Sources: Hiring of Anthony Poindexter as UVA’s football coach is imminent

By Jerry Ratcliffe

According to sources, the hiring of Anthony Poindexter as Virginia’s new head football coach is imminent and could be announced as early as tonight, no later than Wednesday.

Poindexter, the leading candidate for the job, flew to Las Vegas this morning to begin advanced negotiations to fill the position.

Poindexter is meeting with UVA athletics director Carla Williams in hopes of coming to an agreement and signing contracts. Williams flew to Vegas over the weekend to meet with Poindexter, who will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday night. Poindexter is a member of the 2020 Class, but those ceremonies were delayed a year due to the pandemic.

Sources said that because Williams had already conducted lengthy discussions with Poindexter, this meeting was about closing the deal.

According to Clemson’s Tiger Illustrated, offensive coordinator Tony Elliott is out of the running for the Virginia job. Elliott was interviewed by Williams last Saturday. He is still in the running for the Duke head-coaching vacancy.

Poindexter is presently co-defensive coordinator at Penn State. He was a consensus All-American at UVA under George Welsh and has his No. 3 jersey retired. Poindexter has 17 years of coaching experience at UVA, UConn, Purdue and Penn State.

Virginia’s football program would definitely get a bounce out of Poindexter’s news coinciding with his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame, where he would join his former coach, Welsh, who passed two years ago.