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JUNE 2021 15 Moore, whose son, Mike, was a standout defensive lineman at UVA and now plays in the Canadian Football League, had been working in the private sector while splitting time between Arizona and Richmond. Moore said he sees his new position as "a finish-my-career op- portunity to give back to the University. It's almost like coming full circle." Capone, who moved into football administration two years after arriving in Charlottesville, has worked for four head coaches at UVA: Welsh, Al Groh, Mike Lon- don and Mendenhall. His new role, Capone explained, gives him an opportunity "to really help and contribute in a different way. But it's still around football, and I want to see the program live and prosper, and I think this is an important piece." Virginia football is heading into its sixth season under Mendenhall. The most recent phase of the Master Plan — two natural-grass practice football fields and lights — was completed last summer, and that's been an enor- mous benefit to the program. But the lack of a modern operations center continues to hold the Cavaliers back. After a new operations center is built, Williams said, the department will focus on the remaining phases of the Master Plan, including the renovation of the McCue Center and the construction of an Olympic sports center. For years, the football program was based in Univer- sity Hall, which was demolished in the spring of 2019. Working conditions in U-Hall grew so cramped that, in the '80s, Welsh and his staff moved into construction trailers next to the arena. The opening of the McCue Center in 1991 put the Hoos on equal footing with many of their rivals, but the college football landscape has changed dramatically since then. A new building, Mendenhall said, is "essential if a program wants to compete at the highest level of college football, which is amazing for a community, amazing for an institution, an amazing growth vehicle for young people and also an amazing resource for an entire com- munity. "And so a football operations center isn't an optional part of becoming an exceptional athletic department. A football operations center is just simply a requirement that says that you mean business and that your intention is to become exceptional." "It's not about how fancy the build- ing is or the bells and the whistles in the building. This is going to be all about football and development and training and giving our kids and our coaches the best chance to compete and win games." CAPONE Capone (left), who has been at UVA since joining legendary head coach George Welsh's football staff in 1982, and Moore (right), who was a three-year starter at quarterback for the Cavaliers from 1988-90, have been tasked with accelerating fundraising for the Master Plan, with an immediate focus on a new football operations center. PHOTOS COURTESY UVA