Coach Al Groh

Today, my alma mater, the University of Virginia, dismissed Al Groh as the football coach after a 3-9 season. As a sports photographer, I’ve covered Coach Groh over the last five years — compiling a wide range of images. There are many who have been calling for this change, particularly after loses to Duke, William and Mary, and Southern Mississippi. It seems, for me, that for all the bad losses, there was an equal number of great games — the Thursday night victory over then #3 Florida State in 2005, the 2007 season where the Cavaliers won 5 games by 2 points or less, and victories over PItt and West Virginia in the Tire Bowl and Minnesota in the Music City Bowl. I was particularly impressed with how Coach Groh handled his final postgame press conference — an appropriately reflective tribute for how the Cavaliers were coached over the last nine years.

Al Groh – Images by Jason O. Watson>Photographs of Al Groh