Al Groh-speaker 2004

In four short years Al Groh has ushered in a new era of gridiron excellence at his alma mater.

He traded in a high-profile NFL head coaching job with the New York Jets to take over the reins of the Cavaliers in 2001.

To say that Groh and his exciting brand of pro-style football have already made a significant impact on the UVa program would be an understatement. Virginia finished 8-5 last season and celebrated another win in the Continental Tire Bowl, just the second time in history the Cavaliers won a bowl game in consecutive seasons.

He masterfully guided the Cavaliers to a second-place finish in the ACC in just his second season at the helm in 2002. Making believers out of one of the youngest teams in the nation, the Cavaliers confounded the prognosticators who picked them to finish eighth.

Playing one of the toughest schedules in the nation, the Cavaliers defeated four ranked teams and posted four second-half comeback wins.

They capped a remarkable season with a 48-22 thrashing of West Virginia in the Continental Tire Bowl and were ranked 22nd in the final Associated Press poll.
Virginia finished 5-7 during Groh's first season as he tied George Blackburn for the most wins by a first-year UVa head coach.

Groh returned to UVa with over 30 years of professional and collegiate coaching experience, including 13 seasons in the NFL, where he was a member of Bill Parcells' staffs with the New York Giants, New England Patriots and New York Jets.

He was linebacker coach in 1990 as the Giants won Super Bowl XXV and defensive coordinator with the Patriots' 1996 squad that played in Super Bowl XXXI.
Groh was named head coach of the Jets before the start of the 2000 season, and led them to a 9-7 record in one year at the helm.

Before making a name for himself in the NFL, Groh was the head coach at Wake Forest from 1981-86. He compiled a six-year 26-40 record, establishing himself as the second-winningest coach in school history at the time.

A 1967 graduate of UVa's McIntire School of Commerce, Groh was a member of the varsity football team from 1963-65, playing under Bill Elias and Blackburn. He also lettered as a defenseman on UVa's lacrosse team.

2004 Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas