Poindexter out of running for UVA job; Elliott appears to be the choice

The interwebs are burning today with the news coming out of the Virginia football coach search, and it’s admittedly getting hard to keep up.

ESPN senior college football writer Adam Rittenhouse broke the first news on the Anthony Poindexter side of the story on Twitter this afternoon.

Just received a text from #PennState co-defensive coordinator Anthony Poindexter: “Timing is everything for both sides. There will be a day, but I’m going to stay at Penn State.”

— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) December 8, 2021

So, that’s it, no Dex.

Reporting, first from our colleague, Jerry Ratcliffe, then from others working off Jerry’s original reporting, had Poindexter, a Virginia alum, a dotting of the i and crossing of the t’s away from being the next head coach.

Ratcliffe, in a story posted Wednesday afternoon, reported that his sources had told him that Pointdexter had walked away from becoming the UVA coach when negotiations fell apart, speculating that AP had been asked to retain some of predecessor Bronco Mendenhall’s staff.

The next part of the story involves Tony Elliott, the Clemson offensive coordinator, who according to several reports is in Charlottesville to meet with University of Virginia President Jim Ryan.

Elliott has been the OC at Clemson for two years, and was the play-caller for coach Dabo Swinney for the past seven seasons, a period in which the Tigers competed in six College Football Playoffs, and won two national championships.

With Elliott in Charlottesville, expect a formal announcement in the coming hours, and a fancy introduction as early as tomorrow.

Story by Chris Graham