Calhoun says he hasn't had contact with Virginia

Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said Friday that he has not had any contact with Virginia about the school’s vacant coaching position.

Virginia fired Al Groh on Sunday, and Calhoun has been mentioned by multiple news outlets as a candidate for the job. But he said speculation is just that.

“The only thing I’m thinking about is here,” Calhoun said. “That’s when we recruit, that’s in all of our game prep, that’s in raising our kids. Everything we do. That’s the only thing we’ve even given consideration to, and that’s the only way we’re going to operate.”

Asked if that meant he’d be back at the academy next year, Calhoun said, “I hope so. Absolutely we hope so.”

Air Force gave Calhoun a five-year contract after last season with a base salary of $725,000 annually. The contract represented a significant raise and made him the highest-paid athletic department employee in academy history. It includes a benefits package worth about $110,000 annually and is structured as a “rolling” deal, meaning it will be reviewed annually and another year will be added automatically each Dec. 31.

If Calhoun leaves before the end of his contract, he or the team for which he leaves would have to pay 25 percent of his remaining total base salary.

Back to work

Friday’s practice was the Falcons’ first since it lost its season finale Nov. 21 at BYU.

Calhoun said his players were “very rusty.”

“And yet it’s good to work, just to practice and to go after it,” Calhoun said. “For two weeks we haven’t done football stuff. Our guys got a good break, which I think they needed, to be able to go home for Thanksgiving. Looks like some of them ate really, really well. And we’ve got to get part of that off.”

Jefferson, Dietz practice

Sophomore quarterback Tim Jefferson, who left the game against BYU early in the second quarter with bruised ribs, practiced on Friday and said his ribs are “feeling good.”

“The time at home gave me a chance to get rested up,” he said.

Jefferson made throws down the field, ran the option and didn’t appear at all hindered.

“I feel fine,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of time off before the (bowl) game, so I should be 100 percent healthy.”

Dietz, who broke his right hand in the Oct. 24 game at Utah, practiced – albeit with a cast. Dietz lined up some at tailback, but Calhoun said “that’s a very short-term position for him,” and that he was lined up there to get some work while his hand is in the cast.

“Get him out here, get him involved and maybe see if he could do a little something at that spot,” Calhoun said. “But he’s a quarterback all the way.”

Calhoun said Dietz needs to regain strength and coordination in the hand.

“We may have a little bit better idea in 10 days, seeing where he is with his hand if he can play quarterback in the bowl game,” Calhoun said.