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That, of course, opens the door for Virginia. If U.Va. decides to dump Groh - assuming the Cavaliers continue to fade - it could snare Matthews at Wal-Mart prices. When Rich Rodriguez left West Virginia, he was earning about the same paycheck as Groh - roughly between $1.8 and $2 million a year. WVU hired then-assistant Bill Stewart, whose only head-coaching experience was at I-AA VMI, for $800,000 (plus incentives). Because U.Va. oddly Gillenized Groh - gave him an extension a la former basketball coach Pete Gillen that appears to necessitate a multi-million-dollar buyout - a high-quality, bargain-basement coach might be attractive even to a university with extraordinarily deep pockets.

As for Matthews, $800,000 annually would more than triple the pre-incentives salary of $222,000 he gets each year from JMU. That would be hard to turn down. So would a million bucks, which might be the more likely offer.

"He'd be as good a choice as they could make," said former U.Va. coach Sonny Randle, a friend of Matthews. "He's going to be successful wherever he goes. They couldn't get a better coach."

Beyond money, Matthews looks and acts like a head coach. At age 56 (on Nov. 8), he's not in the mid-career Corporate CEO mold of an Urban Meyer or Bob Stoops, but he certainly fits the folksy Frank Beamer or Steve Spurrier template. He even lost 20 pounds in the offseason.

Matthews also possesses two more attributes that should appeal to U.Va.: One is his offensive coordinator, Jeff Durden; the other is his recruiting prowess in a state owned by Virginia Tech in recent years.

"You gotta recruit pretty much the same kind of kid at James Madison as you do at Virginia [academically]," Randle, still a college football broadcaster for ESPN outlets, said. "You [just] gotta recruit a little bit better athlete."

Should UVa choose to pull the plug on Groh, it is likely that assistant Ron Prince or Gregg Brandon would be elevated to interim head coach. Most observers agree that Virginia would likely pursue Richmond head coach Mike London unless one of those assistant coaches had resounding success.

My top choices to be Virginia's next coach are:

1- Mike London- University of Richmond. Coach London understands the culture here and won a National Championship at Richmond in his very first year! He knows all the so called players in every nook and cranny of Virginia. He is also from the Tidewater region of Virginia which is best producer of talent in the state.

....

4- Mickey Matthews- James Madison University. Mickey won a National Championship at JMU in 2004 and understands football. Watch his kids play the game and you see the passion for the game at every single position. He does more with less every single year. Football is football and he is a wonderful coach and a fabulous evaluator of talent

JMU DJ wrote:Agree with both of you

JMU DJ wrote:
If recruited, will either coach leave? JMU definitely can't match a FBS salary, can UR? Mike London was also a former coach at UVA under Al Groh. This would be devastating for either team I think, but like AZ says, it's all about the Benjamins baby.

BeauFoster wrote:

JMU DJ wrote:Agree with both of you

Of course you do - you don't want MM going anywhere!

DukeJack wrote:I've also heard Sumlin's name (Houston) batted around as candidate for the job.

But if they do go in-state, I'd be surprised if London isn't the number one choice. Former assistant, current national champions, and relatively young. Mickey, on the other hand, is going to be 56, loud abrasive personality, national title five years ago, but has shown he can consistently recruit winning talent. If London can have any success in recruiting, it will be all the more likely he goes.