Odom was not offered UVa job
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
April 5, 2005

South Carolina coach Dave Odom has shared his thoughts on the Virginia vacancy with UVa Athletics Director Craig Littlepage but he refuted Monday that those conversations included anything more than that.

The Washington Post in its Monday editions claimed that Odom not only was a candidate but had been offered the job and was poised to take it.

Odom, a friend of Littlepage’s from when they were both assistants under former UVa coach Terry Holland in the 1980s, released the following statement through the South Carolina athletic department Monday.

“Upon arriving in St. Louis at the Final Four on Saturday morning, I received a call from Craig asking if I would talk with him about my impressions of the University of Virginia and its basketball program, about the ACC as a league and the landscape of college basketball nationally,” Odom said. “There was absolutely no discussion about my potential interest in the head coaching position at University of Virginia.”

Littlepage, in St. Louis for the Final Four, offered his reaction to the report Monday afternoon.

“My reaction is that I am the only person that can speak to the search thus, this is a rumor,” Littlepage said in an e-mail. “The writer should be held accountable at some point since he’s talked to no one that counts.”

Both Odom and South Carolina AD Mike McGee then noted Virginia and Littlepage have not officially contacted South Carolina to seek permission to speak to Odom in regards to the vacancy created when Pete Gillen stepped down after seven seasons on March 14.

“We have not been contacted by Virginia. Craig Littlepage is a man of integrity. Before initiating contact with Coach Odom, he would contact USC first,” McGee said.

Odom, who served as an assistant at UVa from 1982-89 before departing to be head coach at Wake Forest and later at South Carolina, had been linked to the Virginia vacancy by several media outlets, including The Daily Progress, over the weekend.

Other than the Washington Post, however, none insinuated that Odom had actually been offered the position.

Littlepage’s previous statement is in accordance with his policy throughout the search. In the course of conducting his search, Littlepage has strived to control much of the information that has resulted from it.

That is not to say, however, that Littlepage has not received some assistance from the UVa administration during the course of the last three weeks.

In an e-mail to The Daily Progress on Monday, UVa President John T. Casteen III confirmed that he has been “actively involved” in the process and that has included conducting interviews with potential candidates.

Littlepage has maintained that the search will take 4 to 6 weeks to complete. Monday marked exactly three weeks since Gillen stepped down.

What is out there about UVa's search
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
April 5, 2005

March Madness has spilled over into April Insanity as far as the Virginia basketball coaching vacancy is concerned. Let’s play a game of What We Know and What We Don’t Know.

What We Know. Former Virginia assistant coach Dave Odom may be the “ultimate backup” candidate if all else fails. Odom, now the head coach at South Carolina, “covets” the UVa job according to one of our sources.
However, his meeting with Virginia Athletics Director Craig Littlepage in St. Louis was just Littlepage picking Odom’s brain about college basketball. Certainly Littlepage probably asked Odom about potential candidates out there and maybe felt out Odom’s interest to a degree. But nothing was offered.

What We Know. UVa President John Casteen has told us that he has been very active in the coaching search, which we had been advised about from the onset. Casteen has also said he has been involved in interviews.

What We Don’t Know. Just who have Casteen and Littlepage talked to? We think that UVa approached Kentucky’s Tubby Smith and was told “thanks, but no thanks.” We think UVa approached Texas coach Rick Barnes and got the same answer. Also, Mike Montgomery, the former Stanford coach, who now coaches in the NBA. We think that UVa approached Rick Carlisle, but more for information rather than a job interview.

What We Think. DePaul coach Dave Leitao appears to have emerged as the No. 1 candidate for the Virginia job. We thought for the past couple of weeks that Leitao was No. 2 on the list behind Tubby, and when the Kentucky coach unclogged the logjam with a firm no, the real search began.

What We Don’t Know. Who else might be on the list? Perhaps it’s Leitao as No. 1, then several folks following in the pecking order. Perhaps UVa will go back to Notre Dame’s Mike Brey (there’s no evidence he was actually contacted by Virginia when his name was being floated around). Then there’s Karl Hobbs at GW, Blaine Taylor at ODU, Jeff Capel at VCU. There’s Odom, then there’s former UVa player Marc Iavaroni, rumored to be the next coach of the NBA’s Portland Trailblazers.

What We Do Know. From the very start, sources said that Virginia wanted to hire a coach that it could tie to a longterm contract. Odom’s age (62) might be working against him in that department. Leitao is 44.

What We Do Know. Boston College’s Al Skinner is not a candidate.

What We Don’t Know. Where Littlepage and Casteen are in the hiring process. Originally, Littlepage said four to six weeks and he has confirmed that his process is on schedule. Does that mean that
most of the interview process is yet to come?

What We Do Know. Casteen, the former president at Connecticut, is close to Huskies coach Jim Calhoun. Calhoun loves Leitao, who was associate head coach at UConn with Calhoun before he ventured to DePaul.

What We Do Know. Leitao, who spent 16 years in the Big East, will have his DePaul team joining that league next season. We also know that Leitao has a $3 million buyout to his contract, which means Virginia would spend $2 million to pay off former coach Pete Gillen and another $3 million to buyout Leitao, plus have to give Leitao a pay raise. He’s currently making less than $700,000 per year.

What We Do Know. Fundraising for the $129 million John Paul Jones Arena, which will open in 2006, has stalled. Virginia’s losing season and the fan base’s loss of faith in Gillen caused the donations to stall out. That’s why most felt UVa needed a home run hire to get the fan base, especially the heavy hitters, excited enough to open their pocketbooks once again.

What We Don’t Know. Is Leitao the type of guy to get the Wahoo Nation excited again? Doesn’t cause a great deal of excitement in this corner. Maybe he fills the “best coach available” prescription that Littlepage promised the day he fired Gillen, but it is a far cry from a home run hire.

What We Do Know. Odom was more than a little upset with the Washington Post story that incorrectly stated that he had been offered the UVa job and was on the verge of accepting it. He was even more upset that ESPN’s Andy Katz called him at 6:45 a.m. yesterday morning to ask him about the Post’s inaccurate story.

What Would We Do. I would hire Odom and hire Iavaroni as associate head coach, grooming him for the position when Odom decides to hang it up. Maybe Odom’s 62, but he’s a young 62 and kicked UVa’s behind when he was coaching at Wake, even when USC played the Cavs in the NIT with a lesser team. And, by the way, we’d hire former UNC coach Matt Doherty as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator and hire former UVa player Cory Alexander (currently with the Charlotte Bobcats) to complete the staff. Now that’s a basketball staff that could go toe-to-toe with any in the country.

What Would Dickie V Do. Dickie Vitale said on ESPN last night that he was going to call Craig Littlepage and tell him that he’ll take the assistant coaching job and get the Cavs to the Final Four. Slam-jam-bam, baaaaby!

Cavs practicing in various conditions
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
April 5, 2005

With 30 rising sophomores and 15 redshirt freshmen listed on Virginia's spring roster, Al Groh knew he would need to simulate game conditions in most, if not all, of the 15 practice sessions.
What Groh did not know was that he would get some help from Mother Nature on putting the youngsters through some various weather conditions.
This weekend the players who were healthy enough to practice did so in heavy rain, gusty winds and even a short hail storm.
With an upcoming schedule that takes the Cavaliers as far North as Boston College (Oct. 8) and as far South as Miami (Nov. 26), Groh realizes his players must be ready to battle the competition and the elements.
As far as the three practices were concerned, Groh was openly pleased with what he saw with players that were healthy enough to participate.
"The flow [of practice] has gone real good," Groh said, "and the player effort has been excellent."
Sunday's practice session was by far the best according to the coach, who is in his fifth spring practice period at UVa.
"We got a significant amount done and I think we were all pleased with how that went," Groh added. "So far it's been moving along OK."
The players were not the only ones on the practice field getting acclimated. A handful of coaches on the staff have been assigned new responsibilities.
One of those coaches is Mark D'Onofrio, who will be entering his second season on the staff. After having coached Virginia's tight ends last year, D'Onofrio will now work with the linebackers.
While D'Onofrio will have to learn some of the technicalities of coaching in the 3-4 defense, the position itself is not new to the Penn State grad. D'Onofrio was a standout linebacker in college and was drafted in 1992 by the Green Bay Packers.
"He was an All-American linebacker," Groh said. "He was a second-round draft choice. He was a starter as a young player in the league. He's got a linebacker background. He coached linebackers at Rutgers. But, he has not been a 3-4 linebacker coach. But, we have two people on our staff who have been."
D'Onofrio will also oversee the Cavaliers' special teams unit - a job he held last year - but he will have some help.
"He'll take certain units that he's going to focus in on, but part of this overall deal is that now we have more total staff involvement," Groh said. "I think we have a lot of creative, energetic coaches. I've been very pleased with our special teams. I thought he did a great job last year.
"This will get even more of that creative energy and efforts of the full staff involved in special teams. As helpful as it was in games last year, we're going to try to make it an even stronger part of our game."
The biggest area of concern with the special teams centered on the punting game, at least in the first nine games of the season. Sean Johnson opened the year as the starting punter and averaged just 28.3 yards per kick (on 32 punts). Chris Gould took over the job prior to the Georgia Tech game and finished the year with a 36-yard average (on 18 punts).
The position seems to be Gould's to lose at this point. If he loses it, it will not be to Johnson. He's no longer with the team.
"If our punting had been as effective all season long as it was in the last three games, then there'd be no qualifier on [special teams] whatsoever," Groh said. "But, I think that's been addressed."
On Sunday, possibly thanks to the windy conditions, Gould boomed a number of punts that traveled 60 yards.

Camping out. There are a number of opportunities available for kids and adults to attend football camps and clinics sponsored by the Cavaliers' football staff.
On April 30, Groh and company will hold the Football 101 Clinic. The session will offer fans a chance to learn football basics and strategies from the UVa coaching staff. The fee for the session is $75.
The staff will also host two youth camps on June 4 (ages 9-14) and June 5 (ages 6-8) for $50 per session.
The final camp opportunity will be held from June 26-29 for high school students (ninth grade to rising seniors). The fee for the overnight camp is $300.
For more information or to sign up, call (434) 982-5923.

Extra points. During the weekend, cornerback Philip Brown joined the already lengthy list of players nursing injuries. Brown tweaked his hamstring and Groh said the training staff lists the rising sophomore as "day-to-day." ? One of the players out of practice during the spring is guard Ron Darden and Groh does not have a timetable for the rising junior's return. "We're still in the same circumstance with him [as we were last year]," Groh said. "He's got a medical condition that has been perplexing to lots of people who've looked at it. For his comfort and well being, we hope that resolves itself, and then we'll look at the football issue."

Odom says he's not in UVa mix
But former Cavalier John Crotty says the S.C. coach would be an excellent choice.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times
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When there finally was some news Monday on Virginia's search for a new men's basketball coach, it turned out to be a disclaimer.

South Carolina coach and one-time UVa assistant Dave Odom, reacting to a story in The Washington Post, said he has not expressed interest in filling the Cavaliers' opening.

The Post, citing two unnamed sources, said in Monday's editions that Odom had been offered the job and was "poised" to accept it.

University of South Carolina spokesman Michelle Schmidt said that Gamecocks' athletic director Mike McGee had received no requests from Virginia to speak to Odom.

Odom admitted, however, that he has had several conversations with UVa athletic director Craig Littlepage stemming from Littlepage's membership on the NCAA Men's Basketball Committee.

"One of Craig's responsibilities to the tournament committee was to evaluate [Southeastern Conference] teams and he was interested in gathering information about a number of teams in our league," said Odom, who worked with Littlepage on the 1988-89 UVa staff.

Odom has a 77-56 record in four seasons at South Carolina, crowned champion of the National Invitation Tournament on Thursday night after a 60-57 victory over St. Joseph's.

Since Saturday, Odom has been in St. Louis, host to Monday night's national-championship game between Illinois and North Carolina. Not long after his arrival, he heard from Littlepage, who has sought input from other members of Virginia's extended basketball family since the March14 resignation of seven-year coach Pete Gillen.

"I received a call from Craig, asking if I would talk with him about my impressions of the University of Virginia and its basketball program, about the ACC as a league and the landscape of college basketball," Odom said in his prepared statement.

"There was absolutely no discussion about my potential interest in the head coaching position at the University of Virginia."

Odom, awakened Monday by ESPN reporter Andy Katz with news of The Washington Post story, quickly called Littlepage to disassociate himself from the report.

In the hours after the original story hit cyberspace, there was considerable feedback - not all of it positive - on thesabre.com, a site devoted to UVa athletics.

"Really?" John Crotty, a former UVa star who spent 11 seasons in the NBA, said. "What are they saying? How could you bash the guy? Everywhere he's gone, he's been successful."

Odom has spent 19 seasons as a head coach, including 12 at Wake Forest. He was the ACC coach of the year three times, followed by his selection as SEC coach of the year in 2003-2004.

Crotty, a commentator on the Miami Heat's radio network, said Odom was "critical" in Virginia's efforts to recruit him out of high school in Spring Lake, N.J.

Questions have been raised about Odom's age, 62, and whether he provides the "wow" factor that UVa has been seeking as it prepares to move into a new, 15,000-seat arena prior to the 2006-2007 season.

"What you're saying makes sense in terms of someone saying, 'Oh, wow, Tubby Smith,'" said Crotty, referring to the University of Kentucky coach who is thought to be at the top of UVa's wish list.

"When you start thinking about people that understand the program, the type of student-athlete they have to be able to recruit and who has an understanding of the ACC, who else [but Odom] would really meet that type of bill?"
 

Return to ACC natural for Odom

LET’S SUPPOSE FOR a moment that the reports coming out St. Louis are true, that Dave Odom is indeed headed to the University of Virginia as its next basketball coach.

What a perfect move for all parties concerned.

Odom returns to the Atlantic Coast Conference, the league he so dearly loves and never wanted to leave.

Virginia gets a solid 62-year-old leader who can hold it over as it pays off a departed coach and goes about building a $130 million arena. And USC avoids what could only end in a divorce with Odom.

Face it, Odom has all but conceded that he cannot reach the expectations set forth by outgoing athletics director Mike McGee. Odom, you might recall, wanted a four-year contract extension a year ago, and McGee offered three additional years giving the coach a total of four years on his contract.

Winning the NIT this season proved that Odom can flat-out coach, but it probably did not help him in terms of extending his contract. Since McGee expects his men’s basketball coach to reach the NCAA Tournament every year, Odom was not likely to have his contract extended, thus leaving him with three years.

With a new athletics director coming in this summer, it is possible that Odom could negotiate a contract past three years and past his 65th birthday. But why would USC do that?

On the surface it appears that Odom has built a nice foundation in four years at USC. His teams have won 20 or more games three times, advanced to the NCAA Tournament once, won an NIT and finished as the NIT runner-up once.

The reality is that Odom has not recruited the caliber of players necessary for USC to be a consistent player in the NCAA Tournament. His reliance on junior college transfers is a sure sign that Odom does not believe the program can be built from the ground up with high school players who develop during a four-year period.

A roster full of junior-college transfers assures a program that will have little stability and that rarely will know from year to year what kind of performance to expect.

It might be different for Odom at Virginia. He likely would get a five-year contract, and Virginia would not have to pay him top dollar as it would for Kentucky’s Tubby Smith or Rick Barnes of Texas.

Money is an issue at Virginia. That program negotiated a $2 million buyout on the long-term contract of fired coach Pete Gillen. The athletics department also is committed to raising $130 million for a 15,000-seat arena that will be financed entirely through private donations.

Odom would give Virginia a top-notch coach who probably could move the program from near the bottom of the ACC to at least the middle, perhaps further. He could make Virginia competitive again while the athletics department works its way through some difficult financial times.

More than anything, Odom would be back where he belongs, in the ACC. Face it, Odom is an ACC guy, always has been. He was reared on ACC basketball in eastern North Carolina where he attended the old Dixie Classic Christmas tournaments and later the ACC Tournament in Raleigh. He reminisces about being a kid and listening to the play-by-play accounts of Ray Reeves announcing ACC basketball games on the radio.

When he got into coaching, Odom again sunk his roots into the ACC as an assistant at Wake Forest and Virginia, and then as the head man at Wake Forest. Throughout his four years at USC, Odom consistently made comparisons to how things were done in the ACC.

Odom often was the lone wolf at SEC coaches meetings, howling about how the league needed to do things differently to keep pace with the ACC. He suggested that the SEC create a weekend of TV games that matched East Division teams against West Division teams. He believed the SEC needed other ways to get TV exposure, much like the ACC did in arranging a Sunday night package of games.

Odom, perhaps more than other SEC coaches, realized the difficulty of recruiting to an SEC school that is located in the heart of the ACC. There was good reason guard Raymond Felton of Latta attended North Carolina. He grew up watching the Tar Heels on TV in South Carolina and became a fan.

In the end, it all makes too much sense. Of course, it all is speculation at this point.

U.VA. FOOTBALL NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Apr 5, 2005

SAFETY FIRST: After two seasons in which most of his action came on special teams, Lance Evans may be ready to step into a leading role on Virginia's defense.

"He's had a nice couple of days," coach Al Groh said yesterday. "I think his energy level clearly has been high, and he's showing the fact that he's a veteran player."

The Cavaliers' starting safeties last season were seniors - Jermaine Hardy and Marquis Weeks - and Evans has been working alongside Nate Lyles on the first team this spring. Evans will be a redshirt junior this season; Lyles, a sophomore.

"It feels good to get out there," said Evans, who's from Voorhees, N.J. "I've gotten my playing time here and there, but being behind Hardy, I felt l like I learned a lot. In college, you grow into your role, and now it's my turn."

Evans made seven tackles as a redshirt freshman in 2003 and five last season. He also had an interception in 2004. At 6-4, he's tall for a defensive back, and he looks unusually lean for a football player. But Evans said he's up to about 210 pounds, some 35 more than when arrived at U.Va. in 2002.

"I'm always going to almost look like a basketball player out there," Evans said, "but every year, I've gotten stronger in the weight room."

HE'S BACK: Former U.Va. fullback Kase Luzar has returned to his alma mater as a graduate assistant. Luzar, who lettered for the Cavaliers in 2000,'01,'02 and'03, will work with video.

No longer on Groh's staff is Joel Makovicka, a former NFL fullback who was a graduate assistant at Virginia in 2004. Bill Pollin, who worked in video operations last season, has replaced Makovicka as an on-field assistant.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE: Starting fullback Jason Snelling had a death in the family recently and won't resume practicing "until he's taken care of those issues," Groh said yesterday. Snelling is a graduate of L.C. Bird High who, when healthy, is one of the nation's better fullbacks.

THIS BUD'S FOR YOU: Bud Davis no longer plays for Virginia, it seems. Davis, a surprise starter in the Cavaliers' final game last season, wants to be called by his given name, Theirrien, though his teammates and coaches may not cooperate.

"He's still old 'Bud' to me," Groh said. "We called him Bud because initially he didn't want to be referred to as Theirrien."

Davis enrolled at U.Va. last summer and began his career as a defensive back. But he soon switched to wide receiver and made his college debut against Duke on Oct. 23. He played little in the regular season but started against Fresno State in the MPC Computers Bowl and had one reception for 15 yards. Davis also carried once, on an end-around, for 14 yards.

"I don't know where he came from," Virginia quarterback Marques Hagans said. "He just came on strong towards the end of the season. I looked up one day, and I was throwing passes to him."

Davis, from Bowie, Md., was one of the team's "top performers" in offseason workouts, Groh said. "He's done a very good job. He's a very focused, very intent kid."

SERVING HIS PENANCE: Ottowa Anderson, who started at wideout in 2004, isn't enrolled at U.Va. this semester, but his return appears imminent.

"Right now, we expect that he'll be joining us for training camp and ready to go," Groh said.

Anderson is serving an academic suspension this school year. He was a special-teams star and a solid receiver for the Cavaliers in 2003. He made eight tackles on special teams and caught 33 passes for 407 yards and two touchdowns.

If he's re-admitted to U.Va., Anderson will be a fifth-year senior in the fall.

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: At Penn State, Al Golden played tight end. In his first four seasons as Groh's defensive coordinator at U.Va., Golden also worked with the team's inside linebackers. He's still coordinator, but Golden now is tutoring the Cavaliers' secondary, which struggled last season.

Golden's lack of experience with defensive backs didn't concern his boss.

"Al's a very bright, very creative guy," Groh said. "Every task he has, he does to a high level of accomplishment, so he immersed himself in this function, just as he does everything else. . . . It was something he was very enthusiastic about doing, and we had discussed it over the years as something that eventually we would be looking to do. He's just done a lot of study, a lot of conversation, talked to people, looked at tapes."

Golden replaced Bob Price, who now works with Virginia's tight ends.

"He's a lot more intense than Coach Price was," starting cornerback Tony Franklin said. - Jeff White

Parties deny offer was made
U.Va., Odom say they have had no discussions about the vacant coaching job in Charlottesville
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Apr 5, 2005

Is Dave Odom interested in returning to the University of Virginia as head basketball coach? Very much so, if you believe people who know him.

Is U.Va. interested in Odom? Perhaps.

Yesterday, however, both parties refuted a published report that said U.Va. had offered Odom the position vacated by Pete Gillen last month.

The Washington Post, citing anonymous sources, also reported yesterday that Odom, a U.Va. assistant for seven years in the 1980s, was "poised to accept the job."

Virginia's athletic director, Craig Littlepage, yesterday told The Times-Dispatch in an e-mail that there "is no truth to the rumors." Littlepage, a member of the NCAA tournament selection committee, was writing from St. Louis, site of the Final Four.

Odom, who recently completed his fourth season at South Carolina, released a statement yesterday afternoon. Odom, 62, said that he and Littlepage, close friends who worked together at U.Va. as assistants under Terry Holland, have had a number of telephone conversations the past several weeks.

"We spoke only about the NCAA tournament and teams that the tournament committee should be considering," Odom said. "The conversation centered on SEC teams only. One of Craig's responsibilities to the tournament committee was to evaluate SEC teams, and he was interested in gathering information about a number of teams in our league."

After he arrived in St. Louis on Saturday morning, Odom said, he "received a call from Craig asking if I would talk with him about my impressions of the University of Virginia and its basketball program, about the ACC as a league and the landscape of college basketball nationally.

"There was absolutely no discussion about my potential interest in the head coaching position at University of Virginia."

Odom said that U.Va. had not requested permission from USC officials to speak to him about its vacancy.

In 19 seasons as a college head coach -- three at East Carolina, 12 at Wake Forest and, now, four at South Carolina -- Odom has a record of 355-229. He's 77-55 with the Gamecocks. He was named ACC coach of the year three times and was SEC coach of the year in 2003-04. The Gamecocks finished 20-13 this season after winning the NIT. Odom guided Wake to the NIT crown in 2000.

U.Va. announced March 14 that Gillen was stepping down after seven seasons as coach. Littlepage said he expected the search for Gillen's successor to take four to six weeks, and he's repeated since then that his timetable hasn't changed.

Littlepage has declined to discuss potential candidates, but sources have told the T-D that DePaul coach Dave Leitao interests U.Va. Leitao, a former assistant to Jim Calhoun at Connecticut, recently completed his third season at DePaul, which closed at 20-11 after losing in the NIT's second round.

Leitao, who inherited a team that went 9-19 the previous season, led the Blue Demons to a 16-13 mark and an NIT appearance in 2002-03. DePaul finished 22-10 in 2003-04 after losing to eventual champion UConn in the NCAA tournament's second round.

 

Odom Denies Being Offered Coaching Job at Virginia
By Mark Schlabach
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 5, 2005; Page D04

ST. LOUIS, April 4 -- South Carolina Coach Dave Odom denied Monday that he has been offered Virginia's head coaching position, but many of his colleagues continue to insist he will be hired by the Cavaliers sometime this week.

Odom, 62, has spent the past four seasons at South Carolina after guiding Wake Forest to 11 postseason appearances in his 12 years at the ACC school. Virginia is seeking a replacement for former coach Pete Gillen, who took a buyout after leading the Cavaliers to only one NCAA tournament in seven seasons.

Odom admitted meeting with Cavaliers Athletic Director Craig Littlepage at a hotel here Sunday but said they didn't discuss the school's opening. Odom and Littlepage worked on Terry Holland's staff at Virginia during the 1980s. Odom also said officials haven't asked South Carolina Athletic Director Mike McGee for permission to talk to him about the job.

"Over the past several weeks, I have had a number of telephone conversations with Craig," Odom said in a statement released by South Carolina's athletic department Monday. "We spoke only about the NCAA tournament and teams that the tournament committee should be considering.

"Upon arriving in St. Louis at the Final Four on Saturday morning, I received a call from Craig asking if I would talk with him about my impressions of the University of Virginia and its basketball program, about the ACC as a league and the landscape of college basketball nationally. There was absolutely no discussion about my potential interest in the head coaching position at the University of Virginia."

However, an ACC coach who met with Odom on Monday said hiring the South Carolina coach "is what Craig wants." But people close to the search said Virginia President John T. Casteen III might prefer DePaul Coach Dave Leitao, who was an assistant under Connecticut's Jim Calhoun when Casteen was the president at Connecticut.

"Littlepage has to do his due diligence as far as talking to higher-profile coaches," said the ACC coach, who requested anonymity because the search is ongoing. "The problem with Dave [Odom] is he's a quick fix. How much longer is he going to do this? Four or five more years? He's a great coach and a safe hire. He'll take the job because he hates coaching" in the Southeastern Conference.