Football Poll: How High is Up?
(Playing around with technology a little here … hope this works.)
The hot topic of the day around Grounds and around Charlottesville is yesterday’s removal of head football coach Al Groh. Predictably, there is all sorts of speculation about who will succeed Groh; let it be known that we here at UVA Today have no inside information, so don’t even ask.
But that doesn’t prevent us from wanting to get into the act. Acting totally unofficially, of course (since no one asked our opinion), we thought it might be fun to throw a poll out there. Instead of guessing the identity of the next coach, though, we want to ask: What should the University of Virginia be shooting for in college football? What would success look like?
So here’s our poll:
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Posting your comment
Alex T. Crockertt | December 1, 2009 @ 10:41 am
How successful do we want the Schools of Medicine, Law or Engineering to be? Just good enough to get by?
Somewhat better than average? Among the top 10 or 25 in the country…or in the world? My point is: why set an arbitrary ceiling on athletic achievement? We don’t do it in academics or on standards of conduct!
Purely and simply, I think EVERYTHING connected with the University should strive for excellence. If intercollegiate athletics have a legitimate place on the Grounds—and I happen to believe that they do—why should they be the exception to the rule? Precisely how you measure “excellence” is something we might debate all day…but I’d hate to see us settle for anything LESS than at least STRIVING to be a perennial national championship contender. (And, certainly, a 3-9 record and not even coming close to being the best in our own backyard can scarcely be defined as “excellence” by anyone’s vocabulary!
Ken Klinger | December 1, 2009 @ 8:51 pm
Let the truth be known….football and men’s basketball pay the way for many, many other sports at the University. This is a good thing in that it keeps the funding “inside” the University’s broad based community, e.g., no state funds! It is my goal, as a VAF donor, to support all the athletic programs. I tire of hearing only about fball and bball; yet, the reality is those two are the fuel that powers everything else. For me to keep donating it is important the integrity of the programs (all programs) including coaches, staff and players be at the very top!!! A bowl game is not my measure of success, consistently being in the top 5 for The Directors Cup IS THE ONLY MEASURE that should count!