Coach K and the Gillen obit
Sorry to have let work interfere with my blogging from the ACC Tournament, but, hey, that's what they pay me for. I think.
Anyway, Mike Krzyzewski just finished his Duke-Virginia postmortem in the press hangar, er, room. The last question, from Doug Doughty of sister paper Roanoke Times, was: "This was probably you're last game coaching against UVa with Gillen as its coach. Your thoughts when shaking his hand for the last time?"
"I hope not," K said before professing his respect for Gillen's time and success in college coaching. It's been a pleasure, in other words.
While Maryland has probably been the ACC's biggest disappointment this season, Virginia has basically been the league's biggest disappointment the past 3-4 years. Really, it's been all downhill since Gillen recruited Elton Brown, Jermaine Harper, Keith Jenifer and Jason Clark coming off an NCAA trip and 20-win season.
Gillen is highlighting his team's injury problems right now. Sorry, not good enough.
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Update on Gillen:
He just said in the postgame press conference:
"The University of Virginia deserves better than 14-15, but that will be addressed next week."
Doesn't sound like a guy who expects to keep his job. By the way, those who say 6 years, nearly $6 million is too steep to buy out, his reworked deal last year changed it to about a $1 mil buyout. Not nearly as big an obstacle.
Posted on March 12, 2005 12:00 AM
Update on Gillen:
He just said in the postgame press conference:
"The University of Virginia deserves better than 14-15, but that will be addressed next week."
Doesn't sound like a guy who expects to keep his job. By the way, those who say 6 years, nearly $6 million is too steep to buy out, his reworked deal last year changed it to about a $1 mil buyout. Not nearly as big an obstacle.
Posted on March 12, 2005 12:01 AM
UVa has been the league's biggest disappointment of the past, oh, I dunno, 20 years. I'll risk sounding like a grumpy old man at the age of 37, but the Cavs haven't had a consistently decent team since the '80s, during the Sampson-Lamp-Wilson years.
Worse for Virginia fans, Va. Tech is showing them up not just in football but in basketball, too.
Posted on March 12, 2005 2:42 PM
How quickly we forget, John. From 1988-89 until 1994-95, Virginia had two Final Eight appearances, a Sweet 16 appearance and a rash of 20-win seasons. Not overly special for Duke/UNC/UConn/Kansas, but solid for a second-tier ACC school. The key was that the academic scandals and sexcapades under Jeff Jones meant that JJ lacked ability to take the team to the next level upwards.
Posted on March 15, 2005 6:00 PM
True, Russ, but UVa has never lived up to its late 70s/early 80s period, when the Cavs, in Ralph Sampson's four years, won 24 (and an NIT title, back when the NIT wasn't all that bad), 29 (and made the Final Four), 30 and 29 games. That next season, with Sampson gone, UVa made the Final Four again.
Except for 1994-95, when UVa had 25 wins and the Cavs haven't come close to that level. Of course, UVa went out the next year and won just 12 games. That rash of 20-win seasons? The Cavs hit 20 wins one year only because it ran the table in the NIT.
After the Sampson years, UVa was supposed to be not just a second-tier ACC school but a first-rate national power (or at least a first-rate ACC power). That was the promise. It hasn't happened.
Posted on March 15, 2005 6:46 PM