Tudor's Take: Groh needs to beat Duke

The first ACC coach to directly feel the heat of David Cutcliffe’s improvements at Duke will be Virginia’s Al Groh.

By the time Virginia visits Duke on Sept. 27 (both sides are blessed with open dates leading in), Groh will be facing a must-win assignment.  It’s a strange turn of events for the guy who last season was voted league coach of the year after leading his team to a surprising 9-4 and a respectable, yet losing effort against Texas Tech in the Gator Bowl.

But Groh, a 64-year-old UVa alum, has been flirting with danger since the 2005 season. His four-game losing streak against Virginia Tech has become an obvious burden, but the 45-10 loss to Connecticut on Saturday ignited immediate rumblings throughout the Wahoo ranks.

Should Groh wash out at Duke, it’s a lock that he’ll be living in a foxhole for the final eight games. Not since 1999 have the Blue Devils won in the series, and that one (24-17) was in overtime.

Fortunately for Groh, there is a clearly marked escape route, beginning with a win at Duke and backed by three straight wins in Charlottesville against Maryland, East Carolina and North Carolina. A 4-0, maybe 3-1, stand in those games would be enough to win Groh some friends. Anything else would put him so deep in thick soup that even back-to-back wins over Clemson and the Hokies at schedule’s end might not enough.

And don’t under-estimate the importance that non-conference game against ECU on Oct. 11.
For one thing, lots of schools are making eyes at Pirate coach Skip Holtz.

For another, many Virginia  fans have no affection whatsoever for the Pirates. That rub dates all the way back to 1975, when the Pirates made their first visit to Scott Stadium and won the game 61-10 with then-ECU coach Pat Dye using very few of his first-stringers during the second half.

Then, in one of the really strange developments in regional football history, several ECU upperclassmen made their way into the Virginia locker room about 30 minutes after game’s end. Those ECU players severely chastised Virginia’s players for what the Pirates perceived as having quit in the game on then-Virginia coach Sonny Randle (another UVa alum).

Randle had coached ECU to  successive 9-2 records in 1972 and ‘73. Randle was visibly moved by the display of devotion from his former team, and the Pirate players quickly apologized for their irrational actions, but a strong emotional undercurrent was set that still eats at the Virginia old-line, which is deep and wide.

Through no fault of his own, Groh inherits that aspect of his school’s football history, not to mention the long-standing ill will with Duke (Steve Spurrier vs. George Welsh famous feuds), North Carolina and Maryland.

In short, Groh’s in a full-blown dilemma.  But who, a year ago this time, could have ever guessed that the onset of a football coaching crisis could hinge on beating Duke?