The feeling around UVA Basketball before the season was that the interim coach, Ron Sanchez, would need to get the team into the NCAA Tournament to put himself in position to secure the job on a full-time basis.
With Virginia sitting at 7-5 here at the end of the Christmas break, the writing is on the wall on that, and the word is circulating about an organized behind-the-scenes effort involving a group of heavy hitters working to identify the next head coach.
Based on who I’ve been told is involved in this effort, it’s pretty clear, this is serious.
At least one of the big names being vetted is an obvious reach; others are interesting in terms of being diamonds-in-the-rough a la Tony Bennett back when he was at Washington State, and was on practically nobody’s radar when he got the job at UVA in 2009.
Without further ado, the following is a mix of the names that I’m hearing are being bandied about by the search group, with wild cards that I’m throwing in for posterity.
Courtesy candidate
Ritchie McKay (Liberty): McKay, 59, is on this list as a courtesy to you-know-who, because he served as Bennett’s top assistant for six seasons, before going back to Liberty in 2015.
Liberty stumbled to an 18-14 record last year, breaking a string of seven straight 20-plus-win seasons, which included a 29-7 record in 2018-2019 and a 30-4 mark in 2019-2020.
The advantages: McKay is intimately familiar with the culture at UVA, and in particular, he’s familiar with the challenges with recruiting.
His age would be one drawback.
Another: he’s been away from the ACC for a decade, and it’s not like he’s had to learn a lot about how to deal with life in the cut-throat NIL/transfer portal business down at the Conference USA level.
Reach
Matt Painter (Purdue): I didn’t come up with this one, just to be clear, and I don’t see this happening at all.
Painter, 54, is a Purdue alum, and he’s been the head coach at his alma mater since 2005, so, this is Year 20.
Painter is 455-207 at Purdue, and is coming off a national runner-up finish.
He’s also rather well-paid: he’s making $4.85 million this year.
For reference, Bennett was set to make $4.02 million for the 2024-2025 season.
Money isn’t going to be a hurdle, though, from what I’m being told, but I don’t know that money alone is going to lure a Matt Painter from his alma mater.
The rationale behind trying to reach out to Painter’s agent is: Purdue is forever going to be treated as a second-class citizen in the Big Ten, and so, he might have a sense that he’s done what he can do there, whereas at Virginia, he could build on what Bennett did to insert the program into the conversation with Duke and UNC, with six ACC regular-season titles, two ACC Tournament titles and the 2019 national title coming in the last 11 years.
I like the sales pitch, but I don’t know that it has a chance of landing.
Intriguing idea
Shaka Smart (Marquette): Smart, 47, formerly of VCU and Texas, is making just under $3 million at Marquette, so, he’s not going to be priced out of the market.
Smart rather famously struggled at Texas – 109-86 in six seasons, with exactly zero NCAA Tournament wins.
His work at Marquette, which he took to a Sweet Sixteen last season, and he has 29 and 27 wins over the past two, has rehabilitated his stock value.
The problem that he had at Texas, perpetually being second fiddle to the football program, wouldn’t be an issue at Virginia, which has football, but lives and dies with its basketball program.
It may be hard for Smart to at least not take the call from Virginia, if his number were to be dialed.
Marquette is a good job, but the folks at Virginia are going to be throwing the kitchen sink at the next coach, in terms of salary, the budget for staff and NIL.
If Shaka Smart is feeling froggy, this is the ideal pond.
The wheelhouse
Ryan Odom (VCU): Odom, 50, is getting the most external buzz.
You remember the name because he was the coach at UMBC whose team shocked Virginia in the 2018 NCAA Tournament.
For some reason, Odom hung around there for three more so-so years before a two-year stint at Utah State, and he’s now in Year 2 at VCU, with Year 1 ending in the NIT.
Odom literally grew up in the UVA Basketball program, as the son of former long-time assistant coach Dave Odom, so, he’s a good cultural fit.
His VCU team is ranked ninth this year in adjusted defense, per KenPom, and his 2022-2023 team at Utah State ranked 16th in adjusted offense, so, he has coaching chops.
I can’t put my finger on why, but I just don’t feel Odom as being the guy.
Bucky McMillan (Samford): This is the name that is getting the most buzz internally.
McMillan, 41, has won 20-plus in each of the past three years, including a 29-6 record in 2023-2024.
His teams play up-tempo, which would be a selling point for fans (and donors), after an eternity of embrace the pace.
The drawback: not a lot of experience.
Before getting the job at Samford in 2020, McMillan was the coach for 12 seasons at Mountain Brook High School (in the Birmingham, Ala., area), where he averaged 28 wins a year and won five state titles.
The light resume would make me worry, among other things, about his ability to hire an ACC-level staff.
Mitch Henderson (Princeton): Henderson, 49, is 241-126 in 14 seasons at Princeton, with a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2023, and his last three full seasons have played out to a 70-21 record.
Advantage: experience recruiting to and winning at an academic school.
Henderson would have to feel like Virginia is easy, considering that he’d have an NIL budget and an ACC pedigree to recruit to.
Wild cards
Drew Valentine (Loyola-Chicago): Valentine, 33, is on this list because one of the guys on the ad hoc search committee is enamored.
Despite his young age, Valentine is in his 12th season as a college coach, with stops as an assistant at Michigan State and Oakland, his alma mater.
He was an assistant on the 2018 Loyola-Chicago Final Four team, and took over as the head coach in 2021 after Porter Moser left to take the job at Oklahoma.
His first Loyola-Chicago team was 25-8, his 2023-2024 team was 23-8; the team in between was 10-21.
His teams play D – ranking in the Top 30 nationally in the two good seasons.
The person pushing for Valentine internally likes his recruiting chops, for what that’s worth.
Bob Richey (Furman): Richey, 41, led the Paladins to the first-round upset of UVA in 2023, and for a young guy, he’s in his eighth season as a D1 head coach, with a 168-71 record at Furman.
After a run of five 20-plus-win seasons in six years between 2017 and 2023, Furman slipped to a 17-16 record last season, but Richey has the Paladins off to a 12-1 start at this writing.
Video: Breaking down the top UVA Basketball coaching candidates
Share
Chris Graham
