By Adam Kilgore
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- It still happens every so often in the coaching corridor at the Virginia football complex. An assistant coach will relay a message from Coach Al Groh to offensive coordinator Mike Groh, and he'll make an easy mistake, a slip of the tongue that will not be tolerated.
"Hey, your Dad said . . . ." Mike lets him go no further. In the offseason, at a Thanksgiving table, at family functions, Al Groh is Mike Groh's father. Here and now, he is not.
"No," Mike will say. "It's Coach Groh. He's my boss, too."
That trick, treading the fine line between family and work, will be tested this season more than it has in the previous five years at Virginia. When Ron Prince left the school to become the head coach at Kansas State after last season, Al Groh promoted Mike Groh to be his offensive coordinator.
Mike Groh, 34, will be calling the plays when Virginia opens at Pittsburgh on Saturday night, in the most visible coaching position he has held since becoming a coach in 2000 under his father, when he was head coach of the New York Jets.
Having a son as offensive coordinator invites criticism when points don't pile up. Jeff Bowden has drawn the ire of Florida State fans under his father Bobby Bowden, as has Jay Paterno working under Joe Paterno at Penn State.
"That definitely adds fuel to the fire," said Tommy Bowden, head coach at Clemson and another of Bobby Bowden's sons. "Nepotism, all that stuff."
Al Groh knew the possible consequences when he hired his son, but he said they weren't important to him. He felt Mike Groh, who has served as receivers and quarterbacks coach in his time at Virginia, was the best person to lead the offense, and he didn't care what their relationship was outside of football.
"Yeah, it was something to consider, but it was too far outside the lines," Al Groh said. "We had to just consider: Look, what's the best way for the team to be coached right now at this particular point?"
It helps, at least inside the team, that Al and Mike Groh cease being father and son once work starts. In meetings, on the practice field and during games, there's no special treatment.
"They do a great job of handling that, where it's not, 'I'm working for my dad,' or, 'This is my son,' " receivers coach John Garrett said. "One is Coach Groh, and the other is Coach Groh. He demands that, and wants it to be very businesslike. He wants it to be where everyone is treated the same. They do a real good job of that."
"From Day One, I've tried to approach this as, he's the boss," Mike Groh said. "That's exactly what he is. He's not my dad. He's the head coach. And I'm just like everybody else in that hallway. It's equal opportunity ass-chewing. Trust me, I get mine chewed just as much as anybody else."
Mike admitted it's difficult sometimes to separate the two, but after six seasons of living both as father-son and boss-employee, they've figured out how to draw the line and stick to it. Mike was an offensive assistant under his father in New York.
"When Michael's over at the house, Michael is Michael," said Matt Groh, Mike's younger brother and a law student at Virginia. "When Michael's in the office, then it's his superior. As far as their relationship, it hasn't changed as far as father-son. When it's relax time, it's relax time. When it's time to be in the office, they get their work done."
Having a father as a coach shaped Mike his entire life. He starred in high school and earned a scholarship as quarterback at Virginia, his father's alma mater. He set school passing records and had a tryout with the Baltimore Ravens after graduating in 1995, but his playing career ended after he spent the 1997 season with the Rhein Fire of the World League.
He took a job as a stockbroker with Davenport & Company LLC in Richmond, and he enjoyed it for a few years, but he missed athletic competition. In football, he always played better in games than practice. In school, learning was secondary to his desire to earn good grades. If he and Matt played home run derby in the backyard, he never let his little brother win, no matter that he was eight years older. He shouted at Matt during video game matches.
Working as a stockbroker, "sitting in front of a computer and staring at little numbers all day long," failed to hold Mike's interest or satisfy his need for seeing results. In all those numbers on his computer screen, he couldn't find any W's or L's.
He picked up his phone one day and dialed his father.
"Dad, everything I've been able to accomplish is because of competition and leadership," Mike told him. "And I need to get back to where I'm using those things more often."
He needed to coach. He remembered watching his father coach football teams as a boy, being pulled out of school early to go to games or on recruiting trips. He wanted that feeling again.
"It gets in your blood," Mike said. "And being part of a team gets in your blood, and that's what's so good about this gig."
Mike and Matt hung around their father a lot growing up. Being around while their father schemed plays or screamed at players gave the boys a glimpse into who their father was. Al Groh didn't change the way he coached or acted because his kids were around.
"I just had to be who I was," Al Groh said. "It's very gratifying to me -- for good, bad or indifferent -- that both of them, they know pretty well who their father is. His strong points, his weak points, what he likes, what he doesn't like. I like that a lot. I like that more than that they know that he's got a certain kind of car or whatever. They know who this guy is."
And starting Saturday night, Cavaliers fans will know who Mike Groh is, more than they have before. Having the last name Groh will place more pressure on him than if he were coaching under someone else, but that suits him fine.
"There's nothing I haven't known Michael to face and not excel at," Matt Groh said.
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