We occasionally hear grumbling from Virginia fans about the state of Cavalier hoops, but rarely does the mainstream media join that chorus. That is, until Sunday, when the (Staunton) News Leader’s Patrick Hite called for the firing of Virginia head coach Debbie Ryan. Hite’s even got a successor in mind – James Madison’s Kenny Brooks.

It’s not like Brooks is knocking down the national championship door in Harrisonburg, but he took over what was turning into an ugly situation at JMU and has made the Dukes a quality program year in and year out. He’s young. He’s personable. He’s beaten Virginia the last two years.

That’s certainly a nice shout-out for Brooks. Otherwise, for now we like both coaches right where they are. Not sure what people were expecting from this year’s Cavaliers, but a 16-15 record given the schedule they faced shouldn’t have been terribly surprising to anyone. Should they have beaten Wake Forest in the first 
round of the ACC Tournament? Maybe. But were they getting past Duke the next day? C’mon.

As for Brooks, a former JMU player himself, his situation seems like the ideal mix of coach, location and program. And while a wonderful senior class is about to depart, we love the group of newcomers set to arrive.

But just to be on the safe side, JMU, you know that new contract we understand you gave Brooks last year? You might want to consider sweetening it a bit. For while we doubt Virginia will heed Hite’s advice, we suspect a few other BCS conference schools just might.