Less than a week removed from assisting Ryan Odom and his University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) to their historic victory over No. 1 seeded Virginia in the NCAA men’s basketball championship, Griff Aldrich was appointed as Longwood’s new men’s basketball head coach, Director of Athletics Troy Austin announced in a press release on March 22.
With the hiring, Aldrich returns home to Virginia where he both played and coached at Hampden-Sydney College, as well as graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1999.
According to Austin, there will be a press conference in the coming weeks to formally introduce Aldrich as the new head coach.
In the March 22 press release, Austin said he saw Aldrich as a candidate early in the coaching search process, and wanted to get him to campus as soon as they could.
“From the start of this process, Griff (Aldrich) established himself as a unique candidate who will be an outstanding fit for our community, for our program and for Longwood’s citizen-leadership mission,” Austin said in the press release. “President Reveley and I knew entering this search that we needed a coach who placed an emphasis on building a culture of success through selective recruiting, player development and engagement with the community.”
UMBC’s NCAA tournament run delayed the hiring process, said Austin.
Aldrich joined the UMBC staff in 2016 as the Director of Recruiting/Program Development under head coach Ryan Odom when the Retrievers were stuck in the cellar of the America East conference. The team then endured their best two-season performances in program history during Aldrich’s two years, including an America East title and an NCAA tournament win.
Aldrich didn't work directly with the players as the Director of Recruiting; instead, he worked to recruit high caliber prospects to the program.
Aldrich, now with his first-ever Division I head coaching job, said he's excited to return to Farmville where it all began for him.
“I am extremely excited about joining the Longwood basketball program and broader Longwood community,” Aldrich said in the press release. “I look forward to getting to work at Longwood and building off the foundation that has been established. Getting to know our existing group of quality young men, as well as building our culture will be two of our top priorities.”
Longwood athletics announced the hiring of former UMBC Director of Basketball Operations Griff Aldrich as the new head men's basketball coach for the 2018-19 season.
