Virginia Coaching Candidates Aren’t Talking

Temple coach Al Golden, a U.Va. postgraduate alum who was the Cavaliers’ defensive coordinator from 2001-05 under Groh, refused to answer any questions about the Virginia job, according to Temple’s sports information office. Connecticut coach Randy Edsall had a similar offering. “I don’t have any comment — nothing to say,” Edsall said. “I’m getting my team ready to play a game against South Florida.” Wake Forest’s sports information department indicated coach Jim Grobe, also a U.Va. alum, won’t have any comment about the U.Va. job during the search process. Miami offensive coordinator Mark Whipple was unavailable for comment, as the Hurricanes’ assistant coaches aren’t permitted to speak with media. – Newport News Daily Press

Jim Grobe Made $4.2 million as Wake Forest coach last year

Wake Forest is paying Jim Grobe the going rate to coach football, in part, to keep him from going elsewhere to coach football. That’s how Ron Wellman, Wake Forest’s director of athletics, explained a report published in yesterday’s USA Today that Grobe made $4.2 million during the fiscal year of 2007-08 — more than twice as much as any published report. First off, Wellman said that the figure was grossly misleading because it included a deferred compensation package that vested that year and was thus reported for the first time, as well as a restructuring of the contract that involved a substantial back payment. Wellman said that Grobe, for this season, is actually making $2.1 million. USA Today listed $2.172 million on the chart for salaries of coaches throughout major-college football. The information was collected from the IRS 990 tax forms that even private schools such as Wake Forest are required to report. “It’s the market,” Wellman said. “It’s the world in which we live. And if you’re committed to living in that world, which we are, then you have to meet the market if you’re going to have a good program and retain good people. – Winston-Salem Journal

Could Virginia Tempt Jim Grobe?

This is not to say that either Grobe is anxious to leave or that the administration would like him gone. Yet, Grobe’s postgame comments Saturday sure gave the impression that at least one of the partners might secretly be looking out the corner of his eye for a pretty new temptress to come take him away and start anew. A temptress by the name of, say, Virginia – which happens to be the alma mater of one Jim Grobe. Though the Cavaliers currently have a coach, that figures to change in about four weeks when the annually embattled Al Groh is finally put out of his misery. When it happens, Virginia will have a hard time finding anyone more capable of energizing its unhappy fan base and rebuilding its slumping program than a well-spoken alumnus who has already pulled off one of the greatest reclamation projects in college football history. The only question is, would Grobe go if asked? “You never know what might happen down the road,” he said prophetically two years ago. At the time, Grobe seemed sincere enough about his desire to stay at Wake for the rest of his career. And it could still happen. But even though he was having too much fun to go anywhere else back then, he was smart enough to leave the door slightly ajar. Just in case. – Star-News

Grobe Might Consider Penn State Move

The Winston-Salem Journal writer Lenox Rawlings surmises it will be very difficult for any school to pry Jim Grobe from Wake Forest. However, he believes there could be two jobs which he might seriously consider…

This is pure speculation, but two situations might intrigue Grobe. He graduated from Virginia, where Al Groh has kicked off his second straight save-the-job comeback. Penn State offers nearly everything a 56-year-old coach could want: tradition, recruiting base, title aspirations, money and the chance, established through precedent, to coach another 20 or 30 years if things work out. The potential Penn State clincher: proximity to Grobe’s native West Virginia, to Virginia and to all sorts of folks from a common culture. The potential impediment: Grobe might choose golf over football before Joe Paterno officially retires. – Winston-Salem Journal

Scoop: Grobe to Clemson?

The heat is certainly on Head Coach Tommy Bowden. However, Bowden just signed a seven year contract extension with a whopping $4 million buyout. The natives are restless, but we believe it will take a near total collapse (at least three more losses) for Clemson to have a new coach in 2009. If a change is made, Clemson Athletic Director Terry Don Phillips is rumored to want Wake Forest Coach Jim Grobe…

Other names: Texas DC Will Muschamp, Southern Miss Head Coach Larry Fedora…

“Scoop” posted on FRM is gathered from around the country from numerous sources within the coaching profession…