The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Shawn Moore Joined Jerry Ratcliffe & Jerry Miller Live On "The Jerry & Jerry Show!"

Episode Date: August 14, 2024

Shawn Moore, Associate Director of Development for The UVA Athletic Department, joined Jerry Ratcliffe & Jerry Miller live on “The Jerry & Jerry Show!” “The Jerry & Jerry Show” airs live Tuesday from 10:15 am – 11 am 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.

Here we go. bowl game appearance on the horizon. Time will tell. As we've said on the Jerry and Jerry show in episodes past, the Wahoo football team is going to have to make hay early in the season because that back portion of the schedule is pretty darn difficult. We have a guest today that we're so very excited about. Sean Moore is in the house and in the studio. A guest lined up by the undisputed Hall of Fame Virginia sports writer, a man who needs no introduction, a household name, Jerry Hootie Ratcliffe. Judah Wickhauer, if you can go to the studio camera, and then welcome the star of our program, Hootie in the house. How you doing, my friend?

I'm doing great and really excited about the show today. Same. Can you tell? Sean and I were in the same Hall of Fame class. That's right. In fact, I owe him some gratitude because my voice got a little squeaky when I started thinking family and friends in my speech. And I heard a deep voice behind me say, come on, big man. And I got my act together and finished. So thank you for that.

Absolutely. We have questions already pouring in for Sean. For those that do not know you, the few, how about an introduction, Sean, more to the viewers and listeners on today's talk show? It is a pleasure to be here. You know, I appreciate all the compliments. I feel like I'm so out of date when it comes to this generation recalling my athletic accolades. But I'm a 1990 graduate, University of Virginia, two-year captain, and I've been involved in the athletic department now. This is my third go-round. So student-athlete from 86 to 90. Came back, coached from 2010 to 2013,

and then returned in 2021 shortly after COVID and been back going on four years now working for Carla Williams, Associate AD for Development for Football, and just super excited. Super excited to be back in Charlottesville, which is always home to me. Lived here three times and super excited about the third time. Let me add a couple other things.

He's too modest. He left out. Number 12's jersey is retired at UVA. He was a three-year starter starting around 87 or 88, somewhere in there. He was the ACC Player of the Year in he held 40-some records, either UVA, ACC, or NCAA. He still holds the record for some of those, including being responsible for 83 touchdowns, which is still a record, school record. He finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting that year, and I thought he probably should have finished higher. Of course, he and Herman split that vote.

I know. I was going to say that. Sixth, I think. He took some of our votes. Or something like that. And at that time, that was the highest finished of any ACC player in the Heisman Trophy race. So lots of other things. 6,629 passing yards for his career, 55 touchdowns passing, 1,268 yards rushing, 28 rushing touchdowns.

The man could do it all. And, you know, one thing we should highlight, I first arrived to Grounds as a first year in 2000, so I was smack dab in the Matty Schaub era right there, but why I'm going to go on the record and say Sean Moore was the top gunslinger and Wahoo Nation was the team's success. You should highlight that, because with the position, team success is key when it comes to quarterback play, Hootie. Yeah, well, he was a quarterback that led him to UVA's

only 10-win season in history in 1989. The following year, 1991... We can follow you around all day, Sean, if you want us to. In 1990, when he was... And that 89 team was ACC champions.

Duke claimed some of that, but we know what the real story is. You guys kicked their ass. Head to head. And 1990, he led Virginia to the number one ranking in the nation. And to a Sugar Bowl bid. One of my favorite memories, dad went to UVA, brother went to UVA, I went to UVA, would love it, the boys went to UVA. My favorite, I'd say right there with the national championship,

with basketball, number one in the rankings, that is something I will never forget, especially as an impressionable young teen. I want to throw this to you here. We'll get out of your way. When you hear these accolades and this kind of statistical and team dominance with you at the head, the helm, what's it mean to you? So, you know, I said this in my Virginia Sports Hall of Fame speech. It's really, for me, it was about the players that I played with. There were a lot of great players on those teams.

Starting in 89, you know, it was an experienced team. You know, Ray Savage was captain with myself and Jeff Lagerman. So we had some, I mean, you're talking about a lot of guys who played in the NFL. Like, I talk about this all the time when I talk to people about those past teams. 88, 89, and 90, there were probably over 25 guys that went on to play in the NFL at some point. That's a lot of talent. And you credit George Welsh and his staff, you know, in terms of recruiting. A lot of guys were from the state, lot of talent. You credit George Welsh and his staff in terms of recruiting.

A lot of guys were from the state, state of Virginia. We just, I mean, really, I hate to say it, I sound like Cam Newton being the ultimate game manager of that team, but that's what it took. Obviously it takes great leadership, but to be on a team like that with all those weapons both on offense and defense i mean it was it was extraordinary for me it really was a lot of great players well it took a special guy to run that i remember asking george when i wrote the book about the

history of virginia football about you and coming along from martinsville martinsville Bulldogs. George said he was the perfect guy at the perfect time. Expound on this a little bit. Gary Tranquil, who I thought was brilliant as the offensive coordinator, the offense you guys ran was unbelievable. I mean, you ran some, gosh. Ten personnel, four wives. Yeah.

You could run the wishbone. You could run the pistol. You could run it. You could do everything. So one of the things that I've always credited Gary Tranquil for a lot of the success of those teams and myself, because you said it, one of the most brilliant minds in terms of offense. You know, Gary Tranquil was the head coach at Naval Academy in 1987, 88. No, I'm sorry, 1986 and 85 and 86.

When he came to Virginia in 87, you know, he came, this is a guy who had to humble himself, come in as a head coach from Naval Academy, came here as an offensive coordinator under Coach Welsh, and basically everyone just, like, he changed the whole concept of the offense. I mean, we could go what they call 23 personnel now, where you line up with three tight ends and two backs in the backfield and myself and just pound you. Or he could go four wides, which at that time wasn't done a lot.

University of Houston was doing what they called, what was it called, the run and shoot. We could line up in four wides and do that. We could line up in 21 personnel just standard tight end two backs it was the guy's mind was brilliant in terms of what he brought to this this offense and to utilize weapons like Herman Moore and Terry Kirby and Nicky Fisher and even guys like Terry Tomlin and Derek Dooley, everyone had a hand in that success. And Tranquil's, the way he would game plan each week to prepare for other teams was amazing. You know, we didn't really change our philosophy.

We would add like what you see today in NFL, a lot of movement and motions and flops to the tight end switching sides so you couldn't, you couldn't base the strength on your offense. It was an incredible plan on Nick Tranquil. Every week, it was exciting. And as I said a year ago, I attribute a lot of my success to that man because his mind offensively was incredible. The guy left UVA when I graduated and went to the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland Browns quarterback coach.

Coach Bernie Kosar and that whole crew. And then came back to college. To Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech, right. I had to hear that a couple weeks ago. He came back to Virginia Tech and coached one of my home guys, Maurice DeShazo. And then back to UVA for a round two?

Yep, sure did. I mean, he's one of my favorite people, one of the best coaches I've ever played for. And like I said, a lot of my success is attributed to him. And the guy that lured him to Cleveland was Bill Belichick. Bill Belichick. He was the head coach. A young generation. They don't know anything about all this Belichick. He was the head coach. A young generation. They don't know anything about all this

change back then. It was crazy. Albro was on the staff. I think Nick Saban might have been on the staff. Can we make this call, and this is a question for you, Hootie, and for you, Sean. Can we make the call that during your time it was the peak of performance for Virginia football

and the history of Virginia football. I mean, I think we can say safely 2019 with basketball, with the national championship, was the peak of the basketball program, at least so far. Was your era the peak of football? I'll give you a quick. So 86, my first year. And coincidentally, we're celebrating the first ACC championship team October 5th when we play Boston College for homecoming. So there's a lot of guys coming back. Guys have been hitting me up left and right. They're coming back, guys from that team.

But the 86 team was my first year. And I would say more than 90% of my class played. Well, 90% of my class played. 90% of my class was redshirted. But in 87, all of us played. Everyone in that class played, contributed in some fashion. 86, we were 3-8. 87, we were 7, we were 8-4.

And we went to the All-American Bowl, BYU in a bowl game. That's when it changed. And then 88, 89, and 90, I started and was surrounded by all my teammates that came in with me. So by the time we got to 1990, there were like 15 fifth-year seniors. So we had a super experienced team. But 87 was a bowl. 88, we missed a bowl. We didn't go to a bowl in 88 and we were at seven and four we had a really good team at the end of the year you seven and four now you're in the new year's day

bowl so we're seven and four missed the bowl game was really playing well the end of the season and in 89 you know besides the thrashing against Notre Dame the first game of the year we won nine straight and then went to a bowl, finished with ten wins. And the 90 team obviously was monumental because we started the season 7-0, number one in the country. So it's safe to say that those were some really good teams back then from 87 on. I mean, you're talking about expected to play in a bowl, expected to compete for a championship every year.

You want to hit that? That 89 team, still unbelievable. And one of my favorite games that I've ever covered at Virginia was, well, I went up to the Meadowlands with you guys, and Notre Dame was defending national champions. In fact, that's the last time they won the national championship. And they were almost repeated, but you guys got beat. But then the next game, you had to go to Penn State. And they were ranked top ten.

And you guys upset Penn State there in Nittany Stadium. And you threw two touchdowns in a 14-6 win. You guys led 14-0 in the halftime, and you had a spectacular day yourself. Let's see, I wrote it down here somewhere. Defense played well that day, too. It's funny how I can remember things about certain games, but defensively, like that was a hard-fought defensive game. And I think we opened early.

That was like when basically you would call it like kind of a week zero game because it was a Meadowland classic. So Penn State was playing their first game. We already had a game under our belt. But we went in there and punched them in the mouth, like physically just dominated the game. 14-25 passing for 192 yards and two touchdowns at Penn State. I'll take that.

In front of 85,000 people, I think. Both touchdowns with the Herman, but they were both, like, fabulous catches. But, yeah, that was a physical mauling in Happy Valley where that's when we realized we were pretty good, you know. After getting demolished against Notre Dame, I mean, it was hard. Like, you know, we thought we had a good team coming back from 88, you know, After getting demolished against Notre Dame, it was hard. We thought we had a good team coming back from 88. Finished the season on a five-game win streak,

and then 89 you get punched in the mouth by Notre Dame. But after the Penn State game, we knew we were on to something. And obviously that team, it's funny, we lost to Clemson at Clemson in 89. I didn't play. I didn't play. I got hurt against William and Mary the week before. Just shouldn't have been in a game. The game was over and I went down on the sideline, hit my shoulder on the artificial turf.

So I missed the Clemson game. But that was a it was a great game at in Death Valley. Matt Blunden came in, played well. We just didn't have enough ammunition for them. But then to win the ACC championship that year, as Jerry said, we had shared with Duke, but head-to-head we beat them by 32 points. So I don't know how you would come up with a co-champ in the year, in 89. I got into a little sparring match. Questions coming in already for Sean.

We'll relay some of these on air. This question is coming in from McLean. George Welsh, after the loss to Notre Dame, what did he do to motivate you guys going into Penn State? George Welsh, I don't think he had to do anything. You know, he's the type of coach that George and Joe Paterno was cut from the same cloth so I don't think we did anything

different we just went back to the drawing board and worked our butt off and the next week think about that that's really a road game we're playing in New York in New Jersey Notre Dame huge alumni following and so they were really the home team.

I mean, we saw that when Notre Dame came to Scott Stadium. Exactly. Yeah. And then to go to Penn State the next week, two weeks in a row, you're on the road against a national powerhouse. So, you know, we just came together, worked our butt off, and it was shown in the game because we physically dominated Penn State that next week. And then, like I said, you know, went on a hell of a run after that.

Who do you want to jump in? I've got tons of questions coming in here for Sean. Yeah, I mean, that was just an incredible season, and it led to 1990. And George talked about that offense in particular being the best offense he's ever been around in college football and that included all the Penn State ones when he was the backfield George said that yeah and uh I mean that's that's high cutting when he talks about that right I mean you guys just rolled that year you and Herman led the nation as a passing combo duo. Unstoppable.

Yeah. You two. Yeah. Incredible. I'm still amazed at George Smith. Really? It's like Nick Saban giving a compliment, you know? Well, yeah, you're right.

It is. Seriously. And he, you know, he didn't pass out compliments very easy. Yeah, that's true. Bill McChesney says this, i've hated steve spurrier ever since that duke tie that was some bs right there multiple george wilsh didn't like him either multiple ladies are asking how old sean is and giving the man surprise right now on the feed here dude does not wait 56 dude does not look 56 over here doesn't look a day over 36 ladies over here no bs sean no bs uh multiple people are

asking for your best george welsh stories how about i throw in uh if we're doing the flip book of you at you know coming to uva your football career talk to us about recruiting why uva who else was in the mix what what pushed you over the edge to come to charlottesville you know i i told i was at a golf outing with Brett Prye about a month ago. Chris Slade and I were up in southwest Virginia with Coach Prye. And I told him this story and I said, you know, I don't know how many times I've shared this. I haven't shared it often, but I grew up in southwest Virginia. You know, Martinsville, really close, closer to Virginia Tech than Charlottesville.

And so I spent a lot of time on campus at Tech. Like I literally went there every week for football games. It got to the point where they were pretty much knew that I was going to go to school there. I had a cousin who played there in the early 80s opposite Bruce Smith, Jesse Penn, he's a great player. So they just, they expected me. So I visited UNC, Virginia Tech, Virginia, and Maryland. And I took a visit to Tennessee, but I wasn't going to go to Tennessee. So it was really down to Virginia knew I was coming. Coach Dooley was the coach. I'll never forget Tom Fletcher was the recruiting coordinator. And, I mean, it was a wrap. I was going there. But I had a visit scheduled to Virginia as well.

And so it was kind of a quiet commitment. So I came to Virginia, and then it just, everything flipped. You know, I met Antonio Rice here who's one of my closest friends today uh he was my host and just really my parents really fell in love with with Charlottesville as I said in my my Virginia Hall of Fame speech by the time we got to the barn it was a wrap we went to Aberdeen barn had dinner met the players the coaches uh and it was a wrap like and so then I verbally committed to Virginia and changed my commitment, and then, you know, the rest is history.

But it was close. Like I could have easily ended up in Blacksburg, easily, like because it was so close to home. It was so I was familiar. I knew my way around campus. I knew everything about the place. Aberdeen Barn must have helped attract a bunch of football players. How many commitments have happened at the barn?

The crazy thing is the barn probably not even changed since you went there. Oh, the same people worked there. Same people, same staff, same location. Shout out to my man Derek. He still works there. It's part of the charm. It is part of the charm. Yeah.

30 plus years. What do you remember about this time, Hootie? I remember, I didn't know that he had committed to Virginia Tech at the time, but all eyes in Charlottesville were on Sean Moore because we knew how much Virginia wanted him. Danny Wilmer talked about him all the time. That was my guy. A friend of mine that worked for me at one time, Dave Scarangelo,

was the sports editor at the Martinsville paper. So I was talking to him a lot about Sean. And everybody in the state of Virginia was excited about him because they knew the potential he had. I mean, nobody ever expected him to lead Virginia to ACC championships and number one, but everybody knew that he was going to be a really, really good quarterback. And I remember when you first came in, I guess, against Georgia, right?

Good memory, Jerry. Good job. Down between the hedges. I was at that game. I remember him coming in. I'm saying, okay, here we go. Yeah. You know, I don't understand.

I will never understand Coach Walsh's philosophy because Scott CQs was – when I first got here, Don McCoskey was the quarterback. And Don and I are good friends. We roomed together on the road. And then when Donnie graduated, CQ's inherited the position 1987 first game at Georgia and they told me they say you're gonna play and I'm like you know Georgia was still they were they were still Georgia yeah we go down between the hedges and we're up 14 nothing seeks his two touchdown pass he's on fire and George looks at me and says get ready I'm like are like, are you crazy? Like, we're 14-0.

You're going to put a first-year quarterback in the game. I literally went in the game, and the ties changed. Next thing you know, it's 14-14, and then Georgia starts to dominate. The run game started to just pound us. And then I went back in in the fourth quarter and led a touchdown drive, and I think we lost by 10. But the fact that he put me in in the thick of it, 14-0 lead, and he just put me in just to get some experience,

I thought it was wild. Like, you wouldn't see that today. But I guess George knew what he was doing because the next week I played against Maryland, played against Virginia Tech, and then CQ started to kind of separate himself. And, you know, we won the rest of our games the rest of the season, ended up in a bowl. Questions coming in for him here.

This is a tough question for you. Best football player you've played with at the University of Virginia. And I'll add a second part to that. Best football player you played against in college football. Two-part question. Oh. Best player I've played with at Virginia. Rest in peace, my man, Daryl

Hammond. Daryl and I came in together. Daryl was a junior college transfer from Ferrum College. And coincidentally, he and I were on our visit together at Virginia Tech. And he committed to tech as well. I never forget. And and Darrell was one of my closest friends passed away about seven years ago of ALS. But one of my closest friends. But Darrell came in. He would have been a junior when I was first year. So he was a third year, but played both sides of the ball played safety and receiver that just just shows you his versatility one of the most incredible

athletes I've ever seen like and in my opinion like the best football player I've ever played with and football probably wasn't even his best sport because he played basketball for UVA as well so uh he would play basketball in training camp. Dude was unbelievable. Scratch golfer by far best football player, best athlete I've ever come across. Best player I ever played against. It's funny. I'm going to give kudos to this guy because he didn't necessarily have the greatest NFL career. He played in NFL, but in college he was just a nuisance for me uh a strong safety for nc state jesse campbell jesse campbell was a monster he was all conference player uh player of the year in the acc back then and was just a really good football player and by far like he he just he was a nag like he was all and when we play them he was them, he just destroyed me every time.

And I couldn't get away from him. But one of the best players by far. Didn't have, like I said, didn't have the greatest NFL career, but was a fabulous college football player. What was the 1990 season like, Sean? I mean, you guys, I remember we went out to Kansas to open the season, and Warren Swain, the play-by-play guy back in those days, and I flew out to Kansas earlier in the month of August and interviewed their head coach and some players,

and I think they were terrified of what they thought you guys were going to be, and it was one of the hottest days in history, it seemed like. You know, it's funny you say that. Like, I remember very well preparing for that game. Because think about it. We never went outside of the ACC to play any games, you know. The furthest north we went was Maryland. The furthest west we went, you know,

may have been like a Tennessee over the course of time. But to play Kansas in Kansas, we didn't have a clue. And I think everyone on our team, we were scared. We were nervous. We didn't know what we were getting involved with, like playing Kansas. Because it was a big eight back then, right? Yeah. So we were all nervous.

And the fact that it was over 110 degrees on the field, they had artificial turf, nervous as hell. But after the first quarter, we were like laughing, joking in the huddle, like, all right, let's see if we can get 50 today. And sure enough, we scored 59. We scored 59. I was done by the third quarter. And it's just like we were like, OK, I don't know if this team is that bad or if we're just that good. And it turned out it was probably a little bit of both.

You know, they weren't very good and we were very good. We hung 59 on them. And it was just one of the few games we had 50 because we had 50 several times that year. I think we put 50 on Duke. So, you know, the 90 season for me, I've said this before, by the time we got to around October, we started slowly climbing up the poles. And when we got in the top 10, we were like, you know what, we really are that good. And when we reached number one, it was funny because Chris Slade, one of my closest friends, we had an off week. And someone lost, and it pushed us to one and slade and i were like

are you kidding me like so we took advantage of our notoriety in town like you know we we ate for we ate out for free we hung out uh we were rock stars it charlottesville was on fire back then because you know football they were you know printing shirts and hats, talking about our number one ranking. So it was a fun time to be here. But if you were a player like myself and Chris, we took advantage of all the popularity in town. Give us some example. Day in the life of Sean then. Well, I was in grad school.

So I only had three classes. You had time. I had a lot of time. Yeah. grad school so you know I had I only had three classes you had time I had a lot of time yeah I spent a lot of time with Gary Tranquil uh in the office in football office just kind of you know game planning and preparing for the week but in my off time it was a a lot of uh video games a lot of eating out and a lot of hanging out uh like you know I'd pull my car up on campus and just hang out and people watch let's just say I

was people watching but it was a lot of a lot of that and and I enjoyed it like it was it was a fabulous year for me but I wouldn't trade it in for anything like that's you know people people ask me a lot you know I graduated after the 89 season in the fall of 90, in the spring of 90. And I came back for my fifth year. And there were conversations about whether or not I would come back because I had opportunities to go play professionally. And I actually even talked to representatives about representing me, which probably is illegal. But I was having a great time in Charlottesville.

And I was like, why would I go play pro ball? And this is like the best time of my life. So it was no question like Will and I was coming back. I don't think the coaches even questioned it. They were like, of course he's coming back for a fifth year. But the 90 season was absolutely incredible. Great time to be in Charlottesville. It was madness here every weekend. Well, even

leading up to the games, I've never seen Charlottesville quite like that. I remember UVA would, if it was a home game on Friday nights, you guys were locked away in a hotel somewhere, but they would host a big party

for all the visiting media and the TV people that were coming in to televise the game. They were getting national media coming in here every weekend. They were the Cinderella story of the nation. And it was just wild times. And he's right. Charlottesville was on fire. Fire.

I remember before the Georgia Tech game, it was pretty late in the season and we thought we had written everything you could write about a football team and we had a publisher then that said we're putting out a 48 page special section on this game and I want nothing but

fresh material. And George was going crazy because he didn't like all that publicity. He didn't like the attention. I got another story for you. We named that paper the Thrilla in Charlottesville. I was sitting right across from the barn back then. Aberdeen Barn, guys. Aberdeen Barn, right across from the barn back then. Aberdeen Barn, guys.

Aberdeen Barn, right across from the barn, at the time, was a Red Lobster. Okay. This was a long time ago. And I wasn't a big seafood eater back then. Now I am. But I went in there with three teammates. And sitting in a booth was Lou Gossett Jr., at the time, one of my favorite actors. And I wanted to speak to him, and the security was like,

no, he doesn't, we don't play that. So I'm like, all right, man, the hell with him then. And he saw kind of our reaction, and he invited us to come over. And we ended up getting to know him, and he was filming Toy Soldiers, an old school movie, out at the Miller School. Oh, absolutely. And he invited the three teammates and I.

We went out and we sat on the set and watched the filming of the movie and spent some time with him. I still have pictures to this day. But, I mean, when he saw us, he was like, are you guys athletes? We were like, yeah. And so we talked about, obviously,

the season we were having and it just kind of caught his attention. And he passed away recently. But when I saw that, I immediately thought of that time frame back in 90 when he was here filming Toy Soldiers. We are – I love that story. I love it. We can speak with Sean all day.

We're mindful of his time. He's got a meeting coming up here. Why don't we close with this here? Thoughts on the program today? You know, a guy who – we all bleed orange and blue here love to see us get back uh to bowl games um and to to the level where you had us where coach grove for some seasons had us um open-ended question for you program today what you think about 2024 what's on the horizon so i'm excited know, most people are nervous about all the changes going on in college athletics.

You know, I think with the Big Ten expanding and the SEC expanding, also the ACC expanding with Cal and SMU and Stanford, I'm excited. You know, I think the schedule is interesting. Most people expect there's some thought that we could have some early success, and then the back half of the schedule is harder. But, you know, if you just think about historically, like last year, you know, there were some hard games, you know, perceived hard games, you know, going to Maryland and going to BC,

some tough games. But in my opinion, if you're not in that upper echelon, you know, that top five of, you know, the Texas and Georges of the world, college football, I mean, with the way that's set up now with the portal and NIL, there's an opportunity to get really good really quickly. So I think we've upgraded the talent. It's going to be super exciting to see that talent, how it translates on the field early on. And I think there's an opportunity for some early success. I do.

I believe that. And I think if we can have some success early, I think that will transfer, transition into October, November. A thousand percent agree with that. Yeah. I think there's a chance for postseason play. I do. There's more depth now.

We got a chance to see the team on Saturday. Defensively, there's a lot of guys returning. Offensively, it's going to be interesting to see who separates themselves at the quarterback position. But I like both guys, and I'm super excited to see that first game, you know, to get a preview of what's to come this fall. Well said. I mean, you have a chance to go maybe 4-1, 5-0 to start the season,

and when you're playing with confidence, anything can happen in the back portion of the schedule. Anything. Especially with young guys like this. If this offensive line comes together, you've got two guys be under center that have upside. You've got a tailback that started at Clemson. You've got a wide receiver that is, Tony Elliott called him the fastest

guy he's ever seen, coming from Notre Dame. I mean, anything can happen if they go 4-1, 5-0 to start. I'm hopeful. Likewise. start. I'm hopeful. Likewise. Likewise. I'm hopeful. Any closing thoughts there, Hootie?

I just want to thank Sean for taking some time out of his schedule. I know he's a busy dude. He's raised money for the master plan and helped raise money for the Hardy Football Operations Center over there. Man, he's got the Midas touch over here. Yeah, he does. Everything he's touching. He's got the mightiest touch over here. Yeah, he does. Everything he's touching is good. I can just imagine what it's like when some of these CEOs

and people around the country, when Sean comes knocking on their door, I imagine they get a little giddy just like they did when Barry Parkhill would come by. Gotta keep knocking. Like we are right now. We appreciate you.

Judah, if you want to give some direction to our esteemed guests here and Hootie and I will continue on the show if you want to go to a two shot this is a heck of an interview Hootie Ratcliffe it was fun I appreciate you guys we appreciate you absolutely thank you very much have you back sometime absolutely for those who are asking the interview archive

wherever you get your social media and podcasting content. Sean Moore, absolutely amazing interview right now. I believe heading to the football program for a meeting as we speak. You have a good one, Sean. Thank you very much. Yeah, that was fun. I've interviewed him a million times over the years, and it never gets old because he has so many great stories and is such a great story.

It was such an incredible time in Virginia sports history covering some of those teams that he was on and it would be great to see them be able to get back to that kind of success again with a lot of Virginia homemade players and try to be a factor in the ACC. It's difficult to do because, you know, people who have studied Virginia's history in football know that it's an incredible challenge to reach that level. I mean, they have two ACC, three ACC championships since the early 50s, and here we are in 2024.

So that shows you how hard it is. I'll throw this to you. Viewers and listeners, I see a lot of people asking. The show will be archived on jerryracliff.com, anywhere you get your podcasting content. Hootie Rackliff set up that interview. We're looking to do more interviews on the Jerry and Jerry Show. The man's got a network and a Rolodex that's deeper than anyone,

Hootie Rackliff, the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. You know, with the Al Groh years, when Coach Groh was winning eight, nine games regularly in a bowl game, was it back-to-back continental tire bowls? If memory serves correct yeah when when when coach welsh was at its peak here they put a flag in the commonwealth and said we're going to own the top talent in virginia coach london tried to do that um he had some success with recruiting we would have liked to see the performance on the field a little bit

differently uh coach london having success at William & Mary. Put that question to you. Owning the Commonwealth's talent when it comes to Coach Elliott and this program moving forward and the impact or influence that could have. Well, there's usually plenty of talent in the state. And the difficulty, not only for Virginia, but for Virginia Tech, is to keep it in-state because they get rated by a lot of other ACC schools and now a lot of national schools. You see Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Penn State. A lot of those schools will come in here and try to take some of the top talent

and have been very successful in doing so. But I remember Frank Beamer telling me one time and said this several times. He said there's enough talent in the state to go around for two. At that time, there was only two FBS teams in the state, Tech and UVA. Now there's several. I mean, now you've got JMU and Liberty competing for this talent. Yeah, and ODU. And ODU.

But there is enough to go around, and if Tech and UVA can find a way to keep the majority of that talent in the state, it's going to show up in the record as we go we got a fan trying to come in here to see sean boar live during the talk show right now our director just sprinted out of the studio that's like ralph sampson he draws a crowd everywhere he was absolutely fantastic um the impact of having alumni around the program. Your thoughts on that? It's huge. And I know that Sean is engaged in trying to get a lot of those football alumni reengaged with the football program.

I think that slipped some during the Bronco era. 100%. And so, you know, Sean is busy trying to regain that relationship with a lot of the former players. And I know the Virginia Football Alumni Club, which I do some volunteer work for to try to help them spread their organization, is big on that. They've come up with a program, Who's Make a Difference or something to that effect,

and they honor a former player every home game. Somebody's gone on to be successful off the field as well as on the field. It's a big deal. And you heard Sean mention that they're going to celebrate their first ACC championship sometime in October. October of this year. And he said a boatload of alumni, I mean, the big-time alumni coming back. Yeah, and that's big because there were a lot of really great players on that team particularly um so it's huge if you know watch college football as much as i do on saturdays you are every day of the week now but uh you'll often see the tv cameras and the the uh play-by-play guy or the color guy focus in on those various schools and

some of their alumni standing on the sidelines. On the sidelines interacting with the players during the game. Yeah so I think we may see more of that now with Sean being so involved. Yeah because it's great for the brand's trajectory. Like having the alumni interacting with the players on the sidelines gives the media, the play-by-play guy, a narrative to tell. Oh, Sean Moore was here. At one time, Virginia football was number one in the nation. All-American, all-ACC performer, throwing the ball to Herman Moore,

who played in the National Football League with the Detroit Lions. Terry Kirby is a jack-of-all-trades tailback, could run it, could catch it, could do everything out of the backfield. And when you're able to tell that narrative on national television, it's just good for impressionable teenagers and players that are watching, oh, Virginia's had greatness at one time. Yeah, because a lot of these kids don't know. They don't know.

They have no idea. Right. And it's very important. I was talking with, to put that in perspective, I was having dinner, and he had his son, 12, 13-year-old, remembered the Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome, DeAndre Hunter team in the national championship, and could give statistics from that team like it was no problem. Then I mention Joe Harris, Sean Singletary.

I mention Sam Houser, guys like that. Who? Who are those guys? Memories are short. Yeah, and especially for some of the young kids, they, you know, until they're maybe, you know, some kids obviously become fans when they're really young, but, you know, some kids are kind of oblivious to various programs until they get recruited by that program. So you're right, a lot of people aren't aware of some of the past deeds,

and, you know, you have to do your research. Can you put in perspective number one Virginia football, Sean did, but when the team was ranked number one, when you were covering this team, what Charlottesville was like, is it at all comparable at all to Ralph Mania? Those are the only two times it would fit in that category. In my 40, this would be my 43rd college football season at Virginia. I've had some more before that. The Ralph Sampson days in basketball in that era of Virginia football,

the late 80s going in, stretching into the 90s all the way up to 98. But the 90s season was unbelievable. It was built off of the 89 season, and that team doesn't get enough accolades. The only 10-win, it's hard to believe it, but it's the only 10-win team in UVA history. But 90 was, and it helped set up the 90 team and got fans really interested in Virginia football again.

And they were having, of course, Scott Stadium was only seated at like 40,000 or something back in those days. So every game became a sellout, and it was hard to get tickets, believe it or not. And every week as Virginia continued to obliterate opponents, I mean, their games weren't even close. They were just blowing everybody out, putting up incredible numbers. That's why George called that the best offense he had ever been around, including a Penn State offense that had Lydell Mitchell and Frank O'Harris in the backfield at the same time. Both went on to be great pro football players,

and they had a good quarterback, too, at the time. So that offense could do everything. It was a good defense. It wasn't the greatest defense in the world, but it was good enough to get the job done most of the time. And I remember Joe Krivak, who was the coach at Maryland, telling George that he had questions about whether that defense could win a national championship kind of game,

which the Georgia Tech game turned out to kind of be. Two undefeated teams that late in the season playing each other with all eyes and the country on that game and that team. And the drama just built week after week after week. And everywhere you went in town, people were just on fire with virginia football it was it was just crazy it was a party atmosphere every week all week uh everybody looking forward to the games talking about the games it was dominated dominated the conversation in the entire city and the entire state, really, because they picked up a lot of fans who obviously didn't go to Virginia,

but they loved Virginia and loved what they were doing. That's when I started following Virginia football, being dragged to the games, my brother and I, by my father, a UVA grad. We went to Scott Stadium often during the Sean Moore era. And that was my brother and I's first taste, and we've been hooked ever since. Memories I'll never, ever forget with my dad and my mom and my brother coming up here.

Some of my most cherished memories of childhood. This football team, to get back to that that it's a long way to go how do we do it wow i i don't know i i think they're making all the right moves by the new facility new hardy football operation, which is huge because at that time, for those guys, the McHugh Center was new and state-of-the-art and kind of a draw. Helped them attract some of the better players in the state. You know, prior to some of George's success here, when George first came here, they couldn't even get some of the better players in the state

to even agree to come for a visit. So they had a lot of work to do to convince players they could come here and win. McHugh Center helped. Winning helped. George Welsh obviously was a Hall of Fame coach and pulled off what I think may be one of the best coaching jobs in the history of college football. The way he reversed fortune

of the program here. Virginia was the laughing stock of college football. Back in those days, they had a national thing. You know about the top 10 and the AP poll and all that stuff,

coaches poll. Back then, they had a thing called the bottom 10. This guy would put together a bottom 10 teams in the country every week. And he had a lot of funny one-liners and stuff. He appointed Virginia was in that thing all the time. And at one time had the nation's longest losing streak so for him to do what he did and

turn this program around was unbelievable I think they're making the right right moves I don't know I don't know if they can reach that height again or not. I think it's probably harder now. It's way harder now. Than it used to be. Way harder now. Because there's so much money with the NIL and the transfer portal. A transfer portal can help you.

NIL can if you can compete with it. But, you know, you're not going to win many recruiting battles with some of the top programs in the country because of NIL. But you can get your share of good football players. It's a matter of coaching them up and having a coaching staff that can bring out the best in these guys. It takes a little luck, but it takes an awful lot of work. I don't know. They've got a long climb to get back into just the upper half of the ACC.

Gene Dalton watching the program. Love Gene Dalton. Says, hey, Hootie, so great to see your show. He loves it. Gene Dalton watching the program. Love Gene Dalton. Says, hey Hootie, so great to see your show. He loves it. Gene Dalton giving you some props. Gene Dalton and I worked at the Southwest Times in Pulaski, Virginia, my first job. And he went on, he was a press man and went on to become one of the best photographers in the country. For us, those papers down there, it was New River Valley Newspapers. Then I lured him to Danville when I went there, and then Roanoke stole him, and he went on to blossom in Roanoke before he retired.

But marvelous, marvelous photographer. Mark Brown watching the program, he retired, but marvelous, marvelous photographer. Mark Brown watching the program, he says, I absolutely love this show. I look forward to this show every Tuesday. I have a question. Do they let people view the new football facility? And gentlemen, he says, keep up the great work. You know, I meant to ask about that.

We should have asked Sean. If he'd have been here a little longer, we probably would have talked about that. I mean, we could have spent two hours, three hours with Sean. Because he's had a lot to do with the success of putting that building up. But I don't know the answer to that. I would hope the answer is yes i would think it sometime they would have to have some kind of a way for for fans to come in and view the building and maybe because it's it's so beautiful and and has so many really cool features to it

they should show it off i i just i don't know answer to that. I don't know if you have to schedule visits or if there's a certain time or if they don't allow it. I don't know because it's essentially the football player's home, and I don't know how they handle the public. We'll find out, though. This question's come in for you. What's your short list of the greatest quarterbacks for Virginia? Oh, well, you know, you got Sean,

you got Matt Schaub, you got Aaron Brooks, who never really fulfilled his greatness in college. He went on to be a much greater quarterback in the NFL. The New Orleans Saints. They never really were able to tap into his full potential here. And, of course, Bryce Perkins was amazing. Broke a lot of records in only two years. He broke some records held by previous guys who played here for four years.

I think Mike Groh was a very underrated quarterback. He led them to a lot of greatness. And then Don Makowski was terrific as well. I mean, Makowski ended up in the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. Fort Union Military Academy Hall of Fame. Absolutely. And Scott Seacuels was pretty darn good uh armstrong had his moments blundin had his moments matt blundin had his moments went the entire 90 uh without a pick

one season without throwing an interception until the uh gator bowl where oklah Oklahoma found a way to stop him, but he went on and played for the Kansas City Chiefs behind Joe Montana. But they've produced a lot of really good quarterbacks over the years. You got to throw Biscuit Higgins in the mix. Yeah, that's right. Marcus Higgins, that dadgum number 18. We never could stop that dadgum number 18 who tormented Bobby Bowden in 2005 with a brilliant football game. So many great quarterbacks here.

That's what they need. They need one of these guys now to elevate their game. It's hard to do without a good trigger man. 100%. And that's why I'm such a proponent and fan of Calandria. As a second year, you could build a brand or revitalize the brand and the program around him. He's got the looks. He's got the swagger.

He's got the mentality the the flair if he can limit the mistakes which i think he can and get some protection you have a face of the program absolutely and uh we may see that who knows but because they need that i mean if you think about it who has been the face of the program? Bryce Perkins of late, yes. The team's underachieved. Who has been the face of the program, would you say, over the last five, seven years? There really has not been one. It was pretty much Bryce Perkins.

Maybe Brendan Armstrong for a cup of coffee? A little bit. But he didn't have near the success. Who was it? Bronco? Was it Bronco? I think Bronco was the guy that said he rated quarterbacks only if they

could win you championships. That's how I rate them. And there's only been a few quarterbacks here who's done that. Number 12, who just visited us, took them to an ACC championship. Mike Rowe took them to an ACC championship. And Bryce Perkins took them to the ACC championship game. To the game. And was

Coastal Division champions, which is the only time they've done that. So, again, you've got to have the right guy at the right time to lead a team to greatness. This football team, guys, we are a couple of weeks away. Yeah, August 31st. Creeping up on us very quickly against Richmond here. It's crazy to say this.

A must-win ballgame. Safe to say must-win ballgame? Oh, yeah. You've got to beat Richmond. There's no question about it. I mean, you may be looking at must-win games in the first three or four to start. The really must-win game is the following week at Wake Forest.

Yeah. I can't see this team having the success that it wants to have if it can't beat Wake Forest on the road. And that won't be easy because not many people have figured out how to slow down Wake Forest offense. It's very unique. And Dave Clawson has been a mastermind of that offense. But I think Virginia has to win that game if they want to have the kind of season that they hope to have. Kenneth Knuckles reaching out to us via email

with some data from the 1970s football rankings for Division I. The viewers and listeners love their football. We appreciate all the viewers and listeners chiming in. What's in the hopper on jerryracliff.com? The interview was absolutely spectacular. It was fun and we'll showcase that on the site. There's a boatload of news just from the interview. Oh, absolutely. And that interview will be available on there.

We'll be writing daily about football all week. We'll keep an eye on basketball. There's going to be a lot of big visits in September, so we'll be keeping a close eye on that. They continue to offer some players, and some of the fall sports are getting cranked up. And it broke my heart this week when our good friend Mike Cubby Cubbage passed away after a long battle with cancer a couple of days ago.

And we'll be trying to showcase his career, 50 years in Major League Baseball. Quarterback at UVA, standout baseball player at uva mr lane high school some would say the greatest athlete that has ever come from the charlottesville area mike kubbitch probably so if you stop and think about it spent many an afternoon mike kubbitch drinking cold pops at the glenmore country uh club bar a good golfer the 19th hole hell of a golfer yeah had a house on either the fourth or fifth hole over in Glenmore. Recently moved with his wonderful wife, who was a fantastic philanthropist. Jan. Jan, through the Charlottesville area SPCA. A fantastic philanthropist for rescue

animals. Right. I believe to Hilton Head, South Carolina. When I saw the news that he had passed away, I was equally saddened. Yeah, I had heard a rumor about it and wasn't sure. I was hoping it wasn't true, and then she contacted me and confirmed it. And it's just so sad. He went into the State Hall of Fame a year before i did and i was so happy to see him get in and then he was happy to see me get in the following year and uh just had so many great times sharing stories and listening to him over the years. And great storyteller, great collector of baseball memorabilia. One of the best baseball memorabilia collections out there.

His basement, his man cave, featured in media outlets everywhere. Yeah. Big Ted Williams fan. Yeah. That was his hero. Mike Covidge, rest in power. Your influence still felt in Charlottesville and baseball, professional circles, and, of course, at the University of Virginia.

Hootie Ratcliffe's influence felt everywhere. The website is jerryratcliffe.com. If you want to see the Shaw-Moore interview, it'll be archived there. It'll be archived wherever you get your social media and podcasting content. I thought it was fantastic. I want to thank Hootie Rackliff for setting up this show with a guy in Shaw Moore who when I was growing up was a guy that I

looked up to because I was watching him from the seats at Scott Stadium or on the television when Virginia was a constant on the broadcast channels. We'll have some more Virginia legends in here in the coming weeks. It was absolutely awesome. Judah Wickhauer behind the camera.

Thank you to Judah Wickhauer. For Hootie Ratcliffe, the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. For our producer, Judah Wickhauer, my name is Jerry Miller. And this is the Jerry and Jerry Show. So long, everybody. Thank you.