Can we get her? Is there some bad feelings
Bad blood has been there since the Ryan dismissal. If Carla could pull off that miracle a bad word should never be spoken about her.
You’re right @brogdonfanpage Littlepage wasn’t all bad. But the muffed hires on the 2 money maker programs hurt. And he got lucky/had his hand forced on TB but if we’re honest I’m not sure anyone saw national championship 12yrs ago
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Littlepage may also have hired Brian Boland who coached the mens tennis team to four national championships and had a few players win individual national championships. Regardless, Littlepage was a major improvement over Terry Holland who is a wonderful person and had been an excellent basketball coach, but didn’t have the skills necessary to run a large athletic program.
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Speaking of Brian Boland
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Sounds like he wanted a student to get involved in some extra curricular activities
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And then there’s Augie Busch, too, who did well at UVa, but: https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/arizona-swimming-coach-augie-busch-faces-allegations-of-level-i-ncaa-violation/
After over 67 years of being under the thumb of those 4 North Carolina schools, with the league’s headquarters settled in Greensboro, and the ACC Tournament still being played in that backwater town — why would anyone connected to a school outside the Tar Heel State be concerned with Phillips past associations!! He is really smart, incredibly competent, has some leverage points that might nudge ND closer toward football membership, and has been part of a conference with an earning power that far exceeds the ACC. Landing Phillips is a huge win for the ACC, and a shot over the bow that the influence of non-NC schools is finally cemented.
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Littlepage did hire Boland, with the assistance of Andy Downing, a ‘Hoo tennis alum. In addition, Littlepage extended GG, when some within the men’s soccer fan base were bellyaching over not winning a natty until ‘09 & ‘14. And while Littlepage receives much criticism for football’s decline — although it began with a Casteen/Holland hiring of Groh — it was Littlepage’s selection of Bronco that has turned around UVA football.
Worth noting, more new construction and renovation of athletic facilities in the largest number of different sports occurred under Littlepage than any UVA AD in history. In addition, UVA fully funded all scholarships under Littlepage. This was the trigger that began UVA’s prominence as a top all-sports school and a run of 15 nattys since 2001 in 7 different sports.
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I’m not concerned. Was just pointing out not to be worried about his connection to Kevin White.
It’s no longer the ACC of the past. The league now has a board of directors and a completely new governance structure. The board’s executive committee establishes ACC priorities and sets the strategic agenda, with support from the other 11 board members for full fiduciary responsibility. The commissioner’s role is to help the board shape the league’s vision, execute decisions made by the board at the staff level, direct day-to-day operations, responsibility of financial management, and serve as the league’s primary spokesperson.
Gone are the days when the commissioner pushes through an agenda with little input from school presidents and chancellors. Unless Kevin White has influence over 14 ACC university CEOs, plus his own at Duke, I don’t see how any one person outside the board can successfully push an agenda through the commissioner.
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Tony Bennett, O’Connor, Bronco, Tiffany came from that era
Littlepage had a hand in Groh’s hire as well. But really, who else were we going to get? One of the last people they interviewed before Groh was gulp Sandusky. Fortunately they decided not to move forward with him. Groh was (unfortunately) the best option we had.
I give Craig a B+ for his tenure. We did well in non-revenue sports, and he hired Bronco and Tony, but he also hired Leitao and London (and let London stick around far too long).
Please…Unfortunately I know more about what took place with replacing Welsh than I care to mention.
If you “really” understood the power structure during the post-Welsh period, this exchange wouldn’t be necessary.
We all knew that Holland fumbled the ball with Richt. But what some may not realize is that Holland’s reluctance to move quickly is because Casteen didn’t like the fact that Richt was a “bible beater.”
Yes, Sandusky was pursued. So the f-ing what! Many schools went after him. Moreover, Paterno endorsed him. A big deal since Welsh worked for and were best friends with JoePa.
UVA is not like most schools. Academics is critical. So any coach not emphasizing that area, was a no-go! That shortened our list considerably.
Casteen had taken control of the process from Holland, despite the fact it was Ann Holland that suggested Terry reach out to Groh. It was Casteen, Holland, Littlepage, and Gordon Burris that flew to New York to meet with Groh. Casteen pulled the group into the hallway after over two hours of talk to Al to tell them he wanted to offer Groh the job. That’s how it happened. Littlepage had as much to do with hiring Groh as you or I. Moreover, it was Casteen and Sandridge that gave Groh that ridiculous contract off of Al’s agent leaking a false rumor that Cleveland Browns and several schools were considering him as a candidate.
As for Leitao, let’s just say Casteen got tired of hearing from key donors about Littlepage’s obsession to hire Tubby Smith and inserted himself into the process once again. Casteen called Jim Calhoun, who he hired during his tenure as UCONN president, for a head coach recommendation to replace Gillen. It was Calhoun that recommended his two-time assistant to Casteen. And John presented Leitao to Craig as a fait accompli.
Littlepage and Oliver were on clean up duty with Groh and Leitao. The only responsibility that can be pinned to Littlepage is the hiring of London and the mismanagement of the football program during that period.
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I was just a recruit during the end of Welsh and the hiring of Groh so don’t know the details of what went down. I do know the hire took too long and slammed the brakes on recruiting which sucked.
I’m not mad they pursued Sandusky. We can cringe about it in hindsight burnin 99 2000 he was a grear defensive coach and LB guru. We didn’t know about the rest.