If itās just about the unknowns around the AD, that fixable.
2 Likes
I just think itās going to be really really hard to keep a guy that looks like heās headed for a .500 season if thatās where he ends up.
4 Likes
Know a Roanoke product who golfed at NW Mizz. Itās like Peoria, only the strong survive
5 Likes
The noise around the AD situation is very confusing/concerning to me. I mean, Iām no huge fan of Carla but this is just starting to seem like a totally dysfunctional organization. Admittedly I donāt even really understand what the āorganizationā looks like, having never really concerned myself with the inner workings of the athletic department, the bov, or the major donor class, so I donāt know what the ādeep stateā is or how it works. But this is bad. We need to replace the coaches from our 2 biggest sports in the next 2 years. Even if Ron ends up with the job, Iām counting that because itās a shot that needs to be called. Football can be deferred for a year, but basketball is now. So whoās calling that shot? If itās not going to be Carla (at least as the public face of the decision), then we pretty much need a new AD approximately now.
10 Likes
Step 1: limit turnovers
Step 2: limit turnovers
Step 3:ā¦
Love ya buddy but this is ridiculous. You really donāt think we can find a better candidate than Ron Sanchez? You act like weād have to give the job away.
If Tony retired in April and we hired someone from the outside, could you imagine the reaction on here if that guy had Sanchezās resume?
6 Likes
I get it and I donāt get it. Canāt make decisions driven by fear. Keeping Ron is not going to guarantee anything . The coach has changed and likely the roster will look dramatically different for the next opener. CTBās Virginia Way won a lot of games but he walked out the door and those times are not coming back.
2 Likes
Itās the middle of the season so of course no one right now is coming out and saying āhey I want the UVA jobā because every coach worth his salt is 100% focused on his respective current team.
If weāre doing things right, weāve got a search firm thatās keeping an eye on āpossiblesā and checking in with their respective agents to gauge general interest (whether to leave their current team at all, or just whether UVA specifically would be attractive) along with a general price tag. Then, come February, when Ronās fate is becoming clear one way or another, itās easy to ramp things up as needed so that decisions can be made and announced by mid-late March.
I still think that if we decide to replace Ron, there will be multiple strong candidates looking to step up into the ACC, within short drives of the recruiting territoties of Philly, the DMV, and NC, with our proven willingness to pay coaches and players well, as well as winning pedigree. I do think weāll be the most attractive ACC job coming open this spring (FSU, Miami, Wake likely the others), and right on par with other non-blue blood but still top-tier jobs like Nova, Indiana, etc.
12 Likes
I think we need a clean break with Tonyās defensive and offensive systems. Tony was a genius at honing execution and squeezing wins out of the machine. Weāre not going to find another Tony on the staff or elsewhere. He was one of a kind. We need to accept that conclusion and free up the search.
21 Likes
I get the sense that she wants more autonomy and they said you can leave if you want that
Yeah Tony Karaoke isnāt the way forward. He was special and attempting the continuity play seems foolish. Iām glad Ron is getting his chance this year, but early results are confirming my concerns. We need to go get someone with a fresh perspective on BOTH basketball and modern college athletics.
5 Likes
Is a coach really worth his salt if heās less than 110% focused on his team? <ā that was the joke part
This is the non joke part ā> (and I know you appreciate this and even basically said as much in your post) nobody is ever 100% focused on anything. These coaches go home at the end of the day and are husbands and fathers who have room in their brains to think about their familiesā futures. As a hypothetical, if uva were to reach out to shakaās agent and say āhey we might be interested at the end of the seasonā Iām sure Shaka would have time to give a thoughtful response in private like āhell noā or āyeah maybe, how much money we talkin?ā while publicly (which I know was your point) heās going to appear/sound 110% committed.
Well this is the big question mark, isnāt it? Like I said above, Iām not a huge Carla advocate, but Iām even less of a fan of a situation where the āpowers that beā put in place a person whose job is supposed to be to play a huge role in situations like this but who apparently now not seen as competent to do that job.
2 Likes
Yeah I was talking about public perception. Obviously coaches at mid-majors with P5 aspirations think about those things during the season, but I imagine not to the degree that either (a) theyāre thinking about it during working hours or (b) that theyād ever let it get said openly. Thatās what agents are for. Nothing has to be negotiated at this point, just feeling things out.
2 Likes
and then the question is how does it stack up against other openings this Spring. Villanova likely will be open, āCuse prolly? Dont see any blue blood openings coming up. Maybe Hurley jumps to the NBA so that could be one. We should be one of the top couple of jobs open this spring.
1 Like
Re: Villanova - Big East jobs are attractive to Big East people. Thereās the urban center environment vs college towns at the big state schools. Thereās not having to compete with football for your campusā attention.
But they also generally have smaller budgets, smaller student bodies, and sorry but playing on Fox Sports ultimately is lower profile. I still think a good ACC job outranks a good Big East job, but at the end of the day I think personalities become the differentiator. Plenty of top candidates would rather be at a deeper-pocketed ACC public flagship, while others may like the tighter-knit community of a BE school.
Syracuse still has a lot of cachet, but is still in a frozen tundra and hasnāt won much of anything in a while save a couple of miracle NCAAT runs out of low seeds (the less said about 2016 the better). I wouldnāt classify it as a definitively better job than UVA, but maybe on par. I know I personally couldnāt be paid enough to live in that weather if given an equal alternative further south.
8 Likes
Iād place the UVA job pretty cleanly above Syracuse, but maybe thatās just me. Yeah they had history with Boeheim, but thatās pretty far in the rear view mirror. Their arena and facilities donāt seem like anything special, as you note the location is non-ideal, and I doubt they can out resource us. Might be some people who just love it upstate but I struggle to think of a metric where they look better than us on paper. Unless they have some big fish donor I donāt know about willing to throw around a ton of cash.
Also, in the next round of realignment, we have a much better shot of ending up at the big boysā table than they do. Not sure if a coach would consider that when picking a job given all the uncertainty, but itās without a doubt true.
1 Like
Syracuse will be seen as a better job to a small subset of candidates, but as a general rule, Virginia will be viewed as the better job.
Hard to overstate the pull Cuse has on folks in the northeast and NY, and itās literally everything to the city. If you get that and were raised with it, it can seem like a good job (especially if you are coming from a cold NE climate already). Otherwise, Virginia will win out.
8 Likes
I think the timing is pretty ideal, actually.
Already happening - AD search occurring privately.
12/2 - announce/assume the retention of Tony Elliott. He fires Kitchings and begins offensive coordinator search.
Now thru February - replace Carla publically, commence basketball coach search privately.
Early spring 2025 - Carla steps down; new AD announced.
April 2025 - new AD announces Ronchez replacement.
Fall 2025 - Tony Elliott lame duck season unless massive turn-around occurs. Search process runs all season, led by new AD.
11/27/25 - Thanksgiving 2025
12/1/25 - Tony Elliott released.
12/5/25 - new AD announces Elliott replacement.
54 weeks, and weāll be in a really good spot, with both sports effectively turning the page under new leadership within the athletic department.
Iām excited.
10 Likes
And I honestly donāt even blame Ron, either. I just think it will be clear itās time for a change in system. Though heād never say it, I think Tony would even probably agree (hence why heās not the coach anymore). Even ignoring NIL, the modern game and its emphasis on stretching the floor really stresses the effectiveness of the pack line. It can still be a borderline great defense but I doubt it can be elite to the level it was under Tony for so long, regardless of personnel. Modern offenses are more perimeter oriented, so a defense designed to give opponents more looks from the perimeter is misaligned. And thatās without even discussing the offense.
AD situation notwithstanding, we should be very attractive to a number of coaches who could realistically get us back to relevance and contention very quickly.
7 Likes
I doubt the cuse job will be open. And if it does, Iād think weād probably have more potential candidate overlap with Nova.
Nova and UVa are both basically the same region with a similar recruiting catchment area.
3 Likes