After Virginia’s 41-14 loss to UNC Saturday, it has become evident that Virginia football is at a crossroads with its football program. They were favored in that game, and laid a giant egg. They aren’t favored in many games hereafter, and they had an opportunity to beat their second biggest rival, who they just beat last year when they were a top 10 team. They could have been one win from bowl eligibility, but now, it looks like they may not win another game the rest of the season.
Through three years, Tony Elliott’s records will be 3-8, 3-9, and potentially 4-8 (three of their final four games are against ranked teams, and the other one is at Virginia Tech). I’m of the belief that you should be able to have a chance to change your staff before being fired. Having said that, Tony Elliott will probably have the hottest seat in the ACC going into the 2025 season. Where does that change need to happen?
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Look no further than offensive coordinator. Des Kitchings has been an offensive coordinator at three different schools, totaling five years. These are his offense’s rankings in his five years: 110th, 89th, 103rd, 78th, and this year, his best year, currently at 57th. It’s not just that-it’s also the red zone conversion rate, which, in his three years at Virginia, are 122nd, 104th, and 104th this year.
Virginia
But let’s step out a little bit. Even if Kitchings is let go, who is going to want to run an offense in what could be a dead man walking situation? It’s not like you’re going to get a hot shot coordinator in that situation. You’re likely going to get a retread who is happy to fill in, and maybe it works out a little longer.
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Let’s say it doesn’t work out, and Tony Elliott ends up getting fired after the 2025 (or 2024) season. I’m going to throw NIL out of this for now, because that is irrelevant to my point. This is more about the recent history of Virginia football. Since 2006, Virginia football has as many bowl wins as wins against its chief rival, Virginia Tech, and both of those happened with Bryce Perkins at quarterback.
Virginia has not been ranked in the preseason in this timeframe, and has only been ranked in four seasons. They have been in the CFP rankings twice, again with Bryce Perkins at QB. They’ve only been to five bowl games in that span (I’m not counting 2021 since it was never played), and two of them have been with, you guessed it, Bryce Perkins. Basically, one person has saved Virginia football from more futility.
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There’s been a lot of consternation about attendance at Virginia football games, and a lot of the reasoning for that is mentioned above. Nobody wants to sit on hard bleachers for three hours and watch your team likely lose. Scott Stadium holds over 61,000, but it hasn’t seen attendance close to that since Al Groh was coach (his last year was 2009).
Carla Williams has her work cut out for her with the football program. This program is capable of a lot more, and because of hires that haven’t worked out fully, the program is towards the bottom half of the ACC in terms of job status. This administration needs to put more money behind the football program, or it’s going to continue to lag behind.
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