BREAKING: Odom hires old teammate, Longwood head coach Aldrich

By Jerry Ratcliffe

As speculated on this site last week, new Virginia basketball coach Ryan Odom has lured a longtime friend and associate to the Cavaliers program.

Griff Aldrich, who guided Longwood University’s basketball team for the past seven seasons (2018-25), has accepted a role with Odom at UVA. Longwood immediately promoted assistant coach Ronnie Thomas to the head coaching position.

Aldrich and Odom were teammates at Hampden-Sydney, creating a strong bond that carried over to Odom’s head coaching job at UMBC, where Aldrich served as the Retrievers’ director of recruiting and program development. UMBC flourished under that leadership, transitioning from a cellar-dweller to American East champions and an NCAA Tournament team.

At Longwood, Aldrich directed the Lancers to a 127-100 record in Big South play, including NCAA Tournament appearances and back-to-back, 20-win campaigns.

Aldrich, 50, earned his Juris Doctorate from UVA Law School just prior to accepting a role as an assistant coach under his former Hampden-Sydney coach Tony Shaver for the 1999-2000 season, as the Tigers posted a 24-0 record, a No. 1 Division III national ranking and an ODAC championship, extending the season to the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Following that outstanding season, Aldrich began a 16-year career in law and business, becoming a partner at Vinson & Elkins, a leading international law firm, working in London and Houston. He later built a private oil and gas company in Texas, where he was managing director and CFO.

Odom convinced him to join him at UMBC and the rest is history.