Released Hobgood talks departure

By Whitey Reid

Published: October 2, 2008

Not too many people would have wanted to be in Jim Hobgood’s shoes on a December afternoon in Puerto Rico nearly two years ago.
Virginia had just put forth one of its worst performances of the Dave Leitao era — a loss to Appalachian State in the first round of the San Juan Invitational — and the radio color commentator had the unenviable task of interviewing the fiery UVa coach first.
Leitao gave a three-word answer to Hobgood’s first question, a 13-word response to his second and a seven-word answer to his third.
The next day, after an equally dismal loss to Utah, it was once again Hobgood’s turn to break the ice with Leitao.
“I don’t think that series of interviews helped as far as the postgame interviews were concerned,” said Hobgood, with a chuckle.
On Wednesday, Hobgood received word that he would not be retained as the program’s radio color man and was being replaced by former Virginia star Cory Alexander.
Jim Kuznar, the general manager of Virginia Sports Properties, acknowledged the awkward exchanges that sometimes occurred between Hobgood and Leitao.
“I don’t know if there was an issue with chemistry between [Leitao] and Hobgood,” Kuznar said, “but I’d say that there is a good relationship between Cory Alexander and Dave Leitao, which can’t hurt.
“The reason we shook the bush a little was because now that we have a new play-by-play guy in place, it was the opportune time to bring a brand new fresh perspective to the broadcast team — nothing against Jim Hobgood who did a great job.”
Over the summer, Hobgood’s longtime colleague Mac McDonald was replaced as play-by-play man Dave Koehn. That gave Hobgood pause as to whether he even wanted to return.
“The closer it got to the season, the more I realized that Mac would not be there,” Hobgood said, “and the so-called experts are expecting the basketball Hoos to have a tough year — so my excitement for the season was not as great as it had been the past 12 years. To be honest, I’m not sure that they haven’t done me a favor.”
The affable Hobgood, whose full-time job is in the financial service industry, said he holds no grudges.
“I’m grateful for the 12 years that I had,” he said. “Mac and I had a great run and became very close friends, so it would have seemed kind of weird to do the games without him at my side anyway.”
Hobgood agreed that his on-air chemistry with the ultra-competitive Leitao was not always the best. He said Leitao’s sometimes bristly demeanor has made it easier to move forward.
“That was certainly [a] factor that I had in mind,” Hobgood said. “If the team was going to have another tough year, there might be some more difficult circumstances in that regard.
“Maybe I’ve reached the age where I take the attitude of, ‘I don’t necessarily need to deal with that any longer.’”
However, the former Virginia player from the early 1970s will always have a slew of good memories from his broadcast career — most notably two home wins against Duke. The first victory came on an Adam Hall tip-in, the second on a miraculous Sean Singletary shot.
Hobgood said the definite lowlight was the school’s loss to Gonzaga in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2001.
“We had a great opportunity to win that game and the way the tournament was set up, we would have probably won the next game versus Indiana State and gone to the Sweet 16,” Hobgood said. “Who knows, if that had happened Pete Gillen might still be the coach at Virginia.”
Hobgood wishes his replacements, Alexander and Koehn, nothing but success.
“I hope they develop the same kind of chemistry that Mac and I developed over a period of time,” Hobgood said, “and I hope for Coach Leitao’s sake and the players’ that they have a better year than some people anticipate that they’ll have.”