After a week of negotiations, UVA alum Rick Carlisle reached a deal over the weekend to become the new head coach of the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA. Carlisle inked a four-year deal with the Mavs for a reported $17.5 million. The Mavericks will introduce Carlisle to the media at a press conference tomorrow.

Known for his playmaking ability and tenacious play, Carlisle was the on-court general for the 1984 Cavaliers squad that made it to the Final Four, the year after three-time Player of the Year Ralph Sampson graduated. That basketball intelligence allowed Carlisle to transition from a playing career with the Boston Celtics to the sidelines as a coach. Following a successful tenure as assistant to former Celtics teammate Larry Bird on the Indiana Pacers’ bench, Carlisle took over a struggling Detroit Pistons team in 2001.

The young coach (more)

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It’s been at least two decades since Muhammad Ali last called Virginia home, but tonight, for at least one night, “The Greatest” was back in Charlottesville. Here to visit his longtime friend and attorney Ron Tweel, the three-time Heavyweight Champion of the World and his wife Lonnie stopped into new restaurant Maya on West Main to have dinner. The champ and his wife were accompanied by Tweel’s family, including son-in-law Christian Kelly, chef and co-owner of the restaurant.

Before their private meal, Ali, clad in a blue UVA polo shirt, posed for pictures with an excited Maya staff (click on the thumbnail at left to see their smiling faces). Due to his Parkinson’s Disease, Ali did not speak to any of the assembled, but did flash his trademark, wide-eyed stare at one point during the photo shoot, to the amusement of all who saw it.

Ali once owned property in Nelson County in the mid-to-late ’80s and could sometimes be seen around Charlottesville, even having a bite to eat (or maybe just shuffling papers) on the Downtown Mall. Presently, the 66-year-old boxing legend lives in the Phoenix area.

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After more than a decade at the mic at UVA football and men’s basketball games, Mac McDonald announced yesterday that he is resigning his post with the Virginia Sports Network as the Cavaliers’ radio play-by-play man.

“I now have an opportunity on a couple fronts to move forward in my career and pursue a couple goals that I have had for some time,” he says in a press release. “I will always treasure my time with the players, coaches and administration.”

This marks the second time McDonald has said goodbye to Charlottesville. The first was in 1985, when he went to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to call games for Wake Forest University. In 2006, he left the morning show with Jane Foy and the late Dick Mountjoy at Virginia Sports Network flagship station WINA-AM to focus on his UVA duties.

McDonald did not immediately return calls for comment, but his football broadcast partner Frank Quayle says the news took him aback.

“He sent me an e-mail yesterday and I was (more)

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After the Miami Dolphins passed on him with the first selection in the NFL Draft, Chris Long hoisted the jersey of the St. Louis Rams on stage at Radio City Music Hall, as the Rams used their second overall pick to take the fourth-year UVA defensive end.

Long is the highest Cavalier ever selected in the history of the NFL Draft in the Super Bowl era, and only the second highest after the Pittsburgh Steelers chose Wahoo running back Bill Dudley first overall in 1942. He is also the first Cavalier to be chosen in the first round of the draft since 2006, when the New York Jets chose offensive lineman D’Brickashaw Ferguson with the fourth overall pick.

Long’s pigskin legend father, Howie, accompanied his son backstage before the selection. After the Rams announced their pick, Long became only the fifth son of a Pro Football Hall of Famer to be drafted into the NFL.

3:52pm update: Long isn’t the only Wahoo of interest to teams picking in the top 10. ESPN has a camera trained on third-year guard Branden Albert, awaiting his NFL fate at home in Edgewood, Maryland. If Albert goes to the Jacksonville Jaguars (who traded up to get the Baltimore Ravens’ eighth-overall pick), the Cincinnati Bengals, or the New England Patriots, it will be the first time ever that two Cavaliers have been chosen in the top 10.

4:10pm update: The Patriots chose Tennessee linebacker Jerod Mayo at #10, so Cavalier history will have to wait another year. Still, if a team drafts Albert in the first round, it will be the first time two ‘Hoos have been chosen in the first round since 1997, when linebacker James Farrior went to the New York Jets as the eighth pick, and defensive end Jon Harris landed with the Philadelphia Eagles as the 25th selection.

4:41pm update: Branden Albert is a Kansas City Chief. The Chiefs chose the Cavalier offensive lineman with the 15th overall pick. Seeking to fill a porous offensive line, the Chiefs traded up for the 15th spot from the Detroit Lions.

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Despite the speculation of some experts, it turns out Virginia football standout Chris Long will not be the first selection in Saturday’s NFL Draft. Today, the Miami Dolphins reached a six-year, $30 million deal with Michigan offensive lineman Jake Long (no relation to the UVA defensive end), thus ending the mystery about whom the Dolphins would choose with the first overall pick. Some had guessed that the Cavalier would go to Miami because of UVA coach Al Groh’s close ties with Dolphins head of football operations Bill Parcells.

That means that with the second overall pick, the St. Louis Rams are unofficially on the clock to determine if they, too, will opt to go Long by choosing the 6′ 4″, 285-pound Charlottesvillian. Should the Rams pass on Long, then he could be hoisting the jersey of either the Atlanta Falcons, the Oakland Raiders (for whom his father Howie played for 12 seasons), or the Kansas City Chiefs, in that order. Rounding out the top 10 picks in the draft are the New York Jets, the New England Patriots, the Baltimore Ravens, the Cincinnati Bengals, and the New Orleans Saints.

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Fifteen days before UVA defensive end Chris Long learns his professional football fate when the NFL Draft gets under way, Sports Illustrated predicts he will be chosen first overall by the Miami Dolphins. “He may not have the upside potential of [Ohio State defensive end Vernon] Gholston, or [Louisiana State defensive tackle Glenn] Dorsey,” writes SI’s Don Banks, “but he has the track record, he has the bloodlines, and he has the stamp of approval from Virginia’s Al Groh, a longtime [Dolphins director of football operations Bill] Parcells ally.”

The magazine also forecasts that Long won’t be the only Cavalier taken early, as they have offensive tackle Branden Albert going to the Denver Broncos as the 12th overall pick. “NFL scouts love Albert,” writes Banks, “and believe the ex-Cavalier can handle the transition to tackle as a pro.”

If Long and Albert each get drafted in the first round– as most experts think they will– it will be (more)

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The Sabre.com is reporting that UVA head football coach Al Groh is going to resign this week to go work for Bill Parcels and the Dolphins as Director of Player Personnel, and his son Mike will be taking over as Virginia’s head coach. Coincidentally, that means that Groh could have some say in drafting Chris Long, who is expected to be a #1 or #2 draft pick.

Of course, the Sabre’s post ends: “In the end, I guess this would be a very bittersweet morning if I wasn’t pulling your chain because it’s April Fool’s Day. Sorry, had to do it.”

We were fooled too!

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PHOTO BY TOMMY STAFFORD

In a dramatic end to an incredible season, the Nelson County boys basketball team made history by becoming the first team in school history to win a state championship this weekend. Winning by just three points, the Nelson County governors beat out Surry County 50-47 in Richmond on Saturday to take home the Group A, Division 1 state trophy.

The game marked the completion of a what head coach Brandon Garrett describes as an incredible turn-around. Coming from a losing record of 9-12 the year before, Garrett, in only his second year coaching the Governors, helped lead the team to a 30-1 season.

Garrett says it’s hard to describe his team’s reaction to their win in Richmond. “A hum-drum word like excitement just couldn’t touch it,” he says. As for his own personal reaction, he says “it is finally starting to sink in.”

With five seniors graduating, three of whom are in talks with college coaches, Garrett says this season will be “hard to repeat.” But he says the team has a deep bench and a good JV program to rely on.

Nelson County high school is the only high school in the county, a rural and sparsely-populated community that lies directly south of Albemarle County.

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Both the Daily Progress and the Newsplex are reporting that UVA police have charged 3rd-year cornerback Michael Brown with grand larceny in connection with an automobile break-in that took place on February 6, during which items worth an estimated $3,400 were stolen. Brown was released on secured bond, says the Newsplex.

However, both reports omit mention that Brown was charged with trespassing when he was a freshman, plead guilty, and was sentenced to six months in jail. Brown and several other UVA athletes were accused of breaking into the Delta Upsilon fraternity house (more)

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