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The HooYa! Blog expands upon the content and insights in HooYa! C-VILLE's UVa game-day publication. The HooYa! Blog is written by Trent Thurston, a sports-obsessed Virginia fan who bleeds orange & blue. He and his father, Myles, own and operate Eljo's Traditional Clothes, a UVa staple in Charlottesville for 59 years. Trent traveled with the Virginia Hoops team for six seasons helping out where needed with the radio crew. He thinks every year is the year we will win a national championship in football and basketball.


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HooYa! Blog
by HooYa
Virginia Football Possible Coaching Candidates
by Trent Thurston, September 24th, 2009 05:33pm

As Virginia (0-3) progresses through what might be their worst football season of the modern era, something tells me deep down inside that Al Groh will not be back next season.

So, now that we are in the midst of the bye week in our season, it's time for a coaching candidate discussion. Here are my top choices not including the four I wrote about last week. I've also included their current salaries. Please make your choices known by making a comment.

1- Chris Peterson Head Coach-Boise State University $850,000 per year.
Peterson's record in his first three years at BSU is 38-4. He's a west coast guy, but has an excellent offensive football mind. He does more with less, although it does scare he me a bit that he recruits a different caliber student-athlete than we typically have here at UVA.

2- Charlie Strong Defensive Coordinator- Florida Gators $310,000 per year
Strong was the first African-American coordinator in SEC history. Amazing to me that it took until 1999 for the SEC to have a black coordinator. Charlie is an excellent recruiter and has been at Florida since 2002. Enough said as we all know the success the Gators have enjoyed during his tenure.

3- Troy Calhoun Head Coach- United States Air Force Academy $725,000 per year.
Coach Calhoun played college football for the legendary Fisher DeBerry at Air Force. Calhoun is a disciplined coach with a offensive mind-set. George Welsh came to Virginia from the Naval Academy and that worked out pretty damn well.

4- Kevin Wilson Offensive Coordinator- University of Oklahoma $385,000 per year.
In college Coach Wilson walked-on to the to North Carolina football team and is one of the top assistants in all of college football. I have a special place in my football-heart for walk-ons. Oklahoma runs an exciting offense and under his tutelage the 2008 OU team had the most prolific offense in the history of college football. Our current offense here in Charlottesville is not exactly what I would call prolific.

5- Jon Tenuta Defensive Coordinator - Notre Dame Fighting Irish Salary is unknown. I'm guessing around $500,000.
Tenuta played college football here at Virginia. He's one of the brightest defensive-minds in college football. A perfect fit here in Charlottesville. Tenuta has got to be sick and tired of living in South Bend, Indiana! Come home Jon and fix your Alma mater's football program.  Go Hoos.

Filed under: Football, Sports, UVA
Comments
Trent-

Looking at your 8 choices total, I see some very strong options. This is hard for me to contemplate at this point, but the name game is interesting in itself. In the midst of all the discussions right now around this issue, I must say your analysis of the candidates and possible options is on point and well reasoned.

As far as passion and recruiting (in-state ... very important, I believe) London is the man!

Peterson is proven, I wonder if he wants to leave.

Charlie Strong - Will be a head coach somewhere and soon! That team will be lucky, so who knows!

There have been many many discussions surrounding Tommy Tuberville, what are your thoughts there? Too expensive ?

Also, do you think Phillip Fulmer would like to get back in the game ? If so, would this be an option.

Or is a younger coach more desirable, with a forward looking mentality?

There is an awful lot of appeal to UVa.

If a move is made, I would hope for a firebrand recruiter that builds upon in-state talent (you have to give it to the Hokies there).
Jeremy September 24th, 2009 08:40pm
Jeremy,
Just say no to Phil Fulmer. Did you check him out in High Def last week on CBS CSTV last week? He's aged ten years in one year since getting canned in Knoxville. Tommy Tubberville is well liked by some UVA fans, but Auburn recruiting tactics won't hack-it here in C-Ville. He's a Bud Foster type. Too much baggage. Mike London is who I think will ultimately get the job.

The University of Richmond is going to hate the Hoos if we take their president and their football coach in the same calender year!
Trent Thurston September 24th, 2009 09:24pm
Trent,
It's a good question for debate as to whether Virginia should be looking for an offensive or defensive-minded successor to Al Groh. It seems to me that we have definitely been able to recruit far better defensive stars in recent years. But I wonder if that was just Groh's preference. We've been waiting for that strong, fast, physical 6'5" receiver for what seems like an eternity. So I'm wondering whether a real offensive-oriented prospect might be able to supplement good defensive recruiting with a few superstars on offense. Doesn't seem to me that we've had a decent QB since Matt Schaub. (Hagans being the exception, but even he had some limitations...size being at the top of the list). And I'm not talking about a guy that has a lot of heart and makes a few plays here and there. I'm talking about a Philip Rivers type of quarterback recruit. Somebody who can play for at least two good seasons...and maybe more (like Rivers). Add a good solid running back, tight end and fullback to the mix (all of which we've had) and I think the recipe is there for hanging with the Hokies. I mean, we've had some damn good defenses under Groh. But I can only think of one year when we put teams away EARLY. And that was that '03 team. We've got to find a way to get that back. That was an awesome team. Anyone who says Virginia can't play at Tech's level obviously wasn't around for that season. We CAN do it. And clearly we can do with good student athletes.
Benji September 24th, 2009 10:31pm
Any of these options would be a vast improvement to our present head coaching situation, but reading this list my first thought is: what chance do we actually have of landing any of these guys? i mean the sorry state of our program does not exactly have coaches lining up for an interview. That said i think the best man for the job is Charlie Strong. The old adage defense wins championships still rings true as has been illustrated by Florida's success during his tenure. however i doubt anyone would argue that UVA's real problem is the offense or rather the lack thereof. This problem could most likely be solved with a couple of good recruiting classes and better utilization of those recruits(ie: Vic Hall).
C. M. Dalton September 26th, 2009 01:37am
Trent,
Do you have any other background about Tenuta? Wasn't he in the discussion when Groh was hired?

Should be interesting to watch this develop, and if the administration has already hired the same firm that did the hoops search, we likely won't know anything until the very end.
Woody September 27th, 2009 08:16am
Trent,
What about Skip Holtz, head coach of East Carolina? Very good coach, son of a legend, already had recruiting ties in UVA recruiting area.
Scott September 28th, 2009 11:21am
Scott,

Skip Holtz is a very competent choice, but I want a guy that either has Virginia (Mike London) ties, or a top-flight assistant like Charlie Strong at Florida.
Trent Thurston September 28th, 2009 12:30pm
Trent,
Tenuta?
Hasn't the vaunted Notre Lame Defense given up 450 yards each of the past
three weekends?
Besides Charley Weiss will probably eat him before he can jump ship.

Louie
L. Lerner September 29th, 2009 07:50pm
I really think UVA needs to focus their attention to Turner Gill (Buffalo) Head Coach.This Guy could recapture some zest that's missing in this program , not to mention recruiting in a state that VA Tech can't even land the top blue chippers.This guy did a phenomenal job recruiting at Nebraska,which is a good reason legendary coach Tom Osborne loved this guy! Listen UVA officials! Today's Coach has to be able to connect to it's players (recruiting) especially!! You see Turner Gill who is African American and was told he would never be the First black to start at Quarterback for the Cornhuskers, but the rest is history. Do what's right UVA,and follow what Miami (the U) has done with Randy Shannon. Why compete if you are not trying the Trophy (National Championships)? Believe me these young kids make their decision based on persuasion.
Kendall October 4th, 2009 11:53am
I think Virginia has a chance to turn this team into national powerhouse. That starts with their new head coach hire. Virginia needs to go for the gold on this one. I would like to see either Brian Kelly or Charlie Strong. Both are proven winners and recruiters. Let's not get hung up on the notion that we need to have a local guy and yada yada yada! I don't want to see anyone that is or was part of Al Grohs staff hired as our coach. It's time Virginia steps up and hires someone capable of taking this program to the next level. Virginia has the money and the backing of a great alumni. Please let's not SETTLE for some mid level coach because if we do that it's just going to be more of the same. Let's face it for years Virginia has been considered soft to other teams. Let's change this opinion by hiring a guy that will build this team up to the point that when we take the field other teams know we are going to punch them in the mouths and move up and down the field at will and they can't stop it! Let's hire someone that is about motivation and intensity. I'm tired of seeing slow, lazy, unmotivated teams taking the field for Virginia. Let's go after a proven winner!
Eric Davis November 3rd, 2009 03:04am
What about Bill Stewart at WVU? Has ties to the state, and Mountaineer fans are getting restless with him.
Bert November 5th, 2009 12:03pm
UVA needs someone who can keep top VA recruits in VA. The answer is Mike London. Ask any high school kid in Va who's had the privileged to talk to, or hear Coach London speak and I bet they'll tell you they would love to play for the guy.
Brock November 6th, 2009 08:43am
I think we have to hire a high-profile coach and I would love for us to bag Chris Peterson or Strong from Florida. There has to be a strong incentive for recruits to want to choose Virginia - academics, campus and facilities notwithstanding. It make take some bucks to to do it, but I hope we don't go with an also ran, but somebody on the way up. Go Hoos!
Ben Orcutt November 23rd, 2009 04:45pm
Any chance we could get former Cav safety Mike Pettine, currently def coor with jets, to come back to Charlottesville. His father coached my high school team.
Stephen November 29th, 2009 12:42am
What I'm hearing here is that we need someone local that knows the state in terms of recruiting. We need someone with name recognition to help lure big time players. We need someone with experience with winning. How about Bud Foster - just a little coup de grace while we're at it?
Jack November 30th, 2009 09:03am
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