Virginia basketball lost to UNC 81-66 Saturday afternoon, the Cavaliers’ second-straight blowout loss to a Tobacco Road team, dropping them back under .500 for the season and 6-10 in conference play.
It’s been an up-and-down season in Charlottesville under interim head coach Ron Sanchez, who took over after Tony Bennett suddenly retired in October. Virginia won its first three games of the season, but lost five straight to open 2025. The Cavs also won four of five from the end of last month to the beginning of this month, but have since been dominated by Duke and UNC.
Virginia entered play Monday 12th in the conference, currently in the ACC Tournament picture. The Cavs have four more regular season games before the tournament takes place in Charlotte in two weeks.
After the North Carolina loss, junior guard Isaac McKneely and junior forward Elijah Saunders backed Sanchez and advocated for him to get the job full-time.
“I think he can do great things with this program,” McKneely said.
“Coach Sanchez is probably one of the best coaches I’ve ever had,” Saunders said.
McKneely and Saunders aren’t the first to publicly support Sanchez and say he should get the interim tag removed. Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire said that Sanchez should get the job permanently after the Cavs blew out the Yellow Jackets. Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young said that the Cavaliers are “playing like UVa again” after UVa defeated the Hokies in Blacksburg.
While Sanchez might have the support of his players and opposing coaches, social media tells a different story. Search “Ron Sanchez” on X/Twitter, and there are many posts from people who can’t wait to see somebody else patrolling the sidelines.
Whether or not one thinks Sanchez should be retained, there are some merits to giving him the full-time job. It gives Virginia the best chance to keep some of its solid talent – such as McKneely, Saunders, junior guard Andrew Rohde and redshirt freshman forward Anthony Robinson – and likely increases the odds of getting four-star recruit Chance Mallory to recommit. Plus, Sanchez has a history of turning programs around; he took over a Charlotte team that won six games the year before he arrived. In his last year there before he unexpectedly resigned and returned to Virginia, the 49ers won 22 games and the CBI. Maybe, just maybe, he could do the same in Charlottesville given the chance.
At the same time, however, UVa’s program hasn’t held up in the new college landscape. The Cavaliers haven’t won a NCAA Tournament game since the 2019 national championship. Plus, Virginia’s system is all about keeping players for multiple years and developing them – that’s not really possible anymore with the transfer portal and N.I.L, when anybody can leave at the drop of a hat.
Sometimes, the best solution isn’t to hire a legend’s assistant. While it worked with Duke, going from Mike Krzyzewski to Jon Scheyer, it hasn’t worked with Syracuse, as Adrian Autry has struggled in his first two seasons since taking over for Jim Boeheim. Maybe the best thing for Virginia is to look outside the program and let somebody else make their mark on the team.
It’s a choice Virginia will have to make. Interesting names hit the coaching carousel every year, and the Cavaliers have options to choose from. One popular name getting floated is VCU’s Ryan Odom. He has the Rams playing extremely well, winning 12 of their last 13 and atop the A-10. Odom also was the head coach at UMBC when the Retrievers upset the Cavs in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, so he would be a nice full-circle hire as well.
For almost a decade, Virginia was one of the premier programs in the ACC and the country, but has fallen on hard times this year. But the transfer portal and N.I.L. can allow teams to become prominent quickly – such as Louisville this year. Regardless of how the next four games go, Athletic Director Carla Williams needs to figure that what’s the best way for Virginia to do that. Only time will tell if that’s with Sanchez at the helm or somebody else.
[…] the game, both McKneely and junior forward Elijah Saunders spoke in support of interim head coach Ron Sanchez and advocated for him to get the job full-time. McKneely said that Sanchez could do “great […]
[…] go from here? It seems likely that the Cavaliers will move on from Sanchez after the season despite public support from players. VCU’s Ryan Odom and New Mexico’s Richard Pitino have been floated as possible choices […]