Keeping in mind that the UVA Basketball coach search needs to be considered a fluid situation, today’s news is, there’s a new #1 in the clubhouse, and a new contender.
The latest is that the powers-that-be are moving toward VCU coach Ryan Odom as the top target, with Odom supplanting Marquette coach Shaka Smart in the top spot.
Movement at the top
What’s going on here is, we’re being told that something that I’ve been noting in columns the past couple of weeks, that a top point of consideration needs to be, avoiding what happened in 1990, is taking root with the search committee.
To reiterate the point that I’ve been making about 1990: UVA, in 1990, needed to find a replacement for another legendary hoops coach, Terry Holland, and the search back then ended up with several really good names among the finalists – Xavier coach Pete Gillen, Stanford coach Mike Montgomery.
ICYMI
- Ron Sanchez signs off with a W in his apparent UVA Basketball home finale
- UVA Basketball needs a GM: And that GM needs to be Wally Walker
- Is New Mexico’s Richard Pitino a legit candidate for the UVA Basketball job?
That effort ended up with an offer extended to Rick Barnes, then the coach at Providence, and Barnes initially accepted the job, before changing his mind almost literally at the last minute.
The other finalists had moved on by that point, and the job fell to a Holland assistant, Jeff Jones, who had a nice run for his first five years, before a stretch of two losing seasons in three years led to his dismissal in 1998.
The failure to land Barnes was the first act in what I’ve termed 19 years wandering in the wilderness before we get to Tony Bennett.
Without it being stated explicitly, I’m getting the sense that while the 2025 search group was, as of a couple of weeks ago, set on Smart as its top choice, there’s a fear of the unknown with him in terms of availability that isn’t there with Odom, who is about as good a 1B as there could be.
Odom’s name has been attached to a plethora of searches, and it’s abundantly clear that he’s going to be moving on after a brief, but successful, two-year run at VCU, where he has compiled a 49-20 record, including a 25-6 mark this season.
The wild card: Ben McCollum
Which gets us to the wild-card who is now slotting into the 1B position – Drake coach Ben McCollum.
McCollum, 43, has just one year in D1 – he has Drake at 28-3 at this writing – but he won 395 games in 16 seasons at Northwest Missouri State, with four D2 national championships.
His style of play seems to fit the mold of the TB teams – Drake ranks 364th, dead-last, in D1 in adjusted tempo, this season.
Drake has wins this year over Miami (80-69, Nov. 21), Vanderbilt (81-70, Nov. 24) and Kansas State (73-70, Dec. 17).
Timing
One thing I’m told is important to keep in mind in terms of timing is this date: Monday, March 24.
This is when the 30-day spring transfer portal season opens.
Monday, March 24, is also the Monday between the first and second weekends of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
The March 24 date is another example of the suits at the NCAA being absolute imbeciles.
Did you see how Miami not only hired Duke assistant Jai Lucas to be its next coach, but insisted that he start on the job on March 10, meaning, he will not be on the sidelines for Duke for whatever its postseason run is?
Things are moving behind the scenes with UVA Basketball on a roughly similar time frame.
From what we’re being told, I’d be surprised if we don’t have a coach and GM in place by March 24.
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Chris Graham
