Odom’s first flub as the UVA Basketball coach: Not retaining Kyle Guy

Kyle Guy reported on social media on Monday that he will not be returning to the UVA Basketball program, saying “it’s time to move on to a new coaching opportunity.”

This is a missed opportunity on the part of the new coach, Ryan Odom.

I think Odom would benefit from having a recent, and celebrated, alum on his new UVA staff.

I don’t know this for sure, but I can’t imagine Guy is leaving of his own volition.

Doesn’t look good on Odom, is my perspective here.

Guy, a member of the 2019 national-championship team, had returned to UVA Basketball last summer as a special assistant on the staff of Tony Bennett.

That move came after Guy, a second-round pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, retired from his playing career at the ripe old age of 26.

The 6’2” off-guard never did catch on in the NBA, playing in 34 games in two seasons in Sacramento, then getting 19 games with Miami in 2021-2022, as teams tried to get him to make the switch from two guard to running the point.

In parts of two seasons in the G League, Guy seemed to take to the switch, averaging 21.1 points and 4.7 assists per game at the one spot.

The writing was on the wall, though, unfortunately, with respect to the NBA, though, and after trying to get a full-time NBA gig for three years, Guy decided to go overseas in 2022, and he spent the next two seasons bouncing around Europe, where his minutes (20.4 per game) were limited, which you notice in his other numbers (11.2 points per game, 42.3% FG, 35.0% 3FG in 83 games over the past two years).

A seemingly eternally happy locker-room presence, Guy was also productive on the floor at UVA, where he was a Final Four Most Outstanding Player, two-time All-American, two-time All-ACC first-team honoree and ACC Tournament MVP, and will forever be remembered by ‘Hoos fans for the three free throws he sank with six-tenths of a second left in the 63-62 win over Auburn in the 2019 Final Four.

Guy returned to UVA in August to work as an athlete development mentor/special assistant on Bennett’s staff, but Bennett ended up stepping down from his job as the head coach two weeks before the 2024-2025 season, throwing the program into chaos.

“This past year has been a full circle experience. Getting to work with Coach Bennett and Coach Sanchez was beyond fulfilling. I owe them more than words can portray,” Guy said in his social-media message.

Long-time Bennett assistant Ron Sanchez, who took over as the interim coach in Bennett’s wake, was not retained at the end of the 2024-2025 season, and the new coach, Ryan Odom, has filled four of the five full-time spots on the staff with coaches he had worked with at previous stops at VCU and UMBC.

I’m not suggesting that Odom use the other full-time spot on Guy, but he could have retained Guy in a support position.

For Odom to succeed, he’s going to need to reach out to and develop good relationships with the Bennett-era alums, to get them and keep them on board with the next steps in the program.

This isn’t a good start.