Orange and Maroon in Arlington - Basketball Edition

This blog is a continuation of my last post (in April!), summarizing some of the discussion during Bill Roth's, Scot Loeffler's, and James Johnson's joint visit to talk to the local northern VA Hokie fan base.

Over the course of the interview, Hokie basketball coach Jim Johnson's comments are highlighted below.

In assessing the past season, Johnson asserted that he had a "good group of guys" who started well, but faded at the end. Despite the swansong at the end, Johnson said that he never had to coach their "effort", which he said was there all season. In retrospect, with a young team and lack of depth, maybe he should have "slowed things down".  There was a sense of urgency, but the pace was probably too fast. 

Looking forward, he is excited about the 6 new freshmen (now 5, with highly-touted Donte Clark's departure) and the Adam Smith transfer.  Smith will practice with scout team this year, but is going to be "someone to watch" in the future. In an 8-week session this summer, the team will be asked to focus on skills and conditioning, 2 hours per day. He also expect Cadarian Raines to continue to step up on the court.

His vision is for a hard-playing team that "plays fast" and will be tough to prepare for.  He also wants to recruit "more guys like Erick Green" into the system. The point guard position on the team is "wide open", and other than Cadarian Raines as a starter, all other opening starter positions are up for grabs. Johnson was very excited about the Malik Muller commit, and he asserted that Muller would have "immediate impact".

Johnson is looking forward to the team playing in the "Coaches vs. Cancer Classic" at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on November 22-23; the UVA game will follow shortly thereafter. Other teams competing in this event are Oklahoma, Seton Hall, and Michigan State. He indicated the coaching vacancy will be addressed in May.  (In June, former Director of Basketball Operations Andy Moore was promoted to Assistant Coach; and Robert Harris was named as the new Director of Basketball Operations in July.)

With the added depth on the court, Johnson also indicated that the Hokies will "press more", trying to wear teams down.  In closing, Coach Johnson reiterated that he is excited about where the program is going, he likes the guys that are currently on board, and plans to lead a program in which "character is going to weigh a little more than talent".

Orange and Maroon in Arlington - Football Edition

This Monday night, local Hokie fans got the treat of seeing Hokie sports announcing great, Bill Roth; Hokie head basketball coach James Johnson; and new Hokie football offensive coach, Scot Loeffler at the Crystal City Marriott in Arlington, VA. These three comprise this season's "Orange and Maroon" roadshow. Bill Roth came up with the initial questions, and then opened it up to the (relatively) small crowd in attendance. By comparison, last year's similar event, featuring both Frank and Shane Beamer (as well as Bill Roth), was easily 3 times as big in terms of attendance.

The initial questions were directed to Scot Loeffler, followed up by questions to James Johnson, and then alternating throughout the rest of the evening. Rather than recounting the individual interview questions, I will highlight the points made by both coaches in their responses. This blog will focus on the football discussion and the responses by offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler. The next blog will focus on James Johnson's basketball narratives.

Loeffler described his first 3 weeks on campus as "exciting", getting 2-3 hours of sleep each night, culminating with appendicitis and a visit to the hospital.  He shared that he had received 2 offers to return to the NFL in coaching positions; however, when he received the offer from VT, his former University of Michigan coaching mentor, Lloyd Carr, advised him to run, not walk, to VT to accept the position. As has been widely written, Coach Carr has great respect for Frank Beamer and the VT football program. In fact, several times during the evening, Loeffler described feeling "proud" and "honored" to be offered the position at VT.

Of course the subject of the "Spring Game" this past weekend (Apr. 20, 2013) came up, and he could not adequately express how disappointed he was with the offensive unit, both during that game, which he described as "Practice #15", as well as the practice leading up to the game, "Practice #14".  Prior to those final spring practices, he had been pleased with the team's progress; but he said that there were simply "no excuses" for the way his unit performed on Saturday.  Logan Thomas has made remarkable progress in his personal performance and accuracy, and he "learns fast"; however "he made two bad decisions in that game--decisions that will get you beat every time."

Unlike the NFL, there are no "OTA"s (organized team activities) allowed in the NCAA during the summer months. Loeffler indicates that the players are expected to work out on their own during these three months, and he expects his team leaders, namely, "Logan Thomas, Andrew Miller, and DJ Coles", to ensure that this happens. He said that Thomas will be in Blacksburg all summer, and his spies will ensure that he doesn't try to escape. ;-) 

Regarding the skill positions, Loeffler indicated that, other than Logan Thomas, everyone's position is considered "open".  That being said, he commented that Trey Edmunds had a "solid" spring. There will not be a running back carousel like we saw last year. There will be a "1-2-3 pecking order". I inferred from Loeffler's comments that the #1 spot is Edmunds' to lose, with the two remaining rotational spots be fought over by JC Coleman, Tony Gregory, and a couple of redshirt freshmen. Michael Holmes' recent abrupt departure from the team was unfortunate and embarrassing for the program--but life goes on for those players who can manage to keep their names off of the local Blacksburg police blotter. I don't want to convict him prematurely, but not many good things happen when football players and TOTS intersect. There are simply too many a-holes try to establish their manhood by challenging athletes to fights in these types of venues. It's not fair, but it is a fact of life in college (and the pro's as well), and student athletes must accept this, and behave (or avoid these venues) accordingly.

Coach Loeffler also commented that Demitri Knowles has ramped-up his route-running skills, thereby developing into a more complete receiver--vs. just one that can turn on the after-burners as a deep threat.  Coles appears to have the #1 receiver spot nailed down.

Loeffler also gave great praise to Andrew Miller who, at the request of the coaches, made the move from center to guard; and has played well there. He looped back to praise Thomas again, and said that Thomas loves VT and his players, and didn't want to let himself, his teammates, or the institution and fans down by leaving early. Loeffler asserted that "Logan always has the school's, the program's, and the team's best interest at heart. That's all you can ask of a player."

Regarding his playbook, Loeffler regards it as more of a huge "encyclopedia". He does not plan to practice and run all of the plays in it; rather, it is a flexible tool from which to draw plays and schemes from--plays that best fit the skills and abilities of the current players on the roster at any point in time. (In that respect, he reminded me of Joe Gibbs. Some guys can only win if they have the right players to run their game schemes. Real coaches adapt their game plans and play strategies to take advantage of the strengths of the players already on their roster.)  He knows what his quarterback, his running backs, his tight ends, and his wide-outs are capable of doing; and he will build the game plans around that.

He also indicated that he will typically run a "huddle" offense, but one that is very capable of going no-huddle, when necessary or desired. Further, he asserted that Logan Thomas will be provided "a lot" of latitude in terms of calling audibles at the line of scrimmage, based on what he sees when he gets behind center.

Regarding the season-opening game against Alabama, he asserted that Alabama's defense is "extremely complex", and that it is always better to play them early in the season vs. later. Ball security will be paramount in that game. Furthermore, he asserted that the Hokies will probably only get around four opportunities in that game to make a (big) play. Capitalizing on these opportunities when they present themselves will be the difference between winning and losing.

In his closing remarks, Loeffler asserted that "this place, VT, is different. They really do want their kids to graduate and be successful in both their personal and professional lives."  He ended his remarks by saying that Jim Weaver and Frank Beamer believe in "doing the right things, graduating their players, and winning at the same time."

Stay tuned for the forthcoming JJ interview.

GO HOKIES!!

Good On Ya, Seth!

An Aussie friend of mine introduced me to the term "good on ya!" years ago. I find that I like it better than the American version, "good for you!" 

Courtesy: Wikipedia

Judging from a recent Mark Giannotto piece in the Washington Post, it appears that Seth Greenberg has not spent much time lamenting his mishandled and ill-timed release from Virginia Tech. Good on him. (I won't go on another one of my endless tirades regarding my opinion of the current VT Athletic Director, but suffice it to say: I will be glad when he retires. For those who would would point to the good things that have happened during his regime, I would only argue that they have happened in spite of him, and not because of him. VT would still be languishing in the Big East Conference if former VA Governor Mark Warner had not stepped in--but enough of that.)

Seth Greenberg got me interested in Hokie basketball, and furthermore, interested in basketball in general. This is because the game makes sense to him, and he enables it to make sense to anyone spending any time listening or talking to him. I have been following Hokie cagers since his arrival in VT's waning years in the Big East conference. His ball knowledge gives him a lot of confidence, and players who were smart enough to buy into the program (Zabian Dowdell, Jamon "Reb" Gordon, Malcolm Delaney, Deron Washington, etc.) all benefited from his game strategy know-how, and they excelled--many times despite a lack of size or the lack of a full complement of pro-level skills.

I had the opportunity to engage in a few polite conversations with Seth during my visits to Blacksburg. He has been one of the speakers at a number of the Alumni Reunions that I have attended, and I always made a point to collar him on some aspect of the Hokies' games or players afterwards. He always spoke highly of his players, even some of the former players that threw him under the bus when he was fired. I appreciated his loyalty to his guys, and his sometimes-abrasive candor. (Again, apparently the AD did not, since one of the reasons for his firing of Seth was the absence of a "family atmosphere" among Seth's coaches and players. What the heck does that mean!? He treated his players like family, visited them in the hospital, addressing their off-the-court challenges, etc. That comment was a cheap shot, and Weaver should be ashamed.)

Regardless of all the above, I now enjoy seeing (and listening to) Seth in a forum where he can showcase his basketball knowledge at a national level (with ESPN), and I can also say that I am proud of his past association with the VT program. The program was going nowhere before his arrival. While Blacksburg was, and still is, a tough place to recruit marquee players to, he was adept at taking differing and varied skill levels and blending them together into a team. Although he was unsuccessful in getting to the NCAA tournament with a number of his teams, they always took down more than a few ACC giants (Duke, UNC, and UMD during the Gary Williams years) in the regular season.

So, "Good On Ya, Seth!" and "Vaya con Dios!" You are one of the good guys and have always been a consummate professional; and this Hokie misses seeing you in Blacksburg now that you've hit the big time.

Go Hokies!

Congratulations, Erick Green!

Courtesy Dennis Grundman/NV Daily

Mark Giannotto covers the Hokies (among other teams) for the Washington Post. He recently posted excellent back-to-back articles on Seth Greenberg and Erick Green, respectively. I will be talking about Seth Greenberg in a subsequent post, but this one is all about the fine young man named Erick Green--who also happens to be an exceptional basketball-playing student athlete at Virginia Tech.

I've been around a while, and Erick Green is about as close as you can come to a modern-day gladiator, and you will not find one more honorable. His numbers for the current basketball season (which is not quite over for the Hokies) are as follows:

• He played an average of almost 36.5 minutes a (40-minute) game
• He had a 3-point shooting percentage of over 39%
• He made 81.5% of his free throws (and this percentage trended down over the course of the season as his battered body and stamina wore down)
• He shot over 48% for his average of 17 shots per game
• He scored a career-high game total of 35 points twice during this season
• He achieved a new VT single-season men's basketball scoring record of 786 points (and still counting)
• He had a season game average of 25.4 points per game, with an average of 4 assists per game
• He capped off the regular season by receiving the coveted ACC Player of the Year award.

Erick's receiving the ACC Player of the Year award was somewhat unexpected and special. It was unexpected because, rightly or wrongly, VT has been perennially disrespected in the NCAA and ACC. We can perhaps argue about why this has happened, and whether the reasons for this are valid (or not), but there is more than a little degree of truth to this (subjective) assertion.

It was special because when you view the shooting numbers above and when you observe Erick's unselfish play in all of the games, it becomes very clear that his scoring records are not the result of him simply being a "ball hog".  Anyone who has watched the Hokies this (disappointing) season will recognize that Green was always trying to create scoring opportunities for his teammates.  In fact, his assist numbers would have been vastly higher had his teammates been able to capitalize on these plays. It was only late in games, when hope was nearly lost, that Coach James Johnson told Erick to take over the offense and carry the rest of the team on his more-than-capable shoulders. 

Erick became a strong leader under extremely adverse conditions this season. The Hokies' in-conference record speaks to this adversity. Never did I observe Erick complaining or disrespecting his teammates before, during, or after games; and I guarantee lesser men would have done so, especially when you consider that he was double- and even triple-teamed in many/most games, primarily because his teammates posed little threat to opposing defenses. His scoring numbers are all-the-more impressive because of this, and it was nice that the ACC Player of the Year voters recognized this.

Even though he was the most productive player on the team, he was typically the first guy in the practice facility every day, working on his shots. He focused on strength and conditioning with Coach David Jackson, and the hard work paid off. Actions speak louder than words, and Erick definitely "walked the walk". I expect the example that he set to pay off for the Hokies next season, even though he is graduating; this should especially be the case for younger players like Marshall Wood, C.J. Barksdale, and Joey Van Zegeren; who saw first-hand the kind of sacrifice required to achieve excellence.

Finally, it is quite rare that someone like Erick becomes such a honorable human being and a game-time warrior without strong, positive, parental influences. I had the opportunity to briefly meet his mother, Tami (a former basketball player at Howard University), after one of the Hokies' away games against UMD two years ago. One could tell from her self-assured demeanor and how proud she was of Erick that the acorn didn't fall very far from the tree. We, as Hokies and fans of Erick Green, owe at least some of our accolades to her and Erick's father (also named Erick, and a former running back at Howard University) as well.

Go Hokies!!

Coach Cav Update - 2013

Okay; so Hokie Football Director of Recruiting Jim Cavanaugh expressly prohibited all in attendance from posting any comments from his current "Recruiting Recap" tour online, but I didn't sign the contract--and the current readership of this blog consists of, well, me; so I'm not worried about betraying any confidences.

It's been a while since my last post.  During that period, there have been many ups and downs.  The football season-ending bowl game against Rutgers was pretty-much a disaster.  However, the way that the defense enabled the Hokies to prevail and to ultimately win was positive. The play on offense was sufficiently disjointed enough to remove any doubt that the coaching "brain trust" on that side of the ball needed to be carpet-bombed.  And so we have a new offensive coordinator, a new offensive line coach, and a new wide receivers coach.  

The former beloved Hokie football offensive coordinator has been "demoted" to a position that only warrants a salary of $300K/year. Only in NCAA and professional sports can a big demotion garner that kind of money.

Coach Cavanaugh began the night by only briefly commenting about the coaching changes.  He and Billy Hite are now in "special" positions, so their positions are at-risk because the NCAA has rules regarding which positions, and how many, that schools are allowed to staff in their athletic organizations. 

Cav said that new offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler will place a renewed emphasis on running the ball, and that he will find someone capable of running the ball consistently, one way or another.  Expect to see Trey Edmunds and Chris Mangus compete in the running back stable.

There was also a local 2014 recruit in attendance, which NCAA rules prevented Coach Cav from introducing. Judging from his size and racial profile, he is either a punter or a kicker... (smile)

Some random comments regarding each recruit are provided below. If no comments are listed below for a particular player, it only means that I didn't find the comments that were made to be noteworthy. All of the recruits are highly regarded by the staff. Any comments in parentheses are my observations, not Cav's. The video's that Cav displayed and commented on appear to be the same video's as those found on HokieSports.com in the "2013 Recruiting Class" section.

Offensive line was a point of emphasis and need for 2013, and Kyle Chung (OL) is regarded as key acquisition for the program. Speaking of O-linemen, Cav said the the new O-line coach, Jeff Grimes, "is a real sonuvabitch" and should bring a whole new attitude to that group--and the running game in particular.

Charles Clark (FS) has some very impressive kick-off returns and punt-returns in his video portfolio.  Recruited for the secondary, he could provide a few David Wilson/Jayron Hosley moments in the return game.

Brandon Facyson (DB): His name is pronounced "Fay-sun".

Holland Fisher (FS): "You can't coach speed and you can't stretch players" after you bring them on board, so height and speed is always highly regarded. Fisher was a good acquisition and could end up at outside LB.

Kendall Fuller (CB): Coach commented the Fuller parents need to crank out some more babies to keep their progeny in the VT recruiting pipeline. Clearly, Foster owns Kendall on defense, but new wide receiver coach Aaron Moorhead saw his ball-handling and catching skills and commented that "He needs to play some offense."  Cav's response: "Moorehead is a little wet behind the ears. He is going to get schooled about how things work around here over the course of the season."

Bucky Hodges (QB): Looks like another Logan Thomas, but Cav commented that he was a little "quicker" when running the ball.

Cequan Jefferson (CB): "Great football instincts."

Jonathan McLaughlin (OL): "Big", and "a good guy on-and-off the field".

Jamieon Moss (LB): No noteworthy comments.

Andrew Motuapuaka (LB): Cav asked Andrew's mom if it was okay if he just referred to him as "Andrew M". (He reminds me of Troy Palamalu in his heyday--just a wild man creating havoc all over the field. Personally, I think that this kid is going to be a rock star for VT, like Macho Harris but in a different capacity.) In one video clip, one of Andrew's defensive teammates in the secondary snagged an interception for a long (~85 yds) "pick six". During the return for touchdown, Motuapuaka made 4 separate blocks to either seal off the returner or put would-be tacklers on their back-sides. 

Deon Newsome (ATH): He will play as either a corner, safety, or wide receiver, depending on what they end up needing the most.

Parker Osterloh (OL): Another highly-thought-of offensive lineman. He's 300 lbs now, but Cav expects him to ultimately play at 350 lbs. He commented that, at 6'8", "with arms like that, he should be wearing long sleeves; but Coach Gentry will take care of that..."  In the film, there is one clip that shows him catching a pass as an eligible receiver. Cav said "He should save that video, because it was last time he will be thrown a pass in a football game."

Carlis Parker (QB): A lefty QB, with an uncanny ability to avoid tackles and make plays. Even if there could never be another Michael Vick, this kid will remind people of him. (It's a year too early, but let the comparative hype begin!)

Braxton Pfaff (OL): The last of the O-linemen recruits. This kid looks ready to rock; and he squashes opponents. Cav commented that he is incredibly nimble and he "finishes plays". They are targeting to get him up from his current weight of 285 lbs to ~300 lbs; but they don't want to get him so big that his speed and agility are compromised.

David Prince (ATH): No noteworthy comments, but obviously when you recruit somebody as an "athlete", it means that they are talented and versatile enough to play multiple positions. 

D.J. Reid (RB): Cav compared him somewhat to Ryan Williams, but without Ryan's strength. (Speaking of RMFW, let's pray that his third year in the NFL is the charm. Two straight years of early season-ending injuries must be discouraging for him.)

Anthony Shegog (FS): Currently listed at 200 lbs, Cav said that they will get him up to 220 lbs. Cav described him as a "safety who will knock your lights out!"

Wyatt Teller (DE): This kid looks strong and fast in the video's.  Cav described him as "flat-out mean!"

So there you have it. Another thoroughly-entertaining evening, courtesy of Coach Jim Cavanaugh.

Go Hokies!!