University of Virginia Library

Opinion

Liars
And
Cheats

By Fred Heblich

Tuesday night George Blackburn joined the ranks of "ex"
football coaches. He becomes the third coach in the state to get
the ax this year, joining company with Jerry Claiborn of Virginia
Tech and Vito Ragazzo of VMI.

The reasons for firing Blackburn are a story in themselves.
The Virginia team has only won one of its last 12 ACC games,
and probably the loss to Maryland was the last straw. If the
University decides that it wants a winning team, and decides that
this goal could be better accomplished under a different coach, it
certainly has a right to fire its present coach and hire a new
one.

However, one would expect that the University would have
the decency to make the process of firing the old coach as
painless as possible. In the case of Mr. Blackburn the situation
was handled badly and was unfair to him. His initial reaction after
he learned he was fired was violent. He called he University
officials involved, D. Alan Williams, Steve Sebo, and Eugene
Corrigan, "liars and cheats," and said that if the Honor System
means anything these persons should be expelled from the
University. He also suggested that Mr. Sebo should seek
psychiatric aid.

Apparently Mr. Blackburn was angered by the fact that he did
not have a chance to defend himself before the decision to fire
him had been reached. Also, he was angry that the
information that he would be fired leaked out before he was
notified, and he felt that he was being treated unfairly. In
conversations with this newspaper as late as Tuesday afternoon.
Mr. Blackburn denied that he would resign and also denied the
rumors that he would be fired. There is reason to believe that up
until the time he was told he was fired, he did not believe that he
would be fired.

In the meantime, beginning Monday night, reports leaked out
over state television and radio stations that Mr. Blackburn had
coached his last game at Virginia. In fact even before
Thanksgiving sports writers in the state were predicting Mr.
Blackburn's dismissal. The pressure these rumors put on
Blackburn must have been enormous. Last Saturday he met with
Mr. Corrigan, who will assume the duties of Director of Athletic
Programs here next year, and there was reportedly no talk of
dismissal, even though it was being considered by University
officials at this time.

No doubt Mr. Blackburn contacted the University officials
earlier this week when the rumors began to break. From his
emotional reactions Tuesday night, it seems as though Mr.
Blackburn was caught unaware by the announcement that he was
fired. This would imply that if Mr. Blackburn had talked to
University officials earlier in the week, they had assured him that
the dismissal rumors were false. Hence, Mr. Blackburn's use of the
terms "liars and cheats" in describing Messrs. Corrigan, Williams,
and Sebo.

The poor handling of this situation recalls the situation at
Virginia Tech where coach Claiborne learned through the
grapevine that he would be fired. That news leaked out after only
the fourth game of the season, and created a situation which
discredited Virginia Tech and demoralized the football team. Mr.
Claiborne submitted his official resignation on the day before
Thanksgiving, the same day coach Ragazzo was fired at VMI.

The case of Mr. Blackburn would have been handled more
fairly if he too had been fired before Thanksgiving so there would
be a cooling period before the University resumed its normal
functions. As it was, the news leaked early, no one knows how,
and once picked up by the press, the situation snowballed out of
control. This focused attention upon Mr. Blackburn and the
University and made the actual announcement of the dismissal
dramatic and emotional.

Blackburn was told of his dismissal Tuesday night at 6
p.m. meeting with Messrs. Corrigan, Williams, and Sebo. While at
the meeting, the University announced its decision, and the news
was on the wire services by 6:30. Mrs. Blackburn learned of her
husband's firing on the television.

The blow could have been softened if the University had
informed Mr. Blackburn earlier in the week that his dismissal was
being considered, instead of denying it. Even losing coaches
deserve the courtesy of common decency and honesty.