University of Virginia Library

Relief Pitching

In Recruiting: Money Talks Or Nobody Walks

By John Marhon

"PRESIDENT EDGAR F. SHANNON JR, and I have given
Coach Lawrence assurance his contract will be fulfilled and
that he has our full support in his current efforts to recruit
outstanding high school prospects and to develop a winning
team at the University." Those were the words Director of
Athletic Programs Gene Corrigan used during a Thanksgiving
break news conference when it was announced that Wahoo
football mentor Don Lawrence would have the last year of a
three-year contract honored and would remain in his present
capacity here at least until the end of the 1973 season.

During our recently-concluded 4-7 season, the subject of
Mr. Lawrence's future here was on the lips of quite a few
people. Most seemed to feel that Wahoo Don would be long
gone before '73's opening snap and, as it turned out, they
were in error. Mr. Lawrence's nameplate can still be found on
the head coach's desk and, as he enters what will only be his
second full winter of recruiting, I feel that he can rest assured
that no Virginia coach before him has ever entered the
recruiting derby with more at stake. The need for an influx of
top-notch prep prospects this year is critical. What's involved is
more important than any future career here by a coach, the
whole program seems to have reached a turning point.

FOR YEARS A SEEMINGLY YOUNG TEAM the Cavaliers
are getting old. Only four of the Cavs' present 22 starters will
not have used up their eligibility when next year's season ends
on Nov. 17 in Morgantown, W.Va. What's even more
disturbing is that ten of the men presently playing behind
some of these starters plus kicking specialist Billy Maxwell are
also slated to hit the trail. Obviously, these men have to be
replaced, If it can't be done with this year's recruits, God only
knows where the players are going to come from. Mr.
Lawrence's first-year crop this year has produced from five to
ten players with good chances of making eventual
contributions to the varsity. Some, such as tailback Raymond
Keys, quarterback Scott Gardner and tackle Tom Glassic, have
already made their presences felt. However, five to ten studs
off the Class of 1977 won't be nearly enough.

Pass receivers stand out now as the team's most crying need.
Record-setter Dave Sullivan and Chuck Belic, the ACC's top
two pass catchers, are both gone. Gone also are reserves like
Mike McGugan and John Beattle. The only Wahoo pass gathers
left of any description seem to be second-year men Kenny
Shelton and Bill Lanahan. Shelton was a starter at the season's
end, Lanahan at the year's start before a broken leg ended his
campaign. These guys will be two good players for us next
season. The only trouble is that we have spaces in the starting
line-up for three. Who that third man will be is anybody's
guess.

WE ALSO SEEM TO BE HURTING at linebacker where
Kevin Michaels left this year and the next five are scheduled
for a '73 departure. Only Stanely Land will return out of our
top four defensive ends and he'll be gone a year later. Our
entire offensive line will be made up of new faces before
1974's opener. Who will play quarterback after H. Davis leaves
town? Gardner? Are you sure? Maxwell, who punted poorly
this season, still had an excellent year with placements. He will
have to be replaced as well.

What Mr. Lawrence needs is exactly what George Blackburn
got during the winter of 1969-70. A quick glance at the
starting line-up shows that 13 Cavalier regulars are Class of '74.
Included here are almost all of the team's stars: Land,
Critchley, Blakley, Srobs, Ryczek, Dickerson, Shawley, Davis,
Merritt, Maxwell and that bunch. Recruiting another Class of
'74 won't be easy. At the University we make things tough on
ourselves by going after only the high schoolers we feel are
to fit in to the University as a whole, academics and all. This is
the way I like it. This sort of player is available, too. There are
thousands of them all over the country. What we don't seem
to realize here, though, is that the pursuit of these players
takes money.

MONEY. THAT'S RIGHT, hard cash, bucks, dollars, snots.
No school in the USA discriminates against smart players,
every coach prefers intelligent players to dumb ones. The
market for linebackers with 1200-plus College Boards is owned
by the sellers. These players can afford to be very selective
about where they go to school as everybody wants them. What
Virginia has to do to increase our share of these players is to
expand our area of recruiting. We can't go on relying
exclusively on Cleveland and western Pennsylvania and picking
up stray Virginians here and there and expect to win in a
conference that's moving up football-wise. We can compete
favorably in the ACC without abandoning the "Virginia Way."
It won't, of course, be easy, but it is possible.

Until we do this, the main problems with the Cavalier
football program will never center around who happens to be
coaching. Anyone who reads this column could coach a team
with Nebraska's talent to the ACC title simply be telling the
players when the games start and demanding that they show
up. We don't, however, need a Nebraska-type team to compete
with the North Carolinas. All we need is a little more than we
have now. This sort of turnaround is not likely to happen this
winter, though. The only trouble is that if we get stuck with a
"more of the same" recruiting year, our won-lost record could
be hideous enough to scare away any top prospect. Mr.
Lawrence has been given the job of getting us some players. I
wish him a lot of luck, he's sure as hell going to need it.