2009.03.16
UVa statement
Dave Leitao Resigns As UVa’s Men’s Head Basketball Coach
CHARLOTTESVILLE--Craig Littlepage, University of Virginia director of athletics, today announced the resignation of Dave Leitao as men’s head basketball coach, effective immediately.
Littlepage met with Leitao earlier today to discuss the future of the men’s basketball program. At that time, Leitao, who has just concluded his fourth season at the University, determined it was in the best interest of the program to step down.
“Dave has been a respected colleague and a fine University representative in the local community during his tenure here. He brought a great deal of leadership, discipline and integrity to his coaching responsibilities,” Littlepage said. “I appreciate his hard work and dedication to athletics at the University of Virginia.”
Leitao, who came to Virginia from DePaul University, began coaching at UVa in April 2005. His four teams compiled an overall record of 63-60 and participated in three post-season tournaments, including the 2007 NCAA tournament.
A national search for a new men’s head basketball coach will get under way immediately. Littlepage did not specify a time frame for concluding the search, taking into account the fact that many of the possible candidates are currently involved in post-season play. “We expect to attract a strong pool of candidates interested in becoming a part of our University community,” Littlepage said.
“Our intention is to hire the very best person to lead the University’s basketball program consistent with our overall department goals,” he added. “Our team has a promising nucleus of young players who we expect will continue to develop.”
Leitao and the University have come to a financial agreement that will pay Leitao approximately $2.1 million.
For Doug's report from The Roanoke Times, click here.
I guess CL does read this blog. Best news I could have for a Monday. Sorry, Nelson.
Comment by Henry — March 16, 2009 @ 4:34 pm
Marc Ivaroni UVA Alumni / Terry Holland 1976 ACC Championship / Dean Smith complained about his elbows / Phoenix Suns / Memphis Grizzlies / I Have been watching Jeff Jones at AU , what else do you A-holes want - Rick Barnes
Comment by john brumfield — March 16, 2009 @ 4:58 pm
John,
There is not a better example of a UVa alum that got the most out of his given ability that Marc Iavaroni. If UVa wants to add some energy and toughness to its playing style, Marc would be a great choice. Seems I said something similar to this 4 years ago before the Leitao hire.
So how's this recruiting line to a high school player: "I've played in the ACC in college, I've played in the NBA, I've been the coarch of Amare Stoudemayer. I know what it takes to make it in the NBA and I can help you develop to that level if you'll join me at UVa", sincerely Marc.
Works for me.
Comment by Henry — March 17, 2009 @ 7:42 am
Mr. Doughty, Keep hearing Jeff Capel mentioned. Do you think they can lure him away from Oklahoma? He's got a pretty good program going there.
Comment by Justafan — March 17, 2009 @ 9:11 am
How about Richard Morgan at Applachian State, Wally Warker needs a retirement job.
Comment by David — March 17, 2009 @ 10:51 am
Justafan,
Capel's current salary is in the $1.1-million range, a lot less than Tubby Smith. Oklahoma certainly would give him a raise if UVa came calling.
Comment by Doug Doughty — March 17, 2009 @ 9:06 pm
MARK FEW!!!!!
A guy who can take an obscure school to the levels he has achieved gets my vote!
Comment by Al — March 17, 2009 @ 9:34 pm
The problem is this: if you fire a head coach after 4 years, and after he was the conference coach-of-the-year 2 years ago, no really good coach is going to come here! Agree or disagree?
Comment by Nelson — March 17, 2009 @ 10:27 pm
Don't forget the state of women's basketball under Littlepage! Debbie Ryan is as nice a person as you'll ever meet, but..................
16 straight losses To Duke. 12 straight to UNC. She recently lost 6 straight to Maryland before UVa upset MD. We're having a good season, but none of those 3 would call it a good season! The top high school talent can't get out of Virginia fast enough!
Comment by Nelson — March 17, 2009 @ 10:35 pm
Nelson, your points are valid. A coach with a record of solid success is not going to find Va attractive at any salary. They recognize that the problems are many and that they cannot easily be solved from the bottom up. A big change is needed in administration be it Littlepage or higher. UVA has that snooty attitude about their academic achievements and both students and alum are a big part of the problem. I find the currently running commercial of the coaches..."we are the acc" very funny. Va has not produced any player of the year, first round draft picks and certainly no championships. (Ancient history excluded.) Unfortunately, their best bet is a young coach who has a lot of talent that is not yet showing and who wants to risk it all by going to Va...and he would risk it all!
..."we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit." Aristotle
UVA athletics have a habit and history of failure and turning it around won't be easy. It is a mind set and you can see it so clearly in just about every game they play.
Comment by Al — March 18, 2009 @ 6:55 am
Nelson and Al are so wrong. The head coaching position at UVA is a very desirable position. Also, Tubby Smith and Littlepage are very close and if Littlepage can get the money Tubby demands he will be our next coach. Jeff Capel would jump at the chance to make more money, move back east and coach in the ACC. A basketball team , unlike a football team, can change significantly in one season and these guys know that. Littlepage made a misstake with DL and he knows it. He won't let it happen again. It will be Smith or Capel.
Comment by Joe — March 18, 2009 @ 8:34 am
Actually, Nelson, I think it would make Virginia look worse to keep a coach who just turned in the school's worst season in 40 years. If you have any expectation of your program, that just can't be acceptable. It's that simple. It would be one thing if the program had graduated four starters from a team that had made a deep NCAA run the year before or been hurt by injuries or players jumping to the NBA. But Virginia was coming off a bad season and had virtually no ACC-level talent in a coach's fourth season.
How can you not fire him?
Comment by Ron — March 18, 2009 @ 9:29 am
3-18-09, 3:18 P.M.
Do you think that Littlepage alone should make the decision on
picking the next UVa basketball coach, or do you think it should
be done the way some other schools do it: by a selected group of fans, alums, faculty, etc.! Littlepage was the one who selected Leitao!
I'm assuming that Littlepage is here and that Casteen is not going
to make him "resign."
I personally think UVa should go after Billy Donovan of Florida!
Comment by Nelson — March 18, 2009 @ 2:24 pm
Virginia had Tubby on the top of the list 4 years ago. They could not swing it then and I see no indication that it would be any different today. I would not profess to have the first hand info that ole "Joe" apparently has. The likes of Smith or Knight certainly have nothing to prove so they do not need to worry about being branded as failures. But my opinion is they are not open to a school that is so weak in a winning tradition and so unwilling to do the things necessary to establish one. Should it work out that way it would actually point the finger where it needs to be pointed...at the AD and school admin. Capel ???? He has certainly established himself as OK basketball. I actually have relatives at OU who love him and claims he loves the position and community. I see his relationship similar to Williams and Kansas. He might have an ACC position in mind but not Va and not now. Virginia a highly desirable position? Yes, in some ways it is but Va does NOT have a serious basketball identity other than being in the ACC. Grant is an interesting possibility but he is not in a seriously powerful league. I unfortunately do not see him as the kind of character that can overpower the underachievers in the school admin. and drive the program but he could probably be lured away from VCU. I'm gonna bet a beer that whoever they pick will be an unknown or at least unproven and which will mirror the selection of other new ACC coaches. I'll also predict everyone will blink and nod approval and HOPE the right decision was made and three years hench people will be back wondering "why" and thinking about who is next.
Comment by Al — March 18, 2009 @ 3:08 pm
Here's something you haven't read about recently: at high school basketball games in Virginia I've noticed that the public address announcers are often better than the PA announcer that UVa has for their own home men's basketball games at the John Paul Jones Arena! College athletic directors usually pick their PA announcers themselves, so I assume that Littlepage picked UVa's!
Just another example of how UVa is not with it in men's basketball.
UVa needs a better public address announcer for men's home basketball games! How many people were at the Siegel Center for the Saturday state championship games numbers 1-3? Whoever that guy is, that is what I call big-time! That guy had suspense! He must also be a disc jockey or something in the Richmond area. Someone hire that guy to work at UVa games! Haha.
Comment by Nelson — March 18, 2009 @ 7:57 pm
I'll take your bet Al. I like Jack over beer. Tubby Smith is on his way! If Tubby misses his plane it will be Capel. By the way, how many teams have been ranked number in basketball, had a 3 time national player of the year, been to two final fours, have some of the finest athletic facilities in the country and one of the largest endowments. Not many.
Comment by Joe — March 19, 2009 @ 9:22 am
Joe, the items you mentioned are all things UVa should be proud of, but unfortunately, we live in a "what have you done for me lately" world. I hope the Hoo's get a good one, but (and I may be wrong and if I am, I'll eat a bug) I just don't see Tubby or Capel in C'ville.
Comment by Justafan — March 19, 2009 @ 11:20 am
Joe, all that is ancient history except for the facility and it sure has not made any impact for 07/08/09. BTW I really am not a name dropper and actually it is not I that has the relative but my sisters inlaws and the contact is a player with the initials "A.J." and A.J. says it will not happen. (Sis used to babysit for A.J. when he was a wee dribbler. It is not a casual relationship but a very close one rooted in the life of a young white girl who married a black athlete and found herself in need of some serious family understanding which she helped provide.) Now don't take my comments as being opposed to Smith he would be a great selection and if you can see to it that it happens well share a Jack and George in celebration!
Comment by Al — March 19, 2009 @ 1:23 pm
Nelson,
Please do a tiny bit of research. Casteen had his hands all over the hiring of DL. It was not Littlepage's solo decision. Unfortunately for b-ball fans, Casteen knows a heck of a lot more about making UVa a great University than he does about picking coaches.
I do agree with those who have said it is alot easier to turn around a b-ball program. It basically take 2 recruits per year to get and stay competitive. In 4 years, DL produced one recruit that has been a fairly good player in Landesburg. The others either were good recruits but Leitao didn't know how to make them better. Or they just weren't that good.
There are some very good names on the coaching prospect list, and I'm confident that whichever one ultimately takes the job will make UVa b-ball competitive NEXT year.
Comment by Henry — March 19, 2009 @ 1:35 pm
hmmmm, maybe we(UVa) should go after Wake's president. Small,outstanding academics,sports program seems to be doing as well as any one's....what are they lacking?....
Comment by Eb — March 19, 2009 @ 6:44 pm
Henry: Me thinks you over simplify the task. If it only takes two good players a year should there be consideration to putting your name in the hat?
Comment by Al — March 19, 2009 @ 8:09 pm
JPJ was not designed to play checkers. Hire Tubby Smith or someone who can recruit and dethrone the Carolinas. Paul Houston
Comment by Paul Houston — March 20, 2009 @ 9:40 pm
Al maybe you should put your sister in laws in contact with Ratcliffe at the DP. He said today that the more he digs the more his is convinced that Smith will be the next coach at Virginia. One thing is for sure, Tubby will talk to Virginia and we will get the opportunity to put an offer on the table. I feel good about our chances. Looking forward to the JD.
Comment by Joe — March 21, 2009 @ 2:42 pm
I did speak to my sister yesterday and she says there is no indication that Capel will leave. Apparently there was some rumor earlier maybe pre season, that someone was looking at Capel and he came out firmly and boldly saying he was not going anywhere...as if they always tell the truth! Her claim is that while he is doing a good job, his talent was the prior coaches recruits. The elder Griffin was a player at OK and Blake, the real talent, went to OU simply because he wanted to play college ball with his brother. She went through the roster and while not writing off Capel, she feels he has a little further to go before he reaches "super coach" status. She feels that his salary at something in the range of 1.2 or 1.3 million plus a bonus PLU a guaranteed bump in year 5 if he stays is going to make it mighty expensive for another school to get him. She and I have never talked BBall that often and I gotta say she blew me away with the level of awareness about OU but she does not know beans about many other teams nor about Smith's interest in Va. I'm hear to say that girl is tuned into OU sports and rumors of Capel's departure are nill. Of course most of the potentially serious stuff won't come out until after the tournament. The Tubster's team did not do too well in the NCAA, however. They had a tough opponent yet I am thinking his results at Minn have not been outstanding...how do they measure up against the time at KY???
Comment by Al — March 21, 2009 @ 4:16 pm
One more thing to add.
Does Tubby Smith want to come to a school where the president SEEMS to strip the athletic director of his powers and make decisions (like putting Virginia Tech in to the ACC) over his head?
Or from what I've read (which may have been 100% false), did it SEEM like Casteen also negotiated Al Groh's contract over Littlepage's head?
If, and I say IF, those rumors were true, what coach, unless he was desperate, would want to come in to a situation like that?!
Maybe UVa football and men's basketball have problems deeper than recruiting and questionable coaching! Maybe Leitao isn't what's wrong with UVa basketball?
Comment by Nelson — March 24, 2009 @ 1:00 am
Well, this was an interesting post by J. Brunfield. LOL.
"Marc Ivaroni UVA Alumni / Terry Holland 1976 ACC Championship / Dean Smith complained about his elbows / Phoenix Suns / Memphis Grizzlies / I Have been watching Jeff Jones at AU , what else do you A-holes want - Rick Barnes
Comment by john brumfield — March 16, 2009 @ 4:58 pm"
Well, Marc Iavaroni doens't have enough experience as a recruiter and at following the NCAA rule book, in my opinion!
Comment by Nelson — March 25, 2009 @ 12:28 am