Longtime Virginia Men’s Basketball Coach Terry Holland Dies at 80

He led the school to two Final Four appearances.

Legendary University of Virginia men’s basketball coach Terry Holland passed away on Monday at the age of 80 after a battle with Alzheimer’s Disease.

Holland, who took Virginia to two Final Four appearances in his 16 years in Charlottesville from 1974-90, was diagnosed with the disease in 2019 and recently entered a memory care facility, according to USA TODAY.

Prior to his coaching career, Holland was a star player at Davidson under coach Lefty Driesell and led the nation in field goal percentage for the 1963-64 season. However, instead of pursuing a professional playing career, he joined Driesell’s staff following graduation and eventually began his head coaching career at Davidson when Driesell left for Maryland in ’69.

After five seasons with the Wildcats, Holland departed for Charlottesville, where he built his reputation as a stellar coach. He remained there until retiring from coaching in 1990, and was the coach of star players such as Jeff Lamp, Bryant Stith and the best player in program history, Ralph Sampson.

Hollland won 418 games as a head coach, with 326 of them coming at Virginia. From 1990 until earlier this season, Holland was the winningest men’s basketball coach in Cavaliers history. That mark has since been broken by Tony Bennett.

Following Holland’s retirement from coaching, he returned to Davidson to serve as the school’s athletic director. He also served in the same role at Virginia and East Carolina before retiring for good.