University of Virginia Library

The New Coach

Over the Christmas vacation President
Edgar F. Shannon, Jr. approved the selection
of defensive coordinator Don Lawrence as the
new head football coach replacing recently
fired George Blackburn. Eugene F, Corregan,
Jr., the new Director of the University's
Intercollegiate athletic programs, captained
the search for a football mentor that resulted
in the promotion of Mr. Lawrence to the
helm of the coaching staff.

"Don Lawrence has been selected not so
much because of his excellent credentials as a
defensive coordinator the past four years,"
stated Mr. Corrigan, "but because it was felt
that he has the ingredients to be a great head
coach and to provide the leadership and
organization necessary to raise the Virginia
Football Program to the top of the Atlantic
Coast Conference.

"Among other things, a new head football
coach must be a man of excellent character,
have the respect of the young men he will be
so deeply involved with, have a broad
background and knowledge of football and
give every reason that success will be the
result of his efforts."

We agree with Mr. Corrigan that Don
Lawrence has shown himself to be a man of
highest character who has gained the respect
and admiration of his charges since he first
came to the University in 1967. Not only has
he demonstrated his ability to lead, he has
shown his talents as a builder of winning
squads by his work with the defense.

Upon his appointment, Mr. Lawrence
noted that the "University of Virginia, its
students, faculty, alumni, fans and the
Virginia Press deserve a winner. We have
excellence in academics and we should have
excellence in athletics. They go hand in
hand." We are sure everyone is encouraged by
Mr. Lawrence's determination to produce a
winner, but we are happier to see that he
recognizes that the University will not in any
way sacrifice its students who play football to
a second-rate education.

We urge Mr. Lawrence, as we are sure that
he will, to use his influence with present and
future football players to help them resist the
urge to separate themselves from the rest of
the University, especially the classroom. We
hope that he will arrest the trend of "football
segregation" and will provide the members of
the team with "the best opportunity to get an
education." We hope that he will be
influential in widening the athletic program so
that the accent will be on participation.

We do not agree with the philosophy of a
coach like Darrell Royal of the University of
Texas who notes that "a coach likes to have a
lot of those old trained pigs who'll grin and
jump right in the slop for him." We do not
want big business football here even if we
produce a "Top Ten" team every year. The
costs are just too high.

Even colleges that have traditionally spend
phenomenal sums of money on their football
programs which have produced consistently
the best teams in the country are the scenes
of bitter athletic controversy. Students are
beginning to recognize that such a big time
operation has tended to misplace the
University's financial resources and has often
proven detrimental to the individual football
player. As one University of Florida player
who quit the team noted, he was "tired of
being treated like an animal" and "working
for a computer."

We think that Coach Lawrence just might
be able to bring off his promise to put
Virginia at the top of the Atlantic Coast
Conference without sacrificing the players on
the altar of professional athletics. We hope
that he will be successful, but that he not
forget in his quest for a winning team that he
is in Virginia, not at Ohio State or Texas.