nat'l Championship team in 1990, Mack Brown's 1997 UNC team that went 11-1, and Frank Beamer's pair of 11-1 squads in 1999 and 2000) as evidence that it should have been possible. Similarly, Virginia fans didn't fully appreciate its own Jeff Jones, who brought his team to the NCAA Tournament in his first five seasons, including an improbable run to the Elite Eight in 1995 behind one marginal NBA player (Junior Burrough) and a guard who got the absolute maxium out of his limited physical ability (Harold Deane). Since being shown the door here, Jones has made the Dance twice at former doormat American, while Virginia was either sitting at home or hosting CBI games.

But its been a tough couple of years, and that can humble a fan base.  They've lost to teams that don't belong on the same field or court as the University of Virginia. William & Mary is the most recent example, but its been too common in recent years: Liberty (Hoops '08), Wyoming (Football '07), Western Michigan (Football '06), Fordham (Hoops '05). They've been embarrassed by teams they should always be able to compete with, especially at home. A post-renovation low graced the confines of Scott Stadium Saturday because everyone else that thought about attending cringed at what they might see. Perhaps they had flashbacks to a pair of whippings by Xavier (the last two season in Hoops), a 35-point gridiron loss in 2008 at Connecticut, who just started a I-A program this decade, or a 25-point thrashing at the hands of a Dave Wannstedt-led Pittsburgh squad in 2007. And they've gotten their brains beat in by Virginia Tech. We'd like to beat Virginia Tech more than once a decade in football, and we'd like to beat their brains in in everything else.

In the meantime, we're happy you've built an Athletic Department that competes for the Director's Cup. We congratulate the ACC Champions in Tennis, Cross-Country, Swimming & Diving, Track & Field, and Baseball. We applaud the fact that our lacrosse and soccer teams regularly compete for NCAA titles. And we think its great that you've revitalized some programs (field hockey) and built others from the ground up (rowing). But tennis and field hockey don't fill the stands, attract alumni donations, and generate money so all your others sports can compete on a national level.

Football and men's basketball do.  And fair or not, you won't be judged on building Stanford-East; you'll be judged on the successes and failures of the University's most visible programs.  And the blame for their present failures ultimately lies at the feet of the guy picking the men to run those programs.  You whiffed on your first big hire (Dave Leitao in 2005). The returns on Tony Bennett, the man you picked to replace him, have been good so far, but you'll have to deliver on your next hire if you want to avoid repeats of the sparse crowd you saw against TCU on Saturday.  We won't pretend to know for certain who the best man for the job is, although I'm sure we'll have our opinions.  But its on you to get it right.  Otherwise, there's plenty of room on that hot seat once Coach Groh vacates it.   

Signed,

The Scribes of the 7even Win Society

P.S. - if you do bring us the next George Welsh or Jeff Jones, we reserve the right to raise our expectations again.  Sorry, comes with the territory.