It was just last fall that UVA Football coach Tony Elliott was complaining in a live national-TV hit about how the admissions folks were making it hard for him to recruit.
Now we’re hearing from Carla Williams, the athletics director at UVA, that the school has done as close to a 180 as possible.
“We’ve gotten great support from the university in that regard, especially because the rules have changed so quickly with the transfer portal and admissions deadlines, and I mean, there’s no way that we’re able to build these Top 25, Top 20 transfer portal classes for football and basketball without support, and we’re receiving that support,” Williams said in a sit-down for the first installment of a new podcast, “Inside Virginia Athletics with Carla Williams,” hosted by John Freeman, the play-by-play voice of UVA Athletics.
Nice word choice there – support.
It’s a sea change from literally just a few months ago.
The national-TV hit that I referenced above had Elliott answering a question from Mark Richt on the postgame “ACC Huddle” following Virginia’s 24-19 win at Pitt on Nov. 9.
Richt, you may remember, interviewed for the UVA job back in 2015, as the program was making the transition from the six-year Mike London era.
It was rumored that Richt had coveted the Virginia job, and only pulled his name from consideration over issues with the admissions office vis-à-vis football recruiting, something we’ve written about extensively over the years.
“I know the academic standards at Virginia are super high. Actually, I was interviewed by them years ago. Is there any limit to what you could do in the portal, or is it just case by case?” Richt asked Elliott on the “ACC Huddle” set.
Good – no, great – question.
Elliott’s answer:
“Yeah, I think we, we have a unique approach,” Elliott began. “The grad transfer route, you know, we will be able to take advantage of that, because we actually have some really, really good graduate options for guys, both non-degree seeking and guys that want to get additional degrees.
“Where we have to be strategic is undergrad guys, right? Because once they get beyond, you know, their second year, they don’t have enough time to get the 60 credits that they need to graduate from UVA,” Elliott said.
“So, we just have to be strategic, but we’re gonna be able to advantage of it moving forward,” Elliott said.
That win at Pitt was Virginia’s only win in its last seven games after a 4-1 start.
UVA Athletics, on Williams’s watch, doubled down on football early in the offseason, securing commitments from donors to fund an aggressive approach toward the transfer portal, backed by, I’ve been reporting, a $30 million budget.
ICYMI
- Did the UVA Football money people really give Tony Elliott $30M to build a roster?
- UVA Football: Tony Elliott has a team, and no more excuses for not winning
- Mo’ money, mo’ problems: What’s the over/under for UVA Football coach Tony Elliott?
The result was a Top 25 transfer class.
The hiring of Ryan Odom as the successor to the Tony Bennett era in basketball involved a near-complete roster overhaul that had Odom land a Top 20 transfer class.
Money is just one part of the equation here.
All the money in the world for NIL means nothing if you can’t get the kids into school.
“UVA is one of those schools that will never abandon its mission, which is education-based,” said Williams, adding: “We’re very, very conscious of and protective of the academic mission of the university, the academic values of the university, as we try to compete now. Our competitors, it is easier at a lot of places when it comes to the academic expectations, but for us here, that hasn’t changed, and so, we have to find a way to compete within the expectations here at the university, and that is a harder path, as I said before, but we are doing it.”
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Chris Graham
