Righting the Wahoo Ship
A tip of the UVa Cavaliers cap to…the UVa Cavaliers, who this past weekend announced the hiring of Dave Leitao, late-o (that’s how you pronounce his name, I’m told) of DePaul, as their men’s basketball coach, replacing the nice guy who didn’t get the job done, Pete Gillen. Leitao’s pedigree involves time spent working with Jim Calhoun, who’s been known to do a pretty fair job coaching basketball. Leitao is said to be a tremendous recruiter, which in my book is what it’s all about in college basketball. Virginia hasn’t had a tremendous recruiter in my lifetime serving as head coach, and if Leitao
lives up to his reputation, perhaps we’ll keep some of the in-state Virginia hosses that have, unfortunately, tended to go to Duke (J.J. Redick and Grant Hill come to mind; I’m sure there are others) and Carolina (George Lynch and undoubtedly some more). The state has produced some mighty good basketball players before, but outside of big Ralph and Bryant Stith (my all-time favorite Cavalier), UVa hasn’t done much of a job of keeping them.
If Leitao can right the ship at UVa, like the bigwigs there think he can, coupled with the opening of the John Paul Jones Arena for the 2006-2007 season, I’ll be even prouder to be a Wahoos fan. WahooWA!!!
This phrase comes from the 1978 "Jonestown massacre" in which most members of the Peoples Temple cult, blindly following their leader Jim Jones, committed suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid.
Osborne: A Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God
Schlossberg: Idols For Destruction
4 Responses to “Righting the Wahoo Ship”
Not sot fast, big guy. Being a resident of Charlottesville and an avid fan of UVa athletics myself, I feel compelled to point out that not everyone here in Wahooland is tipping there Cavaliers cap at this decision. I happen to know from a VERY reliable source that many donors of UVa athletics are extremely unhappy, to the extent that they are pulling their support from the basketball program. The complaint is not that Dave Leitao is a bad coach. The problem is that Dave Leitao is unproven as a head basketball coach in the NCAA. Two years at Northeastern University (where he resigned with a losing record) and three years at DePaul are hardly the credentials one would expect to see form a head coach in the ACC. The feeling among many in Charlottesville is that UVa athletic director, Craig Littlepage, should have tried harder to negotiate with a proven winner like Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser or South Carolina coach Dave Odom. Leitao may in fact be the real deal. We’ll have to wait and see. But if you don’t mind, I’ll reserve my hat tipping until after I see the Cavs win a few games.
Don ~ Apr 20, 2005 at 9:25 am
Didn’t Allen Iverson grow up in Hampton, VA? Although, maybe he was a good one to miss out on… (he didn’t do much for Georgetown).
matt h. ~ Apr 20, 2005 at 9:57 am
I knew there were others…maybe it doesn’t hurt as much when a thug goes to Georgetown as when good guys like Hill and Redick and Lynch go to ACC competitors…
Byron ~ Apr 20, 2005 at 10:28 am
I know, Don, I know…my first thoughts were not nearly so positive, but I hope that my post ends up being correct, particularly if Leitao turns out to be a good recruiter. My pace quickened when I heard that Tubby Smith was their first choice, and I liked the thought of Dave Odom, or of Rick Carlisle, as well. I’d never heard of Leitao…but if he IS a great recruiter, then that’s certainly what they need. But he is in the big leagues now (they don’t get any bigger than the ACC), and we should find out in 2-3 years what he’s made of. I’m just thinking of some other coaches who went to ACC schools, nobody’s-heard-of-him type guys, and done pretty well…Prosser, Paul Hewitt, a guy whose name sounds like “Sheshefski”, etc.
Byron ~ Apr 20, 2005 at 1:02 pm