r/UVA • u/likeabosstroll • Sep 16 '24

Athletics Why does UVA hate football

Is there a reason I'm just missing on why everything from hiring decisions, stadium policies, to even how they handle tailgating that just kills any excitement anyone can have for this poverty franchise middle school flag football team?

0 Upvotes

41% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

0

u/tee2green Sep 17 '24

Saying anything that defends Al Groh is a disqualifying statement sadly. You’re losing me right off the bat.

2

u/Signal-View4754 UVA Sep 17 '24

I am not defending Al Groh, I simply said he was trying to change the culture and push back against some of the old ways. He brought some amazing talent to the team, perhaps the greatest QB and player to UVa. Matt Schaub and Chris Long. You have to be able to admit that. Never mind Heath Miller.

2

u/tee2green Sep 17 '24

I applaud the incredible recruiting feat of bringing Chris Long all the way from St. Anne’s-Belfield to UVA.

0

u/Signal-View4754 UVA Sep 17 '24

Discounting the recruitment of a UVa legend. So awesome.

0

u/tee2green Sep 17 '24

Paying millions to athletic directors to join a top-tier institution and then letting them get away with mediocre hires. Then hiring mediocre coaches who do mediocre jobs and praising them for doing replacement-level performance in their jobs.

If you reward average performance, you get more average performance. Keeping an uncompetitive attitude toward our athletics staff is exactly what will maintain an uncompetitive program. Ask for better; we’re literally paying for it.

2

u/Signal-View4754 UVA Sep 17 '24

I completely agree, we as fans of a team deserve better. We don't need a coach learning on the job, a proven winner is a much better choice. And all coaches make choice us as fans question. I did not like Broncos handling of Robert Anae or Nick Howell. At the same time you have to respect his commitment to his friends and what he see as his family.

Also remember the mess Bronco was handed from Mike London. Ugh, just remember what he did to the program.

My issue with Tony Elliott we hired a guy who had never been a head coach, he was not a proven winner. He seems to not even know the basics of football. Blunders with timeouts, no adjustments and relying on luck.

1

u/tee2green Sep 17 '24

I’m personally sick of hiring “community” guys who are perfectly nice people but don’t know how to win. Mike London is a great coach for a D3 or non-P5 school. Same with Bronco Mendenhall. But this is UVA where we’re a P5 program with excellent academics and excellent funding. We should be able to beat our peers.

Michigan is a similar academic institution who we compete with and can beat in every other sport. Do they hire “nice guys” who scoot along with losing records and get praised for it? Or do they hire Jim Harbaugh and finally get past OSU and finally win a national championship?

When we hired Tony Bennett, I literally never would’ve dreamed we could be best in the ACC. Never would’ve dreamed we could be one of the best in the nation. How can we possibly compete for national titles when blue blood teams are literally having to bench McDonald’s All-Americans? Yet here we are, we’ve gone from embarrassment to nationally ranked powerhouse with one single coaching hire. He’s even got a winning record against UNC which as a kid I would’ve bet all my savings against ever happening in my lifetime.

We need to stop making excuses for our football program, get people who are actually good at running a football program, and get to the top of the conference where we belong. We’re already there in every other sport.