After leading Longwood Basketball to unprecedented heights, Griff Aldrich is moving just down the road.
For the second time, Aldrich says yes to his longtime friend Ryan Odom and will join him in Charlottesville as associate head coach for the UVA Basketball program.
Aldrich officially departed from Farmville on Sunday and was present for Odom’s introductory press conference Monday in John Paul Jones Arena.
ICYMI
Longwood wasted little time naming Aldrich’s replacement, promoting assistant coach Ronnie Thomas to head coach later on Sunday.
Aldrich’s legacy with Longwood has been cemented.
His seven-year tenure in Farmville saw two Big South championships and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2022 and 2024.
Aldrich also spearheaded the Lancers’ move into the new 3,000-seat Joan Perry Brock Center.
When the opportunity to join Odom, a college teammate at Hampden-Sydney, at Virginia became an option, Aldrich said, “I think that Ryan and I always felt that our time was cut short. I’m excited about being back with him.”
Aldrich, a UVA Law alum, enjoyed a successful career in private equities and corporate development when he initially said yes to Odom and served as director of basketball operations/recruiting and development at UMBC from 2016 to 2018.
In 2019, Aldrich was named head coach at Longwood.
Odom said that while Aldrich was building a successful corporate career, he knew his passion for coaching was always there.
“When I was coaching at Lenoir-Rhyne, of course none of our games were on TV, I’m not sure they were even online then, but Griff would call me up, and talk about the game, and analyze the numbers, I’m not sure how he even did that,” noted Odom.
So, when Odom invited Aldrich to join him at UMBC, Aldrich exchanged his tailor-made suit for a sweatsuit.
At Longwood, Aldrich was the chief cook and bottle washer, and he wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“Let’s just say our resources (at Longwood) weren’t what they are here,” Aldrich told me, “And that was fine. I was able to be involved in every aspect of the program; I had no choice.”
How eager was Aldrich to join Odom in Charlottesville?
“Well, my wife and I really enjoyed adventures, and this wasn’t an easy decision. I’ll tell you that if Ryan had gone elsewhere, I probably would have said, I can’t wait to cheer you on and see you play,” noted Aldrich.
When asked if he was prepared to move into a front-office type role, such as GM, which Ryan earlier said would be coming to the program, Aldrich took the middle ground.
“I love the coaching side, that was important to me, and I want to stay on the court and coach,” said Aldrich.
But later the business side of Aldrich appeared, saying,” I do love analytics, I do love the numbers side of the game, and with the current landscape of college athletics, they seem to mesh well together.”
As the ownership structure of college programs changes, college athletics will likely experience a massive shift regarding how they manage the financial side of their programs.
Having someone with Aldridge’s background on staff could be huge for Virginia.
College programs may turn to private equity capital to bridge the gap between revenue and expenses.
The evolving world of college athletics is nothing but variations.
Who knows, Aldrich may return to wearing those tailor-made suits sooner rather than later.
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