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UVA Basketball Coach Search: Kevin Keatts' Firing Spins the Carousel Again

Matt Newton

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This year's edition of the college basketball coaching carousel essentially began when Tony Bennett announced his retirement last October, just a couple of weeks before the season began. That made UVA the first major conference program with a confirmed opening. Yet, the calendar has turned to March and other major head coaching jobs have come open and some of them have already been filled, and the Cavaliers are still, at least on paper, exactly where they were five months ago.

Bennett's handpicked successor Ron Sanchez, who was given the reins of the program under the tag of interim head coach for this season to make his case for the full-time job, has guided Virginia to a 15-16 overall record, an 8-12 mark in ACC play, and the No. 9 seed in the ACC Tournament in Charlotte, where the Cavaliers will face Georgia Tech in the second round, which could be Sanchez's final game at UVA.

Now, we can only guess at what is going on behind the scenes with Virginia's search committee, which is considering several candidates, including Sanchez, to fill the role of head men's basketball coach at UVA. We are also unsure of the timing of Virginia's eventual decision with respect to the current season. Other ACC programs with vacancies named their new head coaches before their seasons came to an end (Jai Lucas at Miami, Luke Loucks at Florida State). Virginia, on the other hand, seems to be content to wait until this season is well and truly over before announcing its choice, likely to give Sanchez and his staff a fair shot at making a run at the ACC Tournament. Will that be the case if UVA is offered a bid to the NIT? Only time will tell.

Last week, Virginia Cavaliers On SI staff writer William Smythe revisited the college basketball coaching carousel, summarizing the notable vacancies that already existed in the sport (Miami, Indiana, Florida State) and projecting some other head coaching jobs that could come open either due to coaches potentially being fired or leaving to take other jobs. The month of March has already brought some turbulent changes to that carousel.

One day after celebrating Leonard Hamilton's final home game in Tallahassee, Florida State announced the hiring of Sacramento Kings assistant coach and FSU alum Luke Loucks as the program's next head coach. That announcement came on the same day that NC State announced that Kevin Keatts had been relieved of his duties as head coach less than a year removed from leading the Wolfpack to an ACC Tournament Championship and a Final Four appearance.

One ACC coaching job filled, one ACC coaching job opens.

There had been little overlap between the reported candidates for the Florida State and Virginia job openings, so the Seminoles naming an alum as their new head coach seems to have little impact on the Cavaliers. NC State firing Kevin Keatts, however, could have substantial ramifications on UVA's coaching search. The Wolfpack's season is over, having failed to qualify for the ACC Tournament, so they could try and race to steal a top candidate. Based on initial reports, there does appear to be a good amount of overlap between the names associated with Virginia and NC State, namely VCU's Ryan Odom.

Odom has long been connected to the Virginia job and at this point, he does seem to be the most likely candidate to be named the next UVA men's basketball head coach. Of course, any potential suitor will have to wait until Odom is finished coaching the VCU Rams through what they hope will be a deep postseason run in March.

Our staff writer William Smythe has published multiple versions of potential coaching candidates for the Virginia job. You can read the most recent one here: Revisiting Potential UVA Basketball Head Coaching Candidates

As always, stay tuned to Virginia Cavaliers On SI to keep up with the latest updates and reports regarding UVA's coaching search and other Virginia men's basketball news.

More Virginia Basketball News

Virginia Gets No. 9 Seed in ACC Tournament, Will Face Georgia Tech in 2nd Round

Chance Mallory Sets Decision Date, Includes UVA Basketball in Top Five

Revisiting the Coaching Carousel: Who is UVA Competing With This Offseason?

Revisiting Potential UVA Basketball Head Coaching Candidates

Virginia to Host "The Basketball Tournament", Kyle Guy & Kihei Clark Set to Play

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.