I would back up the Brinks truck for Chris Beard. I would even kick the tires on Mike White. I think Will Wade would certainly take the job if offered. He’s actually the the one VCU guy I would welcome from the recycling bin.
I’d rather keep Ron Sanchez or take a flier on Bucky McMillan than Ryan Odom.
His resume is not one that shows any sustained success. He’s winning this year with a core group of fifth-year seniors.
It’s also concerning that every VCU coach that moves up to the big time fails spectacularly. Odom is also boring.
Oh well. RIP, UVA Basketball.
– Gary
So, Chris Beard, who was fired at Texas for beating up his girlfriend, and Will Wade, who was fired at LSU because of five Level I NCAA violations, including one involving paying a witness for her silence.
Mike White’s only sin is sustained mediocrity – his last four seasons at Florida went 20-16, 19-12, 15-10 and 20-14, and this three at Georgia have gone 16-16, 20-17 and 20-11.
No offense, but this is why they’re don’t let some folks anywhere near the decision-making process.
Just read your article about the coaching search. I’d be delighted if it’s Ryan Odom. I just don’t feel Shaka Smart’s heart would be in it at UVA. He’s a Wisconsin guy, so, yeah, he should stay home.
We need a coach who truly wants to be here, not for solely the money or other perks.
I think Odom will be a better fit and has proven that he is a winner.
– Derrick
I don’t know that the thinking on either of those guys is that they’d be in it for the money.
What I’m told is, the fear with Shaka Smart is that he’s not 100 percent ready to pull the trigger, whereas with Ryan Odom, he appears to be.
And that Odom is also in the mix for other jobs, and if we pass on him to wait for Shaka, and Shaka gets cold feet, Odom could get another gig.
This is the thing that sucks about this process. We’ve been working on it for five months, and it’s still going to end up being a snap decision.
Much has been published about Ryan Odom as lead choice to become new head coach. I can remember how his dad was poorly treated when Terry Holland made it known he wanted Dave Odom to succeed him, and then Jim Copeland announced that he wanted to conduct a national search. Thanks to Copeland’s incompetence, we lost Dave Odom and Rick Barnes, and ended up with not-ready-for-prime-time Jeff Jones.
So, there is definitely some irony if Ryan Odom gets job.
As a long-time double-‘Hoo season-ticket holder, I’m upset that Tony Bennett‘s precipitous move will undermine the goodwill he created and disrupt the basketball program for years.
The more I’ve reflected on the timing of his retirement and the lack of a succession plan, the more I lose respect for the man I so admired.
– David
I don’t assume that Tony’s departure is something that will set UVA Basketball back for years.
Now, I say that assuming that the smart people over there will get this hire right, unlike in 1990.
The folks over there had been talking TB into not stepping down for three years. He knew all along that he was not right for this new era, and the reason why is, his style of ball requires a roster that is around for years, so his players can learn the nuances of the offense and defense.
His best teams – the 2014 team, the 2016 team and the 2019 team – were all groups led by older guys who had been playing in the system together for at least three years.
The NIL/transfer portal era makes it so that coaches can’t bank on having guys for three or four years to be able to develop together.
It was time for a change.
I look at his October departure as perhaps being advantageous – if he had stepped down in the spring, as was rumored, and I wrote about extensively last spring, our folks would have had to rush through a search process in a couple of weeks.
By stepping down in October, the search group has had five months to identify and vet candidates.
My hope is that it ends with us getting the right guy, unlike in 1990, when we had to settle for a guy.
If anything, the failure here is with the administration thinking that by continually talking TB into staying on the job despite his misgivings, even offering him a five-year extension last summer, that they were doing what was needed to keep things moving in the right direction.
I can’t fault them for doing that either, though.
They had a Hall of Fame coach, and they did everything they could to keep him.
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Chris Graham
