Virginia hiring Adrian Autry supports adage good coaches land quickly in new jobs

That was fast.

It only took three weeks for former Syracuse coach Adrian Autry to land on his feet, as predicted by his successor Gerry McNamara Monday, at GMac's first media session after being formally introduced.

Autry will (most likely) face his close friend and his former team next season in a Dome homecoming of sorts (Syracuse played at Charlottesville this past season and it is doubtful the ACC would not pair the teams in a game), after reports circulated Thursday that Autry has agreed to join second-year coach Odom's staff as an assistant.

Autry would ostensibly replace Odom's top assistant from last season, Griff Aldrich, who was named Monday as the new head coach at Pepperdine.

"He's terrific, he's going to land on his feet. He's so well respected."

Those are the words McNamara used Monday to describe his longtime friend, colleague, and confidant, and the joy he had working as Autry's associate head coach for one season in 2023-24 before realizing his own head coaching window was starting to shorten.

It is obvious that Odom saw all of those qualities in Autry when the two worked together at Virginia Tech under Seth Greenberg in 2008-10.

Now Odom has the luxury of an experienced peer coaching voice on his staff, a coach who knows the ACC landscape and its inner workings as well as anyone, having been an annual attendee of the league's spring meetings involving all the basketball coaches.

Autry can move back into a formal recruiting role, and perhaps coach son Trey, too

There is no doubt UVA just upped its recruiting prowess in the always-percolating-with-recruits DMV with the Autry hiring. Don't forget Red embarked on his head coaching career with multiple scholastic and AAU posts in Virginia, then moving on to work with Greenberg in Blacksburg for three seasons

He will be a valuable addition to helping Odom rebuild a Cavaliers roster, that will lose four top players when the transfer portal opens next week. Now Autry will likely be competing with other ACC teams, including the 'Cuse, for certain players, while also being counted on his developmental skills (sophomore Thijs De Ridder?) for the returnees.

One other interesting wildcard in Autry's hiring by Virginia is he may be able to coach son Trey for the upcoming season. Trey Autry announced Wednesday his intention to transfer from the Atlantic 10's George Washington after three seasons.

Trey Autry moved into the GW starting lineup this past season, averaging a career-best 11-points per game, and became a reliable perimeter shooter. That is something that could translate into the senior-to be receiving reserve playing time in the ACC.

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