My attitude is that I am pleased, if for no other reason than I think Virginia could have done far worse. My concerns for the future of UVa basketball are not so much the coaching hire, but how well Virginia can do in the changing NCAA landscape with the transfer portal and NIL. A huge part of Coach Bennettâs success, IMO, wasnât that he out recruited our rivals (no Virginia coach has ever done that and it is doubtful that any ever will), but that he recruited good players and developed them to a level of maturity which allowed UVa to compete. In this evolving era, I am not confident that this will work. I imagine that Coach Bennett had similar thoughts which led to his retirement. I have doubts that Virginia will enjoy recruiting success against the likes of Duke, UNC, Kentucky, etc., with either prep players or transfers, and it remains to be seen if roster stability can be re-established to allow player development. So, at least this hire hasnât sent me into a spiraling depression, or itâs not adding to the current events which are.
Pitino
Mark Pope - Sweet 16 first year after not winning in March beforeâŚ.
Letâs go RO ⌠you can do it too!!!
Another reason to recruit your region well
Aldrich did (although he GAâed for a year out of HSC at Wake before going to law school) â but coaching is the only job Odom has ever had.
COVID didnât matter. UMBCâs season was already over, having lost in the conference tourney before everything shut down.
Odom was an assistant for about 20 years. I think there are pros and cons to that trajectory.
Pitino the younger showed the pitfalls of taking a job âtoo earlyâ at Minnesota, I think. But maybe Ryan was too deliberate earlier in his career.
Kinda impossible for Pitino to not take Minnesota though, right? And they endured some difficulty when they lost his AD
He did tell me he missed Florida job he had for one year. Really liked being at Florida Atlantic Internation America Gulf U
Maybe so, yeah. I think you can probably say no once or so to a big job, but then you start getting a rep, Iâd imagine.
Yeah, FIU is right in Miami? Probably a nice gigâŚ
Heh, I forgot he got the gig right after Isiah Thomas
All of those relatively new Florida universities seem like good gigs. Theyâre mostly happy to just have D1 athletics, good recruiting pool, nice weather. None of them are in the middle of nowhere like some other smaller D1 jobs in the south. Several have had nice little runs.
Nice life!
Right. Only place you can lose and still basically win
Thatâs a bit of a double-edged sword. The âmiddle of nowhereâ has its appeal for some athletes as well as their parents. Additionally, major urban areas can have a few too many distractions. Some kids prefer it; some donât. Itâs all a question of qualifying the prospect for both the program and the environment in which it is located. Putting square pegs into round holes can create issues down the road.
Is this becoming a thing? Using the arena for press conference?
I guess Mark Pope, but that feels like a different category.
Feels like Odom speaking to an empty gym is an odd visual.
Itâs open to the public, will be curious to see how that goes (I have meetings, womp womp)
A harbinger of things to come?
It wonât be empty. Every player in the transfer portal will be there. We used our whole budget flying them in.
I woulda gone but of course Iâm not in town today
as long as they donât use that camera angle to film it, optics will prob be fine. would be weird to watch from inside JPJ though.
Iâll be there.
Coach Moxâs introductory press conference was at JPJ.