OC Wayne Lineburg introduced as interim football coach

Former offensive coordinator Wayne Lineburg was introduced as interim football coach Wednesday morning, less than 24 hours after the resignation of head coach Latrell Scott.

Lineburg, 37, who served as the offensive coordinator last year and also from 2004-2006 under former coach Dave Clawson, has no head coaching experience. He will get the opportunity to coach the full season and will be reevaluated after the 2011 season.

"I think it's my obligation and the guys on the staff's obligation to carry on," Lineburg said. "These kids have committed to this program, this program has been good for a long time. Someone has to step up and [coach] and I think at this point in time, I'm ready for the challenge to do that."

Scott's departure after getting arrested for his second DWI in five to 10 years Monday night left the team without a coach 10 days before the Spiders' season opener Sept. 3 at Duke University. Lineburg was selected to be the interim coach because of his familiarity with the Richmond system and his leadership abilities, Jim Miller, Richmond's athletics director, said at a press conference Tuesday night.

Lineburg said that with the short time that he has before the season opener, he planned to keep a sense of consistency within the team. In order to do that, he said he would remain in the offensive coordinator role on the staff and defensive coordinator Bob Trott and special teams coordinator Dave Legg would also remain in their current roles.

"I think keeping continuity on the offense, keeping continuity on the defense, keeping continuity on the special teams is important right now," Lineburg said. "I really trust Coach Trott and Coach Legg to handle those phases of the game and feel like I can still manage the offense along with handling the head coaching duties.

"I'm sure it's not going to be easy but I'm prepared to do that."

Part of that preparedness comes from Lineburg's family. His father, Norman Lineburg, is a member of the Virginia High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame after having a successful career at Radford (Va.) High School.

Lineburg will be Richmond's third coach in the past three years. Mike London left to take the head coaching job in 2009 after a two-year stint at Richmond, which included the team's 2008 National Championship. Eight days after London left, Scott was hired and became the youngest coach in Division I football at age 34.

Scott led the Spiders to a 6-5 season last year despite a rash of injuries. Injuries forced Richmond to use four different quarterbacks but the strength of the defense kept it a contender for a playoff spot until the last game of the season.

Scott has yet to address the team following his departure. Lineburg said that Scott would be welcomed to talk to the team.

"We're all humans, we all make mistakes. So whatever [Scott] would say to us or like to say to us we'll accept it," linebacker Darius McMillan said.

Despite the distractions that may come with a coaching change 10 days before the start of the season, the team will not use that as an excuse if the team regresses, Lineburg said. In meeting with the team Tuesday, Lineburg said that the team appeared unified and ready for the start of the season.

"What we are doing at this moment now is to get ready for Duke," Lineburg said. "That is our biggest focus now and just getting ready to play Duke. "

That preparation included a scheduled practice. It was there that some players learned of Scott's resignation.

Between practicing and watching film from Saturday's scrimmage, the players met to discuss the situation.

"We got together and we realized that we are going to miss Coach Scott because he meant a lot to us on and off the field," McMillan said. "In our meeting, we came to the conclusion that we need to rally around ourselves and we'll be the ones out there playing. The first day was the first response and decided that from yesterday on we would move forward."

Contact staff writer Andrew Prezioso at andrew.prezioso@richmond.edu