Photo courtesy of Joe Hermitt/Penn Live
UVA Football Coach Search Update: Anthony Poindexter Staying at Penn State
Anthony Poindexter is no longer in the running for the Virginia football head coaching position.
On Wednesday afternoon, it was reported by ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg that Poindexter will be remaining on the Penn State coaching staff.
All signs over the last few days have suggested that the hiring of Anthony Poindexter as the next head coach of the Virginia football program was not only imminent, but inevitable.
On Wednesday, however, multiple reports surfaced indicating that the Poindexter hiring was far from a done deal.
Virginia Athletic Director Carla Williams reportedly flew to Las Vegas on Sunday to interview Poindexter, who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday night. Although Poindexter is a popular candidate in the UVA community, especially among current and former Virginia football players and staff as well as among UVA athletics donors, some reports have indicated that there were a few road bumps in Poindexter’s interview process.
Then, on Wednesday afternoon, it was confirmed that Poindexter would be staying at Penn State, where he currently serves as the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach.
This has led Virginia to renew its coaching search and reopen negotiations with Tony Elliott, currently an offensive coordinator at Clemson. Elliott emerged as a top candidate for the head coaching jobs at both Virginia and Duke, after the latter parted ways with 14-year head coach David Cutcliffe.
Tony Elliott, who won the Broyles Award for top assistant coach in college football in 2017, interviewed with Carla Williams on Saturday. With Poindexter still considered the top candidate for the UVA job as of Tuesday, it seemed that Elliott would land at Duke, who considered Elliott its top choice for the head coaching job.
With Poindexter now out of the picture, Virginia appears to be refocusing its coaching search on Elliott before Duke locks him down as the next head coach of the Blue Devils.
Elliott is reportedly making a trip to Charlottesville on Wednesday afternoon for another interview with Carla Williams for the UVA football head coaching job.
We will have more updates on the Virginia football coaching search as new information becomes available.
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