I am posting this after having attended an event in Florida with Tony B and Ron S the prior week. The point of the post is to share what I learned but also reinforce that EVERYONE around the program is focused on getting us back into the National Championship contention. I spoke briefly with both coaches but am going to stick with what they (and some large donors) said during the presentation portion.
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Tony is embracing NIL today
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Ron S helped with the NIL push with Tony. I have a strong suspicion that Ron’s return will help with our recruiting (seems like we have had more missed evaluations after he left). @HoozGotNext any thoughts here?
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UVA basketball is in the top third for NIL in the ACC but we are clearly behind UNC and Duke in dollars. Football was much lower per Carla W.
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Multiple larger donors / BOV types made it clear that the sports programs are a priority. Using the endowment to help with the NIL push in on the table. We do not want to become Stanford when the Pac 12 dissolved was a common reframe (e.g. we want to control our destiny with conference realignment and need to invest $$$, particularly in football).
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One prominent donor made it clear that we are playing to win championships in basketball and we all need to give a little more to make that happen (e.g. NIL). We have been at a multi-million dollar disadvantage versus UNC on the NIL front – I suspect that will change.
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Tony seemed very engaged and self-depreciating – he made reference to the loss at VPI as making it easier to come down and ask for more help. I did not get the sense he was thinking of retiring from coaching…
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The school very much views the athletic program as the “front porch” of the University and believes that athletic success is leveraged in admissions and larger donations.
All of us are frustrated with the relative lack of success (although I would not characterize two ACC regular season championships since 2019 as unsuccessful). I think now is the time to get behind Tony and staff and hopefully we get another shot at a “title fight” sometime in the near future.
Go Hoos!!