Virginia introduces its new men's basketball coach
Team's returning players confident about the future
By John Shifflett / Daily Progress staff writer
April 18, 2005
As newly introduced Virginia men’s basketball coach Dave Leitao shared his
philosophies and outlook for the Cavaliers’ program with the media, the players
that will be the key component to his early success in Charlottesville sat and
listened attentively to every word he said. And one of them in particular liked
what he heard.
“He said everything I wanted to hear,” Cavalier point guard Sean Singletary
said.
And for Leitao, that may be a good thing. The former DePaul coach inherits a UVa
program with eight returning core players from last year’s 14-15 squad that was
guided by Pete Gillen.
And that group could be here for a while.
Each of those players - Singletary, J.R. Reynolds, Adrian Joseph, Gary Forbes,
Jason Cain, Donte Minter, Tunji Soroye and T.J. Bannister - have two years or
more of college eligibility remaining. With three new signees, Laurynas
Mikalauskas, Mamadi Diane and Sam Warren, on the way in the fall, the team that
Virginia will field for the next two seasons appears to already be intact.
Although he did not recruit them, Leitao is ready to guide his new players.
“These young men will play and fight together like never before,” Leitao said.
“We are going to take each person’s talent and blend it together to make the
best team possible.”
After Sunday’s news conference, Leitao briefly met with the players and planned
to meet with them again later in the day.
Several of Leitao’s new players seemed eager to begin working with and learning
from their new mentor.
“I can’t wait to see him coach and I am ready to be a student of his coaching,”
said Joseph, who will be a sophomore next season. “I am like a sponge and I will
do everything the coach says.”
“I feel he has a great plan for us,” added Singletary, who reaffirmed his
commitment to staying at Virginia.
Reynolds, a rising junior, is excited to have someone lead him and his teammates
again. Before Leitao accepted the Virginia job, the Cavaliers had been without a
coach since March 14, when Gillen stepped down.
“It was kind of frustrating not having structure and someone to tell us what to
do,” Reynolds said. “It was hard for us.”
Now that they have a coach, one of the major factors in the Cavaliers’ success
will be how they adapt and respond to him. Singletary is hopeful it will be a
strong response.
“We have to trust in him, believe it and we can do it,” the rising sophomore
point guard said.
Something Leitao will bring with him from the Windy City is a stronger emphasis
on the defensive end of the floor. Two of the main points Leitao hit on during
his introduction at Bryant Hall were defense and rebounding, two of the weaker
points of last season’s team. The Cavaliers were 10th in the ACC in both scoring
defense and defensive rebounding while compiling a 4-12 mark in the conference.
“Everybody can play defense if they are committed to it,” explained Leitao,
whose DePaul squad gave up just 64 points per contest in 31 games last season.
That philosophy will be welcomed by many in Cavalier nation as well as some of
his new players.
“His philosophy and strategy of team defense will help us out,” Reynolds said.
“I think the guys are willing to step up.”
With a fresh start and a new coach, Singletary expressed confidence in his new
head coach and his fellow players.
“He is going to take us to the [NCAA] Tournament. I know that,” he said. “With
the core group of guys we have here, anything can happen.”
Better Leitao than never
Parties agree to 5-year contract, $925K per season
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
April 18, 2005
Better Leitao than never.
Ending an arduous 34-day search and outlining the future of Virginia basketball,
Dave Leitao was introduced Sunday as Virginia’s new basketball coach during a
mid afternoon press conference at Bryant Hall.
Leitao, 44, replaces Pete Gillen who stepped down after seven seasons on March
14.
“First of all, I want to say how unbelievably elated my family and I am for this
opportunity,” said Leitao, who compiled a 58-43 record in three seasons at
DePaul. “In my 21 years in coaching and my time in college, I have always looked
at the University of Virginia with great admiration. That admiration extends to
the teams I’ve seen play but most importantly the reputation and what the name
brings not only to athletics but how the University of Virginia transcends
American culture.”
Leitao’s wife, Joyce, and his three sons, Tyson, Reese and David III, attended
the press conference as did Leitao’s eldest sister.
Leitao sported a recognizable, especially in these parts, orange and blue tie.
Not surprisingly, Virginia Athletics Director Craig Littlepage said there was a
story to that particular neckpiece.
“On Thursday night [when Leitao and his wife visited Charlottesville], Dave,
Joyce and our family had dinner and before Dave returned to the Chicago area, I
reached into a box in our house and pulled out an orange and blue tie,”
Littlepage said. “I looked at Dave and told him, ‘You are going to wear this tie
on the day of the press conference when we announce you as the head basketball
coach at Virginia.’ I added that if he didn’t come to Virginia, he’d have to
return the tie. He didn’t have the tie on this morning when he arrived but I was
pretty certain he wasn’t coming back here to return it.”
No, no he wasn’t.
Instead, he was coming back to steer a basketball program that has waned in both
the on-court product and in the excitement of its fanbase.
To do that, Leitao agreed Friday to a five-year contract that will pay him
approximately $925,000 per season. In addition, Littlepage noted there are
several incentives in the contract based on on-court and in-classroom success.
To obtain Leitao’s services, Virginia had to buy out the remaining five years of
his contract at DePaul. Chicago media outlets have placed that number around
$1.5 million, but Littlepage was adamant in not discussing the specifics of that
Sunday.
All of Virginia’s returning players attended Sunday’s event. They met with their
new coach after the press conference but Leitao delivered a message to them
during it.
“Our program will never be about one win, one loss, one coach or one player. It
will be about the fabric about which we can all live by,” Leitao said. “Every
day we compete and every day we play, it will be about winning and about the
positive nature in which we will play. That is how I try to teach every single
day. … My vision is to take this basketball program and put it on a championship
level, on and off the court. I can tell you when we play next as a basketball
team they will play and fight together like never before.”
Leitao said that he would immediately evaluate everything about the program. Of
primary concern will be putting his staff together. Leitao said it was possible
he’d bring assistants from DePaul but probably not all of them. Leitao said, and
it was reiterated by Littlepage, that there will be a certain effort put forth
to incorporate coaches with strong Virginia ties into the staff. That could mean
a member of Gillen’s former staff or former UVa players currently in the
coaching ranks. One possibility at least fitting that description is former UVa
standout Jason Williford, who is an assistant at Boston University.
“I know how important it can be to have those kind of connections on your staff.
Those people who know the school and the region,” Leitao said.
Virginia first officially contacted Leitao on April 8. He met with UVa officials
in the Norfolk area while he was observing two former DePaul players compete in
the Portsmouth Invitational.
UVa President John T. Casteen III then had extensive phone conversations with
Leitao last Monday. Casteen, when he was the president of the University of
Connecticut, hired Leitao’s mentor, Jim Calhoun, in 1986. Leitao served as an
assistant for 14 years and in two different stints with Calhoun. A longtime
admiration for Leitao since his days at UConn as well as glowing recommendations
from Calhoun, seemingly had Casteen convinced.
“Most of my early relationships at Connecticut were with Jim [Calhoun]. I
remember Jim told me he had one guy that he had to put on the staff, and that
was Dave Leitao. He began describing Dave and it’s been very consistent through
the years,” Casteen said. “I’ve always enjoyed watching Dave on the sidelines
during games. … He has the drive, the work ethic and the attention to the
student athletes that is necessary in a coach. Dave stands for what our culture
here at the University of Virginia stands for.”
On Tuesday last week, Littlepage spent time in Chicago and reviewed several game
tapes of DePaul from last season. Littlepage was struck by the emphasis on
defense, rebounding and general execution that defined Leitao’s team.
“In my duties on the NCAA basketball selection committee, Conference USA was one
of the conferences I monitored. I had seen DePaul play a number of times on
television but not in terms of breaking down what they did technically,” said
Littlepage, who briefly said Sunday that erroneous media reports during the
search touched a certain nerve in him but didn’t want to expand on that at the
moment. “That’s what I did Tuesday and then I returned to Charlottesville and
Dave and I continued to talk by telephone.”
Leitao then visited Charlottesville on Thursday and then, with new necktie in
hand, he accepted the job on Friday afternoon.
Leitao’s hiring is the first part in a two-part process in which UVa officials
believe will elevate the program to unprecedented heights. The second part, of
course, is the completion of the 15,000-seat, $130 million John Paul Jones
Arena. The facility will be completed in June 2006 and is touted by Littlepage
as the best on-campus arena in the nation.
Leitao expressed the numerous ways in which the facility will be an aid to the
program.
“Before I came here, I took the virtual tour on-line. I was awestruck. This
season, we played Missouri in the first round of the NIT and they have a new
arena there. It was impressive and that was a $70 million arena. So for $130
million I can only imagine,” Leitao said. “I think it will be the most special
college basketball arena in America. Having it is paramount for our success. It
has all the amenities to help make our players the best they can be. To have a
first-rate facility like that will be a tremendous advantage in our efforts to
build this program.”
Next for the Leitao family? Some house shopping. Joyce Leitao will be in charge
of that process as her husband immerses himself in UVa basketball. She has found
the Charlottesville housing market, which many can find extreme, to be to her
liking.
“There are so many wonderful homes here and it’s certainly more reasonable than
real estate in suburban Chicago,” Joyce Leitao said.
Coach asks 'Why not?' to UVa success
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
April 18, 2005
For the last couple of years, a lot of people have wondered why Virginia hasn’t
been able to compete in the basketball-rich ACC. The Cavaliers have enjoyed only
two winning seasons in the last 10 in conference play.
There has been only one trip to the NCAA Tournament since Jeff Jones directed
the Cavs to the Elite Eight in 1995. This past year, Virginia finished dead last
in the 11-team league.
So, why can’t UVa win?
When 44-year-old Dave Leitao was introduced as Virginia’s new head basketball
coach on Sunday, he took a different approach.
“So many ask questions about why and I always ask the question ‘Why Not?’”
Leitao said. “I looked at this university from that perspective. Why can’t it be
successful?”
Leitao’s response jogged memories of those who attended former football coach
George Welsh’s introduction as the Cavaliers coach back in December of 1982 when
Welsh also asked the simple question: “Why Not?”
Virginia football had been a laughing stock until Welsh’s arrival. He made it a
model of consistency en route to the College Football Hall of Fame as he became
the winningest coach in both UVa and ACC history.
Believe in Virginia
Why not Virginia? While some pundits scoff at the notion of the Cavaliers
competing head-to-head with such storied programs as North Carolina and Duke,
others argue that if Wake Forest can do it, then why not Virginia?
Dave Leitao believes it can.
“I really don’t know it any other way,” Leitao said. “I don’t like nor do I know
a whole lot about failure. Winning is something that we will do. I believe that
from the bottom of my heart.”
He’s certainly not afraid of the challenge. Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Gary
Williams? Bring ’em on. Leitao isn’t going to wilt in the presence of these Hall
of Famers.
“Twenty years ago when Coach [Jim] Calhoun and I first got to Connecticut, there
had been three Big East teams that had played in the Final Four in 1985,” Leitao
recalled. “You had John Thompson at Georgetown, Lou Carnesseca at St. John’s,
Rollie Massimino at Villanova and Jim Boeheim at Syracuse ... some of the
greatest names in coaching in that era.
“We took it as a great challenge to be able to compete and beat the great
coaches and teams at that time,” Leitao explained.
He’s met other coaches
When he arrived at DePaul three years ago, he faced Rick Pitino at Louisville,
Bob Huggins at Cincinnati, John Calipari at Memphis and Tom Crean, who led
Marquette to the Final Four. Beat ’em all, too.
“Whoever we play against is going to know that we will fight you for every inch
of the floor and we will be the toughest out that they will face,” Leitao
pledged.
“He told me everything I wanted to hear,” said UVa freshman point guard Sean
Singletary. “I imagine that’s what every Virginia fan wanted to hear as well.
He’s all business.”
Having witnessed and been a key part of building a national basketball power
from the inside while with Calhoun at UConn, Leitao observed and learned. He
formed a blueprint for how to build a winner, a plan he will use at Virginia.
“I absolutely have a blueprint,” he said Sunday. “I’m not going to pull my
blueprint out right now. It’s philosophically more than anything else.”
While it’s too lengthy to address in this column, trust that it is built upon
hard work and discipline. Like many successful coaches, Leitao strongly believes
in those two trusty, old pak-yaks of rebounding and defense.
Those were qualities of Leitao’s DePaul teams that immediately caught the eye of
UVa Athletics Director Craig Littlepage when he studied film of the Blue Demons.
“If you look at all successful teams in any sport, they do things a certain
way,” Leitao pointed out. “They act a certain way, look a certain way, play a
certain way. Styles may change but that is core.”
He has been around successful teams, players and people his entire athletic
career and he has found a common denominator across the board.
“There are some things about being successful on the basketball court that one
has to do every single day to establish and maintain success,” Leitao said. “I
saw that a long time ago. I saw it work, so I know it and have a great feel for
what it takes. Not only what is required of me, but people around me.
“If everybody is on the same page, it makes the job that much easier.”
Like Leitao said, he doesn’t know it any other way and he won’t accept anything
less.
Now that’s what Virginia fans wanted to hear.
UVa recruiting classes are filled
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
April 18, 2005
While new Virginia basketball coach Dave Leitao has built a strong reputation as
a recruiter, he may be a bit hamstrung for the next 18 months.
The former Cavaliers’ staff signed three players during last November’s early
signing period, which used up all available scholarships for this coming year.
Then, the only other remaining scholarship for the following recruiting class
was filled when Blue Ridge School junior Stephen Kendall became an early
commitment to the program.
That leaves Leitao without a scholarship to offer even for next year unless he
decides not to honor the commitment or should a current player leave the
program. He said Sunday that he will honor the three scholarships given to UVa’s
three incoming freshmen.
Still, Leitao plans to hit the recruiting trail hard and make contacts around
the state and the nation.
“I think it’s important that I meet as many people as possible so that they can
see me and understand what I’m about for the future of Virginia basketball,”
Leitao said.
“I’m trying to build this program for the long haul and need to have [assistant
coaches] around me that not only understand the culture of basketball relative
to what’s going on, but what I want, what I need and what makes me tick,” Leitao
said. “How we [he and his staff] play off one another is extremely important.”
While he may be new to Virginia and the ACC, he isn’t a stranger to the
territory.
“I have been to Oak Hill Academy many, many times over the years,” Leitao said.
“Boo Williams and I go way, way back. I know people in Richmond like Tony
Squires and where some of the key prep schools are. You make a lot of car trips
in 20 years.”
Williams and Squires head up some of the most successful AAU teams in the region
and have produced some of Virginia’s most talented players over the past 25
years.
“I must say there are a lot of people and places I have to reacquaint myself
with, but I’m not starting from scratch.”
Dave Leitao Timeline
By John Shifflett / Daily Progress staff writer
April 18, 2005
1978-82: Played college ball at Northeastern University in Boston. The Huskies
posted a 79-34 mark with two appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Described as a
superior defensive player and shot blocker, he averaged 5.9 points and 5.3
rebounds per game.
1983: Graduated from Northeastern with a B.S. in Business Administration.
1984: Assistant coach at Northeastern under Jim Calhoun. NU went 48-14 over the
next two seasons, reaching the NCAA Tournament each year.
1986: Joined Calhoun at Connecticut as an assistant coach for eight years. The
Huskies’ 162-91 mark included four NCAA Tournament berths and the 1988 NIT
Championship.
1994: Named head coach at his alma mater, Northeastern University. First year
18-11 record marked the best turnaround in the country. Overall two-year record
was 22-35.
1996: Rejoined Calhoun at Connecticut as associate head coach.
1996-2002: Connecticut was 156-51, including four NCAA Tournament appearances
and two NIT berths. The Huskies won the NCAA Championship in 1999, defeating
Duke 77-74.
2002: Named head coach at DePaul University in Chicago.
2004: DePaul went 12-2 down the stretch to secure a share of the Conference USA
Title. Advancing to the NCAA Tournament, DePaul won its first NCAA Tournament
game since 1989, 76-69 over Dayton before falling to eventual National Champion
Connecticut 72-55.
2005: Becomes head coach at the University of Virginia.
Poskay's late goals lift Cavs
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
April 18, 2005
Matt Poskay scored three goals late in the contest to lift the No. 3 Virginia
men’s lacrosse team to a 9-6 victory over Denver on Sunday night at Klockner
Stadium.
The victory offered quick redemption for the Cavaliers (8-2), who suffered a
17-2 loss at No. 2 Duke on Saturday in what was the program’s worst margin of
defeat since 1959.
“I’m not sure I can adequately tell you how important this game was tonight. We
always have a mantra of ‘no big games’ but this was a very, very important game
for us,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. “We needed to rebound from
[Saturday’s] performance and get this one into the win column.”
Matt Ward had two goals and an assist for the Cavaliers (9-2) while freshman Ben
Rubeor contributed a goal and two assists.
Ryan Zordani and Matt Brown each had two goals for Denver (6-4), which also had
a game Saturday - losing at Yale.
Sunday’s game was a makeup from the scheduled contest on Feb. 28 that was
postponed because of snow.
Denver held a 4-3 advantage at intermission, as it seemed Virginia had some
difficulties in shaking the funk that doomed them against Duke.
“We came out sloppy in the first half and you could probably attribute that to
the short turnaround and getting whupped up on [Saturday],” Ward said. “We
didn’t know what to think. We knew we had to regroup. We’re still the same team
that’s beaten Syracuse, Princeton, Maryland and Towson and we know we can play
at that level.”
The Cavaliers managed to find that extra gear at the dawn of the third quarter.
Virginia outscored Denver 4-1 in the period and when Poskay scored with 4:04
left in the third, the Cavaliers held a 7-5 advantage.
“We just did the little things. They were coming quick to defend our attackmen
and we just had to move the ball from there. We did that in the second half,”
Poskay said. “We calmed down a little bit and then things started clicking.”
Poskay added two more goals in the final quarter to allow Virginia to escape
with the three-goal victory.
Virginia now has a much-needed break. It will not play again until meeting
Maryland in the ACC Tournament semifinals on April 29 at M&T Bank Stadium in
Baltimore. The second-seeded Cavaliers will meet the third-seeded Terrapins in
the second of the evening’s semifinals at approximately 8:30 p.m.
Web Extra: Notes on Dave's Leitao's hiring
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
April 18, 2005
A few snapshots from Sunday’s press conference ...
TIE THAT BINDS: Virginia Athletics Director Craig Littlepage hosted Dave and
Joyce Leitao for dinner at his home last Thursday before his coaching candidate
returned to Chicago.
While in the Littlepage household, the AD took a box off the kitchen counter and
presented it to Leitao. It was an orange and blue tie.
“I gave this tie to Dave to say, ‘You’re going to wear this tie on the day of
your press conference as head basketball coach at Virginia. If you don’t come to
Virginia, you’re going to have to come back and return the tie to me ... you’re
not keeping the tie,’” Littlepage said.
When Leitao got off the plane Sunday morning, he wasn’t wearing the tie, but
Littlepage felt pretty confident that the coach was coming back to return the
tie. Leitao was wearing the tie at Sunday’s press conference.
“The thing of it is, I have been inundated over the last year with orange and
blue, but it wasn’t Cavalier orange and blue, it was Illinois orange and blue,”
Leitao said of his instate rival at DePaul. “I can wear this with great pride
and take it back and make sure that everybody knows that orange and blue belongs
to the Cavaliers.” ...
TALL DRINK OF WATER: Leitao is likely the tallest head coach in Virginia
history.
When posing with some Wahoo fans after the press conference, one gentleman asked
the new coach, “How tall are you, anyway?”
Leitao is 6-foot-7. …
FIRST SIGHT: When Leitao was a basketball player at Northeastern University in
the Boston area, that’s when he first laid eyes on future wife Joyce. She talked
about the first meeting.
“He’s going to kill me for telling this story, but here goes,” said Joyce with a
smile. “He was a little bit shy. One of his friends was with him and saying to
him, ‘Go talk to her, go talk to her.’
“I was standing there holding some flowers for a friend of mine. I was taking
her to lunch because she had just had some kind of accomplishment and that’s why
I bought her the flowers,” the future Mrs. Leitao explained.
“He had one lame story,” she said about Leitao’s approach. “So, he came over and
asked me if the flowers were for him. That was pretty lame. It was the early
’80s, so we’ll give him a break for that one.”
But did Leitao’s strategy work? Did he get a date?
“It worked,” Joyce Leitao said. …
WAY TO IMPRESS: Littlepage was somewhat embarrassed that when he was driving the
Leitaos around town last Thursday, he was pulled for speeding by one of
Charlottesville’s finest.
With his top coaching candidate and wife in the car, Littlepage was traveling on
Rt. 250, past the Luckstone quarry and moved over to the passing lane to get
past two slow-moving trucks going uphill.
He was charged with going 58 mph in a 45 zone.
But he didn’t try to get out of the ticket by pulling one of those, “Don’t you
know who I am?” kind of deals in front of his new prospective coach.
“I thought there was more to risk by trying to and not succeeding as opposed to
being professional, admitting that it was my mistake and moving on,” Littlepage
said. “I wasn’t going to contest it.” …
NOT THE TIME: The Virginia AD is still upset about various reports in the
Washington Post and on a local TV channel that claimed South Carolina coach Dave
Odom would be the Cavaliers’ next coach. But he wouldn’t address the issue at
length on Sunday.
“Today is not the day to go into that,” Littlepage said. “There’s a raw nerve. I
won’t do it today, but another time I will be glad to oblige.” …
15 YEARS LATER: Leitao was in Charlottesville in 1990 when then UVa head coach
Jeff Jones was trying to hire a staff and offered an assistant’s job to the
young Connecticut assistant.
“I remember that day, in fact I spent a day and a night here,” Leitao said. “I
looked at some real estate and Craig [Littlepage] brought me around to the old
place he used to live. It was a tug of war for me because of the special things
we were doing at Connecticut and the special place this is. I had been on
vacation and came to visit Jeff to look around because I thought so much of
him.”
Ultimately, Leitao decided to remain at UConn.
Forbes is staying put at Virginia
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
April 18, 2005
Gary Forbes squashed any notions Sunday that he was planning to transfer from
Virginia.
Forbes, a rising junior swingman, had been the subject of one published report
and incessant Internet rumors that he was planning to transfer to another
school.
“I look forward to winning a lot of games next year with coach [Dave] Leitao. I
don’t know where those rumors started or came from. Maybe it’s because we had no
coach or something like that,” Forbes said. “It crossed my mind as sure as it
did anyone else’s over the last month [with] the search but I’m staying. I
already have an apartment for next year and have my classes scheduled.”
Forbes averaged 9.4 points and 4.1 rebounds a contest last season and was
performing at his best toward the end of the year when he rattled of 21- and
23-point effort in consecutive games in February.
Forbes figures to be a prominent member of Dave Leitao’s first UVa team.
“Coach Leitao made me feel very comfortable and confident regarding next
season,” Forbes said.
Leitao's selection historic at UVa
Dave Leitao, 44, is the first black head coach in any sport at the University of
Virginia.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times
CHARLOTTESVILLE - Seven years after introducing its last men's basketball coach
amid a flurry of one-liners and wisecracks, Virginia took more than a 180-degree
turn Sunday and not just in its move across UVa's "grounds."
Whereas previous introductions had been held at aging University Hall, Dave
Leitao met the media at Bryant Hall, the stylish office complex that adjoins
UVa's football stadium. It was the same setting in which athletic director Craig
Littlepage had been introduced four years earlier, and the similarities were
unmistakable as the two men entered the gathering from a side door.
First of all, they're tall, both in the 6-foot-7 range. In a sense, both are
also pioneers, Littlepage as the first black athletic director in ACC history
and Leitao as the first black head coach of any sport at Virginia.
"I think it's a great honor that this university has bestowed upon me," said
Leitao, who was accompanied by his wife Joyce, three young sons and his older
sister. "I feel extremely proud to coach the game of basketball as an
African-American when some of the people have not had the chance who came before
me.
"At the same point, I'm a basketball coach and for those who look at me as such,
they'll see the same things as if my skin color were anything else."
Said Littlepage: "My goal was to hire the best coach, pure and simple."
Leitao, who compiled a 58-34 record in three seasons as the head coach at
DePaul, flew into Charlottesville on Sunday morning and met with the eight
returning players who later sat through his one-hour news conference.
"He said everything I wanted to hear," said point guard Sean Singletary, an ACC
all-freshman selection this past season. "He said what everybody in town, every
Virginia fan wanted to hear."
After a short introduction by Littlepage, Leitao, 44, referred to notes only
briefly as he addressed a crowd that included president John Casteen and other
university officials.
"For the 21 years I've been in coaching and the five years I was in college,
I've always looked at the University of Virginia with great admiration, for a
lot of the teams I've seen play but most importantly for its reputation," Leitao
said. "To be linked to this great university at this time of my life and of my
family's life is overwhelming.
"It will be a great honor not only to be the basketball coach but be a
torchbearer for the future at such a critical time in this athletic department's
history."
Virginia's new 15,000-seat coliseum, the John Paul Jones Arena, will open for
basketball in the fall of 2006.
"Before I came on campus, I took the virtual tour [of the new arena] on line and
I was awe-struck," Leitao said. "The first round of the NIT, we played at the
University of Missouri. They have a new arena, as well. I took a walking tour
after practice and was quite impressed.
"That was a $70-million building. For $130 million, I can only imagine the
amenities and things [UVa's building] will have that will make it, the day it
opens, the most special college basketball arena in America."
Former coach Pete Gillen, always quick with a quip, was mentioned only once. It
was apparent that Gillen could not have returned after going 14-15 and failing
to make the NCAA tournament for the fourth year in a row. He resigned March14.
"My vision is to take this basketball program and put it on a championship level
on and off the court," Leitao said. "I can tell you, when next we play a
basketball game, these guys will play and fight like never before. Every coach
in basketball wants his team to play harder. We're going to play harder.
"It doesn't matter how fast you run or how well you shoot or how high you jump.
Anybody can play defense."
UVa sophomore Gary Forbes said the mention of Leitao as a UVa target prompted
him to call three fellow New Yorkers who played for Leitao at DePaul, including
top underclassmen Sammy Mejia.
"They told me what a great guy he was," Forbes said, "a family guy."
Forbes said the thought of transferring had crossed his mind and speculated that
teammates probably had similar ideas. Everybody was safely in the fold by Sunday
afternoon.
"I've got my apartment for next year and I'm signed up for all my courses,"
Forbes said. "Why would I be going anywhere?"
Leitao said he hoped to have a staff in place by the end of the week, and
Littlepage indicated that he and Leitao felt that a link to the Cavaliers' past
would be desirable. Boston University assistant and former UVa player Jason
Williford is a possible target.
Leitao hopes to start recruiting by next weekend, which means that any lingering
business in Chicago will have to wait.
"There are a tremendous amount of things to do, all of which come under the
umbrella of Virginia," said Leitao, citing a need to get to know the players,
put together a staff, be seen on the recruiting circuit and meet key campus
figures. "I'm the coach at Virginia now and that's where 100 percent of my
priorities lie."
Exacting Cavs fans, say hello to a taxing coach
The Virginian-Pilot
© April 18, 2005
CHARLOTTESVILLE — As Dave Leitao’s hourlong introductory press conference droned
to a conclusion Sunday, David, Reese and Tyson Leitao still had not been heard
from.
This was either a minor miracle, or Dave and Joyce Leitao should run a parenting
class when they complete their big move from Chicago to Charlottesville.
In any event, the young sons of the University of Virginia’s new basketball
coach sat in the front row of chairs next to — or in 2-year-old Tyson’s case, in
the arms of — their mother.
And nary a burp, giggle, noogie or heavy sigh the entire time, which couldn’t
necessarily be said of the assembled media jockeys.
“This one was asleep, that’s the only reason,’’ Joyce Leitao said with a laugh,
tousling Tyson. “But they’re pretty good boys. I started talking to them at the
end as they started getting antsy.
“I said 'Try to hang in there, it’s almost over.’ ’’
For Reese Leitao, 6, wearing his
spanking new Cavaliers cap, those were the most encouraging words of the
afternoon’s sermon at U.Va’s Bryant Hall.
“I got real cranky,’’ Reese said.
Funny he should say that. The general crankiness surrounding U.Va. hoops under
former coach Pete Gillen is why the Leitaos are here in the first place.
They’ve been big DePaul fans the past three years, as Dave Leitao led the Blue
Demons into the postseason each season out of Conference USA.
But from now on they’re all about U.Va.
And if the Leitao kids are any gauge, U.Va. will be all about what their father
just promised: discipline, and its basketball manifestations defense and
rebounding.
No talk of running, pressing or a swing-from-the-chandeliers offense here, the
standard stuff of many meet-the-coach days. Just the sober, brass tacks of the
game, offered up in Leitao’s sober, measured monotone.
“Whoever we play against is going to know that we will fight them for every inch
of the floor,’’ Leitao said. ''And we will be the toughest out they will face.’’
Beyond that, there wasn’t much more that U.Va. athletic director Craig
Littlepage, who said he’s long tracked Leitao, needed to hear.
“That sort of model is still a model that works,’’ said Littlepage, a former
coach who recruited against his new man in the ’80s when Leitao worked for
Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun.
“That foundation is pretty well ingrained in him and his coaching philosophy.
And I would anticipate that that’s what’s going to play out over the next
several years.’’
It played out for Leitao at DePaul, not so much at Northeastern, Leitao’s alma
mater. He coached there from 1994 to 1996, went 18-11 his first season, 4-24 his
second, and quit to return to Calhoun’s embrace.
“That’s one of the things that happen in coaching,’’ Littlepage said. “Dave got
up off the ground and moved on.’’
And so Leitao was “awestruck’’ over his chance to come to Virginia — “a special
place’’ — at this “critical time,’’ what with interest dulled and an expensive
arena rising.
Leitao invoked those buzzwords more than once, and repeatedly emphasized his
loyalty to the “standards’’ and “core values’’ he holds dear.
No, as a matter of fact, it wasn’t a papal interview, it just sounded that way.
But coaches can be serious people, and the “college basketball industry,’’ as
Littlepage called it, a brutal place.
So what loosen-up there is in Leitao we may see some other day. He met Joyce,
after all, in college by walking up to her while she was holding flowers and
asking, “Are those for me?’’
That line was an obvious winner. As for making frustrated U.Va. fans fall for
him, Leitao’s their man if earnest is what they seek.
“Every basketball coach in America wants to play hard, but I believe there’s
another level,’’ Leitao said. “There’s playing hard, and there’s playing hard
.’’
Cavalier crankiness may have met its match.
Full speed ahead for Littlepage
Published April 18 2005
David Teel
David Teel
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CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Craig Littlepage forgives Dave Leitao. Those recruiting
battles years ago? Ancient history. That speeding ticket Thursday on Route 250?
No sweat.
"This appointment feels right," Littlepage said Sunday as he introduced Leitao
as the University of Virginia's head basketball coach.
They always do. Athletic director extols new coach; new coach acknowledges
everyone but the family mutt; thanks for coming and drive home safely.
Really, then, what did we learn Sunday?
Most important, Littlepage and Leitao go back, way back, to the 1980s, when
Leitao was a fledgling assistant at Connecticut under Jim Calhoun and Littlepage
was the head coach at Rutgers.
The programs collided over touted recruits such as Tate George and Chris Smith,
and UConn won every time.
Littlepage smiled at the memories and joked that Leitao was to blame for his
eventual departure from coaching and transition to administration.
Perhaps that mutual history explains why Leitao and Littlepage, nabbed for
speeding as he drove his prospective new coach around town, appear so
comfortable together.
Heck, they could be brothers: two ponderous, formal, impeccable gentlemen; two
graying former small forwards not far removed from their playing weight.
Most interesting Sunday, we learned that in evaluating Leitao, the head coach at
DePaul the past three seasons, not only Littlepage but also Virginia president
John Casteen reviewed game tapes (and here you thought Casteen watched only
"Masterpiece Theatre.").
Littlepage saw a team that rebounded and defended fiercely. Casteen
fast-forwarded through the game action to assess Leitao's comportment.
"Television as a medium has made basketball coaches extremely important" to a
university's culture and community image, Casteen said in one of the afternoon's
most insightful moments.
Casteen liked what he saw, and Sunday showed why. Leitao was poised, serious and
ramrod straight, the antithesis of the man he replaces, the wisecracking,
backslapping Pete Gillen.
Quizzed about becoming the university's first black head coach, Leitao responded
deftly that it was an "honor" but that he is here, simply, to guide a basketball
program. Leitao also promised to "link the past to the future" by reaching out
to former Virginia players and perhaps including some on his staff.
Such linkage is imperative. For whatever reason, the Gillen years created a
separation, if not an estrangement, between some former players and the program.
Healing those wounds can only help Leitao as he attempts to raise the Cavaliers
from last place in the ACC.
Virginia has endured four consecutive losing conference seasons, and Leitao's
most critical task is upgrading the program's talent. He said he already has
contacted recruiting gurus such as Hampton's Boo Williams and Richmond's Tony
Squires, but while the in-state class of 2006 is among the best in memory,
Leitao may be too late to hunt.
Guard Scotty Reynolds of Herndon has committed to Oklahoma, and others such as
Bethel forward Duke Crews, Woodside guard Stefan Welsh and Norcom center Vernon
Macklin are paring their lists. None presently is considering Virginia.
Leitao's reputation is that of a tireless recruiter, and the only red flag on
his résumé is a two-year stint from 1994-96 as the head coach at Northeastern,
his alma mater.
The Huskies went 18-11 and 4-24 before Leitao resigned and returned to UConn as
associate head coach.
Leitao ducked questions about Northeastern, saying only that "I'm here today
because I made that move."
Littlepage said he and Leitao discussed Northeastern "early on," and Littlepage
attributed the second-year demise to injuries and other personnel losses.
Virginia loses its top two scorers from last season, Elton Brown and Devin
Smith, but resist the temptation to dismiss next season as a lost cause.
First-year coaches often energize downtrodden programs (Virginia Tech's Seth
Greenberg two seasons ago and Miami's Frank Haith this past season come to
mind), and early departures to the NBA will water down the ACC.
No, Virginia can't expect to instantly leapfrog North Carolina or Wake Forest.
But the chances of swiping a game against those folks won't be so daunting next
season with players such as Rashad McCants and Chris Paul playing for pay.
After more than a month of searching, Littlepage determined that Leitao was the
best coach to embark on that challenge of competing against Tar Heels, Deacons
and Devils.
"There was never a moment," Littlepage said, "I felt other than supremely
confident."
Will Leitao deliver?
Published April 17 2005
David Teel
David Teel
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Apr 18, 2005
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Any critique of Dave Leitao's hiring as the University of Virginia's men's
basketball coach must begin with a caveat: Most thought the Cavaliers wise when
they hired Pete Gillen in 1998. And after a return to the NCAA tournament in
2001, most considered them wise still.
But Gillen's eventual later shortcomings and exit notwithstanding, you want
answers. Is Leitao, DePaul's head coach the past three seasons, a good choice?
Can he conform to Virginia's peculiar culture? Could the Cavaliers have done
better?
Pretending to answer those questions with any degree of certainty is a fool's
errand. That said, here is what I think I know:
Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage should have been uniquely prepared
for this decision. As a former player, assistant coach and head coach, and as
the incoming chairman of the NCAA tournament selection committee, he is the
consummate, connected basketball guy. Moreover, given the obvious and prolonged
demise of Gillen's tenure, Littlepage had beaucoup time to consult those
connections and identify quality candidates.
His search, during which he promised to "leave no stone unturned," produced Dave
Leitao, an established recruiter and promising head coach. Leitao may not have
been Virginia's first choice, but rest assured he has been on Littlepage's radar
for more than a year.
So if Leitao thrives, so does Littlepage. If Leitao sinks, so does Littlepage.
As it should be.
Shortsighted fans and pundits already have dismissed Leitao. His name and record
don't assure capacity crowds at Virginia's new 15,000-seat arena, live ESPN
coverage of his introductory news conference today or the signature of every
schoolboy with 3-point range.
In short, he's not Tubby Smith.
But prying Smith from Kentucky or Rick Barnes from Texas or Phil Jackson out of
retirement was a pipe dream for a program that is 10 years removed from its last
NCAA tournament victory, 21 years from the second of its two Final Fours and 29
years from its only ACC tournament title.
Hey, give Virginia credit for at least trying on Smith, Barnes and probably
several other high-profile candidates. And remember, the goal is to win games,
not the press conference. If Leitao's teams win, the sellouts at John Paul Jones
Arena and the $25 million-plus needed to complete its financing will follow.
Can Leitao, or any coach for that matter, win consistently at Virginia? Sure.
Terry Holland did. Jeff Jones did. They didn't win Duke and North Carolina big,
and neither will Leitao. But if he proves a capable recruiter, program manager
and game tactician, Leitao should succeed.
Recruiting doesn't figure to be an issue. As a Connecticut assistant under Jim
Calhoun, Leitao helped procure national-championship talent such as Richard
Hamilton and Emeka Okafor. As DePaul's head coach, he beat teams such as UConn,
Arizona, Syracuse and Boston College for prospects, most in the
Boston-Philadelphia corridor, but also in Michigan, Texas, California and
Florida.
Program and game management are more nuanced and difficult to project. In
Conference USA, which included Final Four coaches Rick Pitino, John Calipari and
Bob Huggins, Leitao led DePaul to three postseason tournaments, one NCAA and two
NIT, and upgraded the Blue Demons' academic performance.
But Virginia expects more. Delusional or not, Virginia expects two or three NCAA
tournaments for every NIT, and a diploma in every set of hands.
Can Leitao deliver? The Cavaliers hope he's their Paul Hewitt, a former
Villanova assistant with limited head-coaching experience (three seasons at
Siena) who took Georgia Tech to the Final Four in his fourth season. The
Cavaliers hope he's not their Matt Doherty, a former Kansas assistant with
minimal big-whistle background (one season at Notre Dame) who lasted all of
three years at North Carolina, his alma mater.
Leitao can relate. His first head-coaching gig was from 1994-96 at Northeastern,
his alma mater. It ended with a 4-24 fiasco and his abrupt resignation to return
to Connecticut as an assistant. Although Northeastern's athletic director at the
time, Barry Gallup, absolves Leitao of much of the blame, it's an undeniable
blot on his résumé, a blot Virginia did not probe thoroughly.
Think about it. If you're about to commit millions of dollars to a coach, don't
you call all of his former bosses? No one representing Virginia contacted
Gallup.
That wasn't Virginia's only misstep. While candidates often prefer and
occasionally require secrecy, information blackout is counterproductive. Yet
such was Littlepage's modus operandi, even as speculation swirled during the
Final Four and coinciding coaches' association convention.
Reminder to Littlepage: Coaches gossip more than reporters, and I've got the
cell-phone log to prove it. If you want accurate information in the public
domain, provide it overtly or leak it covertly.
Leitao also has some answering to do. After flirting with Auburn and St. John's
last offseason, he signed a six-year contract extension and professed loyalty to
DePaul. A year later, he's gone, leaving behind disillusioned fans,
administrators and players.
Will his ambition and wanderlust ease in Charlottesville? Is he a long-term fix?
A short-term problem? Can he assemble and retain a quality staff?
First impressions come today. Answers come in many tomorrows.
No joke: U.Va. hired coach, not comedian
BOB LIPPER
POINT OF VIEW
Apr 18, 2005
Bob Lipper
Contact Bob Lipper at (804) 649-6555 or e-mail blipper @timesdispatch.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE He's no day at the improv. This much we learned about Dave
Leitao at his formal unveiling yesterday. There were no snappy one-liners, no
razzmatazz, no knee-slappers about his upbringing in blue-collar New Bedford,
Mass., or his years on the recruiting trail as Jim Calhoun's deputy at UConn.
He laughed once and smiled several times, but mostly -- and this is not in any
way to suggest he's a grinch -- he came across as purposeful and businesslike.
If he had more hair, my guess is he wouldn't let it down often.
You know the line about how what you see is what you get? That likely applies to
Leitao, and what we got from him yesterday was tall and lean and forthright in a
dark blue suit with an orange and blue tie his new athletic director gave him
Thursday night.
He looked good. He projected well. He'll fit in nicely at Virginia. Whether
he'll whip Terps and Tar Heels only time will tell, but on first impressions
alone, he's already put points on the board.
"I don't know a lot about failure," he said.
A program that hasn't gotten past the ACC tournament quarterfinals or won an
NCAA game in a decade can only hope that's a sound bite to build a rebirth on.
Craig Littlepage used words like "disciplinarian" and "tough" and "hard-working"
and "thoughtful" to describe the man he hired away from DePaul, and Leitao gave
indications he'll live up to the billing.
Click Here.
He spoke of his desire to play rugged defense. He cited the "honor" and
"responsibility" he felt in becoming U.Va.'s first black head coach in any sport
(memo to U-Hall honchos past and present: It's about bloody time). He promised
his teams would bust it ("We will be a tough out"). He talked of laying a firm
foundation.
"Our program will never be about one win or one loss or one coach or one
player," he said. "It'll be about the fabric we live by every day."
Translation: You want bada bings, you'd best look elsewhere.
"Yeah, he's a pretty serious guy," his wife, Joyce, observed dryly which is
probably a good thing because Leitao's got a pretty serious reclamation project
on his hands. The Cavs went sub-.500 last season and receded to the ACC's
basement. Their frontcourt is out of eligibility. They compete in a very tough
league -- although if Rashad McCants and Chris Paul are the beginnings of a mass
exodus, there might be hope for the unwashed and downtrodden.
"Looks like it makes us a better team if that keeps happening," Leitao said with
a grin.
Just so you know he is not without a sense of humor.
His own foundation seems solid enough. He was spoiled and fussed over by his
mother and four older sisters and grew into a self-assured, confident guy
(although he did have to be prodded into approaching Joyce for a date when both
were students at Northeastern).
He was a significant figure at UConn, a two-time national champ whose recruiting
tentacles spread across the country. He inherited frayed edges at DePaul and in
three seasons transformed them into a smoothed product that won 58 games and
rekindled some of the hoopla from the long-ago Ray Meyer glory days of Mark
Aguirre and Terry Cummings.
He's about to move into a similar fixer-upper at U.Va., and he quietly declared
he was up to it. He mentioned how he and Calhoun landed at UConn in 1986 -- the
year after the Big East of John Thompson, Louie Carnsesecca, Rollie Massimino
and Jim Boeheim had sent three teams to the Final Four -- and proceeded to build
a powerhouse.
He spoke of going off on his own to Conference USA and matching up against the
likes of Rick Pitino, Bob Huggins and John Calipari.
"I took that as a challenge," he said.
His tone was matter-of-fact. He sounds as if he means business.
Seriously.
UVA raves for Dave
Virginia's president and AD don't spare praise for new basketball coach
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Apr 18, 2005
Basketball coach Dave Leitao is the first black to head a program for the
University of Virginia in any sport.<BR>BRADY WOLFE/MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
Basketball coach Dave Leitao is the first black to head a program for the
University of Virginia in any sport.
BRADY WOLFE/MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
Leitao highlights
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Craig Littlepage studied tapes of DePaul basketball games. So
did John Casteen, who unlike Littlepage has little background in hoops.
Littlepage, the University of Virginia's athletic director and a former Division
I basketball coach, wanted to see how Dave Leitao's players competed, how they
defended, how they rebounded.
Casteen, U.Va.'s president, wanted to see how Leitao carried himself on the
sideline, how he interacted with his players and officials, what kind of image
he projected as a public face of DePaul.
Both men loved what they saw, and their enthusiasm when discussing Leitao -- as
a coach and as a person -- was palpable yesterday afternoon. In a news
conference in Bryant Hall at Scott Stadium, Leitao was formally introduced as
the Cavaliers' coach.
"We have brought to the University of Virginia a superb man, a superb basketball
coach and a person who's going to have a dramatic impact on the university and
its surrounding communities," said Littlepage, who has known Leitao for about 20
years and spoke with obvious emotion at times.
Click Here.
Leitao, 44, replaces Pete Gillen, who stepped down last month after seven
seasons at U.Va. Leitao's five-year contract will pay him $925,000 annually.
"To be linked to this great university at this time in my life and my family's
life is overwhelming," he said.
Casteen's relationship with Leitao dates to 1986. That's when Leitao joined Jim
Calhoun's staff at the University of Connecticut, where Casteen was president.
After moving to U.Va. in 1990, Casteen continued to follow Leitao's career,
tracking the Calhoun protégé as he moved to Northeastern as head coach and back
to UConn as the top assistant and then to DePaul as head coach.
"He has the drive, the ethic, the presence, the attention to the students and so
on that I think are critical," Casteen said.
Also, the U.Va. president said, "I had never before focused on how critically
important in building a university's community spirit that a basketball coach
is. . . . The TV as a medium has made basketball coaches extraordinarily
important in shaping the university culture, and Dave stands for what this
culture stands for."
Leitao, wearing an orange and blue tie that Littlepage had given him Thursday,
was joined in Bryant Hall by his wife, Joyce, and their three sons -- 10-year
old David III, 6-year-old Reese and 2-year-old Tyson. Also in attendance was
Leitao's sister Susan, who saw her brother make history.
He's the first black head coach at U.Va. in any sport.
"I think it's a great honor that this university has bestowed upon me," Leitao
said. "I feel extremely proud to coach the game of basketball as an
African-American [knowing] some of the people who have not had the chance to do
so that have come before me.
"At this time, at this university, for our future, I carry that with me as not
only an honor but a responsibility. At the same point in time, I'm a basketball
coach, and for anyone who looks at me as such, they'll see the same things as if
my skin color was anything else."
M. Rick Turner, dean of African-American affairs at U.Va., applauded the hiring.
"He brings a special brand of leadership and intelligence to our community,"
said Turner, who's also president of the local NAACP chapter. "This is indeed a
historical moment in the life of the University of Virginia. The Leitaos will be
a welcome addition to the U.Va. family and particularly to the African-American
community.
"I'm hopeful that his presence will enhance the recruitment of black
student-athletes, non-athletes, faculty and administrators. Most importantly, I
honestly feel that his presence will have a positive impact on the relationship
between the African-American community and the university."
Leitao, who's from New Bedford, Mass., played basketball for Calhoun at
Northeastern University in Boston. After stints as an assistant under Calhoun at
NU and UConn, Leitao went 22-35 in two seasons as Northeastern's head coach. He
then chose to return to UConn in 1996 to become associate head coach.
In 2002, Leitao took the DePaul job. He went 58-34 in three seasons with the
Blue Demons, leading them to the NIT twice and the NCAAs once.
At U.Va., Leitao inherits a program that advanced to the NCAA tourney only once
under Gillen, in 2001. Virginia finished 14-15 in 2004-05. The Cavaliers will
play a final season in 8,392-seat University Hall before moving into the $129.8
million John Paul Jones Arena, which is to seat 15,000.
"I think having that as a selling point for the future of this university is
tremendous," Leitao said.
Littlepage sees Leitao as another selling point.
"We have the opportunity to use the John Paul Jones Arena, and the opening of
the arena, as a magnificent platform to get this program jump-started,"
Littlepage said.
"We are where we are, which isn't where we want to be, and which is not where
we're going to be over time. And this is the man that I think is uniquely
positioned to bring this program back and to bring it back to a position that on
a consistent basis we can compete for championships."
Leitao said his immediate priorities are getting to know his players and hiring
a staff. He said he's not sure if any of assistants at DePaul will follow him to
U.Va. If possible, Leitao said, he'd like his staff to include someone with ties
to U.Va.
"I know how important that link can be in terms of just relationships," he said.
His teams at DePaul were known for their rebounding prowess and defensive
intensity. Neither was a trademark of U.Va. late in the Gillen era.
"Whomever we play against is going to know that we will fight you for every inch
of the floor and we will be the toughest outfit they'll face," Leitao said.
Leitao Sets Cavs' Agenda
By Michael Arkush
Special to The Washington Post
Monday, April 18, 2005; Page D04
CHARLOTTESVILLE, April 17 -- Things on Dave Leitao's to-do list in the coming
days: Compile a staff. Get to know his players. Evaluate a program that made
only one NCAA tournament appearance in seven years under predecessor Pete
Gillen.
One item that he can cross off the list is to make it clear, as he did during
Sunday's introductory news conference, that the new coach of the University of
Virginia men's basketball team will hold high expectations from the start.
Dave Leitao, 44, takes over as men's basketball coach at Virginia after going
58-34 in three seasons at DePaul. (Brady Wolfe -- The Daily Progress Via AP)
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"I can tell you the next time we play a basketball team, these young men will
play and fight together like never before," said Leitao, 44, who is leaving
DePaul after three seasons at the helm. "We want to build, not for today, not
just for tomorrow, but for long-lasting success. That's what I've been about.
That's been my history. I really don't know it any other way."
Leitao, whose wife, Joyce, and three sons sat in the front row, said he regards
his selection as the first black head coach in any sport at the school to be an
honor and responsibility. At the same time, he added, "I'm a basketball coach,
and one who looks at me will see the same things as if my skin color were
anything else."
Leitao, who was 58-34 at DePaul, including an NCAA tournament appearance in
2004, agreed to take the job on Friday, ending a monthlong search that included
South Carolina Coach Dave Odom. Odom, who met with Athletic Director Craig
Littlepage during the Final Four in St. Louis, has denied receiving an offer.
Littlepage would not address a question about Odom.
"Today is not the day to go into that," Littlepage said.
Leitao's hiring comes at a critical time for the program. After one more year at
University Hall, the Cavaliers will move to the $130 million, 15,000-seat John
Paul Jones Arena for the 2006-07 season.
Littlepage has known Leitao for more than 20 years. Littlepage was the coach at
Rutgers while Leitao was starting his career as an assistant coach under Jim
Calhoun at Northeastern. In 1986, Leitao went to Connecticut when Calhoun became
head coach.
Last week, in his Chicago hotel room, Littlepage spent hours watching tapes of
DePaul games he had requested from Leitao.
"I wanted a coach whose team would rebound relentlessly," Littlepage said.
"They rebound the heck out of the basketball. His teams played shutout defense.
. . . In four of the six games I watched, there were stretches of five to seven
minutes where DePaul held their opponents to no field goals."
For Leitao, who agreed to a five-year contract for $925,000 annually, this will
be his third experience as a head coach. He was 22-35 in two seasons (1994-96)
at Northeastern, his alma mater, before rejoining Calhoun in Connecticut as
associate head coach until 2002. Leitao indicated he has learned a lot since his
Northeastern days.
"I've made sure to become well-rounded," he said, "to look at things on both
sides of the fence, to know why you win, to accept losing the right way."
Attending Sunday's news conference were all eight of Virginia's returning
scholarship players, and university President John T. Casteen III, who also has
known Leitao for 20 years. The players met with Leitao for a few minutes
afterward, and were scheduled to talk with him again Sunday evening.
"He's coming in with a lot of energy," said freshman point guard Sean
Singletary. "If the players can listen and match his intensity, we'll be fine. I
feel that, with the core group of guys we have, we have a lot of talent. He's
developed some great players."
The challenge will be formidable. The Cavaliers, who will lose seniors Elton
Brown and Devin Smith, last season finished 14-15 overall, 4-12 in the ACC.
An offer Leitao couldn't refuse
April 17, 2005
BY TONI GINNETTI Staff Reporter
Dave Leitao spent Saturday morning at Little League practice for middle son
Reese. "They're at the age [5] where it's more just running around,'' he said,
laughing. "It's more like organized playtime.''
But for Leitao, it meant a few hours to decompress from what has been an
emotionally demanding last 10 days.
Today, he will be introduced as Virginia's new basketball coach at a news
conference in Charlottesville. It will be his third trip there since last
Thursday, when the Cavaliers officially came courting the third-year DePaul
coach. But this time, the suspense will be over.
"I've tried to maintain a knowledge of how good a situation I had and what
DePaul means now and what it will mean in the future,'' he said of the days
leading to his decision. "And as I told [DePaul athletic director] Jeanie [Lenti
Ponsetto] and the players, [the Virginia job] would have to be personally and
professionally life-altering.
"I had two great jobs in front of me, and figuring out which would put me in the
best situation professionally and, more importantly, the best situation for my
family's future, I chose Virginia.''
His new job clearly will be "life-altering'' financially.
Virginia, with deep financial resources and a new 15,000-seat arena set to open
in the spring of 2006, was willing to pay Leitao, 44, the kind of money usually
given only to coaches who've taken a team to the Final Four.
The reason: an urgency to become a force in the Atlantic Coast Conference and a
regular participant in the NCAA tournament.
Both were missing in the last seven years under Pete Gillen, a well-respected
and successful coach at Xavier and Providence who was unable to carry that
success to the larger state institution.
It's clear, too, that Virginia and Leitao also have their sights set on a
national title in the coming years.
Some particulars of the deal are being negotiated, but Leitao will get a minimum
five-year deal worth an annual sum of $925,000 to start. That figure includes a
$215,000 base salary, with the additional revenue coming from media and apparel
sponsorships, Virginia officials said. Parameters are to be worked into the
contract to provide for lengthening the deal to seven years.
By comparison, former Wisconsin-Milwaukee coach Bruce Pearl was given an
estimated $800,000 annual compensation package when he was hired two weeks ago
at Tennessee, this after leading the mid-major Panthers to the Sweet 16.
Marquette coach Tom Crean was vaulted into the $1 million-salary category after
the Golden Eagles went to the Final Four in 2003, with a major school donor
helping fund the salary.
Measured against his DePaul deal -- a six-year deal worth approximately $660,000
yearly -- the Virginia offer in dollars alone would seem impossible to refuse.
Still, the business logic didn't make it the easy choice for Leitao that it
would seem to an outsider.
"When I think about the relationships I've had here, the bond with the players
and Jeanie and the people around the university ... I don't know if I'll ever
have that type of relationship professionally again,'' he said. "When you're
trying to rebuild a program and bring back the dignity and national respect, her
vision and my goals were at the core of everything we did.''
Before he came to DePaul, Leitao had spent almost all of his basketball life
with Jim Calhoun, first playing for him at Northeastern, then working with him
as an assistant coach there and at Connecticut for 16 years.
He spent two years away from Calhoun in his first head-coaching experience at
Northeastern in 1994-95 and 1995-96 but returned after one good season and one
bad one.
Leitao became one of the best recruiters in the college game and Calhoun's
right-hand man. Still, when Lenti Ponsetto hired him to revive DePaul's tattered
program and reputation, few in the Midwest knew how to pronounce his name.
"I thought I had two jobs to do,'' Leitao said of DePaul. "Winning games was
obvious, but also to restore DePaul and put it in its rightful place nationally
again and make it one of those programs that is respected around the country.''
Leitao did that largely with players he didn't recruit. But he worked to develop
bonds that went beyond a coach-player relationship, and he credits the players
who accepted him and his ways for the Blue Demons' successes.
"I'll remember how blessed I was with the amount of good kids we had,'' he said.
"With that kind of core, you can do anything you set your mind to.''
Those feelings made his Friday night meeting with his players one of his most
difficult hours of the recent days.
"That's never a great situation,'' he said. "It was solemn and emotional and
disappointing because we've always been able to look each other in the eye and
be linked together. We won't have that now.
"I've tried to give them an opportunity to know me as a person more than a
coach, and when you do that, you develop a bond that makes the triumphs you
share so great, and the tribulations more painful.''
But Leitao is clear about what he sees in the program he is leaving and the one
he takes over.
"I look at the quality of Virginia's history and the campus of a major
university and the potential to have a championship program year in and out,''
he said.
"When I think of DePaul, I envision a quality school in a quality city that will
perform admirably in the short term and long term in what will be one of the
best conferences in the country [the Big East]. Whoever takes over will be put
in a position to continue on the path the current players have started.''
And if he could meet his DePaul successor now, he'd tell him this:
"You're walking into a situation that will be conducted with the highest level
of integrity. The relationships forged here will be special, and those
relationships, in large part, will be a quality that makes the team successful.
Taking advantage of those relationships is of the highest priority, and they
will help you succeed.''
DePaul should now build on
Leitao's success
April 17, 2005
Jerry Seinfeld once said that with the way pro athletes change teams and
uniforms so often, fans essentially are reduced to rooting for laundry.
College basketball fans similarly know that you root for the suit and not for
the coach inside it.
So DePaul loses Dave Leitao, its coach of the past three years, to Virginia. The
temptation is to lump him with all the other money-grubbing, carpetbagging
coaches we've seen over the past 20 years. But this situation doesn't smell like
the typical NCAA waste disposal site.
Maybe it's because DePaul took such a back seat to Illinois the past few years
that Leitao's departure is about as quiet as his stay was in Chicago. It's hard
to get upset about a defection when you didn't put a whole lot of emotion into
the three-year residency portion of the deal.
Not only did we hardly know Leitao, we hardly knew how to spell his name.
It could be I'm not mad about Leitao's move because he did what he was asked to
do here. He was brought in to clean up DePaul's mess, and he did that. He did it
quietly, did it the right way, toughened up the kids and removed the layer of
grease that had been left behind by the previous caretakers. This wasn't Bill
Self professing undying loyalty to an already successful Illinois program and
then bolting to Kansas.
"I know it's a roll-up-your-sleeves kind of situation," Leitao said when DePaul
hired him. And he rolled up his sleeves.
Did DePaul administrators expect Leitao to stay longer? Sure, they did. But they
had to know that if he turned things around, which he did with an NCAA
tournament victory in his second season, he would be a commodity. They also knew
they wouldn't have the financial resources to keep him if another school came
bearing lots of money. Virginia is said to be giving him $1.2 million a year,
almost double what he's making at DePaul.
Everything about Leitao said he was from the East Coast, from his lengthy
history with Connecticut to his accent. So no one should be surprised that he
jumped when Virginia offered him a job.
Yes, DePaul did give him a raise when St. John's came calling last year. But St.
John's is DePaul East, and though it would have gotten him closer to where he
wanted to be geographically, it wouldn't have been much of a step up. Virginia
can be. ACC basketball. Beautiful campus. A $130 million arena being built. Lots
of possibilities for a coach.
We can sit here and grouse about the lack of loyalty among college coaches, but
remember that when Leitao took the job, there weren't a whole lot of quality
coaches pounding on DePaul's door looking for interviews.
The interest is higher now, and part of the reason for that is Leitao.
So now what for DePaul? This is the time to build on the recent success. When
DePaul hired Leitao in 2002, there was uncertainty about where the basketball
program was headed. It was imperative that discipline and integrity be
re-established after the tenures of former coach Pat Kennedy and former athletic
director Bill Bradshaw.
Now there's a foundation, and athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto will have
more choices. DePaul moves to the Big East next season, and the competition on
the court will be fiercer. But the profile will be higher, and so will the
potential benefits for a new coach.
Hiring Digger Phelps would have the look of a desperate publicity stunt, and
DePaul doesn't need to do that. They can attract someone who doesn't still have
slivers from peach baskets. Rick Majerus would be a good hire, but if DePaul is
looking for someone who will offer the appearance of stability, Majerus might
not be the right guy. If job offers were women, Majerus would be Hugh Hefner.
What DePaul wants is a good coach who will stick around for at least a decade,
and those coaches are hard to find. Dayton coach Brian Gregory, who grew up in
Mt. Prospect, might fit the profile. Gregory was an assistant to Tom Izzo, who
has been at Michigan State 10 years, so he knows the benefits that can come with
staying in one place for a while.
But nothing is certain in the coaching world. When someone pledges allegiance to
a university, check for crossed fingers. Leitao strikes me as the kind of guy
who will stay a while at Virginia. Just don't ask me to bet on it.
Ponsetto fails Demons by
letting Leitao leave
April 17, 2005
BY JAY MARIOTTI SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
It is what it is, apparently, the same old mom-and-pop school under the L
tracks. If DePaul can't ante up $1.2 million a year for a young, dynamic coach
who healed a sick basketball program and just signed a top 20 recruiting class,
then the presiding powers of Demon Dogs U. should reconsider which conference
they're joining next season.
The Big East? Seems the Horizon League is more their speed.
Why enter a superconference when you aren't committed to competing with the
behemoths? Why pretend you're a serious player in college hoops when you let
Dave Leitao, a man who loved Chicago and wanted very much to maximize his
creation, flee to Virginia without trying hard enough to keep him? You can't
take a quantum leap into one of the mightiest leagues ever hatched
--Connecticut, Syracuse, Villanova, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, West Virginia,
Georgetown, St. John's, Louisville, Cincinnati, Marquette and more -- while
lowballing your hot-in-demand coach.
In doing so, athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto and her superiors only
confirmed DePaul's fair-to-middling identity on the national level. The college
game is a coaches' game, and when a program is fortunate enough to have a
quality leader, the idea is to secure him for the long haul and maintain
continuity and success. Leitao was making $660,000 annually after last year's
bump-up, markedly below the Big East salaries of mentor Jim Calhoun, Jim Boeheim,
Rick Pitino, Bob Huggins and Tom Crean. While all have been to a place Leitao
hasn't -- the Final Four -- his three-season pedigree was promising enough to
portend a terrific future. He was positioned to lead the Blue Demons into a
brave, new world with an expanded national profile, helped by an incoming class
that included 6-8 Wilson Chandler, a Parade All-American stolen from under
Michigan State's nose. Somehow, the concept of venturing to Storrs to play UConn
or the Carrier Dome to play the 'Cuse didn't look so harrowing.
But late Friday, the moving van to the big time broke down. After a week of
Cessna-jet rides to Charlottesville, Leitao realized Lenti Ponsetto wasn't in
the offer-matching business and signed a lucrative deal at Virginia, where he
will compete in the robust Atlantic Coast Conference in a 15,000-seat arena
under construction. Don't make the mistake of thinking DePaul is of limited
means. Fund-raising never has been stronger, corporate sponsors are on board and
the athletic department recently received its first million-dollar donation.
''If you judge by attendance and revenue,'' Lenti Ponsetto said last week,
''that puts us in a major category.''
Yet not major enough. Why not shell out for Leitao and make a permanent
statement about the program's place in the industry? Because DePaul doesn't
think it has to.
Winning requires big money
''Coaches have been culturized into thinking they have to make as much money as
they can because if they don't win, their tenure will be short,'' Lenti Ponsetto
said. ''DePaul is not one of those places.'' I don't know which dream world
she's living in, but quality coaches these days are interested in security AND
the big bucks. You can keep a coaching climber that way, but once he starts
winning and becomes a wanted commodity, you're going to lose him every time to
bigger programs that pay.
So DePaul, despite the AD's claims, actually is closer to mid-major status than
major. And now you have to wonder if Chandler and two other prime recruits,
guards Jabari Curry and Rashad Woods, will head elsewhere as a new recruiting
period begins. Same goes for Leitao's New York connection of guards Sammy Mejia
and Cliff Clinkscales, who came to DePaul because of the coach first and the
school second. He was magnetic that way, tapping into recruiting pools from the
East Coast to California. Only 44, he's one of the better up-and-comers in the
game, lauded as a disciplinarian who can relate to young players. Hiring Leitao
was Lenti Ponsetto's finest moment as AD, the first hint she could rebuild a
basketball program that always has defined the university.
Too quickly, he is gone, off to a better job. And DePaul is left to scramble for
a coach who fits its financial parameters, which shouldn't be an issue with
Virginia paying a reported $2 million buyout for Leitao. The name you will hear
most is Dayton coach Brian Gregory, a Mount Prospect native who was a finalist
when Leitao was hired in 2002.
Chris Collins worth a look
The name I will promote most is Duke assistant Chris Collins, son of Doug and
one-time Glenbrook North star who didn't want the job the last time but might
now. Please realize Rick Majerus would have been great 10 years ago, but not
after a recent snafu in which he accepted and then rejected the USC position
because of health concerns. Digger Phelps, despite calling DePaul one the best
jobs around, has as much chance of being hired as Dick Vitale or Billy Packer.
Matt Doherty and Mike Jarvis come with baggage.
Chances are, the next coach won't be as good as Leitao. DePaul's loss is
Virginia's gold mine. He will be challenged in a conference traditionally
dominated by North Carolina and Duke, but at least Leitao has a $130 million
building on campus. That is the bugaboo that ultimately will prevent DePaul from
returning to national prominence.
Allstate Arena sub-par
As long as the Blue Demons play in distant and suburban Allstate Arena, they
will feel as detached from the big time as they are from Belden Avenue. During
the NCAA Chicago Regional, Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton snarled and called
it ''the biggest dump'' he has seen host the big tournament. Even if the place
had a smidgen of charm, you'd be hard-pressed to name another college team that
travels as long as an hour to play a home game.
Forget about a campus arena in affluent Lincoln Park, where the neighbors would
file city grievances to their dying days. A 9,000-seat pit in the Clybourn
Corridor might work, but who pays? The United Center makes the most sense for
the marquee Big East games, but Lenti Ponsetto can't get the deal done.
Romantics try to compare Allstate Arena to the old Chicago Stadium, but they're
silly. One, it's in Rosemont, not the city. Two, it looks like a leftover O'Hare
airplane hangar. Three, the only classic traditions are a quarter-century old,
when Ray Meyer and Mark Aguirre attracted the see-and-be-seen crowd.
Go ahead and dismiss Dave Leitao as a carpetbagger who used and abused the
school that gave him a chance. I say he held up his end of the bargain, going
58-34 and leading the program to its first NCAA tournament victory in 15 years.
He didn't let DePaul down.
DePaul let him down. And itself.