Isaiah Wilkins, who was on the Tony Bennett/Ron Sanchez UVA Basketball staff for four years, two as a full-time assistant, has not been retained by the new coach, Ryan Odom.
Here we go again.
Wilkins, a double-’Hoo – with an undergraduate degree in African American and African studies and master’s degree in higher education – confirmed his departure from the program in an Instagram post on Wednesday.
“Thank you to Coach Bennett for allowing me back and teaching me the game. Thank you to Coach Sanchez for helping me grow as a leader. Thank you to the staff and coaches and their families for always taking care of me. Thank you to the players and managers that have passed through here the last four years for reminding me why I do what I do. Thank you to the JPJ staff for the behind-the-scenes work that makes all of it possible. And thank you to my professors, new friends, and the Charlottesville community for embracing me – I’m lucky to have called this place home,” Wilkins wrote in the post.
This is another swing-and-miss from Odom, who still has one full-time assistant spot to fill.
ICYMI
- Odom’s first flub as the UVA Basketball coach: Not retaining Kyle Guy
- UVA Basketball: Odom fleshes out staff with more from his VCU posse
Odom has filled most of the assistant and support staff spots with people who’d worked with him at his previous stops at VCU, Utah State and UMBC, which isn’t at all unusual, but neither is it unusual for a new head coach with no previous ties to a program or school to retain a member of the previous staff, and in particular, one who has experience playing and coaching at the new school.
Wilkins played at Virginia from 2014-2018, averaging 4.9 points and 4.8 rebounds in 132 career games for the Cavaliers, and ranking fifth on UVA’s career blocked shots list with 141.
After graduating in 2018, Wilkins played in the G League and then in Europe for parts of three seasons, before returning to UVA in 2021 to serve as a grad assistant under Bennett and begin work on his master’s degree.
Wilkins and Kyle Guy, who we learned on Monday is not being retained by Odom, both strike me as guys who are going to be head coaches at some point in the next 10 years.
Both were around when the media-relations folks at UVA still let us talk one-on-one with guys, and I was always impressed with the basketball knowledge that both would share in their media avails back in the day.
I’ll assume here that Bennett will help both find new landing spots.
Hate on me if you want for saying it like this, I don’t care – but I think Odom’s players will miss out on being able to learn from guys who played, coached and got dubs in the kind of high-level games that he has no personal experience with at this point in his coaching career.
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Chris Graham
