1. Albert Michael Groh II was born on July 13,1944 and is an American former football coach and player.
26 Facts About Al Groh
1. 2.
Al Groh last coached as the defensive coordinator for Georgia Tech in 2012.
3.
Al Groh is a two-time Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year, winning the award in 2002 and 2007.
4.
Al Groh has over 38 years of professional and collegiate coaching experience, including 13 seasons in the NFL, a Super Bowl title with the New York Giants, and over a decade of working under coach Bill Parcells.
5.
Al Groh is a 1962 graduate of Chaminade High School, where he played on Chaminade's undefeated, untied 1961 football team under coach Joe Thomas.
6.
Al Groh attended the University of Virginia and played on the Virginia Cavaliers football team from 1963 to 1965, lettering at defensive end in 1965.
7.
Al Groh is a 1967 graduate of the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce.
8.
Al Groh began his college coaching career in 1968 as the defensive coach of the plebe squad at Army, working with Parcells for his first time under head coach Tom Cahill.
9.
Al Groh returned to Virginia in 1970 as head coach of the freshmen team and later defensive line coach.
10.
In 1987, Al Groh made his NFL debut as the special teams and tight ends coach of the Atlanta Falcons.
11.
Al Groh served as the Giants' linebackers coach from 1989 to 1990 and as defensive coordinator in 1991.
12.
Al Groh then reunited with Parcells in New England from 1993 to 1996 as the defensive coordinator, following him to the New York Jets as the linebacker coach from 1997 through 1999.
13.
Al Groh served as head coach of the New York Jets for the 2000 season, taking over after the intended successor to Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, quickly resigned.
14.
Al Groh had been approached for the coaching job at Princeton University and rejected it just before he was asked to the take the Jets job.
15.
Al Groh engineered the trade of wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson before the draft.
16.
Quarterback Vinny Testaverde stated the grueling practices run by Al Groh had the team run of gas by the end, and other players disliked playing for him.
17.
Al Groh was named the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers football team on December 30,2000, succeeding George Welsh, who retired as the winningest coach in school and Atlantic Coast Conference history.
18.
Al Groh was named the ACC Coach of the Year in 2002 and 2007.
19.
Unlike past seasons, Al Groh only played one true freshman in 2006, which preserved the redshirt of true freshman.
20.
Subsequent to the regular season, Al Groh was voted the 2007 ACC Coach of the Year by the ACC Media Association.
21.
Al Groh left as the second-winningest coach in Virginia history.
22.
On January 15,2010, it was announced that Al Groh would be taking the position of defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech for the 2010 season, and coached there through the Yellow Jackets' loss to Clemson on October 6,2012.
23.
Al Groh was relieved of his duties on October 8,2012.
24.
Al Groh's assistants have gone on to become head coaches at other Division I-A programs: Ron Prince at Kansas State, Al Golden at University of Miami, Mike London in the Division I-AA University of Richmond, and Danny Rocco, who left Groh's staff after the 2005 season to become head coach at I-AA Liberty University.
25.
Al Groh's son Mike Groh was a high school football star at Randolph High School in Randolph, New Jersey, who kicked the game-winning field goal in The Star-Ledger "Greatest High School Football Game Ever Played" in 1990 and proceeded to be the quarterback for the University of Virginia football team during the 1994 and 1995 seasons.
26.
Al Groh served on the staff of the Chicago Bears for three years.