Posted this in a thread on the football board. Littlepage's first hires for head coach of men's basketball and football were not good. He definitely got it right the second time with men's basketball, and it looks good for football:
I was looking at some University of Virginia history. As many know, Craig Littlepage, our former head basketball coach, who was not a good basketball coach, went on to UVa and become their AD from 2001-17.
UVa reached the pinnacle of success in men's basketball last night. They are also doing well in football. The head coaches of both programs were hired by Littlepage.
But his first basketball hire, Dave Letao, was not a great hire. In his final 2 seasons, UVa was 5-11 and 4-12 in ACC play.
Littlepage's next hire, Tony Bennett (terrific singer too), has been a home run. He started slowly his first two seasons, with 5-11 and 7-9 records in the ACC, but since the 2011-12 season, he has had UVa rolling.
Littlepage's first football hire, Mike London, was 27-46 (14-34) over six seasons (2010-15). Mike London had one winning season in 2011, and after that it was 4-8, 2-10, 5-7 and 4-8.
After the 5-7 2014 season, Littlepage said:
"It was important to see improvement in our football program this season," Littlepage said. "I've seen signs of progress in many areas. Through the staff changes made over the last two years, we are better at teaching the game and in the overall development of the student-athletes. We also continue to notice the commitment by this group of coaches and student-athletes to their academic and community responsibilities.
"The staff has re-focused its recruiting efforts to emphasize the need to attract student-athletes capable of helping the program compete at a high level in the expanded Atlantic Coast Conference," Littlepage added. "We are seeing many of these student-athletes on the field right now and the staff continues to have success on the recruiting trail. We will continue to support the program in their efforts to maximize their recruiting success.
"It's important for each of our sports programs to continue to show progress and follow a plan to compete for conference championships and in postseason competition to support the department's goals," Littlepage said. "I trust the plan Mike has in place and believe his leadership provides the best opportunity for Virginia football to be successful in the future."
https://virginiasports.com/news/2014/11/26/Head_Coach_Mike_London_to_Return_for_2015_Season.aspx
London was fired after the following season. (I suspect Ash may be on the same trajectory).
Littlepage hired Bronco Mendenall (Salary $3.4 million (not a paltry $2 Million).
While Mendenhall's first season was terrible at 2-10 (1-7), he had them bowling in 2017, and got them to 8-5 (4-4) in 2018, with 2 losses in OT and a 20-16 loss to Indiana.
Where is this going? I don't know.[banana][banana]
Oh, here's where it is going. Rutgers is one coaching hire away from turning it around. I doubt Ash will get it done. But if RU is going to do it right, they better open up the checkbook and get an experienced coach. Mike Leach!
By the way, UVa basically negotiated a buyout and for London to resign, which saved them $500,000. If Ash ultimately leaves, one would hope RU will try to do the same with him.
https://www.streakingthelawn.com/20...ns-buyout-details-virginia-cavaliers-football
