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Pioneer spirit for Cavs and their coach

UVA’s new football coach Bronco Mendenhall moved from Utah and is living in an RV in Ivy. Photo Cara Salpini

UVA’s football team starts spring training this week under new head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who is residing in an RV in Ivy with his wife Holly and three sons, Cutter, Breaker and Raeder.

The family of five is adjusting to life in an RV while they await a renovation to their new home that could take up to four or six months, according to the Daily Progress.

The new digs in Ivy were listed on Zillow for $1.4 million and feature 28 acres, a nearly 5,000-square-foot house, a six-stall horse barn, a pond and “magnificent mountain views,” according to the listing.

While the coach is roughing it, so is the team. Unlike past players, the current Cavaliers enter spring training with no numbers on their backs, no Virginia gear to sport around grounds and a coach who says they have to “earn” their time on the football field.

.“What I have learned relatively quickly is that this team is not resistant,” Mendenhall says at a March 21 press conference. “They’re eager, they’re hungry. I didn’t know really where they would be and I’ve been really impressed with how hard they want to work, how willing they are to embrace the level of detail that we’ve asked for.’”

Under Mendenhall, each player will have to earn his right to have a number on his back, to wear Virginia gear and even to participate in spring practice.

To qualify for spring training, each player had to complete a tempo run within a timeframe set by Mendenhall. He estimates that 90 per cent of the team qualified, but the remaining players were given an additional opportunity to meet the requirements this past Saturday.

“Eighty percent of the team or more showed up to support the guys that hadn’t made their times,” says Mendenhall, who emphasizes the camaraderie building in the team. “The guys who then qualified, there was dogpiling and it was like fans charging the field after a win.”

He says, “So if you put it in context, these guys are fighting like crazy actually to get to work harder once they put on gear and that’s the paradigm shift I’m hoping for. Football is supposed to be the reward.”

Spring training for the Cavaliers began Tuesday, March 22.

 

 

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UVA’s student bank: Undergrads pay $13.2 million in athletics fees

UVA students contribute a hefty portion of the athletics department’s budget, whether they go to sporting events or not. Photo: Jack Looney

With a new head football coach for the Cavaliers and the UVA basketball team winning back- to-back Atlantic Coast Conference regular season titles, varsity sports at UVA are likely to attract more fans than previous years. But despite the great success of UVA’s teams, student fees still account for $13.2 million of the athletic department’s roughly $97 million budget.

As part of the University of Virginia’s nearly $28,000 in-state costs, students are charged an athletics fee of $657 a year—higher than the annual fee for student health. Not only is this one of the highest athletics fees at a public university, ranking No. 1 in the Power Five conferences, according to the Washington Post, but some students don’t even know they’re paying it.

Jessie Thuma, an out-of-state student attending UVA for her third year, says she was not aware of an athletics fee, but in comparison with the $35,000 she pays in tuition each year, $657 isn’t much.

“I go to athletic events more than I go to student health so I guess for me it kind of makes sense,” Thuma says, “But it’s kind of ridiculous for students with no interest in athletic events.”

For students at UVA, the mandatory athletics fee covers all student tickets to varsity sports, provided there are enough seats. In recent years, many students have been unable to get tickets to men’s basketball games because demand is so high.

Third-year Sarah Hilado says she’s been to 20 minutes of a football game the entire semester and works 15 hours a week to try and pay off the interest on her student loans.

“I get paid $660 a month, so I’d have to work an entire month to pay for a game that I don’t even go to,” Hilado says of the athletics fee.

She’s already accumulated $16,000 in debt from her student loans that she will be responsible for paying off.

“It bothers me how much they try to nickel-and-dime us,” Hilado says of her tuition, “and it makes me not want to give anything back to them.”

In addition to her high tuition, Hilado expressed resentment upon hearing that previous head football coach Mike London received a $2.7 million severance package.

“Why are they giving him so much money?” Hilado asks. “He’s leaving for a reason. We should have put that money to better use.”

Hilado notes that rather than have the university “throw” money at coaches, it should increase the pay grade for faculty and staff, saying they don’t get paid “nearly as much as they should.”

For Hilado, the perfect solution is to start charging students to attend athletic events, as is the case at the University of Alabama and several other schools with impressive sports teams. But for fans like Thuma, who enjoy sports but are tight on cash, charging for student tickets might be the end of their support.

Thuma says if student tickets were discounted, she might be okay with paying for entry, but depending on how pricey they were, she “probably wouldn’t go to athletics events.”

Expecting to graduate with between $40,000 and $60,000 of debt, Thuma has to work two jobs to pay for her living costs. In addition to groceries and a meal plan, this income covers Thuma’s spending money for the month—money she would have to use to attend sporting events if the athletics fee was not included in her tuition.

“I don’t mind having an athletics fee just because I like having the option of going to the games,” Thuma says.

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London bridge: Beta Bridge documents student reaction to UVA head coach resignation

Mike London is well-regarded by his players, not so much by UVA students. Photo Jack Looney

Coming off of six seasons as head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers football team, Mike London resigned November 29, the day after the team lost its last game of the season against rival Virginia Tech—for the 12th consecutive year—leaving the Cavaliers with a 4-8 record for the year.

After the game, students painted “Fire Mike London” on Beta Bridge over the orange and blue “Beat Tech”—a recurring theme this semester whenever the team has lost.

Someone also allegedly hacked into the Virginia Athletics Twitter account and tweeted that London had been fired before most fans even got to their cars.

In the wake of London’s resignation, students have taken to the Internet. On the Virginia Cavaliers football Wikipedia page, the head coach has been switched to Eleanor Roosevelt, Angelina Jolie, Frank Beamer, John Cena and even Albus Dumbledore within the past few days. Scott Stadium has been changed to several different places on Grounds, including rooms in the Chemistry Building as well as in New Cabell Hall.

Adam Hawes, a third-year student at UVA and a longtime fan of the team, says he was hopeful that Virginia football’s losing seasons would turn around when he first came to the university, but that the student body has been frustrated with the decision to keep London as head coach for years.

“A lot of students thought he should have been gone two seasons ago,” Hawes says. “There wasn’t an increase in vitriol towards him this year except for the fact that the athletics department kept stringing him along despite what was clearly a losing record.” He cites game management and penalties as “glaring problems” under London.

Craig Littlepage, UVA director of athletics, said in a statement Sunday that London had been “an outstanding representative of the University of Virginia” and praised his ability to positively influence the student-athletes on the team.

However, he also said, “We expect our football program to compete for the Coastal Division title on an annual basis, which puts us in a position to win the ACC championship and be competitive nationally.” Littlepage declined to comment further until a new coach has been selected.

Mary Rockwell, a first-year student at UVA and longtime fan, is glad about the coaching change, calling it a “no-brainer” after the Cavaliers’ fourth straight losing season. She says football season is something she looks forward to every year, but that UVA’s losing culture has affected the fan base poorly, especially for out-of-state students who don’t share her in-state ardor.

Because of the team’s losing record, “it was hard to get them to stay” if UVA was losing or the weather was bad, she says.

“I think people just go in expecting losses now, and I think that’s a really unhealthy state to be in for a fan base,” Hawes says. “The fact that there have been so many losses has really diminished fan enthusiasm. It shows a kind of lack of caring for the program. They’re not willing to make changes when there needs to be change.”

While many students seem glad that a new coach will be coming to UVA, some Virginia football players have taken to Twitter to thank London for all he has done for them. Quarterback Matt Johns tweeted to London, “It has always been so much bigger than football and I can’t thank you enough.” Other players also joined in, including tailback Taquan “Smoke” Mizzell, to express gratitude to their coach.

Looking forward, both Hawes and Rockwell are hopeful that a new coach will give UVA what it needs to become a competitive team again.

“You can see by Beta Bridge that students want a change,” Rockwell says.