A day after the 2025 ACC Kickoff, UVA Athletics announced that Tyler Jones would be the new general manager for football and women’s basketball, and that Justin Speros had been named the assistant GM for UVA Football.
Speros, who has been involved with the program since 2021, has managed the evaluation process for high school athletics, as well as in the transfer portal.
And, for good measure, let’s not forget about Scott Pioli, who will continue to be a consultant to the football program.
Pioli’s bio: he’s a five-time NFL Executive of the Year and three-time Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots.
Wow, a lot has changed since Virginia Tech manhandled Virginia 37-17 in late November.
The money folks at UVA had seen enough.
Either get in with both feet, or get out.
They chose the latter.
The three front office folks are just the start.
Jones, talking with me on Friday, at a media luncheon for the UVA Football staff, did not attempt to downplay the financial commitment to the program, and the immediate impact it had.
“It was critical,” Jones said. “It was an absolute game-changer for us. With that commitment, our entire recruiting board changed, literally that quick, with the quality of recruits we were looking at.”
That financial commitment Jones spoke of was labeled transformational, and the program promptly responded with a Top 25 transfer portal class.
Carla Williams, on her most recent “Inside Virginia Athletics” podcast, revealed that last December was the first time the football program fully participated in NIL.
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“That speaks volumes, because it’s been happening for three years, so this past December was our first opportunity to be in with two feet,” said Williams.
Williams said the financial commitments were huge.
“You have to have talent, and you have to retain talent. It’s the lifeblood of the program. So, the gift that we got, and we had several, has made a huge impact on our ability to acquire and retain talent.”
I asked Jones: exactly where does Virginia stand among its competitors?
“Well, because no one’s sharing that information, you kind of have to judge by your results on the recruiting trail,” Jones said. “It’s the battles that we have won. Some of my peers on the recruiting trail have remarked about how surprised they were when we signed a player,” that’s a good thing.”
It surprised me to find that Jones and Speros were not sought out more by the media in attendance at the media luncheon.
Nice to talk to the O-line coach, but these two guys are the heartbeat of the program, and reminded me of two Maytag repairmen.
So, that’s where I camped out most.
I figured there’s no better way to learn about this new world order of college athletics than from the folks who are immersed in it 24/7.
Speros joined the Cavaliers after serving as director of scouting at South Florida for two seasons.
A native of McLean, Speros earned his bachelor’s degree from Clemson in 2017, where he served as an assistant recruiter under Tony Elliott.
Speaking with Speros on Friday, he noted the differences and challenges from high school to the transfer portal.
“I think the first step is realizing that you have to retain your own players. That’s critical. If you can’t retain your own players, then you have a problem,” said Speros.
And just what effect did the financial gifts in December make?
“Game changer. We essentially flipped our entire transfer recruiting board,” said Speros. “It happened overnight, and then we went back to work, we started speed dating players, highlighting players that were now in play for us.”
And when does money enter the conversation when recruiting a player?
“Immediately,” said Speros.
“Whether it’s with the player, the agent, or the family, it’s at the front of the agenda. It’s just the way things are now.
Speros said that high school talent is often more concerned about the financial factor than the transfer portal players.
“The transfer portal seems to be as much about the fit as money. The players are looking for the program that best highlights them,” noted Speros.
With a transfer class considered among the nation’s Top 25 and ACC’s Top 4, the most critical part to UVA and a winning season is how fast those new players mesh together.
A big part of that is on Speros.
“A big part in identifying a player is finding out as much about that player as you can. Is he a high-quality guy? How’s he in the locker room? Can he blend with the current roster? It’s called speed dating,” said Speros.
If you listened to Tony Elliott last week in Charlotte, Virginia did its homework and laid a solid foundation.
“Now we’ve been building this. The high school guys in our program want to win, so they’re open to the acquisition of talent, and now is the time to capitalize (in the transfer portal) because a lot of guys who were here from the previous staff have graduated, everything is in place for us now,” said Elliott.
Elliott is 11-23 in his first three years at Virginia.
The talent is on board; how quickly they mesh will be crucial if Elliott is around for a fourth year.
Welcome to speed dating.
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