Virginia’s Shawn Moore says that if Virginia fires Al Groh, UVA need look no further than his old college roommate for a worthy replacement.
It’s been obvious to me that no matter what happened since he lost those first three games that Al Groh would be put under an evaluation process at the end of the year. That process would just ask is if this is something we really want to continue. The leadership of this department has to ask themselves that.
If a decision is made to make a change, I would love to be a part of the process to select a new coach.
And if coach Groh was meant to leave the program, my college roommate was Derek Dooley. And Derek comes from a long line of coaches. His father (Vince Dooley) coached Georgia to a National Championship. Coaching is in Derek’s blood. And the one thing I admire about him – he’s in the WAC conference right now with Louisiana Tech – is that he’s the head coach and the athletic director of a program that was in turmoil four years ago. I commend what he’s done.
He was in a wonderful place with coach Saban at LSU and with the Dolphins, but he decided to get his own program that was 1-10 the season before, and he’s turned them around, getting them to a bowl game.
I think he turned down some significant coaching offers this past year in the SEC, and I think he legitimately wants to be considered for the Virginia job. That’s not a secret. He’d be a great person to hire because he’s young – at 41 – and he has the charisma to recruit. I’ve seen it.
You get him in a place like Virginia, he can bring in some big name coaches and start winning some recruiting battles again and turn this place in the right direction. He would be the first name I would put at the top of the list.
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Finishing 4th in the 1990 Heisman voting, Shawn Moore is now a school administrator and assistant football coach at St. Albans School in Washington, D.C.
Got a question or comment? E-mail him here
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