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Jan. 12, 2010
10:48 a.m.

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Like many others who follow UVa football, I’m tracking news reports on Al Groh with interest.

Groh, who was dismissed as UVa’s head coach last month, has been linked to the vacant defensive coordinator post at Georgia Tech. And now’s there speculation that Groh could rejoin his mentor Bill Parcells in Miami with the NFL’s Dolphins.

If Groh ends up as an assistant, it will almost certainly be on the defensive side of the ball. So I went back and researched the Cavaliers’ defensive statistics during his tenure.

For Groh’s first five seasons at UVa, his defensive coordinator was Al Golden. Mike London held that position in 2006 and ’07 and Bob Pruett in ’08.

The 2009 season was the only one in which Groh also had the title of defensive coordinator. Make no mistake, though: Groh made the big decisions on defense, no matter who was officially the coordinator. He said as much publicly on numerous occasions.

After leaving the New York Jets in December 2000, Groh installed his trademark 3-4 defense at UVa. That remained the Wahoos’ base defense for Groh’s nine seasons at UVa, during which his teams went 36-36 in the ACC and 59-53 overall.

Here’s how the ‘Hoos ranked nationally among Division I-A (now FBS) teams in two key defensive categories during the Groh era:

2001
Total defense — 93 (out of 115 teams)
Scoring defense — 74

2002

Total defense — 100 (out of 117)
Scoring defense — 50

2003
Total defense — 55 (out of 117)
Scoring defense — 48

2004
Total defense — 18 (out of 117)
Scoring defense — 17

2005
Total defense — 60 (out of 117)
Scoring defense — 40

2006
Total defense — 17 (out of 119)
Scoring defense — 22

2007
Total defense — 23 (out of 119)
Scoring defense — 16

2008
Total defense — 42 (out of 119)
Scoring defense — 38

2009
Total defense — 52 (out of 120)
Scoring defense — 68

NINE-YEAR AVERAGES
Total defense — 51st nationally
Scoring defense — 41st nationally

NOTE: For more on UVa’s stats, check the NCAA’s website.

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