Aaron Roussell smiled Monday and said his agent had labeled him picky in recent years. After building sustained success at Richmond, there were suitors to move up the coaching ladder. Roussell and his family, though, weren’t really looking to leave Richmond.
So much so, actually, that Roussell was on vacation in Jamaica last week when Carla Williams first reached out from the University of Virginia.
“I think my agent is here and he’s probably been yelling at me here for the last few years - been really, really picky,” Roussell said. “We were not looking to leave Richmond, Richmond was a great place but this place is really special. This place is really going to do great things.”
Roussell’s success with the Spiders made him an attractive name in coaching circles in earlier years and that remained true when Carla Williams, University of Virginia Director of Athletics, entered the hiring phase this spring.
Under Roussell’s leadership, Richmond posted a 148-72 overall record with three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from 2024-2026. In 2020-2021, he led the program to its first winning season in six years and he finished his tenure with four straight 20-win seasons. The Spiders claimed back-to-back outright Atlantic-10 Regular Season Championships in 2024 and 2025. and won the 2024 A-10 Tournament.
Williams said during Roussell’s introduction at Monday’s official press conference that it was apparent in just a few short days of collaboration why he is a winner on and off the court. She also noted that he is still true to the academic mission for college athletics, which she called a key differentiator for UVA programs even in the current chaotic environment with the transfer portal and revenue sharing. His previous stops at the University of Chicago where he began his coaching journey on the Division III level, Bucknell, and Richmond lend credit to that fact as all are strong academic schools as well.
When you add in the sustained success and what she called elite coaching ability, Williams said Virginia is excited for the future.
“Aaron’s winning record attracted us to him. ... Coach Roussell built Richmond into a program that none of us Power 4 schools would schedule - we talked about that,” Williams said with a laugh during her official remarks at the press conference. “But who he is at his core solidified the fact that he is the perfect person for the University of Virginia women’s basketball program.”
Roussell’s ability to build and sustain winning programs are what attracted John Hardt to him in coaching searches. Not once, but twice. When he hired him at Bucknell, Hardt brought Roussell up to Division I from Chicago after eight strong seasons at that level. Then after seven successful years with the Bison, Hardt turned to Roussell again at his new school, bringing him to Richmond for another seven-year run of success.
Roussell led Chicago to a 161-50 record during his tenure with four NCAA Tournament appearances. He guided Bucknell to a 151-72 record with Patriot League Regular Season Championships in 2016, 2017, and 2019 plus Patriot League Tournament Championships in 2017 and 2019.
Overall, he owns a 460-194 career record.
“John and I exchanged messages and text messages and what he said was he was so good, he hired him twice,” Williams said with reporters after the press conference. “I see it. I believe that and I see that. ... We spoke with a lot of people and everyone, literally everyone, had great things to say about Aaron Roussell. On the men’s side, the women’s side, coaches, administration, photographers, trainers. That’s a tell-tale sign of why someone is a winner in life.”
Roussell takes over the program following a leadership change from Amaka Agugua-Hamilton. She held the post for four years and compiled a 70-58 record overall with a 29-42 record in the ACC. While the Hoos increased their win totals year over year during her tenure, they did not make a significant leap.
UVA squeaked into the NCAA Tournament this season as an at-large team in the first four and became the first team in that position to make the Sweet 16. Still, between the overall results, on-court play, average attendance declines year over year, and a reported off-court investigation into staff treatment, Virginia made a move.
Asked about inheriting the program off a Sweet 16 run and the goals for year one, Roussell said that he couldn’t answer that clearly yet because the roster isn’t known at this time. Most of Virginia’s main contributors from this past season have either run out of eligibility or have entered the transfer portal. That includes Kymora Johnson, an All-America Honorable Mention pick by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). A handful of players including Olivia McGhee, Sa’Myah Smith, and Adeang Ring attended Monday’s press conference.
Obviously, building a staff and a roster are the main things on the agenda for Roussell right now. While not officially announced as of yet, Darren Guensch, an assistant from Virginia Tech, and Kelly Rae Finley, the former head coach at Florida, are among those joining as assistant coaches. Guensch was in attendance Monday.
“That's a little bit, you know, I think that's beyond us right now, but I will tell you that's part of our roster construction is selling what this place can be and having really high expectations,” Roussell said. “I think the setting of goals, which is maybe not kind of how I go about things anyway, I think that comes once we get that roster. But I'm telling you, when I'm talking to kids, like this is going to be a place that should win at the highest of levels on the national stage. And that's my pitch to recruits. And then once we get the right kids in here, it's giddy up and let's go.”
The program has been relevant on the national stage before and has a strong tradition. Most of that came under legendary coach Debbie Ryan, who was at the introductory press conference.
Roussell acknowledged that history during his remarks. He said he spent a couple of hours with Coach Ryan in his office this past week. He recently met Monica Wright, who attended Richmond’s last game in the NCAA Tournament as part of her job as General Manager for the Toronto Tempo, the new WNBA expansion team. He also mentioned Wendy Palmer, Deborah Stroman, and Val Ackerman, who all played at Virginia as well.
Rousell also joked that he was smart enough to know who to call first. That went to UVA legend and South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley. And he followed that up with one of his former A-10 rivals.
“You should know I’m smart enough that my first phone call was to Coach Staley. So that was the first phone call,” Roussell said. “My second one, I’ve known Tammi for a really long time, I talked to Tammi Reiss after that.”
While respectful of the past, Roussell’s focus will be on the future to try to enrich that tradition. The long-term possibilities at Virginia, after all, are what brought him to Charlottesville. His enthusiasm was evident as he addressed the audience for the first time as the head coach of the Hoos.
“I just want to let y’all know how excited I am,” Roussell said. “This is a really special place. I can tell already from the outside, but also from where we are right now. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think the ceiling was really high. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think we could do really, really great things.”
Comments
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!