UVa's season is quickly wrapping up (if they're still playing after Thursday, I'll be quite surprised)--and we can turn our attention to the coaching search. In full transparency, we've been sort of quiet on the search front during the season, both here and on the podcast, as Coach Sanchez played out the season in what amounts to an audition of sorts. With a losing record, it seems like a near certainty, barring some sort of miracle postseason run, that UVa will go in a different direction. We'll have a hot board ready as soon as the season is done, and will have more about the search as it plays out. But while we wait, I wanted to drop a couple of notes here.
Search Firm: UVa has been working with Atlanta-based Parker Executive Search on the process; Parker, based out of Atlanta, is one of the major college coaching and administrator search firms that schools use. This can be useful to UVa, as the firms can do a lot of the leg work on background, finding out which candidates might be interested or not, and compiling all the data to make recommendations to the athletic department. UVa used a firm for Bronco Mendenhall's hire, but I don't believe they used one for Tony Elliott's, as that one came together at the last minute with Bronco stepping down.
Candidates: Ron Sanchez has been a candidate since Tony stepped down, but how the season played out probably didn't help his cause much, and frankly, the administration was pretty clear that they were open to an outside hire from the day Bennett stepped down. VCU's Ryan Odom is another logical candidate, though he is also in the mix at NC State, where he seems to have a relationship with NC State AD Boo Coorigan; Corrigan's father was the UVA AD in the 70's and later ACC Commissioner, while Odom's father was an assistant at UVa before taking the head coach job at Wake Forest. Odom's name has been tossed around at Villanova, too, should it open. The name of the moment is New Mexico coach Richard Pitino, who seems ready for another shot at a major job. Pitino has led New Mexico to back-to-back Mountain West titles, and while he will have plenty of other interest this cycle, the path to hiring him looks sort of clear for UVa right now, as many jobs aren't open yet, and FSU and Miami, two other jobs that could have made sense for the younger Pitino, are now filled.
Flight Tracking: UVa's plane moved for the first time in weeks on Sunday, flying out to Salt Lake City and spending the night out there, presumably related to the search. Pitino is just a state away, and finished his regular season on Friday, so that's a logical meeting place for him. The plane then traveled to Florida, and doing some dot connecting it appears that location could be related to donor/BOV type folks, and perhaps UVa is in decision-making mode and looping in stakeholders. Remember, last year, Tony Bennett traveled to Florida and was able to secure key funds for NIL there; this meeting was a factor in his decision not to retire, from what we understand. The plane is now in Charlotte for the ACC Tournament.
Timeline: Expect UVa to try and move quickly here. They've had months to work on this, and should be down to a few names at this point as the season winds down. The transfer portal opens on March 24th, so time is of the essence. Even if they know who they want, at this point or at some point very soon, they're sort of forced to wait until their pick finishes their season, in the NCAA Tournament or otherwise, but that doesn't mean they can't agree to something in principle. Plus if Virginia wants to make sure they lock down their preferred candidate, they should make that happen now, before some other jobs open. If a candidate suddenly makes a deep run to the Elite 8, competition could ramp up.
The Competition: NC State is open, and both geographically and otherwise, they seem to be UVa's primary competition. Villanova is likely to open soon too. Indiana is already open, and Arizona State, among others is headed in that direction. Florida State and Miami have already wrapped up their searches, and it seems likely that the remainder of the ACC coaches will be back for another year. There also doesn't seem to be much other movement in the SEC or Big East (highlighting because these are geographic rivals with similar job profiles), and UVa has had a head start in the search.
Search Firm: UVa has been working with Atlanta-based Parker Executive Search on the process; Parker, based out of Atlanta, is one of the major college coaching and administrator search firms that schools use. This can be useful to UVa, as the firms can do a lot of the leg work on background, finding out which candidates might be interested or not, and compiling all the data to make recommendations to the athletic department. UVa used a firm for Bronco Mendenhall's hire, but I don't believe they used one for Tony Elliott's, as that one came together at the last minute with Bronco stepping down.
Candidates: Ron Sanchez has been a candidate since Tony stepped down, but how the season played out probably didn't help his cause much, and frankly, the administration was pretty clear that they were open to an outside hire from the day Bennett stepped down. VCU's Ryan Odom is another logical candidate, though he is also in the mix at NC State, where he seems to have a relationship with NC State AD Boo Coorigan; Corrigan's father was the UVA AD in the 70's and later ACC Commissioner, while Odom's father was an assistant at UVa before taking the head coach job at Wake Forest. Odom's name has been tossed around at Villanova, too, should it open. The name of the moment is New Mexico coach Richard Pitino, who seems ready for another shot at a major job. Pitino has led New Mexico to back-to-back Mountain West titles, and while he will have plenty of other interest this cycle, the path to hiring him looks sort of clear for UVa right now, as many jobs aren't open yet, and FSU and Miami, two other jobs that could have made sense for the younger Pitino, are now filled.
Flight Tracking: UVa's plane moved for the first time in weeks on Sunday, flying out to Salt Lake City and spending the night out there, presumably related to the search. Pitino is just a state away, and finished his regular season on Friday, so that's a logical meeting place for him. The plane then traveled to Florida, and doing some dot connecting it appears that location could be related to donor/BOV type folks, and perhaps UVa is in decision-making mode and looping in stakeholders. Remember, last year, Tony Bennett traveled to Florida and was able to secure key funds for NIL there; this meeting was a factor in his decision not to retire, from what we understand. The plane is now in Charlotte for the ACC Tournament.
Timeline: Expect UVa to try and move quickly here. They've had months to work on this, and should be down to a few names at this point as the season winds down. The transfer portal opens on March 24th, so time is of the essence. Even if they know who they want, at this point or at some point very soon, they're sort of forced to wait until their pick finishes their season, in the NCAA Tournament or otherwise, but that doesn't mean they can't agree to something in principle. Plus if Virginia wants to make sure they lock down their preferred candidate, they should make that happen now, before some other jobs open. If a candidate suddenly makes a deep run to the Elite 8, competition could ramp up.
The Competition: NC State is open, and both geographically and otherwise, they seem to be UVa's primary competition. Villanova is likely to open soon too. Indiana is already open, and Arizona State, among others is headed in that direction. Florida State and Miami have already wrapped up their searches, and it seems likely that the remainder of the ACC coaches will be back for another year. There also doesn't seem to be much other movement in the SEC or Big East (highlighting because these are geographic rivals with similar job profiles), and UVa has had a head start in the search.
