The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - More Analysis On Tony Bennett Retirement; Why Sanchez & Not Williford As Interim Coach?

Episode Date: October 22, 2024

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: More Analysis On Tony Bennett Retirement Why Sanchez & Not Williford As Interim Coach? UVA AD Hire Football & BBall Coach In Same Yr? Respond/React: Clemson Pounds Wahoos UNC (3-4, 0-3) at UVA (4-3, 2-2), 12PM Sat, CW Hoos 4-Pt Favorite; Last Time Favored In 2024 Keys To Game: What Does UVA Need To Do? 4 ACC Teams Undefeated In Conference Play Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air Jerry Ratcliffe & Jerry Miller were live on The Jerry & Jerry Show! The Jerry & Jerry Show airs live Tuesday from 10:15 am – 11:15 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The Jerry & Jerry Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Tuesday morning, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on the Jerry and Jerry Show, a program that spotlights the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer Jerry Hootie Radcliffe himself. Fifty consecutive ACC basketball tournaments for this man, and a guy who's covered this Tony Bennett retirement news with grace, with clarity, with precision. He's been all over this coaching turnstile and he's been all over it since I'd say the last 14 months when some rumor mills started percolating. We'll talk Tony Bennett today. We'll talk the following questions. I think this is the next chapter of the Tony Bennett today. We'll talk the following questions. I think this is the next chapter of

the Tony Bennett retirement story. The first chapter was Thursday and Friday, where we lamented, we reminisced, we asked why, we remembered, we praised, and we championed Tony Bennett. Now that it's Tuesday and we're a handful of days removed from the announcement, we should ask questions like this. Why Ron Sanchez and not Jason Williford? Who made the call to go with Sanchez instead of the UVA alum Jay Willey? We'll ask Carla Williams' involvement in this retirement and predecessor tagging, if you may. I'm going to ask a very pointed question. If Tony Elliott and Virginia football finished the season with four or five wins, remember his first two seasons,

he won three games each season, respectively. If he finishes this campaign with four victories, maybe five victories, is Carla Williams going to have to do two national coaching searches for her two most prominent teams in the athletic department. So much to cover on the Jerry and Jerry show. Judah Wickhour behind the camera. We'll talk the Clemson game. We'll take a look at North Carolina. Now I'll highlight the fact that there are now four ACC teams ranked in the top 25. We are locked and loaded. Judah Wickhour, studio camera, then welcome the star of the show. Questions already coming in. Hootie Ratcliffe,

good Tuesday morning to you, my friend. Thank you, brother, and good to see you. It's absolutely great to see you. Out of curiosity, as someone who loves media of all kind, how are the metrics and the web traffic at jerryratcliff.com. Pretty darn good. Blowing up in some circumstances for sure, and we appreciate people giving us a look. It's been nice to have that many visitors to the site, and we hope you come back. JerryRackliff.com for everything Virginia football,

Virginia basketball, and Wahoo related. More analysis on the Tony Bennett retirement. Before I ask you the Ron Sanchez, Jason Williford, Carla Williams national coaching search questions, how about an open-ended one? You've had a few days to digest now. What else has tickled the fancy or hit the media crawl that is Hootie Ratcliffe on this retirement story? I don't think a lot more has evolved. A few things have come out in his exclusive interview with CBS's Matt Norlander, who is an excellent basketball writer and seems to get access that none of the rest of us can get. But I think one of the things was that when Tony came back from his retreat

at the Tides Inn down at Rappahannock and had made up his mind that he was going to quit and called Carla, who was on the West Coast on a fundraising trip. She asked him to sleep on it, and he did. And I think he said that in his practice on Wednesday afternoon, he tried to convince himself to keep going, but it just wasn't there. Just all the questions kept popping up in his head,

and he realized it was just time to go. And I think every coach, when they are confronted with that time, most of them concede. Some will fight it and just continue to hang on. But a lot of coaches know they just have a sense that when it's over, it's over. And I think that's what hit him squarely, and he called her, and they set up the press conference for the next morning. Mark Brown, I'll get to your comments. Renee P. Mark Brown, I'll get to your comments.

Renee Pettiford, I'll get to your questions. We've got the TV station down the road watching the program right now. Questions coming in very quickly as we anticipated. You mentioned Matt Norlander of CBS. He highlights on his platforms that Carla Williams made the call to go with Ron Sanchez over Jason Williford. Well, apparently Tony Bennett told him that, and it's an interesting fact. I don't know, obviously, what the conversation was between Tony and Carla

as to whether she asked him if he had a preference or if it was just her call solely I think that probably the fact that Ron Sanchez had head coaching experience put the the decision in his favor because just solely on that, really. I mean, he's been a head coach of a program, and he's navigated some of those waters, and Jason hasn't. So I think that probably gave him a bit of an edge. The challenging piece for that for me, and I think Sanchez was the right call because of the

head coaching experience. The challenging piece, however, for me is the fact that Williford is a Virginia guy. Right. He's a UVA guy. He's a guy that's been with Tony consistently. Since day one here in Charlottesville. Day one in Charlottesville. Now, I understand why Coach Sanchez went to Charlotte. He wanted some head coaching experience. Do not fault him for that. No, absolutely. Do not fault him.

He came back clearly to Charlottesville because he saw some writing on the wall, especially after leaving Charlotte with, what, his best year on the job there right? Absolutely. Yeah so if you're coming off your best year on the job you would consider most folks would keep the momentum going but he probably saw some writing on the wall here. I guess the only pushback I have on this is the fact that Willie's been here, Jay Willie's been here from day one, and he's an orange and blue guy. No question. He's been a loyal lieutenant for Tony Bennett, no question about it. I'm not sure they would have gone wrong with either guy, but I do think that what weighed in Sanchez's favor

was that he did go outside the program and come back. And if he came back, I think that part of that had to be Tony Bennett's idea for him to come back into the fold. And so that makes me wonder if that wasn't something that Tony was thinking about three years ago. Yeah, exactly. Because I know that Carla said that she and Tony had been talking about this day for three years. So I think there might be a little bit more behind the scenes than meets the eye. I think you're all over this. Another interesting wrinkle that now that we've had a few days to digest what's going on, another interesting wrinkle that materialized from the press conference, Coach Bennett said that Coach Jason

Williford and Coach Ron Sanchez were the ones that were doing the work with NIL and the transfer portal, that they were interacting with the agents, the coaches, all the pomp and circumstance, if you may, the dog and pony show that is the NIL and the transfer portal, and that he really didn't want anything to do with it. Yeah, I think the last two years, the NIL and the portal have taken a huge toll on Tony Bennett. And I think he lost some guys because of NIL that he would have never lost before, before NIL became a thing. And I think that weighed heavily on him.

I think particularly the Canepo guy from up in his old stomping grounds in the upper Midwest that ended up going to Duke because every indication was that that kid was a Virginia kid until Duke became heavily involved. His mom had a strong association with Tony Bennett and Dick Bennett, and his uncle who played, I think, at the NBA, wanted him to go to Virginia. I think those kind of decisions in the NIL process, I think, really hit him hard. Because we do know, people told us that Tony Bennett went after that kid harder than anybody he's gone after since he's been here. And to lose a kid like that, that you 99% would have gotten before NIL,

and then to lose him pretty much mostly because of NIL, I think that has to sting. And we don't know how many other cases there were just like that jerry because they've they've been been in it for a ton of guys who are top 100 players and most of them seem to be going somewhere else and i have to believe that nil had a major role in all those decisions mark brown has this question how will sanchez's coaching style differ than Tony Bennett's style? Well, that's a good question. We'll probably ask him that tomorrow because he is having a Zoom meeting with media tomorrow afternoon. And frankly, I don't think I saw his Charlotte teams at all on TV when he was there. I would imagine that he's a little more open offensively.

I think he's a pack line guy and will continue to play that just as a clone of Tony Bennett. I do think that his offensive style will be a little more open-ended and that they'll run a little bit more. And I have to wonder if the coaches – well, I know the coaches, the staff, I think convinced Tony to open it up a little bit more this year. I don't know if that was to try to attract some of these players that they're missing out on, or if there was some anticipation that he might be hanging it up and these guys wanted to run a little bit more.

We'll see about that, but I expect it to be a more open offense with more freedom, more green lights for some of these guys, but I don't think we're going to see them run wild. I think it's going to be more free-flowing, but not crazy NBA style up and down the court. Rene Pettiford wants your take, and you cover this on JerryRatcliffe.com, on the three-week, just a little more than three weeks before the regular season starts, the timing, if you may. I don't know how much of that was strategic. Yeah, I don't think he did it strategically just to do that. I think he wanted one of his own guys to be the head coach,

and had he hung it up after the season, the chances of that would have been a lot less. But I don't think that was the ultimate cause for him to do it when he did. I think it just weighed so heavily on him from summer on, even in spring. We do know that he talked about... He's been talking about this for a while, viewers and listeners. Oh, yeah. I mean, he's dropped hints on and off for more than a year, but he got rejuvenated, I think, a little bit

when they had some success in the transfer portal and got some really good players after striking out early in the process, and they ended up landing some really talented players. And I think he got enthused about that. He said he also got enthused about the commitment from Chance Mallory. He couldn't say his name, but we can say it. Yeah. No, that was one of my favorite parts of the press conference when he says, I can't get in trouble for this.

He goes, I guess you guys can. That's true. That's true. It's a no-no for coaches to discuss people who haven't signed or even named them, but we can say it. But he was excited about this team and the future because they do have some really talented pieces. But when he stopped and thought about it and all the decisions and all the timelines, it's almost like an endless basketball season.

You go from the season to having to re-recruit your own players so they won't enter the transfer portal. And if they do, you've got to find players to replace them. And then you go to all the summer camps and the AAU games or whatever they call them now. And it's like an endless process. And I don't know how coaches do it, really. They don't get a lot of time off under the new rules. I mean, you can do personal workouts with a team once they get on campus in the summertime.

Most of them come to summer school to get a jump on classes. these guys, I think if the NCAA doesn't do something to these recruiting windows and transfer portal windows, they're going to see a lot of these guys burning out. Well, and Coach Bennett even talked about the mental health of the athlete. What he doesn't allude to is the mental health of the coaching staff tied to the program. Exactly. I mean, it's basically what you're saying. It's turned into a legitimately 24-7, 24-7, 365 job right there for these big D1 programs. It's not much different for football either,

and I imagine probably for some of the other Olympic sports. It's just they spend so much time recruiting and trying to keep their own players in camps and scouting all-star games and other stuff to see who's out there. It's got to be just tiresome, mentally tiresome. Comments come in quickly on Hootie's Twitter account. We'll get to some of his followers that are watching, including Jefferson Hiker.

Is that a Tennessee boy? It is. He's a Virginia boy, but he lives in Tennessee. We got a lot of comments we got to get to here. This one's a very pointed one that's coming from northern Virginia. With bypassing Jason Williford, the likelihood of Jason Williford staying on the staff long term? Well, our friend Chris Graham over at the Augusta Free Press did a FOIA over the summer to find out how long the contracts were. And Jason Wilford's contract ends a year before Ron Sanchez's contract does. So I don't know what that means other than it just expires.

So I don't know. I haven't had a chance to speak to Jason. I don't know how he feels about all this. I'm sure he's a team player. He's always been a team player. He's a glue guy. He's a glue guy. Always has been. I'm sure he's committed 100% to helping Ron Sanchez continue the success this program has enjoyed.

I've often wondered why he didn't go out and become a head coach somewhere else. Sometimes you're better off if you enjoy where you are and you have a good job and you're in a winning program. Sometimes it's better just to stay as a longtime assistant. I know he's making good money. He loves UVA, and UVA loves him. And sometimes you jump out and take a head coaching job just to take one, and it doesn't turn out so well, and you end up, then what do you do? So I don't blame him for having stayed put all these years.

But, I mean, he's, I don't know if he's missed his window on becoming a head coach somewhere else or not. I think he would be a good head coach. Great head coach. I always thought he would be a good head coach and a great guy. I love the relationship I've had with him since he came here in the early 90s. I don't know. I don't know what the future holds for him

but I hope he sticks around myself absolutely he's an asset for the Charlottesville and Albemarle and Central Virginia community certainly Wahoo Nation this is a very pointed question here Virginia football is a four point favorite against the North Carolina Tar Heels

likely the last time in 2024 that this Virginia football team will be favored to win a game. No question. They closed the season with murderous row. Ladies and gentlemen, North Carolina, Saturday, Scott Stadium, 12 o'clock kickoff. Who's a four-point favorite? They have Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh. Virginia struggles to win on the road, in

particular at Pittsburgh. They have Notre Dame in South Bend, a team that is top 10, top 12 in the nation. They got the SMU Mustangs. SMU is the real deal, ladies and gentlemen. A top 25 team in Scott Stadium, the last home game of the year, and they're at Lane Stadium, Blacksburg, Virginia Tech football. We know the history there. The on-paper predictions, and on-paper predictions are worth

whatever they're worth, says this is the last time Virginia's going to be favored to win. If you use that to make an argument, they finish potentially with five wins. We know this North Carolina matchup is the last time Virginia is going to be favored to win. If you use that to make an argument, they finish potentially with five wins. We know this North Carolina matchup is a toss-up. If they finish with four or five wins, they have four now. If they beat North Carolina and finish with five,

does Carla Williams open up her two most prominent programs and teams in her athletic department to national coaching searches in the same calendar year? If they beat North Carolina and have five wins, I don't think there will be any consideration of making a change because that's close to double the win output they've had the first two years he was here. They've showed some improvement. They're playing better football.

They should have one more win in their pocket, I think. I think they blew the Louisville game. Maybe the Maryland game as well. And possibly the Maryland game. But I see improvement in the program, and I think Carla and whoever else would be in on those decisions, if anybody else is, I think they see it too. I really think if they win five games, I think his job is safe because they see progress and improvement,

and there's been a little bit of inching ahead in the recruiting. They've landed some pretty good recruits, some commitments, and they have to sign them. But I think overall progress of the program is moving in the right direction, maybe not as fast as some people would like, but it's tough to rebuild a program that's been down. There are exceptions, like the Cignetti guy going to Indiana, and they're undefeated. From JMU to Indiana. Some folks say Indiana hasn't played a lot of competition.

Still, they're unblemished. Yeah. I mean, I think Virginia would take that in a heartbeat. That's the guy in his press conference that said, look me up. All I do is win everywhere I go. That's right. Google me. I'm a winner.

Yeah. And I appreciate it. He's moxie. Yeah. I mean, who's going to argue? Yeah. I know he was on Saban's staff, and I'm sure he picked up some knowledge there,

but his father was a head football coach at West Virginia, and so it's in his blood. But he's made it look easy. It's not as easy for most programs to turn themselves around the way Indiana has. And I think if they would happen to lose Saturday, then that opens another door. I mean, four wins. After back-to-back three-win seasons. Some people are going to question that.

And it's just a matter of who questions it and to what degree. But you're leaving the door open if you lose Saturday, I think. The follow-up question is a natural one. Coaching staff changes. That's a good question because we saw what happened the last time that happened with Bronco. Right. They tried to force a coaching staff change, and it blew up like a cheap exploding cigar. And that was a setback for the program, and it took a while to bounce back from that um i mean you've got

two lieutenants on the staff that have gotten a lot of crossfire attention by the fan base certainly the special teams coordinator and to be very frank mr Mr. Des Kitchings as well. He's come under a lot of heat from fans. And he knows that. Yeah, limited OC experience prior to the UVA job. I believe one year of OC experience at two different programs. And then Coach Elliott recruits, brings him on to Charlottesville. There's been some, even you've highlighted this, some questionable play calling. There has been at times.

There's no question about it, particularly down in the red zone where they've been ineffective. It's going to be interesting to see what happens, irregardless if they win Saturday or not, if any staff changes are suggested from above or if Tundey would consider doing that on his own, I know he's a very loyal guy. It's tough for a lot of these coaches, especially first-time head coaches to fire staff or to make changes, unless you're maybe somewhere like in the SEC where there's so much pressure that it's almost like the NFL.

If there's anything that's even a little bit askew, then somebody's head is probably going to roll. I don't know that it's like that as much here and in some ACC programs as it is in other conferences. But it'll be something to watch and see what might possibly evolve if that occurs. James Watson, I respect his opinion tremendously of Virginia Product, a guy who knows the programs inside and out, says,

UVA is improving in football. I think we can agree that we cannot count the Clemson game. We've played tough in every game. They lost against Louisville, but they hung in there. He highlights the improving nature of the football program. It's difficult to disagree with Mr. Watson. I think he's 100% right. This football team is much improved versus last year.

However, if your barometer is last year, from an improvement standpoint, is that a fair threshold? I think so. I mean, again, I've seen improvement. I've seen progress. They could have five wins right now. Very easily could have five wins. Very easily could have six wins.

And playing for bowl eligibility Saturday. But it didn't happen. The best they can do now is try to go out and beat Carolina and then hope to upset somebody down the stretch, which the odds of that are enormous, I think.

Enormous against? Against, yeah. I mean, you're playing the top of the conference in a lot of ways. Virginia Tech, I hate to say this, is extremely... Virginia Tech is 4-3 overall and 2-1 in conference play, and that's a very good football team. And they're playing now the way everybody thought they would play,

out of the gate. And a couple of their losses could have gone the other way. So I think they're a much better football team than their record, and they are playing pretty good football right now. There's no denying that. Pitt, they've only beaten Pitt once at what used to be Heinz Field. Was that the Algro era? Yeah, Algro beat Dave Weinstead when he was the head coach of Pitt,

two former NFL coaches going after each other. One-time head coach of the Chicago Bears. Yeah. Also the Miami Dolphins, I believe. I think so. Yeah. Is that Scott Ratcliffe's team or is he a 49ers fan? He's a Steelers fan. Oh, Steelers fan.

Yeah, I'm the 49ers. That's right. Scott Ratcliffe loves Mike Tomlin. He does. Yeah. But, you know, Virginia has traditionally not played very well up there at that stadium. And Pitt's a pretty good football team. That guy's a good head coach.

And their program has been elevated in recent years under his direction. Notre Dame, I mean, my goodness. Who knows? They might take Virginia lightly, like apparently they did Northern Illinois earlier in the season. I don't think that's going to happen. I think maybe they learned their lesson there. Yeah, that's what I was going to say.

Yeah. And then SMU, a lot of people thought early on that being the last home game that Virginia might be favored in that one, but I don't think so. SMU 6-1, 3-0 in conference play, looking to make a statement every Saturday. I mean, I still don't think people appreciate how hungry those SMU fans have been for years. It's like they've been wandering in the desert. And you said that was going to happen.

I did. Yeah. I thought they would be good. I didn't anticipate them changing quarterbacks. That guy they had last year was pretty darn good, but they shelled him, and this other guy's tearing it up. But the ponies are for real, and anybody that takes them lightly is making a major mistake.

North Carolina, four-point UVA favor. James Watson highlights doing a rebuild in the national coaching search for football and basketball at the same time would be absolutely painful. Oh, no question. I concur. I also think Carla Williams is a very strategic executive. And I think Carla Williams plays things extremely close to the vest. And I would bet you Carla Williams is making plans, and it may not be front and center, for the possibility of two national searches at the same time.

Well, I was always told by some of the really good ADs they had here years ago that any AD worth their salt keeps a short list. Yeah. Just in case. Not necessarily that you're going to fire somebody, but some guy might get a better job offer. He might have health problems. He might have some other issues crop up and force them to resign or move on. So you've got to be ready. And I'm sure she has,

I would at least expect that she has a short list for those occasions, particularly basketball, considering that... The writing's been on the wall. It's been there, yeah. There was red flags back in late spring. There may not be any coaching search.

Tony Elliott's team might beat Carolina Saturday. That might be enough. I think that's enough to save his job. And Ron Sanchez might take the basketball team to the NCAA tournament. You think five wins saves Coach Elliott's job? I do. I do. I do. What was the biggest line on that?

Three and a half. Three and a half? Yeah. I mean, he surpassed that. It is some progress made. I don't think Virginia likes to fire coaches, honestly, unless it's just become so obvious that there's no other out. And I think they try to honor contracts,

even in these modern times where coaches are getting dumped during the season, like at East Carolina the other day. I just don't think if they win, and I thought they would win somewhere between five and seven games, seven if everything went perfectly well for this program. Flawless football and winning all the games that they were supposed to win or were at least 50-50 in. I think five is probably good enough to save his job

and give him a chance next year to take the next step. If they don't progress next year, then maybe all bets are off. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. Put them in the feed. We'll relay them live on air. We'll go to someone who's pro-Coach Elliott, Jefferson Hiker in Tennessee. He was moved by the post-game interview with Jay James and Tony Elliott. He said he was absolutely fired up by Coach Elliott's interview.

He also highlights that he's looking forward to, he says, what will be a win against North Carolina and the rest of the games for the year that Coach Elliott has this team heading in the right direction. Rich is one of the most positive Virginia fans out there. There's no question about that. I see that, my friend. The Cavalier Connection podcast is

watching the show. Good guys. They say, our sources tell us Coach Williford enjoys his current role and did not want the head coaching job. And they say, great to see you, Jerry Ratcliffe. Your buddy Ace.

Yeah. Watching the program. He's heavy on Twitter. Tony Elliott should get an extra year to turn his program around because of the tragedy surrounding the death of the three football players. That was unprecedented and something that he and the team had to deal with that should not be discounted, he says. I agree.

Rich agrees with Ace and says, I agree I've been watching Virginia football for a long time and I haven't been this excited in a long time. Thank you, Coach Tony Elliott. Yeah, I mean, again, I think it's obvious that they've made strides. And whoever it was earlier that said you can throw the Clemson game out, I think you kind of can because nobody in this league is going to beat Clemson this year. I'm pretty certain of that, unless the Hokies ambush them.

A game coming up pretty soon. But, I mean, the contrast between Virginia and Clemson's program is a wide chasm. They're recruiting four stars and five stars and don't even have to go to the portal, and they're still winning in spite of that. He's gone against the odds and ruffled even Tiger fans' feathers because of his refusal to use the portal the way most people are doing.

But he's showing that you can still win. We don't know to what degree, but it certainly looks like they're going to be in the college football playoffs. He also has the benefit, I think this is an important highlight, Clemson and the Atlantic Coast Conference is – They're an SEC school. That's what I'm saying. In the ACC. They're an SEC school. That's what I'm saying. In the ACC.

They're an SEC school. And they have been for years. There we go. And they were a sleeping giant for a long time. Yeah. They're an SEC school in the ACC. Yeah. I mean, for those of you who have never been to Clemson, it's a tiny, tiny little place.

Yeah. And you drive up and all of a sudden you see this... Mecca. Incredible football stadium. It's like seeing a spaceship land out here in downtown Charlottesville. It just doesn't look right in that setting.

What is it? On game days they become the third largest city in the state of South Carolina. Right. Clemson football is... It's a religion. And it's just not the same in the ACC with the other programs. No, it used to be that way at Florida State, but obviously not these days.

Right. But, again, I think he's right. The tragedy of those three players in the end of his first season was something that no coach that I know of has ever had to deal with in college football history that I'm aware of. I think I'm pretty knowledgeable about college football history. I would say you are. And I can't think of any other circumstance like that

that any head coaches or a program has had to deal with. And they handled it probably as good or better than anybody could possibly imagine. And that set things back. And you have to remember that. I mean, it's tough enough to come in with a new regime and try to

get things rolling if everything goes right. And certainly they could have probably had one more win that season. They were going to host Coastal Carolina, and I imagine that would have been a win.

Then last year, we saw all those games where they were so close, one-score games, and again, I go back. I've said this all year long. That team didn't know how to win. This team is still learning to win, but I think they've made some strides. But I don't think this is necessarily a bad football team. They still make some mistakes, and so do the coaches. I think the coaches probably were more at fault in the Louisville game than the players were.

Rugby style punt, some clock management and some red zone play calling. Yeah. The fourth down on the end of the first quarter to go from, like, was it fourth and three, fourth and four? At the end of the half, yeah. Yeah, as opposed to kicking the field goal? Yeah, that was obviously a mistake. That influenced the second half. And he kicked it at Clemson.

He kicked it against Clemson, right. And you would think it would be the other way because Clemson, you've got to score. Right. With Louisville, you were in that game. Yeah. So you take the points. You play conservative. Clemson, you got a score for the upset.

Yes. But I see progress in the program and I think five wins will save him. I don't think there's... I don't even think it'll even be a question if he wins five games. Wahoo89 watching in Tennessee.

He's watching on YouTube. He says, Elliott deserves at least five years. Where would our football program be today if Groh had stayed and we had not have had the London Mendenhall eras? So he goes to bat for Al Groh. Jerry Ratcliffe knows well. I think if things had not turned sour there, and Al told me that certain things were promised to him

when he agreed to come here that the administration never lived up to. One of them was that field house that was built during the Mike London era. And there were some other things. And he told them, he warned them, because that's when the expansion was coming around. And he told me, and I think I wrote this,

he said, we're one misstep away from being Duke. And at that time, Duke was atrocious. And Al was right. And John Oliver told me years later, he said, Al was right. We didn't listen. And he was right. Still, they messed with him and his staff. And when you're doing that and you don't give a coach the necessary tools and bells and whistles that he needs to attract recruits, you're handcuffing him. You're making a coach with one hand tied behind his back. And yeah, things went sour, but went south. But I think Al Groh was blamed for all of that.

And I don't think it was all his fault. I think if you look back, Al Groh had, when we had Alvin Pierman on our show a few weeks ago, that three-year stretch there with eight, nine wins every year. One of the best in Virginia football history.

Went to a lot of bowl games. A couple of continental tire bowls. Produced a lot of NFL players. Boatloads of talent. Tight end you. He's the second winningest coach in Virginia history. The challenge with Coach Groh was how he navigated the politics of the football program, if you may. He ran it like a professional organization,

which is very different than how college football is run from a, how do you, you put this in better words than I do, the evangelizing of the program, if you may. He just didn't want to do that. Yeah. And I think, you know, certain coaches, I think Nick Saban probably did that at Alabama. Yeah, different level of winning.

Yes. Different level of players. Yeah. And everything else. I mean, he was given everything he asked for. But, yeah, I mean, sometimes I love Al. We still talk a lot and he shared a lot of football knowledge

with me over the years. I used to go over to his office on Thursday nights and we would sit down and he would explain various factors of modern day football just, you know, the intricacies of the Tampa 2 defense, et cetera.

I learned a lot of football under him. But sometimes he could be his own worst enemy. I think he would probably agree to that, that sometimes he might have been hard to work for. He was very hands-on. He was very gruff. And sometimes that turned some people off. And I think it didn't.

I mean, he had a lot of guys on that original staff that ended up being head coaches. I think five or six of those guys ended up being the head football coaches. Or coordinators in the league. Yeah, or both. Yeah. So it's a shame things didn't work out because I don't know if he would still be coaching because Al was getting up there in the years,

but he would have lasted a lot longer, and I think Virginia football would have been a lot more successful and in better shape than what they ended up. Viewers and listeners, chime in here. You had Bill Musgrave on the Al Groh coaching family tree. Of course, his son, Mike Groh. Andy Heck. John Garrett. Al Golden, Bob Diaco,

Mike London, Ron Prince, Todd Haley. I mean, this is Ken Wisenhunt. I mean, you're talking some of the creme de la creme there. Mike Archer. Mike, there you go. That's another one. I think he was on the Al staff. Maybe, there you go. That's another one. I think he was on the Al staff. Maybe that was London staff. I can't remember. You got

some serious talent from a coaching standpoint. It certainly was tight end you, offensive line you, and the running back stretch they had there with Pierman and Wally Lundy. The kid from Newport News that didn't live up to the hype as a five-star but was still dynamic

is that Johnson? Womack Antoine Womack some pretty good football players some great offensive linemen DeBrickishaw Ferguson some great defensive players you have some big time football players

a lot to cover on the program North Carolina four point favorite 12 o'clock kick, CW Network, unfortunately. Wahoo Nation hates the CW Network. Yours truly hates the CW Network. It's hard to find. It's impossible

to find. It's not on the cable packages. And as a guy that loves to go to the games, sometimes you just can't do that when you have a 22-month little boy at home, and 12 o'clock is right in the middle of nap time. So you're looking for it on television. The CW stinks. Keys to game, keys to victory against the North Carolina Tar Heels. Well, you know, a lot of people are really down on Carolina, and understandably so. They're coming in here with a four-game losing streak,

including a 70-50 loss at home to JMU. But it's still a dangerous football team. Extremely dangerous. They have a really good offense, even though I think they're playing with their third-string quarterback. Their third quarterback they have good running backs they're averaging about

31 points a game that's pretty good when you have a losing record not many teams with losing records can say that their problem has been defense and it's been their problem all through Mack Brown's

second time around in Chapel Hill. Their defense has just been atrocious his entire second reign there, and they've tried different defensive coordinators, and it just hasn't panned out. They're giving up about 30 points a game. I think the keys for Virginia are to just play clean football, which for the most part they have in recent games. Calandria hasn't thrown an interception in a while. Their penalties, they have a few more at Clemson than normal,

but relatively low in penalties. And they've been gaining turnovers and forcing turnovers, which has helped keep them in games. But I think this is going to have to be the Anthony Calandria show. It's going to be a shootout. I think he's going to have to put a lot of points on the board. Vegas has got the over-under at 59.5. Yeah, I would say that's probably about right,

maybe even a little higher, I think. One of the big problems Virginia seems to have is they are terrible coming out of halftime. Yeah. They have been outscored, Jerry, 82-23 in the third quarter. I was going to highlight this for you. That's not a good stat. Give the number again. 82-23.

Now, they have outscored They have outscored Opponents 50-26 In the first quarter Which means they're starting fairly fast For the most part They barely outscored In the second quarter collectively 73-67

And they've been great in the fourth quarter For the most part They've outscored their opponents 87-47 in the fourth quarter, but that third quarter is glaring. 82-23, that's so lopsided, and that's so important to come out in the second half and establish things. They've got to turn that around, and it's got to start Saturday.

Virginia football has got to also score in the red zone. They need to find pay dirt. They've got atrocious in the red zone. Atrocious in the red zone. I mean, you highlighted on one of my keys that I was going to throw to you. You said it better than I would have. Win the third quarter. Special teams, the blunders on special teams have got to stop.

It's cost them. I mean, you point to the Louisville game. That cost them in the Louisville game, special teams. And then my other key to victory was find pay dirt in the red zone. It's not field goals. It's not go for it on fourth and three. It's get in the end zone. And against the North Carolina football team, the folks that build the casino say

this is going to be a shootout. The calendar, the schedule looks like this is going to be a shootout. Calandria's got to take care of the football. He's got 11 touchdowns and four picks on the year. He's got a lot of upside. This is going to be something to watch really closely. Yeah, it has to be the Calandria show.

And, you know, he's played well. But I think he's going to have to be at his best Saturday to win this football game. And he's going to have to put a lot of points on the board. I really believe that. Because Carolina's offense, again it's pretty darn good. And Virginia seems to struggle at times in that phase of the game as well. So it's, I think, I think they're going to have to put a lot of points on the board to win this game. A lot of points. And saw, even with JMU

up 50-something to three or whatever it was at halftime, Carolina still came back and scored 50 points. I know some of that was against some of JMU's reserves, but still Carolina can score.

Virginia's going to have to match them touchdown for touchdown. This is – how would you characterize this ballgame? Would you say this is must-win, must-win territory? Bob Sharda, Vivace, and Birdwood's finest watching the program right now. I'd say this is must-win. I absolutely believe it's must-win. I mean, at least if you win this game, you give yourself a chance. Momentum.

To get bowl eligible. You may not do it, but at least you'll put yourself in position to do so. And it gives the players something to play for. And again, I don't know that they would make a coaching change if he doesn't win the game and they end up with only four wins. But you're certainly opening, cracking the door and you're giving all the naysayers and your critics more ammunition. Plus the transfer portal. Yeah. I mean, that's one thing I was going to ask you about.

If you don't beat North Carolina, and it leads to a disappointing finish, in today's era of college football, momentum is not just key to saving jobs and building the program for next year. It's key to retaining talent. That's true. It doesn't matter what your NIL situation is. You can have a great NIL program and still lose players for that very reason because they want to play somewhere where they can win and go to bowl games. And if they feel like they have no shot, then it's going to be hard to retain some of those guys. And let's face it, Carolina's playing for their lives as well.

I mean, Mack Brown's job is clearly, he's clearly on the hot seat. They've lost four games in a row. They just had a player pass away, sadly, from cancer. They had a bye week to prepare for Virginia. They're going to be playing for that lost teammate, just like Virginia was last year. So if you're expecting Carolina to come in here and just roll over, you can forget that.

I mean, they played Georgia Tech to the wire, and Georgia Tech broke up in a long 60-some yard run in the final second. So that game to win, 41-34, I think it was, or 40-34. So Mack Brown's talking to his players like, okay, yeah, we are where we are, and it is what it is. But they're using this game as a new beginning. okay, yeah, we are where we are, and it is what it is, but they're using this game as a new beginning. They have five games left,

and they feel like that they can win a good portion of those. And the schedule doesn't set up too badly for them, so this could be a turning around point for them as well. I thought the same thing, my friend. I thought the same thing. North Carolina is scheduled to close the year. Virginia in Charlottesville Saturday. Florida State in Tallahassee.

It's not the Florida State of yesteryear. Wake Forest and Chapel Hill at Boston College. NC State to close the season. North Carolina fans are thinking they can win every single one of these ballgames. And if they finish the season with one, two, three, four, five straight wins, they potentially close the year with eight and are going to a pretty decent bowl. And Mack Brown's got a feather in his cap to keep his job. Yeah.

Time will tell. I want to talk a few more minutes of football if we could. I have to highlight Trey Murphy's $100 million-plus contract. What is he, the fourth Wahoo in the NBA to get a $100 million-plus contract? Brogdon, Harris, DeAndre Hunter, and now Trey Murphy in the Crescent City. Absolutely unbelievable. That's correct. And none of those guys were top 50 recruits.

Right. None of those guys top 50 recruits. Absolutely unbelievable. Dot the I's and cross the T's on anything ACC or Virginia or rest of the schedule related. The Wahoos have a pretty tough schedule to close. We know that. How about this for the Atlantic Coast Conference? Four teams. Is it four Hootie ranked in the top 25? I believe that's correct. SMU, Pittsburgh, Miami, and Clemson?

Mm-hmm. And four teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference currently undefeated in conference play. I mean, it's top-heavy this year. It is. It's been a better league. And you've got some other decent teams as well. You know, Louisville's not a bad football team. Syracuse, we're not quite sure.

Georgia Tech is struggling, but they're really not that bad of a football team either. The Hokies, again, are, they could, I don't know what the rest of their schedule is, but they have an opportunity to make some noise. I don't think that they're going to threaten being in the ACC championship game, but they could end up in a pretty good bowl game if they finish strong. Georgia Tech in Lane Stadium Saturday at Syracuse.

Clemson in Lane Stadium at Duke. And, of course, UVA at Lane Stadium. That Clemson game is huge because if they're playing well and Clemson's not 100%, that could be an upset. Could be. That could be an upset. Yeah, it could be an upset. A lot of good football left, guys.

What do you make of the Trey Murphy $100 million plus contract? I'm happy for him. I remember talking to him when he announced he was transferring to Virginia. I called him up and we talked. He felt like the... Transfer from

Rice, I believe. From Rice, yes. His plan was to redshirt. He wanted to... He felt like he was better than perhaps he was given credit for, but he didn't think he was ready for the ACC and wanted to redshirt and build his body and build his game. And once he got here, I don't know if he was just better than everybody thought including himself or if something

magical happened to him and he just turned it on out of nowhere but I've never seen such a transition he went from transferring from Rice to Virginia planning on walking on to end up starting that very same season

and ended up as an NBA draft choice. 17th overall in the first round. Yeah, and hasn't looked back. 50-40 stat line while playing for UVA. It doesn't happen. It doesn't happen. The year at uva 50 from the field 40 from downtown 90 from the stripe we're talking a marksman here that team underachieved

because they had him and sam hauser on the same team boston celtics key role player yeah jay huff on that team yeah he's a journeyman in the nba yeah yeah there was a lot of talent on that team. He's a journeyman in the NBA. There's a lot of talent on that team. That team is certainly underachieved. Virginia basketball, the Tony Bennett program, Malcolm Brogdon, $100 million plus contract, Joe Harris, $100 million plus contract, DeAndre Hunter, $100 million plus contract, and Altre Murphy. Neither of them were top 50 recruits in their class. That speaks to development. That's what Tony Bennett came here for

to have a developmental program and you can't argue with the results. There's no question about that and I think the staff here will continue that thought process. I think

these guys know how it's done, and they should be able to do the same thing. I'm not saying anybody's another Tony Bennett, but they do know the ins and outs of how it's done and should be able to continue to develop players. Hootie Ratcliffe, what's in the hopper at jerryratcliffe.com? We almost had Pete Gillen on today's show. Ah, I love Coach Gillen.

I talked to Pete yesterday, and he was going to come on, but he's up in New England, where he spends a lot of his time, even though they have a home here in Charlottesville. I love Coach Gillen. but he was doing some kind of an event for Skip Prosser the late Wake Forest Wake Forest head coach this morning and it conflicted with our time

so he couldn't do it but he promises he will be on at a later date we'll be I'll just sit and listen to Coach Gillen for the entire hour he's going to show up here in a track suit you could easily listen to him for an hour no question about it

I used to sit in his office and listen to him tell stories for an hour some of those some Digger Phelps stories. There's a lot of good stuff. He's a fun guy. He's one of my favorite people. Same.

And has an art of gold. He does a lot of things that he doesn't get credit for that people don't know about, especially with the military troops, working with troops overseas and taking basketball clinics and things like that. So a great guy. Maybe we can get him to bring his fiddle with him. I know he plays the fiddle. I didn't know that. He was playing some bluegrass here in town, I understand, with some guys.

I can't imagine that. I know the location, the shack that he plays bluegrass in. Yeah, it's a shack. Right around the corner, Hootie. Oh, yeah? Cool. I don't know if he'll do it, but I'd love to get him to do it. But, you know, we'll be going to Tony Elliott's press conference

shortly after we leave here today, and we'll be on the Ron Sanchez Zoom tomorrow, and we'll be having full reports on that and everything Wahoo the rest of the week. JerryRackliff.com, anything Origin the week. JerryRackliff.com, anything Origin Blue related, JerryRackliff.com. The guy's been all over the Tony Bennett story from day one, folks.

One of the few that's covered it right. Judah Wickhauer behind the camera. Thank you, Judah Wickhauer. My name is Jerry Miller. We hope you enjoy the Jerry and Jerry show available anywhere you get your social media or podcasting content. So long, everybody. Thank you.