Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 7, 1995 TAG: 9511070041
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Long
No one needs to alert Virginia assistant football coach Joe Krivak to the significance of the Cavaliers' upcoming trip to Maryland.
UVa could be 0-10 - instead of 7-3 - and it still would be a memorable occasion for Krivak.
Krivak coached at Maryland for parts of three decades, including an ill-fated tenure as the Terrapins' head coach from 1987-91.
``It's not something I'm going to get bent out of shape about,'' Krivak said, ``but, whenever you've gone to a school or coached at a school and then go back and play, it's something special.
``I was there for 15 years and had some great experiences. I met some tremendous people and, then, I had contact with some people I'm not particularly fond of.''
Krivak had been out of coaching for more than three years until the spring, when he joined Virginia's staff as quarterbacks coach. He previously had served under UVa head coach George Welsh at Navy.
``The time I spent away from coaching, I didn't regret at all,'' said Krivak, who turned 60 in March. ``I was never one of those guys who felt coaching was my life, and, if I couldn't coach, I couldn't do anything else.
``The years I spent away from coaching, I thoroughly enjoyed. I did a lot of things I never had the opportunity to do. I felt it was a good change of pace.''
Krivak served as a consultant for a group called Sports International, working with college and high-school athletic programs, and he conducted a series of quarterback camps.
``There were some opportunities to get back into coaching,'' he said, ``but what was extremely important to me was not only the situation, but the kind of people I'd be associated with. This turned out to be a really fine fit.''
Questions were raised when Virginia's offensive coordinator, Tom O'Brien, who previously coached the UVa quarterbacks, returned to the offensive line. There has been no apparent friction.
``He's the offensive coordinator; he does the play-calling,'' Krivak said. ``My role as an assistant coach is to provide input. I throw out ideas and, if they're accepted or rejected, it doesn't bother me.
``My job at the football game is to get with [quarterback] Mike [Groh] after every offensive series. If anything happens out of the ordinary, I want to know if he saw it. If he did, then great, we're all on the same page.''
Krivak has lived in a Charlottesville motel since the start of the season. He and his wife have had their house in Bowie, Md., on the market for the past nine months.
``I don't have any goals or objectives,'' said Krivak, whose wife, Jean, visits on weekends and travels to road games. ``I'm not driven by, `I've got to be here,' or `I've got to do this' at a particular time in my life.
``I'm just back coaching. I'm enjoying it. And, as long as there aren't any circumstances that come in from the outside, I'm going to do it. When it's no fun anymore or I don't enjoy it, then I'll do something else.''
There were aspects of the job that Krivak didn't enjoy at Maryland, where his contract was not renewed following a 2-9 season in 1991. The previous year, Maryland had gone 6-5-1 and played in the Independence Bowl.
``I just happened to be at the university at a time when there was tremendous turmoil and great transition,'' Krivak said. ``I went through three athletic directors, two presidents [and] two basketball coaches. I was about the only stable thing that was there for a while.''
Krivak was in his second tour of duty as a Maryland assistant, tutoring such NFL-bound quarterbacks as Boomer Esiason and Frank Reich, before he was named to succeed his former boss, Bobby Ross.
``He had great success,'' Krivak said, ``but his last year there, in 1986, he was 5-5-1. Then, he just picked up and left. You've got to ask yourself, `Why?'''
One reason may have been the cloud that formed over the Maryland athletic program following the death of basketball star Len Bias, who was found dead of a cocaine overdose after he was selected first in the 1986 NBA draft.
``After the Lenny Bias thing, they sort of admitted [the school was] responsible,'' Krivak said, ``so they changed presidents, they changed a couple of athletic directors and, like so many institutions, there was a tremendous push on academically.''
Krivak may have been able to deal with tougher admissions if not for schedules that included non-conference foes Penn State, Michigan, Miami (Fla.), West Virginia, Syracuse and Virginia Tech.
``You've been an assistant coach long enough, you take your shot when it comes,'' said Krivak, who was 20-34-2 overall, 15-19 in ACC play. But ``we hit it at a time when they were playing as tough a schedule as had been played in the history of the school.''
Officials eventually lightened the schedule, replacing Penn State with Tulane, but Krivak didn't get a chance to play that schedule. Even when Maryland renewed his contract, any votes of confidence were grudging.
``The last guy they had [Andy Geiger] was like `The Music Man,''' Krivak said. ``He came in and had an answer for everything. And then, three years later, where was he? He was gone [to Ohio State].
``That was his track record. It was his track record the whole time. Nobody said, `This guy has been under very difficult circumstances.' No one said, `This is our guy.' I had been there the longest and probably been the [most loyal], but I got hung out to dry.''
Perhaps, Krivak could have stayed past the 1991 season, but he received a note - ``A note,'' he repeated - in which Geiger urged him to make staff changes.
``I could have buckled in,'' Krivak said, ``but I had to live with myself. It's called `integrity.' I'd like to think that I try to treat people the way I want myself to be treated.''
Krivak pointed out all but two members of his staff remain in football, including San Diego Chargers assistant Ralph Friedgen and two college coordinators.
``So, it was a good staff,'' Krivak said. ``They knew what they were doing. And, because we didn't have the kind of success they obviously expected that last year, some people had to take the fall. That's wrong.''
Maryland fortunes have gone downhill under Krivak's successor, Mark Duffner, who was 9-24 in his first three seasons. The Terps are 6-3 this year, but there's hardly been a quick fix.
``There never is,'' Krivak said. ``There's an old saying that it takes 50 years to grow a tree and and 15 minutes to cut it down. And, football programs are much the same way.
``Once you get it rolling, you'd better do the right things and make the right choices to keep it there. If not, it doesn't take a lot of time for it to deteriorate.''
by CNB