Aldrich, Odom like brothers; plus news on Staples & McKneely

By Jerry Ratcliffe

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an update report with added transfer portal news)

During his introductory press conference this week, new Virginia basketball coach Ryan Odom mentioned his long relationship with his newly appointed associate head coach Griff Aldrich.

Odom said their time as a coaching staff at UMBC was cut short when Longwood came calling in pursuit of Aldrich as its head coach, after only two seasons under Odom.

When Odom was in the running for the UVA job, it was a natural fit to reach out to Aldrich to get the band back together.

The two had been teammates at Hampden-Sydney, and eventually Odom got into coaching while Aldrich had entered the private equity and energy equity world in Texas. However, Aldrich got the itch to get into coaching and Odom provided the avenue at UMBC.

“I never really thought I would leave Ryan when I went to UMBC, but then, kind of out of the blue, the Longwood opportunity popped open,” Aldrich said.

Aldrich spent the next seven seasons at Longwood, while Odom built winners at Utah State and VCU.

“So when [Odom] was kind of going through this process, and the opportunity to work together, it was kind of a little bit of a dream come true to come back together.”

While Aldrich has a strong background in law and business, plus mad analytical skills, he wasn’t really interested in that side of the basketball business. In other words, he had no interest in a general manager-type of role. Instead, he’s in love with the coaching aspect of the game.

“That was very important to me, that I still want to stay on the court and coach,” Aldrich said. “I love the relationship side with the players. To be honest, sometimes it’s harder to have great relationships as the head coach because of the title, so I’m really looking forward to being able to have deep relationships with our players.

“I do love analytics, I do love numbers, and now, in the current state of college athletics, just with my background, sometimes it seems that those mesh well together. But I’m starting to think about how you put a team together, and you’ve got the financial aspects that we didn’t have to worry with a few years ago.”

Because Odom and Aldrich have been so close over the years, they’re definitely on the same wavelength, can anticipate each other’s thoughts and work well together.

“I think we’re really complimentary,” Aldrich said. “I’m probably more of a builder and process-and-program guy. Ryan’s great at that also, but that’s probably where my mind naturally goes. He’s a brilliant on-court, X’s-and-O’s guy. I’m a driver, a bulldog, so I’m constantly pushing, and he’s more of a gentle touch.”

There have been times in the past when Odom has had to remind Aldrich that everything isn’t going to happen overnight, but needs to be chipped away over time. Conversely, Aldrich will propose, “Hey, we’ve got to close the loop here and kind of move on.”

They have been friends and staff members long enough that they can say things to one another without offending the other, and that’s special.

“We’re brothers in a real sense,” Aldrich said.

Aldrich has always known of Odom’s love for the Virginia program and his youth in Charlottesville, and believed it would be only natural for Odom to make a run for the Cavaliers job if the timing was right. This time, it clearly was.

• Reports had former Virginia 3-point king Curtis Staples in town on Thursday to meet with Carla Williams about the new general manager’s role with UVA basketball. Staples has spent the last several years building a strong basketball program at private school Lakeway Christian Academy, where he reportedly stepped down earlier this week.
• Staples, who held the NCAA record for career 3-point field goals (413) during his UVA days (1994-98), is originally from Roanoke. Ironically, the guy who broke his record eight years later, Duke’s J.J. Redick, also was from Roanoke (although he spent his early years growing up in Charlottesville).
• Staples, who first contacted JerryRatcliffe.com several weeks ago to express his interest in the UVA GM role, pointed out that he has been attending law school the past couple of years and believed he was ready to make a career move.
• In other UVA hoops news, sharpshooter Isaac McKneely, one of the Cavaliers’ top 3-point shooters in program history, is reportedly interested in North Carolina, Louisville, West Virginia and Virginia in terms of a possible transfer. McKneely, a rising senior, entered the portal this week, but left himself with the option to return to UVA. According to reports from Mike Wilson of The Knoxville Sentinel, McKneely has schedule a visit to Tennessee for early next week. McKneely is the ACC’s leading 3-point shooter.
• It should be noted that rising senior Elijah Saunders and point guard Elijah Gertrude are the only two Cavaliers who are not in the transfer portal.